No. 215: Foodventurous Travels - San Diego Daytrip

My friends and I went on one of those 'just because' daytrips to San Diego earlier this month, and while we didn't check out anything new foodwise, it was pleasant to re-visit some of my favorite spots. Moreso given the unexpectedly sunny-yet-breezy weather down there.

We started off with a brunch at Urban Solace, a North Park restaurant serving up contemporary American fare with a few eclectic twists. For the table, we shared the buttermilk cinnamon roll with cream cheese frosting and pecan butter sauce. While decadent, I'm surprised that this roll doesn't taste particularly heavy. The butter pecan sauce wasn't too sweet, and the frosting was whipped to an almost cloud-like frothiness.

And even though I didn't feel particularly guilty from sharing that cinnamon roll, I opted for a light brunch entree, an arugula/endive/radicchio salad with avocado, grapefruit, hazelnuts, goat cheese and roasted garlic vinaigrette with some grilled shrimp. And overall, a very enjoyable salad that maintained an incredible of balance of flavors and a fun mix of textures from all those components, and the garlic vinaigrette wasn't overpowering at all; in fact, there were only wisps and tinges of its pungency.

Perhaps more impressive are their cocktails. I had the pleasure of trying The Big Apple with Leopold Brothers' NY Apple Whiskey, Campari, Apple Cider, Lemon and Bitters. It might look almost too sweet and fruity on the menu, but it's definitely not - the Campari's herbal bitterness definitely tempered the other ingredients, and the cider is more about the bubbles than sugar, making this a delightful daytime sipper.

Following brunch, we took advantage of the lovely day to trek in and around Balboa Park, starting off at the Museum of Photographic Arts -- a cozy, intimate space with a few carefully-curated collections, though I was amused at the irony of them forbidding any photo-taking inside.

This was followed by a leisurely stroll through the El Prado, a brief pause at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion for a free concert and finally, The House of Pacific Relations' International Cottages where there was a pre-St. Paddy's Day music & dance festival from the House of Ireland (along with a slew of other exhibits, performances and food/drink samples from the other houses.)

After the trot about the park, we decided it was high time to check out a brewery, and opted for the Lost Abbey, where we tasted a few of their eclectic, Belgian-inspired brews (along with some California-esque beers from its more mainstream sibling, Port Brewing.) 

Before leaving, I wanted to snap up a bottle for their Carnevale (my current fave of their line,) but that ran out so I opted for the peppery, spicy Red Barn Ale instead.

With the sun slowly sinking below the horizon, we dove back down to San Diego proper to dine at Craft & Commerce, a fairly new restaurant & bar that does beers & cocktails (and of course, beer cocktails) pretty well. Having had our fill of brewskis already from Lost Abbey, we opted mostly for the latter, though I simply couldn't resist Curieux's siren call and got the Up in Smoke (nearest one in photo above,) where the Jim Beam-aged beer is mixed with Islay Scotch, fuji apples and lime, and the peaty smokiness was a much welcome addition to the fruity & oaky notes. Equally delicious was conbon's Lay Lady Lay (farthest one in above photo) with Raspberry Lambic, Champagne and Ginger -- surprisingly not too sweet and the ginger's spiciness definitely amplified the fizzy fun.

Still not quite out of my salad craze, I got the citrus & avocado salad with fried goat cheese, marcona almonds, jicama and citrus vinaigrette. The dressing was sweeter than the one @ Urban Solace, but again, this was a fun fiesta of different flavors & textures. I particularly love how the small spheres of goat cheese croquettes lent a slight decadence to this dish.

While we wanted to try their roasted marrow; that went out so we opted for the broiled oysters that wound up being sensational; the meat was succulent, velvety and briny and I loved the crisped up seaweed topping on it.

All in all, it was time & money well spent . . . and I can't wait to dive down again another day trip of eats, drinks and adventures.

More photos from flickr set here.

