The Flying Pig

"The Flying Pig" answered Vandelay when queried about eats. Oh, the one in Gastown right? "No, the one in Yaletown". Okay, we're not talking about The Greedy Pig... So they serve pork and ribs and such yah? Nope. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, there was only one pork dish on the menu if I recall. Then why the name? Well, the proprietors, John Crook and Erik Heck believe that much like a flying pig, they want the impossible to be possible. In this case, employing seasonal ingredients in a simple, yet focused menu all prepared in a open kitchen. That sounded good to Rich Guy and myself, so we met up with Vandelay for lunch.

We started with a few appies including the Devilled Jumbo Chicken Drumettes. These were actually chicken drumsticks that had been baked until the meat fell off the bone. The meat was a bit too cooked for our tastes, which ended up to be slightly dry. The srirracha BBQ glaze was sweet with a hint of spice and smokiness. The srirracha content was modest which suited us fine really because too much and it overwhelms everything. We found the side of Parmesan basil sour cream dip to be fantastic. It was flavourful and had a cooling effect on the meat and went really well with the crisp celery sticks. Our other appie was one of the featured items (which sold out shortly after we ordered it) being the Quadra Island Honey Mussels in a lamb sausage and spinach broth. We really liked the large plump mussels. They were fresh and naturally sweet. However, the broth was pretty one-dimensional exhibiting a predominant white wine flavour. The broth could've benefited from more influence from the slightly spicy lamb sausage. The accompanying matchstick frites were reminiscent of Hickory Stix, which were fun to eat, if not a bit clumsy.

For my main, I went for the Shortrib Rigatoni with Cabernet mushroom cream. This was very well-executed dish. The pasta exhibited an al dente bite that was perfectly firm. It was bathed in a rich meaty sauce that had loads of depth. There was only subtle red wine presence which allowed the natural meat flavour and Earthiness of the mushrooms to be at the forefront. The super tender shortrib required very little effort to eat and was not in the least stringy. Add in the vibrant and crisp broccolini, this was indeed as perfect as a pasta dish could be. Rich Guy went for the Pan Seared Queen Charlotte Halibut with crispy gnocchi and Chilliwack corn nage. The halibut had a nice crispy sear on the outside and was actually quite flavourful. The flesh was on the drier side, but that is almost unavoidable with halibut. As for the gnocchi, it was slightly dense, yet that didn't bother me since I prefer it over the really fluffy kind. For me, it had a nice bite and a great crispy exterior. However, what brought this dish all together was the sweet creamy corn nage. It was delicately sweet which really complimented the gnocchi and the fish.

Vandelay also had fish with the featured Arctic Char. It was accompanied by mash potatoes and broccolini. For me, I found the fish to be slightly past perfectly cooked. However, Vandelay didn't mind it and in the end, it was still moist (personally, I just like my fish a little rare). It was decently seasoned with a beautiful sear. I really liked the mash potatoes because it actually tasted like potatoes with random soft chunks. It wasn't too creamy nor buttery which was good. The broccolini was perfectly cooked and vibrant in appearance. And then at the end of the meal, I pulled a Mijune and couldn't resist dessert. I decided to go for their TFP Drumstick, which serves to emulate the popular ice cream cone found in supermarkets. Predictably, theirs was far superior with a freshly made crisp waffle cone, chocolate and vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, caramel and pistachios. I really liked the combination of crunchy pistachios, smooth ice cream and light waffle cone. In fact, all of us enjoyed our meal at The Flying Pig. Reasonably-priced given its location and good food to boot too.

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced given its location
- Service was friendly, despite our missing bread until we asked for it
- Simple, focused menu

The Bad:
- Seating arrangements are very tight
- The proteins could've been a shade less cooked

Bluefin

I'm not sure what possessed me to book a 6:30am flight leaving San Diego. I suppose on one hand it was the great package deal and on the other, I am a masochist of some sort. Think of it. Not only did I have to wake up at an unholy hour of 3:30am; but we had to wake up the kids too. 2 cranky kids in the early morning, dragging our sorry asses to the airport. To think of it, I'd much rather have a case of jock itch with my hands tied behind my back. At the very least, I wouldn't need to carry 4 pieces of luggage all by myself. So we did it. We made it to Sea-Tac in relatively once piece (with my daughter the only one being grouchy). Grabbed the car from Park 'n Fly and headed off in search of eats. Hey, what did you think we were going to do? Drive home right away??? At this point, we were in no mood for anything related to breakfast, brunch or American food. Been there, done that many times over in San Diego. What we needed was Asian cuisine pronto. Wait. We were in Seattle. Um... That is not as easy as in Vancouver. Sure, there is good stuff to be found, there just isn't a lot of it. So we settled on mediocre Asian food and a buffet at that. See what I said about being a masochist?

