3 March: Buca di Beppo
The Boy has been a fan of this chain for several years (the first one he visited was in Sacramento).
He took us there late this afternoon to celebrate his new job (coincidentally, this restaurant isn't far from his previous job).
On the way in, they walk you through the kitchen (you can reserve the chef's table there a day in advance) and then up the stairs, past the Pope's table (I asked which one of the customers sitting there was the Pope)...
This place is known for amazingly huge portions (guess what the Boy will be having for his lunch tomorrow?) and is a riot of Italian schmaltz with empty wine bottles and plastic grapes hanging in nets from the ceiling, lots of framed posters and photos, vivid frescoes painted into the stucco and a background soundtrack of every Italian song you ever heard (Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Perry Como, a little Italian opera, Louie Prima, etc). I imagine they'll eventually get around to selling the CD along with the cook book (and gift certificates) that they already market.
To start things off, the Boy ordered the Hot Antipasto Platter with mussels, deep fried garlic mashed potato balls, deep fried breaded ravioli, and zucchini and mushroom caps stuffed with spicy Italian sausage all in a bed of marinara sauce. I had a small Pizza Garneri with large prawns, spinach with a healthy drizzle of hot red pepper infused olive oil and an iced tea. The Boy had a couple of slices of the pizza and ordered the small Chicken Parmesan with a Pepsi (the wife can't have cheese). She had the small Chicken with Lemon (with capers) and a cup of hot tea.
We each had a taste of everything and it was all very good, we will be back (and the wife tried the pizza crust).
The total was $60 plus tip and we had timed it just right, with good traffic in both directions.
6 March: Szechwan Mandarin
This place was recommended to us by PT of Catsup Soup Productions in La Jolla.
He'd read how we really hadn't found a serious Chinese restaurant here and suggested we give it a try.
As the Boy now works from 6:30 AM until 3:00 PM and we only live 1.65 miles away from the plant, we were out the door very early and since I'm also getting the hang of the local traffic patterns, we sailed right up to the place and walked in the door at exactly 4:00 PM.
It was a Friday afternoon and we weren't about to repeat the fiasco we had the first time we visited PF Changs back in January.
The meal started out with a basket of Deep Fried Wontons with an orange sauce or hot mustard to dip them in, then progressed to the Soup (Hot & Sour for the wife and me, Egg Drop for the Boy), followed by the Egg Roll or Salad (I had the egg roll; they had a salad with ranch dressing, a pretty weird thing with Chinese food if you ask me)...
We had the deluxe dinner combination ($17.95 each, choice of 3 main dishes) with Orange Crispy Beef, Spicy Jumbo Prawns (this was easily the best dish as far as I was concerned) and the Seafood Basket (calamari, prawns, sea bass, scallops, etc in a black bean sauce served in a deep fried rice noodle basket with veggies). That is what the wife and Boy liked most (and of course there was the obligatory steamed rice).
Boy ordered his usual (a Coke), I had the usual iced tea and the wife (as usual) had the hot tea.
For dessert, the wife had an Almond Cookie, I had the Green Tea Ice Cream (very subtle and creamy) and the Boy had the Mudslide.
And of course, there were also the fortune cookies; we can't forget them.
We explored a section of Mission Gorge Road that we'd never been on before (up to Santee) and made it back here without getting in the usual stop and go Friday afternoon rush hour traffic (at almost exactly 5:00 PM with almost an hour of sunlight still left to go, I might add).
The wife was very pleased with everything (I thought the egg rolls were mundane but liked everything else) and the Boy is already in bed (it's 5:45 PM) as he obviously enjoyed himself and ate too much. We will be back (some of what the other customers ordered looked great too).
The total was $61.86 plus tip.
20 March: Karl Strauss Brewery in La Jolla:
After dropping the wife off at her new job this afternoon, we stopped by the Karl Strauss Brewery in downtown La Jolla for our dinner.
I had the Half Rack Barbecued Baby Back Ribs with Red Trolley Ale Barbecue Sauce, coleslaw, french fries and an iced tea.
Our waitress recommended the ribs when I asked her what she'd order.
The ribs were smoked well, very tender and the sauce was superb (I think they should market it) with enough sweetness and spiciness...
And I had a 5 ounce sampler glass of their Hefeweizen with a twist of lemon (goooood)...
I also asked about the Philadelphia Cheese Steak and the waitress told us that they use roast beef to make it there (a no-no in our book).
The Boy had the Steak & Avocado Rolls (sirloin strips and avocado rolled in a crispy tortilla with fire roasted salsa and chipotle sour cream) and a Coke. He says they were OK but he'd have something else the next time.
The total was $31 plus change (and tip).
I should also point out that there isn't a single sausage dish available (despite what the menu on the web site says).
I looked for an email link on the site so I could make a suggestion but there isn't one...
See the web site here: http://www.karlstrauss.com/
Other:
The Boy and I ate at a local Olive Garden on my birthday (there's really not much to say as it's Olive Garden)...
We also had an early dinner at Souplantation on the 17th (St. Patrick's Day).
We ate at Vaquero's Carne Asada another 5 or 6 more times as well (they have a great carne asada burrito and the shrimp tacos are good too).
And I stopped by Jasmine once again (to have my dinner - Kung Pao Shrimp, Rice, Iced Tea - while waiting for the Boy after he inadvertently locked me out of the house the day after my birthday and went to play basketball with a bunch of co-workers from his last job.
We (the wife and I) visited Fatburger our second time as well recently. The burger was still great but they put relish on it for some reason and I couldn't get past the taste. We tried the onion rings (as good as any we've ever had) and the chocolate milk shake as well (it was also good but nothing we haven't had before). The fries weren't up to snuff this visit and were only mediocre at best (lukewarm and under-cooked).
The Boy and I stopped by the Fletcher Parkway Por Favor for dinner on the 21st.
And the Boy and I checked out the Red Lobster in La Mesa on the 24th (what's there to say about the Denny's of seafood?)...
As I mentioned last month, I'm not drinking much this month but I did buy a six pack of the Dos Equis Lager, a couple of six packs of the import (Munich) Lowenbrau and another six pack of the Gordon Biersch Marzen. And of course, I had a little help drinking it...
Dick's Last Resort:
This is a pretty well known San Diego watering hole (without a hot dog on the menu, we should point out) and although we haven't visited it yet, we plan to in the near future.
Their specialty is exceedingly rude behavior...
See the web site here: http://www.dickslastresort.com/
