Cafe 21 Jumpstreet. Just kidding its on Adams

On a nice lazy Saturday afternoon, the wife and I were destined to spend the day with our lovey friends at the San Diego Zoo. As our scheduled play date was not for a couple hours, we decide to go and get some brunch to fuel up for the day of walking around. We were going to go to Cafe on Park, but as we drove by there was a huge line outside and our hunger would not wait for that. The wife fired up her yelp app on the phone and started throwing out names of restaurants in the area we were driving. We drove past many of the choices, but they were equally unappealing in wait times. The wife called out Cafe 21 and we said what the hey. We pulled up to the parking lot that Cafe 21 shares with a liquor store and saw that while it was full of people, there was no line.

We were greeted at the door by a friendly hostess/waitress who actually held the door open for us, and were seated in the back at a cozy table for two. Our waitress gave us our menus and took our drink order and was very nice and not pushy about ordering. I ordered the orange juice and the wife ended up getting the fresh squeezed apple juice. We both we taken aback by that, with both of us saying," really? Fresh squeezed?". When the glass of apple juice, arrived it had that cloudy look of apple cider and when tasted it was like taking a bite of a fresh apple. You got the tang and slight bitterness from the skin of the apple and then instantly the crisp sweetness washed over the taste buds. It was delicious.

The decor inside seemed like a gothic farm house mated with a middle eastern bazaar. The tables were mismatched in a pleasant way and there were all kinds of knick knacks on the shelves and walls. I thought it was cozy and eclectic, but the wife was unimpressed.

This was the delicious shrimp and corn cake. These cake concoctions are a house speciality at Cafe 21 so me and the wife had to try them. I ordered this one. The corn cake was velvety and creamy. The sweetness of the corn played nicely with the shrimp and the spices in the cake. There was a cilantro cream sauce on the bottom and poached eggs on top, so it was almost like a benidict. My eggs were two different levels of poached, one was perfect and the other one was border line hard boiled. I feel tha the cream sauce needed to have a level of spiciness or some sort of acidic quality because it was basically rich taste on rich taste and after a couple of bites it kind of blows out your palate. The taste and presentation overall was very good and would return here most definitely .

this was the potato pancake that you could order as a side dish. I fell in love with this bad boy. It was crispy, moist, fluffy, creamy all in one sweet package. The Jew in me was very impressed. The wife felt it was too much together with the rich food.

This was the wife's cake choice, the salmon potato cake. It is the same overall dish just different protein and starch inside the cake. It was equally delicious and her eggs were both perfectly poached. Both breakfast plates come with a lovely piece of house made bread with a little slab of butter an I believe it was the wife's favorite because it cut the richness of the meal.

Tacos El Gordo: How many ways can you eat the cow?

Aah Tacos El Gordo, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways... one Lengua, two Cabeza, three Tripa...etc etc.

If you have never made the trip down to Chula Vista for Tacos El Gordo I will venture to say that you are not a San Diegan or human for that matter. There are three locations for this iconic taco shop, but we always gravitate to the one on H street. When i come to this spot, memories of living in Ensenada swim back into my head carried on the waves of aromas that emanate from the little open view kitchen. I smell the myriad of delicious cow and pig parts and I see the little taco stand on the side of the road that we used to stop at before heading home for the night.                                                                                   

We stopped in here today with a  homie and the baby in tow to grab a varietal smorgasbord of tacos and beat our craving for delicious tacos into submission. We ordered enough tacos to feed Zapata's army, and of course some orange Bang, and settled into the plastic booth to commence consumption of large quantities.                                                                                                                                         

Every bite is like a mariachi band playing in your mouth in perfect pitch. Ever flavor plays perfectly with the next creating a taste sensation that you could never find at a Taco Bell. The meats are superbly cooked and seasoned, the salsas are hot and flavourful without overpowering the rest of the ingredients and the blast of fresh, colorful flavor you get from the onion and cilantro take the taco over the top like a sharp trumpet blast accompanied by the signature Ahhhhhuuhhahaha of the mariachi scream.

My overall favorite taco has to be the tripa taco. I have never had tripa as good as this one anywhere. The trip is crispy and chewy all at the same time and the spices are so masterful in their subtlety. Next in the line of favorites has to be the adovada. Adovada is marinated pork or chicken that is then skewered in layers on a vertically rotating spit and slow cooked so that the meat uses its juices to actually bast itself.

All in all every taco at Tacos El Gordo is a winner, whether it be Lengua, Tripa, Adovada, Cabeza, or any other style they have, you cant pass this place up.


www.yelp.com/biz/tacos-el-gordo-chula-vista

Ahhh Shit Son, Chronic Tacos!

