Q'ero (www.casadelqero.com)is a family owned Peruvian restaurant in downtown Encinitas. It's run by a mother and daughter using a family recipes. They have two locations, the original one in Encinitas and another down the street in Cardiff which is called Casa del Q'ero. The Cardiff spot is larger with a larger menu and bar. If you haven't tried Peruvian cuisine we suggest you run, don't walk, to your nearest Peruvian restaurant or if you're lucky enough to have a Peruvian friend invite yourself over to his/hers mother's house. Peruvian cuisine is not at all like Mexican food. They use a discreet set of seasonings and fresh ingredients. Perhaps the most famous seasoning is Aji Amarillo-a delicious sauce that uses yellow Amarillo peppers and walnuts. Aji Amarillo is not a burn your face off spicy sauce, it's piquant, rich and white girl spicy. It goes good with rice or quinoa
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Octopus Balls aka: Takoyaki is one of Japan's favorite street foods. Originally from Osaka, Takoyaki balls are fritters filled with chunks of octopus, tempura crumbs, pickled ginger, and green onions. Then they slather them with Japanese kewpie mayonnaise and Japanese Worcestershire sauce, and cover them with dried seaweed shavings and dried bonito shavings. We went to Tajima Izakaya, www.tajimasandiego.com, on Convoy for Japanese style tapas. Tajima is a prolific family owned restaurant chain with multiple locations in the San Diego area as well as spots in Tijuana and Long Beach. Izakayas were hipster gastropubs before there where gastropubs. Izakayas could be found in larger Japanese towns dating back to the 18th century Edo Period. We stopped in Cake de Partie (4685 Convoy St. San Diego, CA 92111) a dessert cafe across the street from one of our favorite Chinese restaurants Spicy City. Their specialty is something called a crepe cake, which have been made famous by Lady M Confections (https://www.ladym.com/collections/cakes). A crepe cake is a pretty much a stack of thin crepes layered with pastry cream filling in between each crepe layer. A proper crepe cake has no less than 20 crepe layers per cake. It was the first time we had heard of such a thing. While we were deciding what to get, a gentlemen came in and ordered a slice of matcha cake and a lychee rose soda to go. He said he was craving this and this was the first time he'd gotten it without having his wife and/or kids in tow. Wow! we thought it must be crazy good if this dude came in on the down low to get this by himself, we pictured him sitting in the car eating the whole thing and washing it down with the home made soda before he walked into the house, the wife and kids none the wiser.
With an antlered stag as their mascot, the place had a definite hipster lounge vibe to it, however they close at 10:00 so not a late night hipster spot. They have a variety of interesting desserts on the menu as well as a collection of savory snacks like chicken wings and pasta dishes, coffee drinks and hand crafted, home made sodas and lemonades. We asked the young lady working behind the counter what crepe cake was her favorite and she steered us towards the strawberry one with strawberry coulis. The Verdict: Well if you like desserts that are not too sweet, crepe cake might be for you. For us the texture was unusual for a dessert and as neither of us is a big fan of pastry cream it wasn't a transcendent taste sensation. The Lychee Rose soda, however was refreshing and a bit on the sweet side but the flavors went well together. Overall this is a place with a cool vibe and would be a nice place to hang out with friends debating the merits of the different flavors of crepe cakes vs. European style conventional cakes. cooking fish is a potato crust is a classic french technique that keeps the moisture in the fish while adding flavor and texture to it. Use a mandolin or your knife skills to thinly slice the potato. Extra credit if you can make your potato slices so thin that you can read newsprint underneath them. You can use any fish, but I recommend using a firm fish like swordfish, halibut, or mahi-mahi. Season your fish well with your favorite dry rub. Then to make the potatoes stick, you can use either melted butter or mayonnaise. Make sure you overlap the potatoes so that they cover the fish. The nice thing about this dish is that when the potatoes are cooked so is the fish and the fish will be moist and flavorful. It's crunchy on the outside and moist and flavorful on the inside.
