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

The Cravory

After running around the San Diego Zoo and Seaworld the past few days, it was time to wind down a bit and relax. A visit to La Jolla seemed like a good plan. Since our visit happened to fall on a Sunday, we figured it was a good time to check out the farmer's market at La Jolla Elementary School. As found in most farmer's markets, there was the usual fresh veggies, fruits, baked items and other knick knacks. For me, I was only interested in heading straight to the food stalls. Too bad we had arrived a bit later than we had planned because it was too close to lunch. You see, we had reservations at Nine-Ten already and spoiling our appetite wouldn't have been a good idea. In hindsight, we should've just ate til' our hearts content. What was I thinking? Not eating???

Well, we certainly weren't going to leave the farmer's market empty-handed. Prior to our visit, I had already read up on The Cravory and was thoroughly intrigued by their interesting cookie flavours (which also including an element of savoriness). My kids had no objection to cookies prior to lunch and encouraged me to get more than a few. So I ended up with a half dozen. As for all the cookies, the consistent texture was something between a muffin and a cookie. Beyond the slightly crisp and chewy exterior, the cookie was soft and moist much like a muffin. This was especially true with the Blueberry Muffin where I felt like I was eating a blueberry muffin top. As described, it was a combination of blueberry muffin dough with dried wild Maine blueberries topped with a sugar crust.

However, the one cookie I remembered the most was the Savory Rosemary Balsamic. Consisting of rosemary EVOO dough with rosemary, black pepper, balsamic syrup and a touch of lemon zest mixed in, this was a cookie that had it all. It had so many different elements which resulted in complex flavors that were balanced. Viv and I loved the herbiness mixed in with the sweetness and slight tang/zing/
pepperiness. Due to its attractive red colour, the Red Velvet cookie was my second favorite. It was made up of red velvet dough with Guittard semisweet and white chocolate chips. So in essence, this was a very chocolaty cookie which was moist and delicious.

My son loves sprinkles and when he laid eyes on the Birthday Cake, he would not let me pay without getting him one of them. The white chocolate chips hidden within the vanilla cookie were meant to mock the frosting in between layers of a cake. I don't think my son cared because he was super happy with the colored sprinkles. As much as the Chocolate Chip could be considered a pretty standard cookie, The Cravory takes it to a whole new level with 3 different types of chips including semisweet, bittersweet chocolate chunks and milk chocolate chunks. The last cookie we tried was the Oreo Milkshake consisting of malted milk, malt balls, crushed Oreos and Guittard white chocolate chips. They claim that these are 100x better than cookies and cream. Well, I'm not sure of that, but they were indeed very good. I liked how they were chocolatey while not incredibly sweet. Honestly, I'm not a dessert guy. So for me to rave about gourmet cookies says a lot. I loved the interesting flavor combos and the light texture of the cookies. Definitely a return visit when I'm in San Diego. Heck, I might even order some online.

The Good:
- Not just an ordinary cookie
- Love the soft texture
- Lots of flavour combos

The Bad:
- They're not cheap
- For those who like hard cookies, this may not be their cup of tea

Nine Ten

When I got word that Nine Ten was one of the best fine-dining establishments in San Diego, it was definitely on my list of eats during our visit. However, there was one big problem. We had the kiddies with us and the menu didn't look exactly that kid-friendly. So, I basically settled on the fact we were going to eat at Smashburger down the street instead on our visit to La Jolla. Wait. We could go for Sunday brunch! It is a hotel restaurant after all. I'm sure they've seen their fair share of kids despite not really being a kid-hospitable establishment. Besides, there would be something on the menu for the kids. Yes, I do realize that brunch would not be the best way to experience the restaurant; but we'd have to make due. After all, this way, we could still get a taste of what the restaurant is all about. Another good thing about the place is that they accept Opentable reservations. Score! We were so tired of lining up and eating at unholy hours to avoid the crowds at other establishments. As we drove by The Cottage (and their crazy lineup), it further reminded us how great reservations were.