This sunday, my wife and I strapped the nugglet in and headed up to the LBC to see the G. Ma for the day, and I had the amazing thought to hit up Chronic Tacos. We have been meaning to come her for a couple years now, but it never seems to make the list when deciding on dinner.

 after picking up Long Beach G. Ma, we headed to the Ocean blvd. location. On the inside it looks like a typical surf taco shop you might find in a myriad of surf towns across cali, but outside looks like an old Ihop with surf and skate stickers on it.

 The menu is simple and to the point and the prices are in the medium range. The G.Ma ordered chicken rolled tacos, the wife had grilled fish taco and pollo asada taco, and I chose the pollo asada and the carnitas tacos. When you order your tacos they blast your choice of corn or flour tortillas then place your choice of meat on it and like a mexican subway, you pick and choose your toppings and salsas.

 All of our choices were soo  delicious, I forgot to even snap some pictures of our food

The price per taco was a little much for the size, but the meat was flavorful and juicy , the toppings and salsas are well made , and the tortillas were nice and soft with just enough chewiness. The pollo asada was kind of run of the mill, but no reason that i wouldnt want to order it again.                                     

All in all i would definetly come back to Chronic Tacos, but would definetly go for the burritos
Www.eatchronictacos.com

Talavera Azul in sunny Chula Vista

After seeing an episode of the "The Best Thing I Ever Ate", we were persuaded to take a trip down to try out Talavera Azul. On the episode, an anonymous Latina told us of the glorious chilaquiles that this little spot offered. So the very next day we packed up the nugglet and headed to Chula Vista.

It's situated right on the main strip of downtown Chula Vista in the midst of about a thousand other Mexican joints. So my first thought is that this place better blow my mouth apart with these chilaquiles, and when I enter the restaurant I am delighted to see that at least it is packed with mexicans, and that's not racist it's just a good sign.you rarely want to walk into an ethnic restaurant and find it filled to the brim with whiteys.

The interior looks like it was freshly painted with a terRa cotta colored paint and there are blue and white painted crosses, plates, and other chotckes ( pronounced chach-keys for the Yiddish impaired). The menu is simple and to the point. It's filled with a variety of the Mexican delights that you would expect to find, burritos, tacos, etc.

We are here for the chilaquiles, so there is no real need to browse the menu. There are four kinds of chilaquiles to choose from: chile verde, chile rojo, mole, and chipotle crema. I choose the chipotle and my wife chose the mole. The dishes come with refried beans and grilled potatoes. For a little extra you can add eggs or chicken to your order.I strongly suggest adding one or the other to them because they put alot of sauce on the chilaquiles.

Now chilaquiles are just chips, sauce, and some cheese, so when you slap the sauce on all willy nilly it tends to become over powering. I enjoyed the flavor of the chipotle sauce you could really get the smoky flavor of the roasted peppers and the cream wasn't to much, but as stated earlier there was just too much sauce on the plate. My Wife felt the same way about the mole version and couldn't really even finish her portion because it was too rich.

Overall the dish was good and the ambience was ok. The service was sub par considering how many people were there. I would return here again and try other dishes, but it won't pop to the forefront of my mind unless the next experience is way better.

(619) 427-6476 or look on Yelp

Slater's 50/50

On one of our trips to Disney, the family and I hit up this nice bar/restaurant. Their speciality is a make your own burger menu that contains a delicious array of quality ingredients, some you expect and some not so common.
Their world famous burger is called the Peanut Butter and Jellousy. It is a very juicy burger with peanut butter and jelly on it. The salty sweet combo is always delish, but it seemed very boring and lackluster. We startes with the Vampire dip which is your common artichoke dip, with uncommon taste. It is served in a breadbowl and you scoop up the gooey molten mess with fried pita bread. The fried pita might be a little over kill, but it works well. There is a ton of garlic (duh vampire dip) and the cheese is perfect.

To top the whole meal off I ordered a tall glass of love a.k.a the Bacon Maple Shake. It is vanilla ice cream, bacon syrup, maple, and topped with crunchy bits of bacon. It's salty, creamy, sweet, and very mapely. It's like breakfast in a glass.

Next time we go I am dying to try their 50/50 burger which is half meat and half bacon!

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Bay Area Food Trip

It's been a while since our last trip.  It's been even longer since our last food blog post.  This past trip to SF was a pretty foodie trip, too good not to blog about.  It was Kaila's first time on an airplane, and the hour and a half trip wasn't so bad. 

First time in Muir Woods

pink pearl apple?

Didn't try these, but they're pretty

Tyler Florence's pick on Best Thing I Ever Ate: grilled cheese and tomato soup

They were good, but the veggies were really fresh delicious!!

I was tempted to take a picture of the couple sitting in front of the sign feeding a squirrel

flavorosas: cross between a plum and a nectarine (at least that's what they tasted like..)  Delicious.

