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| Arancini (left) and bitterballen (right), right before kickoff at our Super Bowl party. |
I inched closer to 30.
So... I drank beer.
That's the way to ring in another year of existence. I don't feel old, but I didn't feel like making a big deal out of my birthday, either. M.T. and M.S. met us for dinner and beers at Hamilton's Tavern and Cafe. Later, J.T. joined us for dessert at Heaven Sent Desserts.
Hamilton's is a fun pub in South Park. Great selection of beers and they recently opened the cafe next door. We had brats and grilled cheese sandwiches. I enjoyed the "farmer in the dell" grilled cheese, which had manchego, chard, and onion jam. Yum.
For dessert, we headed to Heaven Sent Desserts in North Park. I heard they've had a new pastry chef for a while, so it was a good time to visit.
As always, the interior was lovely. The pastries are looking fabulous. Not in a mood for cake, I indulged in a chocolate-banana malted parfait. Chocolate pudding, bananas, malted cookie crumbs, and whipped cream layered in a tall glass. Note to Heaven Sent: a shorter, wider glass would probably work better, even though presentation might not be so impressive. I was given a longer spoon, but I was practically spelunking into the depths of the dessert.
Anyway, delicious overall and great combination of flavors. Just like the Whoppers on top, this dessert satisfies.
Hamilton's Tavern and Cafe
1521 30th St.
San Diego, CA 92102
Heaven Sent Desserts
3001 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92104
It was a rainy Thursday night last week and the gang met up here in lieu of watching Thursday night TV. Writers' strike means more good eating. Ritual Tavern's fairly new to North Park and it's very close to the house. The restaurant is essentially a classy pub. Warm and rustic interior belies the rather plain and uninviting exterior. There's an exterior view to the kitchen, making it look almost like a pizza place.
I'd have to say that I was "whelmed" by the experience here. Not overwhelmed, not underwhelmed, but just... whelmed. Anyhoo, they very kindly sat T. down when he was the first of 6 to arrive, which is rare for restaurants. We all had beers and it was a very homey, but loud, atmosphere. I started with the Stone Porter Shake, which was the best part of this visit.
Creamy and nicely balanced between beer and vanilla ice cream, this drink is a must-have.
On their specials menu were black mussels from Carlsbad Aquafarms. Cooked in the classic white wine sauce, the mussels were fresh and fantastic. The sauce, however, was boring as fuck. It was white wine, shallots (or maybe onions), and garlic. The shallots and garlic are cooked down and white wine added to the resulting liquid. The wine broth is used to cook the mussels, adding their juices, and voila! Sauce. Zzzzz...
In Philly, Monk's Cafe did the same dish with much better results. Fennel, spices... anything would have given this sauce some personality. Oh, well... same type of rustic tavern with great beers, but much better food at Monk's.
Served with the "must" of moules, crusty artisanal bread. If the sauce ain't good, the bread serves no purpose. The great quality mussels really saved the dish.
T. and R. had better luck with the gumbo, which R. said was spicy and flavorful. Sadly, no pictures, but it was a pretty dish.
D. wasn't a fan of his Niman Ranch burger. He said the meat was too bland and the "artisan buns" too hard for a burger. Their in-house ketchup was really acidic with onion almost dominating the tomato flavor. Ironically, what would have made a difference would have been sugar or corn syrup, like a commercial ketchup, because sweetness would have balanced out the other flavors.
He also had the bread pudding for dessert.
The house bourbon sauce was good, but the pudding itself was a dense and dry clump with an overpowering amount of cinnamon.
Service was rather slow, but they did let us stay for three hours, so they deserve major props for that. We were pleasantly surprised to hear that our first round of drinks fell within happy hour. I'd go again for the beers, that shake, and the atmosphere, but dinner? Eh, maybe.
Here we go with a series of posts from our trip to Philadelphia and New York. We flew in on Friday, October 19, arriving at 5pm. We took a cab into Center City and J. took us to Monk's, an awesome Belgian cafe. I ordered the rabbit terrine, which I thought was fantastic. The terrine was a little crumbly and not very smooth, but I don't think the texture was a massive issue. The menu describes it as:
Rabbit Terrine house made terrine with rabbit, kriek-soaked dried fruit & pistachio nuts. With whole grain bread, capers & our "hunters sauce" made with belgian cassis lambic ale
I think the overall theme of the flavors of this dish is "nutty". The game-y flavor of the rabbit paired nicely with the pistachio and the whole grain bread. The capers added a salty touch to the entire dish. All in all, a great dish.
