FreeBirds World Burritos: Chipotle with a conscious?

Doing some midnight Yelping and found this place and forgot that we had wanted to try it. I suggested that I pick us up some for lunch the next day.

The decor is super eclectic with a giant statue of liberty riding a bike and lots of other knick knacks. There is also tons of sculptures made from what is presumably left over burrito tin foil. The menu is very basic, you choose burrito, salad, quesadilla, or burrito bowl then you choose your meat or lack there of. They have chicken ( they let you choose white or dark), carnitas, steak, and a veggie option which includes guacamole with it. You then choose one of four tortilla choices: flour, whole wheat, spinach, or cayenne. after that you take a trip down the line choosing from a myriad of free extras like corn salsa, cilantro lime rice, black beans, lettuce, etc. etc. There are also paid extras like guacamole and such.

Menu board showing burrito size and price. The super monster can start at around 3 pounds!

Umm yeah, it's California

Part of the dining room

G-Ma and the Kid designing a salad

Eat it right and it helps you change the world, one wrong bite and you might destroy it

The four tortillas of the Burrit-ocalypse

Trio of salsas

Salad Bowl with Chicken. G-Ma enjoyed it , but didn't finish. It's just a salad

The Wife got a regular size Chicken Burrito with cilantro lime rice, corn salsa, poblano salsa, lettuce, pinto beans, and cilantro. The tortilla was spinach. She enjoyed the burrito, but really couldn't taste the rice.

The Kid chomping away

I got the Steak burrito with the cayenne tortilla and pinto beans and lettuce. The steak was actually pretty nice. It was tender and juicy and could tell it actually touched a grill. All there meat is grass fed and hormone free and such. The tortilla had a little kick to it , but not to much that it ruined the burrito.

These are the 3 sauces that they have at the salsa bar. Clockwise from the top: BBQ sauce, Hot, and Mild. The BBQ was actually nice on my burrito. It was tangy and sweet and complimented the steak well. The other sauces were kinda ehhh

This is a tasty burrito and the combinations are plentiful. It's hard to say if its better then Chipotle, but it might weigh less heavy on your conscience knowing that the meat is cared for before it hits your gut and that they are planet friendly in their practices. The choices of Extras look and seem to me to be more abundant, but as to their taste, I would be hard pressed to tell the difference.

Freebirds World Burrito

3958 5th Avenue
San Diego, Ca

City Wok: Chinese food for Whiteys that are scared of going to Convoy?

After a long hot day of driving and shopping and looking at stuff, the Kid and I picked up the Wife from work. We did some errands and then had a hankering for some Chinese food. I remembered There being a place on Washington so we headed there.

At first we were just gonna get take out, but decided to eat in after seeing that it wasn't too crowded and we were already inside. The waiter, I believe his name was Gene, was super nice and really friendly with the Kid. He was prompt, courteous , and helpful with the menu.

Gene informed us that it was happy hour and that certain drinks and appetizers were half off. We chose to start out with the City Wok Gyoza Bao and Chinese Chicken Salad.

The salad came out first and looked fresh and delicious. It was full of nice size pieces of shredded chicken, julienned carrots, and fried wontons ( which we got on the side later). The salad was nice at first bite, but after bite 2 and 3 it was abundantly clear that the special ginger dressing was more ginger than special and that this salad could not swim cause it was drowning in dressing.

The Gyoza Boa came out later and was accompanied by a old plastic cup of Chinese mustard and a kind of watered down plum sauce. I say the mustard was old because it had a wrinkled skin on top that fresh things don't tend to accumulate. The "Bao " themselves were definitely more Gyoza than Bao , but also freakishly apart of both worlds. The interior was a dense mixture of pork and spices that you find in any $.99 Chinese place , but they were wrapped in such a way that the bottom part of the wrapper was under cooked and doughy.

Next we tried the Lo Mein with chicken. It came out steaming hot and looked delicious , it tasted flinty of mustard and really had no flavor at all. The chicken was cooked rather nice, but lacked seasoning.

This sumptuous looking dish is the Spicy Chili String Beans. Looking is the operative word in that sentence. Looking at this dish you could see it had all the makings of a yummy satisfying veggie side. It had onions, slices of Serrano chilies, garlic , and a little oil and of course the string beans. The one ingredient it lacked was time. Having been a wok cook I know that Chinese wok cooking is a speedy process and that is why there are so many sauces and spices and accoutrements that go into each dish because you develop that favor in a quick hot sauce before tossing in your protein or veggie. If you don't take the time with they sauce/flavoring base your dish will lack any kind of cohesion and will just be a plate of ingredients. Both the Lo Mein and the String Beans we're that , just pretty faces and no substance.

Tajima 2 : Sea Beasts Attack!!! ( and then summarily destroyed and eaten)

Sunday night dinner arrives and the Wife is craving Japanese food something fierce , so off to Tajima we ride!

After battling the long wait for a table (apparently Sunday at 7:30 is not the greatest time to come here), we were seated at our darkened booth. The waiter was super nice and played hide and seek with the Kid.

We ordered this Takana Fried Rice right away, cause we were all starvin mcstarvinstein and need sustenance lickity split! It was really tasty and had an almost earthy mushroom flavor that reminded me of a wild rice dish.

It was hot so the Kid had to help the Wife cool it down

Special of the night was Live Sweet Shrimp served on ice! It was still kicking as I took this pic and even jerked when the flash went off. The taste is incomparable to any shrimp I have had. The flesh is firm and sweet with that beautiful sea water flavor. The tamale(the stuff inside the head) is gorgeous ! Vibrant, briny, and crazy delicious. If you get the chance, order it , don't hesitate.

Yummy !!!!

Think it started fighting back!

Next dish was this Whole Grilled Squid. It was a little gamey and the sauce was not very good and it was slightly chewy , but wasn't so bad if you put the gyoza sauce on it.

Lovely little Pork Gyoza lightly pan fried and served with a side of sauce. Not the best I have ever had , but decent

Last dish was this wonderful Grilled Beef Tongue. Thinly sliced then rapidly grilled then topped with finely chopped green onion. We squeezed a little lemon over the top and put some spicy mustard on it and it just zinged! The tongue was moist , tender, and had that awesome full beef flavor and the brightness of the lemon tied it all together.

Upset that her piece of Shrimp Tempura is all gone.

Cleansing the palate with some awesome Red Bean Ice Cream.

Tajima Sushi and Japanese Tapas Restaurant

4411 Mercury St # 111
San Diego, CA

We don't have a problem with I.B. (the beach not the syndrome)

Family beach day today , so we went to Silver Strand State Beach on Coronado. It was pretty empty and kinda windy, but was still a sweet time.

After the beach , it was time to eat so we took the short ride down to I.B. (imperial beach) to check out the pier and food scene.

Passed this and decided that supporting the farmers market sounded perfect.

First little booth that looked good was this Thai place.

Sampling the crunchy spring rolls

Wife ordered the fresh wrapped shrimp spring rolls.

This spot popped out at us because the sign said "corn taters". Turns out a corn tater is a baked potato topped with fresh roasted corn, sour cream, pico de gallo, and shredded cheese. It looked delicious and the Wife really seemed to like it.

While she ate the potato we walked down the pier.

A little scared of the pier.

Maybe we all were a little scared haha

Kinda gross drinking fountain

Nice size rock fish caught off the pier

Super sauve family shot

End of the day walk to the car