Back in early July, we had been in Seattle for an impromptu shopping trip and while at Northgate, I spotted this sushi buffet joint. It looked very busy and it piqued my interest. Now for the disclaimer: I realize that a buffet is never a great way to experience sushi or many other types of food for all-that-matters. However, we were hungry and this was convenient. While we were waiting in line to be seated, I graciously informed the host that there was a party in front of us and they should be seated first. I know the group behind us saw this; but decided to not say anything when they were seated before us! And we weren't in Richmond either! Some people... I'll just let karma do its work. Anyways, once we were seated, I took a look at what was available and there was an impressive array of Nigiri and Maki Sushi. For the nigiri, there was a selection which included Ika, Wakame, Mackerel, Salmon, Tuna, Tai, Ebi, Tamago, Tako, Inari and Avocado with Tobiko. Now, I wouldn't classify the nigiri as good sushi, rather it was your typical serve-yourself-buffet nigiri. I found the rice to be rather dry while the fish was acceptable for what it was. 

As for the maki sushi, there were the usual variety with some more deluxe rolls as well. The standard stuff included California Roll, Bacon & Asparagus Roll, Cucumber Roll, Futomaki and Spicy Tuna. The really interesting stuff was their specialty rolls which consisted of Caterpillar (California roll with avocado and sauce), Vegetable (pink soy wrap, carrot oshinko, pickle & spinach) Seared Ebi (California Roll with ebi on top), Philly (cream cheese, tuna with avocado on top), Tempura Shrimp (California roll with shrimp, unagi sauce & tobiko), Seared Salmon (California roll with seared salmon and sauce), Unagi Creamy Roll (Unagi, tamago with unagi and sauce on top) and Mixed Tempura (basically various rolls coated with tempura batter and fried). I wouldn't say any of the rolls were that great while they weren't awful either. Best description would be a wide range of interesting mediocre sushi.

One item that I went back for seconds was the Marinated Jellyfish which sat right next to the Spicy Noodle Salad and Cold Soba. The 2 noodles were not too bad while the jellyfish had the right texture and was a bit spicy. Moving along to the Chinese food station, there was Seafood Fried Rice which was bland, Soy Fried Chow Mein which was dry, Shanghai Bak Choy, Peking Pork Chops which were tender with a good balance of sweet and tart, Steamed Fish which was moist and seasoned properly, Kung Pao Chicken which was mild yet moist, Fried Squid which was chewy, Orange Chicken which was also tender but needed more tartness, Braised Brisket and Tendon which were tender yet underseasoned, Fried Cod which was dry, Honey Garlic Ribs, Ma Po Tofu which was bland, Fried Shrimp and Fried Chicken Wings.

At the Korean food station, we found some Japanese items mixed in as well including Tempura where the batter was too thick and the sauce was too sweet, Chicken Katsu which was juicy and crispy on the outside, too bad the sauce tasted like Kraft BBQ, Teriyaki Chicken which was okay but a tad dry, Korean Pancake which was also alright but a bit eggy, Sukiyaki which had good flavour, Gyoza which were decent, Spicy Beef Soup which was indeed spicy and quite flavourful and various Banchan (seaweed, sprouts, radish and kimchi). For some reason, I neglected to take a picture of the various salads (maybe it was on purpose...). These included Tomato, Jicama, Cucumber & Seaweed, Honey Walnut & Arugula, Cold Tofu and the best one - Gomae Green Beans. It was a simple salad consisting of crunchy green beans tossed in a black sesame dressing. Another station that I did not take a picture of was the "Build-Your-Own-Udon" bar. There was various ingredients one could add to a made-to-order udon. I skipped this because eating a whole bowl of udon would defeat the purpose of a buffet.