My second dish was the Brussels mussels (hehe *snort* hehe), described as "fumè, tomato, fennel, herbs de provençe & garlic". The fennel was the dominant flavor and I liked it a lot. It led the pack, but wasn't disturbingly overwhelming. It was a good-sized pot of mussels and the "sauce" was awesome.
To drink, I had the Geants Goliath, which the menu describes as:
Geants Goliath A tripel. Golden/Orange color. Medium body. A bit of sweetness in the front, but finishes somewhat dry. Hints of fresh stone fruit (peaches?). Yummy!
It was good, but finished too dry for my liking. Wikipedia has an entry on tripel.
After dinner, we stopped by Capogiro. Holy cow, this place is wonderful. I want it to come to San Diego. Oh, wait... they ship their gelato! Whoa... that could be deadly. We ended up there one more time before we left. I had the pistachio, dark chocolate, bacio (hazelnut/chocolate, white chocolate, and one of the coffee-based flavors. I think I had the pistachio twice. Incredible gelato and the flavors are very inventive.
Correction: D. tells me we went twice and since I had so many samples, I probably confused 6 flavors with three trips (2 flavors per cup). Oops.
Started Saturday morning with a sunny Muni ride out to Lower Haight. Went to one of G. and K.'s favorite cafes, Cafe du Soleil, for coffee and people-watching. I absolutely love this place. It's a little slice of Paris in the middle of San Francisco. I started with a mocha (which comes in a bowl) and an open-faced sandwich. I think these are tartines. I ordered the smoked salmon one, which was served with creme fraiche. I think of creme fraiche as a civilized man's sour cream. Here it is with my mocha in a bowl:
Even though it was breakfast, I had to have a slice of lemon tart. They use the fabulous rectangular tart pans (I must get one!) and serve it in slices. This tart is perfect. The filling was tart and sweet without being too much of either, there was a good lemon glaze on top, and the crust was light, crunchy, and buttery.
The tartine was a bit pricey ($10), but I thought the splurge was worth it.
We didn't really eat for the rest of the day, so we had an early dinner at Home in the Castro. I linked to name to Yelp.com and I'm a little shocked at some of the less-flattering reviews. I'll have to keep them in mind and not go back when it's super-crowded.
We arrived at 6pm and it wasn't crowded at all. In fact, they had a happy hour going, so we had $3 drinks. I had an appletini, which was ok, and decided on tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich and mac 'n' cheese. Those dishes are classics, but I'd have to say that Home's made the best versions of them I've ever had. The soup was a fresh tomato puree that somehow didn't manage to seem or taste like tomato sauce. It tasted creamy and sweet, although there wasn't any cream in it. There might have been a small amount, but unlike typical tomato soup, cream is not a significant player.
The grilled cheese was amazing. The bread was thick and moist and while there was a crust on it, it wasn't grilled to the point where the bread was hard. It was a fresh sourdough and filled with a good quality cheddar, so it was cheesy, not greasy. In fact, the absence of greasiness was what put this grilled cheese above the rest. It was, however, a tad too small.
I can write sonnets about the mac 'n' cheese. The chef must totally understand that rich is good, greasy is not. The dish manages to balance the rich creaminess of mac 'n' cheese without the overwhelming heaviness that comes with certain versions of it. It also uses white cheddar, which I like better than regular cheddar. It's also nice and sharp, so the flavors were great. The macaroni was not baked to mush, but probably cooked to pre-al dente and baked so the pasta held its shape and texture.
After dinner, we went to G. and K.'s favorite bar, Mr. Smith's, for fabulous martinis and a ridiculously hot bartender. Sorry, D., I had to say it. We followed that up with a visit to Etiquette, which was pretentious and vaguely ridiculous, although the bartender was a very nice guy. We sat in one of the corner booths that was covered in vinyl. Yes, vinyl. I'm obviously not trendy or bougie enough for this place. The Jessica Rabbit martini is totally fabulous... I don't remember what was in it, except it was a good strawberry martini and it had blue Pop Rocks in it. Hey, when it's your fourth drink of the night, the details get a little foggy.
