Bice: Super Hot Date Night

When your beautiful wife asks you out on a date, how can you refuse. When she then tells you she picked the place to eat because the menu is right up your alley, it's all just icing on the cake.........

Located in the Gaslamp Quarter, BiCE offers modern Italian cuisine in an upscale dining experience without the stuffiness of a usual white table cloth restaurant ( I was wearing flip flops and shorts). The staff were all very friendly and the food came out quick and hot. It was Sunday so that meant all night happy hour and the assurance that we would probably try everything because all the dishes were only $5. The menu changes weekly, but I get the feeling it's on a rotation, so don't be too sad if you go and don't experience the same dishes.

The signature lobster "pizza". Tender chunks of lobster and cherry tomatoes on a crisp flat bread style crust with a delicate sauce and creamy melty cheese and a pesto drizzle. Very delicious, but I felt it needed just a bit more seasoning.

Beautiful Waygu Carpaccio served on pink Himalayan salt block with avocado and a sesame oil based dipping sauce. This was as beautiful in your mouth as it was on the dish. The delicate meat was complimented well by the creamy cold avocado. Perfect for the warm summer night.

The Blue Cheese " Cotton Candy". Delicate clouds of what seemed to be sugar and possibly cheese on a stick with a dab of blue cheese and honey. We were instructed to eat it all in one bite. It quickly dissolves and mixes in your mouth to create a kind of cheese plate sort of feel.

Accidentally bumped into the Wife's portion and these sticky buggers don't like to let go, but it made for a quirky romantic hand feeding of the Wife.

Fried Calamari and Zucchini with a spicy tomato dipping sauce. These tender rings of squid were beautifully and lightly fried. The zucchini was a little small so it didn't really add to the dish, but the spicy sauce was very refreshing. Added awesomeness was the lemon wedges that were wrapped in yellow cheese cloth so that when you squeeze it over the top of the squid, you don't have to worry about the seeds.

Wild Boar Sausage on a Pretzel Bun. The sausage was plump, juicy, and well seasoned. The pretzel bun was toasted well and had and excellent chewy soft inside. The BBQ style sauce was very good, I felt it could have been less sweet.

Potato and Spinach Gnocci with a Gorgonzola sauce. These little pillows of pasta perfection floating in sinfully rich cheese sauce pushed the Wife to her richness limit, but I was happy to plop them into my mouth with the help of a nice glass of Chartreuse.

Chartreuse. The green seductress of herbs and grain alcohol

Tempura Parmesan with aged Balsamic. The plating took a steep nose dive with this course. I mean really, toothpicks. Come on guys. These were nice, but next to the other offerings, kind of fell flat. The balsamic was delicious and helped the dish along.

All in all this was a nice evening out. Beautiful wife. Beautiful food. Nice atmosphere. Nice staff. Bice is a great spot and I'm sure we will be back soon, I mean they have a cheese bar for crying out loud.

Mariposa Ice Cream: Beat the Heat with a Sweet Creamy Treat

After a lovely Korean meal with my ladies, it was decide that we should travel to the depths of Normal Heights to acquire a frozen treat that could douse the flames of the burgeoning summer heat at ........

This kitschy little ice cream shop was started in Mariposa, California, and has been in San Diego since the summer of 2000. The owner,Dick, is a 4th generation Dutch dairy farmer from New York, and when he was 12 years old, his Grandpa Pete taught him how to make ice cream.
His Grandpa told him that it’s very simple to make good ice cream, using fresh milk and cream and other quality ingredients.They use batch freezer that’s designed to exactly duplicate the hand-cranked process, and they even display the 1923 White Mountain hand-cranked ice cream maker that the VanRansom family used on the farm.

Packed right before they close

They love the Beatles and lots of other old rock

The Kid chose cookies and cream. It was delicious. The texture was very smooth and luxurious and the cookie bits were awesome with a hint of cinnamon

My choice was the peanut butter fudge and it was glorious. Thick rich and creamy with a beautiful peanut butter swirl running throughout.

The Wife chose Heath bar. It was the perfect combination of candy bar and ice cream. Not too sweet, but still very candy bar oriented

This is sure to be a spot that we hit up often to try all the flavors and the monthly specials. So next time you crave some cool treats, head on down to Mariposa Ice Cream and grab yourself a cone, cup, or even bring your own Tupperware and fill it deliciousness

El Pescador: La Jolla Seafood Market and Deli

Headed up to La Jolla for a family fun day with the besties on Sunday, and they suggested eating at El Pescador. We have never eaten here so that's always a plus to us so we entered ............

Spanish for The Fisherman, El Pescador first opened its doors in Del Mar in July of 1974 by a 19 year old surfer named Jeff Norris. He only sold raw seafood until the locals wanted more options. The business boomed and in 1985, they opened on Pearl St. 30 years later they are still booming and looks like they are moving across the street to a larger space with hopes of possible liquor sales.