Lastly, there was whole island dedicated to Desserts and a counter behind it with fresh fruit and soft-serve ice cream. The desserts consisted of Chocolate Cake, Cheesecake, Mango Mousse Cake, Coffee Cake, Cream Puffs, Matcha Mousse Cake, Blueberry Cake and Chocolate Brownie. None were really all that memorable and merely existed to fill the sweets void. In fact, the meal was pretty average at best. However, if we consider the huge spread of diverse food, Bluefin does have its clientele. I wouldn't put it high on my list, yet it did the job for me in this particular case.

The Good:
- Variety
- Reasonably-priced (very fair on the kid pricing based on height)
- Buffet stations are well-designed and roomy

The Bad:
- As expected, most of the food is mediocre

Lefty's Chicago Pizzeria

Once again, we needed some quick food that the kids were willing to eat. You see, we were scheduled to leave on a 6:30am flight the next morning. That meant a super early bedtime for everyone. In theory at least... Try to get 2 wired kids to go to bed at 7:00pm... Anyways, the decision was to pick up some pizza from Lefty's Chicago Pizzeria just down the street from Urban Solace. This was the second time we had swung by for some pizza for the kiddies on our trip to San Diego. The first time was at Bronx Pizza which, as the name implies, NYC-style pizza. Similarly, Lefty's Chicago Pizzeria pretty much sums up what they serve - deep-dish pizza.

However, for the kiddies, it was plain ol' Cheese Pizza (on regular crust). Well, what can I say, it was a pretty solid slice. The crust was of medium thickness and crispy on the bottom. Lots of cheese on top. The kids seemed to like it. For Viv and I, it was all about the deep-dish. Although I'm not a huge deep-dish fanatic, there are times I want the crust to be thick and the toppings aplenty. They have 2 different types of deep-dish here and since we could not finish a whole pie ourselves, I resorted to ordering what was there, which was the Sausage and the Spinach & Mushroom. These were the regular deep-dish, not the stuffed which would have another layer of crust in between the toppings. The first thing I noticed was the really tasty chunky tomato sauce. It was there for all to see and also there for my tastebuds. Lots of tang and tomatoey texture. The crust was not really that thick which suited me fine. It was crispy and the pizza slice was fulfilling. Naturally, I preferred the meat pizza over the vegetarian. Now, by virtue of being a reheated slice of pizza, it was difficult to do an accurate assessment of the pizza at Lefty's. I'm sure the fresh whole pies would be even better since it would probably be less dry. For someone who is not a deep-dish fan, I kinda liked the pizza at Lefty's.

The Good:
- Really good chunky tomato sauce
- Lotsa toppings
- Choice of regular pizza and the classic deep-dish

The Bad:
- The deep dish and stuffed are pretty pricey (but worth it)

Extraordinary Desserts

It's no secret that I'm no dessert person. Hey, I do like sweets. I'm just not crazy for them. So for any form of dessert to make me wanna burst into a full-fledged foodgasm, it would have to be something special. Up until now, there has never been an instance of that. Extraordinary Desserts - where have you been all my life? That's right, it had to take a trip to San Diego for me to find my dessert calling. Now I regret that I only ordered one "real" dessert here. I should've pulled a Mijune and tried 3 or 4 by myself! Part of the reason for my limited food intake on this adventure was due to the timing of it. It was on our way back from the Balboa Park after we had already dined on Mexican food from Las Cuatro Milpas. Then we'd need to do an early dinner due to our early flight the next morning.

For these reasons, I only had the Passionfruit Napoleon. Okay, let me set this up for you. As mentioned, I'm not a huge dessert lover. Second, I'm not really a Napoleon fan. But, I thought this dessert was friggin' awesome. I didn't want to stop eating it. I had a full-blown foodgasm.
Between the crisp layers of puff pastry lay a cream filling which was far superior to any I've ever had. It was light and rich at the same time. Light in texture, yet rich in taste. It was sweet while exhibiting a tartness which made me want to eat more and more of it. In fact, I had to fight Viv for the last few bites! It was ever-so-beautifully plated with kiwi coulis on one side and mango-raspberry on the other. A really refreshing take on a Napoleon.