Urban Solace

3823 30th Street 

San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 295-6464

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Lost Abbey 

155 Mata Way #104  

San Marcos, CA 92069(800) 918-6816

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Craft & Commerce

675 W. Beech St. 

San Diego, CA 92101

(619) 269-2202

Friday Quickies #33: October Events Galore

dipped strawberries from last year's chocolate luxury salon

Before rainy days and full swing of the season's "must see TV", here's a rundown of fun October events in and around the LA/OC area to keep your first days of Fall busy.

As mentioned before, the 2nd Annual Luxury Chocolate Salon taking place on Oct. 5 - featuring demonstrations, lectures, and, of course, lots of chocolate tastings along a few other sweets (toffees, marshmallows) and some wines too (here's my write-up last year). A sweet deal for $17.50 in advance or $20 at the door. Many of the vendors will also be selling their offerings at the salon, so bring some cash too in case you discover worthwhile nibbles.

Thanks to Caroline on Crack, found out Phillipe's is celebrating their 100th Anniversary on Oct. 6 with a price roll-back with nickel coffees and sandwiches for a dime (limit one per customer). Definitely a much appreciated bargain in these shaky times. Their doors open at 4pm on Monday, so plan appropriately.

Thanks to I Nom Things for heads-up about OC Weekly's Best Of Party on Oct. 9 at iLounge in Irvine. Hors d'oeuvres and alchy will be provided along with live performances. FYI, there's a "strictly enforced" dress code of upscale-chic for this event. Why can't LA Weekly do the same to launch its Best of Issue this week?

To the North, the Santa Barbara County Vintners Association will be hosting its annual Celebration of Harvest Festival on Oct. 11 at Santa Maria Valley's Rancho Sisquoc Winery. Lots of tastings from regional wineries (over a hundred members in that association -- you can count on most, if not all, of them to be participating!), along with samplings of local restaurant dishes and live entertainment. $65/person or $25 for designated drivers.

And to the South, also noted before, San Diego's El Bizcocho will be the site of the "Beer vs. Wine" rematch on Oct. 17. Six amazing-sounding courses (including smoked raw ahi tuna with ponzu gelee and green apple nitro "cous cous"; 36-hour pork with kimchee consomme, golden raisins and maple dust; abalone and foie gras with persimmons and sweet onion puree and a modern take on Cherries Jubilee with carbonated cherries and honey marscarpone) are each paired with selected beer from Stone Brewing Co. and wines from Trinchero Wine Estates. Taste both and vote! $125/person.

For sake lovers who'd like to learn more about this alchy from Japan, LearnAboutWine is hosting a Sake Sunday School on Oct. 19 with guest sake sommelier Yuji Matsumoto (who, coincidentally, runs a blog called Learn About Sake) teaching you all the basics of sake tasting and pairing. Eight premium sakes will be served along with Japanese appetizers for pairing and to help wash it down. $69/person advanced or $75 at-the-door.

Continuing on the autumn gaming and gathering theme, Ford's Filling Station will be doing a $55/person Harvest Dinner on Oct. 21 showcasing lots of autumn comfort eats taking to a new and intriguing level such as bacon wrapped quail with pickled jalapenos and white corn polenta with mascarpone and lemon thyme. Of course, being Ford's, meats play a heavy hand in this meal -- and there's roast goose, porchetta, Kentucky ham and turkey roulade to choose from! (Thanks to Social Domain LA for the menu scoop on this one)

The 9th Annual Japanese Food Festival will be taking place in the Kyoto Grand Hotel & Gardens (formerly the New Otani) on Oct. 25. Thrown by the Japanese Restaurant Association of Southern California, it's basically a smorgasbord of Japanese food from beef bowls to yakitori along with fun events such as watching a whole tuna being fileted (and hopefully served) to a sushi chef contest and the creation of a 40-foot-long mega sushi roll. Sake, beer, shochu and wine will also be sampled. $50/person.