We got there a little early, so at the suggestion of the counter guy we ordered some clam chowder while we waited for our sandwiches. It looked delicious ,but was actually kind of bland. You could taste the potato and clams ,but it could have used salt or maybe more bacon. After the addition of some always helpful Cholula, it seemed better but still missing that special clam chowder-y-ness.

This picture sums up my feelings about these sandwiches. Can you see the fish? Exactly. Tons of places suffer from over addition of toppings and its sad. The lettuce, tomato, sauce, and avocado are welcome additions to any sandwich, but when they mask the flavor of the protein that they are meant to enhance, it's a real shame. The fish( you have many choices, the wife chose halibut) was nicely grilled and tasted very fresh. They also use a nice fluffy Mexican torta style bread that works well with the flavors.

I should preface this section with the thought that I love soft shell crab. I went with baited breath for those lovelies to come into season. So with that in mind I may have jinxed myself with getting excited about seeing them in the glass display and getting them on a sandwich. Thoughts of soft, crackling sea beasts bursting in my mouth. Their tender insides squirting out and mixing with creamy avocado and soft bread making my mouth salivate. That didn't happen so much. These tiny, delicate creatures looked as if they had been smooshed on the grill by an ape hand. Their fragile legs charred as if the were dancing on the devils grave. Gone was the briny taste of the sea in the mustards ( crab guts and brains) replaced with a chlorinated taste of poor quality salt, not to say they use poor quality salt. That's just a reference for you to get what I was tasting. To add to the sad farewell of these noble creatures, they are also outweighed by the accoutrements that were placed upon them. Too much sauce ( mayo or mayo based) and too much avocado , which I usually wouldn't say ,but when paired with the over abundance of the sauce made for a creamy, fatty, richness avalanche in my mouth. Those little blue bastards never had a chance.

I always give a place two chances. Whether it be service, ambience, food , or just plain bad vibes, I always go back one more time to see if I can be wowed. While not a stellar showing by the boys at El Pescador, I will return one day for round two.

Some interior shots. Small place with limited seating.

Maybe that's why the focus was off our food

Mystic Mocha: North Park Neighborhood Cafe

Today was a house cleaning day, so to get things started on the right foot, we decided to get a nice hearty and quasi healthy breakfast to energize the day...

This little restaurant is nestled on Mission ave. right off Normal. It was a Saturday so we expected it to be somewhat busy, but was actually not that bad. There is not really table service, so you just order your food at the counter and either take it to go or wait for a table to clear out so you can steal it from the other waiting customers. The menu is made up of mostly egg dishes in their various forms, ranging from wraps to tortas to chilaquiles. There is a main menu board,but there are also randomly posted specials around the counter, on the door outside, and other places which kind of gives you that buyers remorse after you order because as you wait you find another interesting dish you may have wanted if only it was presented to you.

This is the Wife's Decaf Soy Peanut Butter Mocha. Piping hot, this coffee almost ruined my breakfast, but it was delicious. It was as if they actually melted peanut butter cups with the hot coffee. I don't think I could have consumed an entire cup, but it was a tasty beverage.

The Wife ordered a Chicken Mole Wrap. It comes in a regular flour tortilla, but you can substitute any kind that you want. The mole was very good and wasn't soupy or greasy at all. Usually when the Wife orders mole it turns out to be a bad experience. She did mention that after eating a whole wrap it becomes a little cloying.

I ordered the Turkey Sausage Wrap. It comes wrapped in a red tortilla which I forgot to see what it was but I assume it sun dried tomato. The eggs were nicely cooked and the sausage was very juicy and flavorful. The only other thin in this wrap was some green bell pepper. Like literally four tiny diced pieces. It was seasoned well, but was kind of boring. The eggs to sausage ratio was off. Maybe instead of just a couple of round slices of sausage, they could have maybe diced it up so it better dispersed or even better added more large chunks of sausage.

This was the salsa that came with the wraps. We weren't sure if it was marinara trying to be salsa or salsa trying to be marinara,but either way it worked ok with the wraps.

Mystic Mocha

Left Coast Extravaganza Continues: Monterey or Bust or When We Gonna See Da Fishies Daddy?

We started off this day with a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. After missing the exit ( by alot) we finally made it to the fishes as the Kid would say. There are so many pictures and so many cool things , that i am just gonna bombard you with these images.

Whew we made it folks. That was some cascade of pics. Now I know this seems like we went from food blog to a Mutual of Omaha special ( Hi, I'm Marty Stouffer), but we only ate one time in Monterey and it wasn't that special, but here it goes..

The Kid's pasta

The Wife's pasta with seafood and a cream sauce. It was pretty tasty

I got the combo of Fish and Chicken and Chips. It was nicely fried but the breading kept coming of the fish when I dipped it. Overall not a bad eating experience. After eating lunch we hit the road again so we could make it to San Fran before it got too late. Stay tuned for the exciting two part conclusion!!