In hindsight, we should've had 2, 3, 4, or even 5 more desserts because it's not like I live in San Diego. So it was with regret that our only other item was a Berry Coffee Cake. And despite not being anywhere as interesting as the Napoleon, it was good in its own right. The cake itself was moist and crumbly with only the slightest of sweetness. Love the tartness of the berry and the sugar butter crumb topping. My daughter devoured this all by herself. Since it was quite a warm day, I tried their Kiwi Lemonade and it was super-refreshing. Lots of tartness mixed in with the sweet beverage. As I write this post, I am still thinking of what might have been. We should of destroyed the menu a la Mijune. Now there is a very good reason I must return to San Diego.

The Good:
- When they named themselves Extraordinary Desserts, they were not kidding
- Delightful atmosphere
- Lots of choice

The Bad:
- Kinda pricey but worth it
- If you come here during peak hours, prepare to wait

Las Cuatro Milpas

“You want to do what?” asked Viv when I mentioned that we might want to try Dim Sum on our last day in San Diego. Pondering for a moment, I reconsidered my idea. Okay, we’re in San Diego where some of the best Mexican food can be found in the United States. Why are going for Dim Sum when I live in Vancouver, where some of the best Chinese food can be found in North America? I quickly changed my mind and refocused on the task at hand. Alright, Mexican food it is. But where? I had some on my itinerary; yet to be honest, they were far too touristy (aka: been on Food Network). Okay, I needed to head to a place where they served authentic Mexican food with no frills. That brought me to Las Cuatro Milpas, located in Barrio Logan. Yeah, this is not exactly where a tourist would necessarily put down as a destination. I heard they make great food and for $20.00, you could feed a whole landscaping crew. Good enough for me.

So I headed down there a little before 11:00pm and there was already a lineup out the door. No worries though, the line moved fast. Okay, from the outside in, the place is a dive, hole-in-the-wall or whatever you want to call a restaurant that relies on solely on its food. So don’t expect ambiance, cute decor or frills. In fact, a few of the ladies behind the counter don't even speak English. Now that's authentic! I ended up getting takeout and we did a picnic of sorts at Balboa Park. I ended up getting 2 orders of the Rolled Tacos (5 per order). These were filled solid with tnder pork and deep fried until super crispy. Topped with salsa, lettuce and sour cream, I like these authentic version of a Tacquito. So that's how they are supposed to be! Unfortunately, my son didn't touch his order because it didn't resemble a Tacquito... I guess he doesn't want authentic stuff.

I also got 2 Tamales and once again, they were stuffed full of tender pork. I found the masa to be slightly dry, but it was still easy to eat. The flavours were subtle and I could really taste the meat. Lastly, I got an order of the Rice and Beans which included tortillas. I should've gotten the chorizo rice and beans instead, however, my kids would've have liked the spice. So it was by no surprise that this was bland. The beans were quite nice though. Heck, I really shouldn't be complaining about anything. The food was decent enough and dirt cheap.

The Good:
- Dirt cheap
- Large portions
- Authentic

The Bad:
- If you're looking for something a bit more touristy, go to Old Town
- Lineup

Smashburger

Eleven hours. Eleven freakin’ hours at Legoland. We were there when the park opened until the very bitter end. OMFG. I love Lego, don’t get me wrong. Those little coloured bricks were a part of my childhood. It’s just that my legs and sanity can only take so much. After awhile, I felt like chucking those cute little bricks... At the very least, my son had a blast. There was far less whining than at Seaworld. Of course we had to pick the hottest day during our stay in San Diego to visit Legoland. I could feel the sunburn as we waited in line for over 30 minutes at a time to go on a ride that lasted only 5 minutes. For me, I loved Mini-Land where they had miniature –sized Lego renditions of Star Wars, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Las Vegas and NYC. Way cool.

We were quite famished by the time we exited the parking lot and briefly considered going for something interesting to eat; however, we really didn’t have the energy or intestinal fortitude. Thus, we settled on fast food of sorts at Smashburger. Somewhere along the same lines as Five Guys and In-N-Out, Smashburger offers freshly made-to-order burgers. For me, the draw here was that this was kid-friendly and I had no intention of dealing with 2 hungry, tired and upset kiddies after a long day. Since I had been dining on what was essentially a “what-not-to-eat-if-you-want-to-live” diet for the past week, I settled on the Chicken Burger. I guess in theory the chicken was healthier. Not sure about the large amount of blue cheese and side of Fried Onions. I found the thin chicken breast to be quite dry as well as the chipotle bun. The thing that saved the burger was the blue cheese and other condiments. Actually, by stuffing the burger full of the onions, it made it all that much better. Viv had the Baja Smashburger on an egg bun. Although the meat was pretty good, it was also dry. She didn’t mind it; but she would much rather have an In-N-Out burger animal style any day.