On Oct. 26, Los Angeles Magazine will be hosting its third annual The Food Event: From the Vine in Malibu at the Saddlerock Ranch Vineyard, with cooking demos and tastings from top-name chefs and restaurants (including Two Food Dudes' and Animal's Vinny and Jon, Neal Fraser from Grace, CJ from Top Chef, Makuto Okuwa from Sashi Sushi and the Mozzas' Nancy Silverton) along with wine tastings from over a dozen wineries! $60 advanced or $75 at-the-door, it also comes with a year's subscription to LA Magazine and $20 of each ticket will be split for LA Regional Foodbank and the Concern Foundation.

And finally, all month long, many participating Togo's will be rolling back "1970s Flashback Wednesdays" with 6" classic sandwiches offered at $1.99. And with every almost $2 sandwich purchased, a donation wll be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Mini Foodventure #77: Adams Avenue Grill (San Diego)

It's 4 a.m. and we're dropped off at the starting point of the San Diego half-marathon. The eventual 7,500 of us are a varied mix -- from first-timers eager about their longest race yet to seasoned pros looking to beat their personal best. Me? I'm thinking "Gee, I haven't eaten since 6:30 p.m. last night -- and the race doesn't start for another three hours . . ."

You can imagine how hungry I was around 9 a.m. in the finish line area. While everyone else were hanging around the pavilion checking their times, doing cool down stretches, giving each other high-fives and picking up the usual finisher freebies, I just dashed another mile to meet up with my dining companion to head to brunch.

Like the pre-race dinner joint Terra, I found Adams Avenue Grill through cursory searching of Citysearch, Chowhound and Yelp. Despite its limited breakfast menu, it got fairly good reviews -- so worth a shot. I also liked that it wasn't too close to the finisher's area (and thus won't be too packed and busy with other runners looking to recover their carbs as well).

Located in the University Heights neighborhood, the restaurant has a casual neighborhood, slightly artsy ambience (the closest LA restaurant comparison I can think of is Marston's, but bigger and more humble-looking/run-down, depending on how you look at it). It didn't us long to decide on our order.
I got their special blueberry-walnut pancakes, which looked nice on the menu but was a bit of a miss when it came out. The pancakes themselves were fluffy and light, but the blueberries were unusually tart and they didn't chop up the walnuts, and it's a bit jarring to suddenly get half a nut in my mouth. I'd much rather have smaller pieces distribute throughout to get a consistent light crunch.
Likewise, the topping on my dining companion's triple-berry compote triple pancake stack turned out way too sour. Thankfully, the compote only soaked through the top cake so she ate mostly the bottom (which were decent, albeit ordinary, buttermilk pancakes). I tried to correct with extra maple syrup, but neither of us finished our stacks. The side of fruit is the usual pineapple-melon blend so nothing to write about. Coffee was good though.

Not sure if that was just an off-day for the kitchen or if San Diego folks like everything a bit more acidic, but it wasn't a brunch that I cared for. It's not so bad I'll avoid it entirely, but I'll probably return only at the recommendation of my other friends down there. In the meantime, I'm sure there are lot more great morning eats to be found in the city.

Adams Avenue Grill
2201 Adams Avenue
San Diego
(619) 298-8440
http://www.adamsavenuegrill.com

Foodventure #66: Terra (San Diego)

Having signed up for a Sunday half-marathon that required runners to come a day early to pick up bibs and T-shirts, I decided to make a weekend out of my SD trip and spend some time discovering new eats in the area. Not having visited the city since my friends went here for college, I pretty much took a "spin the carrot" approach to choosing my eateries - with a little input from Yelp, Chowhound and Citysearch. For the pre-race dinner, I settled upon Terra -- the fusion-themed menu looks interesting, it's practically right off the freeway and en route from the registration area to my motel so I have less chance of getting lost or wasting gas and time.
The restaurant's atmosphere is casual-elegant - white clothed tables against dark drapery, a colonial interior feel and full-pane windows that let the wonderful late afternoon-early evening sun flood in. There is also a pretty nice patio seating area, but it was still a tad too warm for outdoor dining so we sat in one of their generously-sized booths instead.