What is Shabu Shabu? Also known officially as nabemono, the name Shabu Shabu is derived from the swishing sound made when the ingredients are stirred around and cooked piece by piece in boiling broth by the diner. Perfect dish for a cold night, which it was when we went to Convoy street for dinner on a Sunday night. We walked past the hipster joints (Rakiraki Ramen & Pokerito) and messy eat with your hands Casian (Cajun/Asian) seafood spot (Crab Hut) and went into Shabu House. It was the first time I've had Shabu Shabu in San Diego, and Shabu House looked pretty much like your typical Shabu Shabu place. We sat on the left side of the U-Shaped bar. There were a couple of other parties in the place sitting across from us and sitting at the low tables. Shabu House does have a very wide assortment of meats to choose from. Multiple types of beef from regular to Prime Wagyu, Lamb, Pork, Salmon and Shrimp. You can choose spicy miso broth, sukiyaki style or just water and kelp for your broth. Maddie ordered a Sapporo and we settled in for shrimp shabu shabu. I had Sukiyaki style with a sweet soy sauce based broth and Maddie had spicy Miso broth. Your chopstick skills are definitely put to good use when you eat shabu shabu. We had the usual ponzu and goma (sesame) dipping sauces with the usual condiments, minced garlic, minced green onions and grated daikon radish and I got a bowl of brown rice. Overall Shabu Shabu is a really healthy way to eat as you eat mostly vegetables flashed cooked in a tasty broth. First time for Shabu Shabu, but it won't be our last. Next we'll try Chinese Hot Pot.
Shabu House 4646 Convoy Street San Diego, CA 92111 (858)268-8648 Open: 11:30-10:00PM 7 days a week Did you know that San Diego had a Chinatown and a Chinese Historical Museum? I certainly didn't. You don't immediately associate San Diego with Asians and/or especially Chinese. According to the San Diego County Government report on Demographics, Asians and Pacific Islanders make up 11.19% of the population. You might be surprised to know that Filipinos make up the largest ethnic constituency with 145,421 citizens that represent nearly 5% of the total population of San Diego County. Chinese (I'm combining Chinese with Taiwanese here) is the next largest population with 51,000 citizens represently 1.54% of the total population. Maddie and I went down to visit the 35th Annual San Diego Chinese New Year Fair located in the historic San Diego Chinatown District. Who know there was a historic Chinatown in San Diego? I certainly didn't. The San Diego Chinese Center (SDCC) has been serving the Chinese and immigrant community for more than 38 years
We enjoyed the stage acts especially the Red Panda Acrobats (Well really acrobat, just a single dude) He had a great show and did some amazing things I didn't know an older dude could contort like that! There were the usual martial arts groups and a Lion Dance group. All great fun and great support from the community that came out to see them. We'll certainly come back to visit the Chinese Historical Society Museum and Sun Yat Sen Garden. We did have a Filipino snack some vegetable lumpia and turon (banana lumpia). OK I know this is supposed to be the foodie blog post! so in honor of Chinese New Year Redux, we went to Spicy City for Dinner. Spicy City is an old school, no frills, family style Sichuan Cuisine spot located at 4690 Convoy St. Suite 107, San Diego, CA 92111. The portions were generous and flavorful and service was very efficient. The Seafood Hot Pot had fish, squid, shrimp, shiitake and white mushrooms, bamboo shoots and carrots in a light brown sauce. The Fish and Tofu in brown garlic sauce had whole cloves of garlic in it with bamboo shoots and carrots and mushrooms, Actually they were pretty similar. The spice eggplant was very flavorful and spicy, it was a good contrast to the fish, it featured all the tastes of classic Chinese cuisine, spicy (hot) sweet, sour, bitter, salty, it had visible chunks of chopped garlic and red peppers and was delicious. Maddie & I visited Oscar's Mexican Seafood's newest outpost that recently opened in Encinitas. Oscars has 4 other locations situated throughout the San Diego area. Oscar's is located between Peet's Coffee and Trader Joe's and I've been walking by ever since the posted their menu on the window months before they opened. I was immediately drawn by the words; Smoked Fish Taco and I've been waiting for months until they opened. I convinced Maddie that we should go (really we had no food in the house to cook) We were there at least 30 minutes before they were supposed to be closed but they already had the closed sign up. We got out of the car and motioned to the manager in the window and he flipped the sign around and