My son predictably had the Grilled Cheese with fries. Well, it was a grilled cheese. It was prepared correctly with good colour and a crispy exterior. He ate it all, so I guess that says everything. The skinny fries were okay. Not as crispy as I would’ve liked; but they did the job. My daughter had the Cheeseburger and much like Viv’s, it was dry. I needed to dip it into ketchup for some moisture and flavour. In the end, Smashburger did what it needed to do which was to fill our tummies and to be kid-friendly. I'm not sure if I'd chose it over In-N-Out (although they are not really the same type of burger joint) or Five Guys, but it is different from the regular fast food burger joints. At least the pricing wasn't too bad considering that the burgers didn't have the run-of-the-mill ingredients.

The Good:
- Lots of choice and combinations
- Okay pricing with all things considering

The Bad:
- Meats are dry

The Cottage

The previous night, we thought it would be a good idea to give The Cottage a try since we were already in La Jolla. Epic fail. Not open for dinner on Sundays. Well, at least they let us use the washrooms. The kids really needed to go after a visit to Windansea beach. Earlier in the day, as we drove by The Cottage on our way to Nine Ten for brunch, there was a lineup that made me cringe. What's up with lineups here anyways??? As we were leaving the place after using their washrooms (which were very clean by the way), I ask the staff what time did we need to get there to avoid lining up. Before 9:00am was her best estimate. Okay, we'd be driving by La Jolla on our way to Legoland the next morning anyways. So we settled on eating here shortly after it opens at 7:30am. Once again, that mean we had to wake the kids up at an unholy time of 6:30am. My son dealt with it well since he was super-psyched about Legoland. However, my daughter was doing her best impression of a hormonal teenage girl, even though she is only 3. I just *can't* wait until her teenage years...

As we pulled up to The Cottage, the place was already over half-full and this was only a little past 7:30am. With only a few inside tables and relying mostly on patio seating, I can see how this place would fill up easily. For my breaky, I decided to try their Crab Cake Benedict. With a huge crab cake topped by a perfectly poached egg, this was a substantial Benedict. I found the crab to very fluffy and sweet; yet the cake itself seemed a touch heavy on the mayo. The Hollandaise sauce had a nice consistency not being too thick or runny. The buttery sauce was very mild and could've used more lemon and seasoning. I wasn't a huge fan of the hashbrowns though. They were squishy and despite the brown colour were not crispy at all. Viv ended up with the Fried Egg Sandwich consisting of lemon aioli, applewood bacon, gruyere, tomato, arugula and red onion on griddled sourdough. This was another nice dish with crunchy sourdough, a perfectly runny egg, crispy bacon and the slight bitterness of arugula. However, once again, the whole thing was very mild. The lemon aioli, though balanced and delicious, didn't really come through. There needed to be more punch from something to put this sandwich over-the-top.

For the kiddies, my son had the Oatmeal Pancake. Despite our fears of it being too dense, it was in fact fluffy and light. Even without the addition of syrup, the pancake itself had good flavour with a touch of sweetness. Since my son is a pancake connoisseur, he was probably the best judge of the dish - he happily ate it. Our daughter had the Egg & Sausage with buttermilk biscuit. The star here was the chicken apple sausage hands down. I liked it more than the one at The Mission. It was meaty and moist with tasty chunks of apple throughout. I loved the herbiness of the meat mix as it livened up the flavours. The egg was scrambled nicely being fluffy and just cooked. The buttermilk biscuit was not exactly light (well, with all the butter, it shouldn't be either); but it was not dense. The homemade jam went well with it. So this was yet another pleasant breakfast to add to the other 3 breakfasts we've had in San Diego. Not sure why people line up for it, but I know I wouldn't oppose returning if I'm ever in the area again.