Like the restaurant, the food at Terra is casual-and-classy, with an emphasis on "foods from the Americas in contemporary fare" (as our waiter explained it), blending culinary influences from European, Asian, Caribbean and Latin American cuisines.

Wine and cocktails was out of the question for me this time, so my dining companion and I ordered an iced tea for a fairly-light small plates meal consisting of:
Special of the day Ahi Tuna Tacos with Wasabi Cream - the quality of the fish was top notch and the sesame seeds and wasabi cream complemented the tuna well, adding a bit of complexity of the dish w/o being overpowering it. The tortilla shells, though, felt a bit stale but still got a nice crisp for the contrast in mouthfeel.
Coconut-Dusted Crabcakes in a Hot Mustard Sauce - decent but not particularly exceptional, the combination of flavors from the fruity-spicy mustard sauce and the sweet-smelling coconut flakes was interesting, but despite having very little binders, the crab's (Maryland blue, the server explained) natural flavors didn't come through. Maybe the mustard was too overpowering or maybe they didn't get the best batch from Chesapeake bay.
Pumpkin Ravioli in Roasted Corn Cream Sauce with Hazelnut - yes, it's messy looking, but the taste was wonderful, a sweet-savory combo that hits me on all the right notes. The pillowy pasta were stuffed with lightly-spiced pumpkin that's not overly sweet (which tends to happen with gourdy ravioli fillings), the sauce was a little peppery, a little creamy and studded with lots of sweet and firm kernels, and the extra nutty crunch added another flavor and texture dimension.
Finishing the meal, their signature Chocolate "Cigar" with Whipped Cream, with molten dark chocolate ganache rolled inside phyllo and lightly grilled. Love the presentation in the ashtray - this not-too-sweet cigar was fun (and quite messy) to eat as the dark molten cocoa-licious goo erupted in my mouth at the first bite of the flaky roll. But it quickly became an annoyance as liquid chocolate is dribbling everywhere, so we just set the cigar back on the tray and let it dribble in with the whipped cream. That also turned out to be delish as well.

To sum it up, Terra was an enjoyable dining experience. Their dishes are creative and solid, the prices are reasonable, the environment is pleasing and service excellent. Definitely looking forward to a return trip here.

WHAT DO OTHERS SAY?:
Citysearch gave it 4 out of 5 stars.
21 Yelpers gave it an average of 3 out of 5.
San Diego Daily Transcript has a little more detail on Terra's self-taught, San Diego native chef Jeff Rossman, and is overall impressed by its dishes.

OTHER NOTES:
~ Street Parking is available in the area, but watch out for green zoned spots: some are 2 hour spaces and some are 20 minutes.
~ The patio dining area is "doggy friendly"
~ They also offer an early bird dinner special most days of the week; for about $20/person until 7pm diners can enjoy a 3-course prix-fixe.

THE BILL:
Ahi tacos - $9
Pumpkin ravioli - $8
Crabcakes - $13
Chocolate cigar - $5
Iced Tea + Coffee - $6
Pre tax/tip total - $41

THE RATING:
Ambience: 4/5 (Casual yet classy, the interior has a mix of modern and colonial elements)
Value: 4/5 (Decent given the portions and quality of dishes served)
Service: 9/10 (Superb, our waiter was attentive and knew the menu and winelist in and out, and was not afraid to steer us towards dishes he thinks we may like, and upon hearing we were outsiders, even gave us some tips about foodie hotspots to check out over the weekend.)
Food: 17/20 (The dishes here do fusion justice, pulling the right elements from different cuisines to put together an innovative and interesting menu)
Bonus/Demerit: N/A
Overall: 34/40

Terra
3900 Vermont Street
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 293-7088
http://www.terrasd.com