beckoned us in. After all there were 2 couples inside eating at the time. We ordered a Mixed Ceviche, Cucarachas-Deep Fried Shrimp shells and all, a Taco Especial-smoked fish, grilled shrimp, Scallops and of course a smoked fish taco. We ordered it to go as it looked like they were jonesing to close up and go home, The manager said that we should eat it there as it's better fresh and hot, but we demurred and told them we'll take it to go. While we were waiting they gave us each a complimentary cup of their fish stew, which was light and yummy, great lime flavor, fresh fish and a savory broth. Each taco had what had to be a half an avocado combined with shredded cabbage and pico de gallo. Each taco was housed in a homemade corn tortilla that was lightly grilled so it was warm and slightly crispy. The smoked fish was shredded and lightly smoked, it had a unique flavor that made you want to eat more of it it was a perfect bite, complex, fresh, unique, yet familiar. When combined with buttery scallops and spicy grilled shrimp the Taco Especial might be one of the best single most flavorful bites I've had in a quite a while. The Ceviche was fresh and perfectly bathed in fresh lime juice. The Cucarachas were crunchy and while Maddie at first tried peeling them, she eventually relented and ate them whole crispy shell and all. Oscar's also has a fresh salsa bar and their avocado salsa was just the right mix of spicy, creamy and fresh, they had a smokey hot chipotle salsa and they offered 3 flavors of El Yucateca hot sauce including the negro edition. We give Oscar's props for delicious unique fish tacos and we're (at least I"m going to go back to try their burritos and tortas, C'mon how can I resist a smoked fish breakfast burrito!
S&M OK first thing I made with the Guava paste! The guava paste on it's own is delicious, it's much denser that I thought it would be. I made a glaze with Maddie's home made jalapeño jelly, some guava paste, soy sauce, and spiced rum. I cooked the glaze over a medium heat to melt the guava paste and cook off the alcohol from the rum. I seasoned the pork loin with smoked salt and pepper and let it come to room temperature. I sprayed the loin with truffle flavored olive oil on all sides. After the pork loin was browned on all sides on top of the stove, I covered it in the glazed and put it into a 325 degree oven for 30 minutes. I took it out of the oven and let it rest for 20 minutes before slicing. We visited Chin's Szechwan Cuisine for CNY dinner, you know for good luck for the coming year of the Chicken or Rooster. We had the requisite lucky foods, Hunan Fish Fillet, Shrimp Pan Fried Noodles, and Szechwan Garlic Eggplant. Fish for an increase in prosperity, noodles for happiness & longevity, and oranges for fullness and wealth. Although I've lived in Encinitas for over 9 years it's the first time I"ve ever eaten Chinese food there and the first time to visit Chin's which has been around since 1976. The food was old school Chinese/American/Szechwan style food. Portions were large and everything was really tasty. Props to the waitstaff that was more than friendly and attentive. Overall it was a great first experience and for Maddie maybe her first official Chinese New Year kickoff dinner, so at least this year she'll get off to a good start! The decor of Chin's was decidedly old school and quite elegant actually. It did have one item that made us both immediately remember dinners at grandma's. I think is a first generation characteristic that will soon be lost on the millennial generation. Their generation was the generation that came over to America on ships, they remember the depression, world war II, and having to scratch out a living while raising a family in a new country. They really valued the things that they had and they were proud to show it off and keep in in pristine condition. Everyone over the age of 50 will remember going to grandma's house in the summer and sticking to the furniture. Sturdy hardwood furniture with ornate brocade cushions covered in a thick clear vinyl slip covers. Seeing them in Chin's immediately made me think of all the holiday meals we had at grandma's house. Here's a toast to grandma especially on Chinese New Year where we take time out to think about and remember our ancestors.
S&M Happy Lunar New Year Everyone! Gung Hay Fat Choi!
CNY is all about food and family. You should eat all of the good luck symbolic Chinese foods today. Fish for health and prosperity, noodles for long life, dumplings for good luck and prosperity, pork for prosperity, chicken and/or duck-Well pretty much all of the main Chinese food groups. |
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August 2018
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