The Good:
- Carefully made food with quality ingredients
- Pretty good service
- Nice ambiance

The Bad:
- If you're not here early, you'll have to lineup

Studio Diner

Alright, am I going to fall in the Triple D's deathtrap of mediocre food again? You see, whenever a restaurant is featured on TV, it always seems to draw a lot of people. Make sense, publicity is the best thing for most businesses. However, when publicity overrides good taste, then we have nothing more than the novelty factor. Granted, some of the places I've visited that have been featured on the Food Network have been solid. So it really is a crap shoot. Being in San Diego, there were several "featured" restaurants to choose from; but the reviews from Yelp and Urbanspoon warned me enough to avoid them. However, I didn't shy away from Studio Diner since it was kid-friendly and worked with our schedule and location. After a day in La Jolla, we tried to go for dinner at the Cottage. Epic fail. They are closed on Sundays for dinner. So we altered our plans a bit and traveled East to Studio Diner. At first, I thought we were in the wrong place since everything was industrial. Not a place you'd typically find a restaurant. Ah, but there it was, in its gleaming chrome glory. You see, the aptly named Studio Diner was established to feed the cast and crew of all the TV shows that were being produced nearby.

Ultimately, it has attained a form of celebrity status as a destination restaurant. We arrived fairly early for dinner which meant no lineup. Alright! Another restaurant with no lineup. That makes for a much easier time with 2 hungry and tired kids. The place certainly has its charm. From the inside out, the place screams diner. One look at the menu and there are the familiar greasy diner favourites as well. I asked for suggestions and settled on the Count of Monte Cristo. Great, a fried sandwich. Goes well with the 1/2 burger I had for lunch and cookies I got from the Cravory. I need to eat salad for the next month to purge the last week of food. Although there was plenty of turkey, ham and Swiss & cheddar cheese stuffed in the 4 fried pieces of sandwich, it sounded and looked way better than it ate. Don't get me wrong, it was not bad; but it was really greasy. Yah, yah, I know it should be, so don't flame me. It was just too much fried goodness. On the other hand, I really liked how the raspberry jam went with the sandwich. It somewhat cut through the grease and saltiness a tad. I substituted for Yam Fries and they were executed wonderfully - crisp and sweet. Prior to that I had a bowl of Clam Chowder to start. Other than a good amount of plump, tender clams, there was nothing much else in it. I found the broth to be slightly on the salty side; yet it was still tasty. The one thing that really bothered me was that the soup was served lukewarm. For me, that is very unappealing, especially for a cream-based soup.

As for Viv, she had The Babe which was a pulled pork sandwich with Randy Jones BBQ sauce. This was not bad. The pork was plentiful and definitely moist and tender. The BBQ sauce reminded me of Bullseye a bit. This one was slightly less smoky. There was probably a little too much sauce for my liking; but no one could accuse the sandwich of being dry or bland. We found the bun to be perfect for this application where it held everything together while still being soft at the same time. The accompanying coleslaw was also pretty good. It had a nice crunch while being balanced between the tart and sweet. The kids ended up sharing a children's Mac 'n Cheese because they couldn't each finish a whole order by themselves. Thank goodness we didn't get 2 orders because the kid's portion was pretty large. Lots of almost al dente penne with a Velvetta-type cheese sauce and shredded marble cheese on top. I gave it a try and it was a good diner mac 'n cheese - creamy with plenty of cheesiness (not bland at all as my son exclaimed).

Lastly, Viv and I decided to share a slice of Apple Pie a la mode with our daughter. This was a solid apple pie. The crust was very flaky and exactly how I like it. Viv had to remind me of the lard required for this to happen. After that, I stopped raiding the pie (maybe this was intentional to get me to stop). The apple filling was good as well being in big tender chunks and not runny. It was mostly sweet with just a touch of tartness. Combined with the hard vanilla ice cream, this was a good apple pie. In a moment of "Mijuneness", I took the opportunity to take a picture of the Fish n' Chips from a neighboring diner. It was freakin' huge. And this pretty much sums up the place. The food is plentiful and above-average for this sort of joint. Service was friendly and we had a good time. Nothing to necessarily write home about; yet nothing to really complain about either.

The Good:
- Good portions
- Reasonable pricing
- Kid-friendly

The Bad:
- Greasy diner food (not sure if this is a bad because it is a diner after all!)
- It is kind of in the middle of nowhere