85C Bakery is finally open in Mira Mesa! After braving a super crazy line last year, I was glad we were attending last Friday's grand opening as media. The store opened to the public at 9am but we could already see this line forming by 8:30am! The first 100 people got a coupon book with 12 free drink tickets inside!
As we looked around the store, we noticed these baked goods sitting out... it was so very tempting already!
Dennis and I met up with two of our friends to celebrate some birthdays. They suggested Slater's 50/50 so I figured it would be a good time to use my giftcard. The appeal of Slater's is their special 50/50 patty that is half beef and half bacon. Plus, they have some kick-ass bacon flavors to choose from.
The San Marcos location was packed but we were still able to get a table within 5 minutes. I feel like the Point Loma one is much busier so this is a good option if you really want your 50/50 patty!
B' B' B' Bacon Burger - 50/50 patty, thick cut bacon, bacon American cheese, sunny side up egg, bacon island dressing, bacon pretzel bun
This summer I was able to attend Foodie Fest Encinitas which celebrated sustainability and had demos, tastings, music, art, and a chef competition. The preview event was earlier that month with a few different samples so I was able to try a wide variety of items! I'll run through some of my favorites first and move on from there.
Local Tap House had these fantastic deviled eggs which were dressed up with edible flowers during the event!
Dessert from Bistro West was pretty amazing at the preview. The panna cotta was quite delicious, with their bread pudding a close second. For the actual event, there was marinaded ahi mixed with a seaweed salad in a cute little cone.
Reader Tacotopia 2016: The Search for the Best Taco. 30+ vendors set up booths in Golden Hill Park, with tacos aplenty, all vying for your vote as the ultimate taco! Dennis and I were invited to attend through the Spicy Loves Milk campaign. Michael Ruffner, from My Urban Eats, is one of just seven California chefs that are being featured in the campaign, which highlights California’s love of tacos and spicy foods. We made sure to stop by his booth for a taste between all the taco mayhem!
Here's the inspired creation: Blazing Pork Belly Blossom paired with milk...
Every year, Chef Celebration holds a series of dinners in April featuring teams of award-winning local chefs who donate their time and talents to raise funds for a nonprofit culinary scholarship program. A couple foodie friends of mine planned to attend one and I thought, why not... Let's splurge just this once and help out some aspiring chefs in the process!
Our selected dinner was at Arterra in the San Diego Marriot Del Mar hotel. Our server Danielle was a doll and took very good care of us during the 5-course meal, which was $65/person before tax and gratuity.
We were invited to check out Tostadas North Park for a food and drink pairing. Add in the owner or chef or special guests, etc. and a meal becomes so much more... I love to hear about the inspiration and background of how the meal and/or drinks came about.
Upon entry, there's the counter to order your food and to the right is a long and beautiful wood table with artisan barstools. Usually compostable plates and corn-based utensils are used at the restaurant but for this media event, they borrowed dishes and glassware! We be getting fancy!
Along with their logo, there are a lot of seahorses around the restaurant too. Here are just a few we noticed while we mingled with the other guests. I was excited to be in the company of several foodie friends (Jinxi, Sun Diego Eats, This Tasty Life, Hungry Ones).
The owner Gerry Torres excitedly talked to us about his restaurant...
I'd like to think I've been to all the "Taste of" events by now but it's my first time attending Taste of Point Loma! Mary from This Tasty Life asked me to be her plus one for some tickets she had won. You wanna feed me yummy food for free? I'M GAME girlfriend.
It's always fun going with another food blogger too. We think and do things a certain way. Here's a sneak peek of how some of us food bloggers roll!
Ticket will-call was outside of The Portuguese Hall and we entered the building for our first samples. I got to try Portuguese cheese and TWO variations of octopus (pickled octopus and grilled octopus), all delicious! The pickled octopus had a great marinade that was not sour. I tried to convince her but Mary still would not partake in ANY pickled things. We also sampled refreshing Sumol fruit juice. I need to buy some for Dennis to drink!
Lisa and Dennis have birthdays in the same month and we typically pick a date in the middle to celebrate. This year I suggested Pomegranate for some Georgian/Russian food. First off, it's important to note there are TWO restaurants referenced as "Pomegranate," this one (Kafe Sobaka Restoran Pomegranate) in Golden Hill and the original Pomegranate in North Park. I found this out the hard way when a girlfriend suggested meeting at Pomegranate and they were actually at the Kafe Sobaka location instead! For this visit, I made sure to tell the family which street the restaurant was on!
Pomegranate started on El Cajon Blvd in the North Park area but the owners sold that location and they opened Kafe Sobaka in Golden Hill. Interesting enough, both restaurants still serve the same delicious dishes but the GH location is open for both lunch and dinner. Be aware that the phone numbers listed on google/yelp are only ONE number different! Make sure you know which place you are trying to go to!
After successfully making it to the right restaurant, the family was seated in the back room. We were handed menus, and as I expected, there was some conversations regarding the humorous descriptions of the foods... you'll read them soon...
Our happy birthday folks decided to start out with some mules to drink. There were three different variations you could order: herbal, spicy or sweet. Herbal was essentially mint flavor, the spicy one provided a stronger ginger bite and the sweet was a bit on the syrupy side.