Kaila helping us hold the groceries

La Coppa Coffee in Mill Valley: I thought it was a good latte.  Aaron thought it was too bitter

Pearl's Phatburgers: Tyler Florence's pick in another episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ate

really good juicy burger

Noci gelato: Noci means "nuts"

The gelato was pretty good, but not the best... I had been craving the gelato place in North Beach we went to on our last trip to SF

Tony's: Pops has been raving about this place since they moved to the bay area

Margherita pizza they're known for: delicious

Heirloom tomato and garlic pizza on special: ridiculously delicious, and we ended up getting two of them

chorizo and quail eggs: another delicious choice

Kaila laughing at Aunty

Grandpa holding Kaila while we choose our gelato

The gelato I had been craving for months.. but wasn't as good as I remembered it being

First stop at farmer's market: maple bacon donut

Not so good.  It tasted like an odd manapua (a Chinese sweet bun filled with marinated pork)

Chris Cosentino sighting in front of Boccalone: Tasty salted pig parts (that's his blurry sillhouette in the background)

tasty salted salumi cones (Aaron insisted this be our first stop inside)

Pain de mie Aaron bought to make blt+fried egg sandwhiches the next day

bacon for our blt's

pretty black tea eggs

Pops cracking one open

it was pretty good; it had a shoyu five spice flavor

Hog Island Oysters wasn't open yet, so we got oysters here

These were good.. I love fresh oysters with horseraddish

The best empanadas

We got the chanpinones with organic mushrooms.  It was amazing with the chimichurri sauce he let us sample

Rosemary salted caramel vegan donut

Second Chris Cosentino sighting at the farmer's market (he was shopping)

some of the most delicious, spicy chicken tamales I've ever eaten

Riding the trolley to get to Pier 31

Goofball face

Standing on the corner at Fisherman's Wharf

"For your safety, please do not climb on the big noodle."  Latest Kraft mac and cheese promo.

pretty jellies at the aquarium

trapped in a bubble

Kaila's first time front facing in the baby carrier at Alcatraz

Pops and Aaron having fun at Alcatraz

safe in daddy's hands

little trip to Oakland for the Eat Real Festival: celebrating local delicious foods on the go.  There were tons of food trucks that serve quality foods made with local ingredients

Roasted nuts different and delicious

Pickle plate

Tshirts at the Roli Roti truck where Pops and Aaron had eaten a porchetta sandwich the previous day at the farmer's market

Aaron tried pretty much all things BBQ at the festival

brisket slider

pork belly slider

Kaila wasn't really into trying the foods at the festival and stuck with her formula

crazy flavored popsicles

Aaron tried the honeydew wasabi.  It was kind of delicious and very refreshing

They had sold out of a lot of flavors by the time we go to this stand (after the festival had only been open about an hour!)

Spencer on the go! French cuisine food truck as seen on  The Great Food Truck Race on Food Network

we were excited to see mac and cheese

I asked why they didn't make bigger batches, and they said it affects the quality of the pasta.. but I don't think it could have made that much of a difference

It was good, but Aaron makes better mac and cheese (and he makes a big batch all at once)

I really liked their tiny compostable bowls!

We had to get a drink here because of the "double rainbow" roast, which is a special phrase with Aaron and his parents

pretty latte which Aaron and I both enjoyed a lot, even on this super hot sunny day!

We finally met up with Ahmee!  Our second annual food festival meet up

Grill full of knishes that looked and smelled delightful, and after giving the festival a once over, I came back to try one

The sauces were spicy, flavorful, and delicious

The knish had spinach and potato in it

but it really wasn't as flavorful or delicious as I'd hoped it would be

Aaron watched the pig butchering competition

where chefs compteted to turn half a pig

into a grocery store's pork selection

Chinese fried chicken was pretty good crispy, but moist and flavorful

jambalaya wasn't as good as we'd hoped

roasted corn was so good I forgot to take a picture of it!

green chile and cheese tamale from Tamale Girl

organic pork tamale both yummy, but not as good as the tamales at the farmer's market!

Aaron had to try the pork sausage after chatting with the pit guys for a while

Korean taco was good, but not great

lots of sun

sandwich #123: The Joker- all beef meatballs, beer battered zucchini, Ike's red pesto, ranch.  SO good..

omg!! this picture is of just HALF the sandwich!!  we're talkin like, over 2 feet of sandwich. 

sandwich #189: Lex Luthor ($18!!)- 1/3LB Niman Ranch beef burger, chicken fried steak, rib eye steak, mozzarella sticks, American cheese.  Ridiculous.

fortune cookie-like parking stalls in China town

..as a matter of fact, we watched them all weekend

turtles :(  I didn't even realize that's what they were until Aaron said so

really good, unique char siu, and pretty good roast pork