I was recently invited to preview the new summer menu at AVANT Restaurant at the Rancho Bernardo Inn. After parking in their huge lot, I wandered past gorgeous gardens toward the buildings and found the restaurant on the left. Inside, the bar area was already bustling and the stylish dining room was beginning to fill up. There was also a separate room with glass walls outside the main dining area and the PR person waved me in.
I was surprised to find myself inside AVANT Kitchen, a private dining area that staged an intimate 12 person wooden table (complete with a built-in lazy susan) and a showroom worthy kitchen in close proximity.
Has anyone noticed that I can be quite the glutton sometimes? Yes, it was quite a while ago yet I've been a bit hesitant to "prove" this with an actual post. Case in point: San Diego Burger Week. How many $5 burgers can one eat in a period of ten days? Burger, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways, or rather, visits!
Thursday
Small Bar - To start the week off, there was the Sunrise Burger... Sausage flavored popped into mind on first bite...
Poke bowls have become quite popular these days and I've been seeing them pop up everywhere! We recently tried it ourselves at San Diego Poke Company through a media invite. The restaurant is off the I-15 / Friars Road intersection in the Mission Gorge area and lucky for me, within driving distance from my workplace!
Dennis and I popped in midweek around 7pm and found a line to the door, though it was perhaps only 10 people, since this is a smaller space! ! Waves of people came and went during our visit but the line seemed to move fast.
First, you order at the counter. You can start off with one of the preconfigured bowls or build your own as you go down the line. It's like chipotle but for poke!
There are about 8 choices of seafoods, including fresh tuna, salmon, spicy tuna, albacore, octopus, scallops, etc.
Making my own bacon has been one of the top things I wanted to try since getting a smoker. I've always craved the thick-cut, salty, and smoky flavor you'd get from the bacon served at restaurants and specialty meat delis. The regular bacon from the grocery stores cannot even compare to the taste and texture.
The reason why I never made my own bacon is because I was a little nervous of the curing process. I read about the dangers of using curing salts (sodium nitrite and sodium nitrates) and researched alternative methods that did not use them. Some restaurants, such as Burger Lounge, do offer nitrate-free bacon.
After asking around and reading articles, I've decided to just go with the sodium nitrate curing. The first reason is that vegetables actually have higher levels of sodium nitrates than the amount used for bacon. The second is that people reported non-cured bacon did not taste like bacon... and who wants that kind of taste?
Here's our new slogan: "Will bike for food." Just kidding, that's only Dennis... During Memorial Day weekend, the guys decided to bike to Irvine while I happily drove my car. I hit the Irvine Spectrum Center a few minutes after they arrived which had to be the most PERFECT timing ever, if only I hadn't missed that one turn hehe...
We were hungry of course and this korean fusion restaurant called Urban Seoul 2.0 popped into my radar. We took a short walk through the mall and turned the corner to find it.
The first thing I noticed was their special mango peach pineapple drink which we immediately ordered. This drink turned out to be super refreshing too, fruity and sweetened to a perfect level. Also it came in a hefty sized to-go cup to share between Dennis and me. *sip* ahhhhh.
My former coworker (and fellow foodie) joined us at Dae Jang Keum for a farewell lunch before his move. The restaurant is located off the main Convoy strip and has been in business for 30 years in the Convoy area of San Diego. The current name is only 12 years old though, named after a korean drama according to a staff member. There was still parking around 11:30am but by the time we left, the small plaza lot was full!
Here's the lobby into the restaurant. Dennis mentioned that the first thing he noticed was some kind of aroma, very different, yet somewhat familiar. More on that later.
At the front of the restaurant, there's a huge barrel of complimentary peanuts which we munched on as we browsed the menu.
We recently attended the Tacos and Tequila Festival in San Diego as media. Their offering of unlimited tacos, craft beer and tequila samples was too good to turn down. We saw a lot of happy people at the event.
Especially the hop, skip, and jump guy from one of the breweries! Is it surprising to see people posing for the camera when there's alcohol involved? Never. =)
I first heard of Pete's Seafood and Sandwich through several of my facebook food groups. This restaurant opened late last year in North Park with positive buzz so of course we had to follow up with a visit. We parked down the street and entered hungry and curious. Dennis and I realized that the business at this location had changed again... Pete's Seafood and Sandwich had replaced Bazinga Eatery which had replaced Sea Rocket Bistro, chronicled through our multiple Taste of North Park crawls. Hopefully this place is here to stay!
The menu was filled with potential food offerings, but we came with one item echoing in our brains... lobster roll. The cashier told us that each sandwich contained 5 ounces of lobster! We also ordered the chicken cutlet parmesan and two sides before taking a seat on the left side of the restaurant. Only one other person was eating still, working on the "small" fries. We were a bit shocked because it looked more like a LARGE!
Within a few minutes, our food was on its way to the table! The server was carrying two big items which we thought were our two sandwiches...