Walking into the Grande Colonial Hotel, where Nine Ten is located, there was an air of sophistication. I wouldn't call it necessarily pretentiousness though. Just classy. We opted for the patio seating which gave us an obstructed view of the ocean and all the ocean breeze we could take. Since the whole reason why we were here for brunch was due to the kiddies, we got them the standard Two Eggs with Sausage. They were nice enough to split the order into 2 plates which almost worked out to 2 complete breakfast portions. I'm not sure if the breakfast was supposed to have 4 sausages; but the kids got 2 each. The sausages were big and meaty while having a nice bounce texture and snap from the casing. We found the scrambled eggs to be done pretty well being fluffy and not overcooked. The hashbrowns were not exactly crispy; but they were potatoey and soft. The one black mark, literally and figuratively, was the toast. It was burnt on one side which was the side that wasn't facing up. For me, I had a tough time deciding between the hanger steak and the Nine-Ten Burger. I asked our server and she swayed me over to the burger which was a half pound angus beef patty with house made pickles, butter lettuce, tomato and mustard aioli. I added blue cheese for good measure. I was asked how I liked my meat done and I went for medium. And as you can clearly see, it was perfectly cooked with just a touch of bloodiness. That, for me is delicious. The patty was moist, juicy and very meaty tasting. Combined with the blue cheese, there was some good flavours at work. The crisp butter lettuce, fresh tomatoes and crunchy pickles made this a good burger. Simple; yet executed perfectly. On the side were some of the best Truffle Fries I've ever had. The truffle hit me like a veritable softball in the face. Earthiness galore, I thought I was licking the ground in the forest (not sure if that is a good analogy). Add a bit of salty Parmesan and these crispy frites needed no other seasoning or dip. Outstanding.

Viv ended up with the Short Rib Panini consisting of port wine braised beef, aged cheddar, onion marmalade. Although the short rib was super tender and possessed considerable depth of meat and wine flavour, it was the onion marmalade that stole the show. Sweet, oniony and thick, this was the glue that held everything together. Literally, it did hold everything together as well as provide the bridge between savoury and sweet. This was a really good sandwich. Viv devoured it quite quickly. So despite the fact we didn't get to try their dinner service, our brunch at Nine Ten was sufficiently pleasant enough to demonstrate the possibilities. We loved the setting of the restaurant in the hotel and the service we received was solid. I guess if I'm ever in San Diego again, dinner is definitely on my list.

The Good:
- Lovely setting, especially the outdoor patio
- Attentive service
- For the items we tried, they were good

The Bad:
- For a hotel restaurant, strange to not see a kid's menu
- Depending on the server, it could be friendly service or slightly hoity toity

Tajima

Continuing the theme of eating a bit healthier (in relative terms), we headed North to Mesa Kearny for some Ramen action. Ramen? In San Diego??? Dude, isn't there a whackload of great Mexican food here? Why go for ramen? Yah, I know. That is all true; but with kiddies in tow, Mexican food doesn't work so well with them. When I mentioned Japanese food for dinner, I had them at Yakiudon. Besides, we were completely exhausted after an 11-hour stay at Sea World. Gawd. Honestly. 11 hours? Why does Viv insist on wanting to see everything??? At the end, the kids were in a bad mood and so was I. It seemed like a good bet to go with something familiar and not covered in syrup, butter or bacon. Much like all the places we've been to so far, we heard that there might be a lineup and an absence of parking spots for Tajima. Surprisingly, we experienced neither. Finally, something going my way after an excruciating day. I was so hungry at the end of our Sea World visit, Shamu was looking like sashimi.

Despite not being a ramen joint, Tajima is known for its ramen and they actually serve it late into the night (and morning on weekends). The deal here is you choose your noodles, soup base and whatever additions to the standard Ramen with chashu. I went for the Pork Belly and added an egg as well. When it arrived, it looked pretty good and one slurp of the soup - fantastic! Wow, I wasn't expecting that at all. The soup had depth and plenty of flavour. Sure it was slightly salty; yet that is expected with ramen. Good meat flavour though. The thin noodles were al dente and mostly remained that way to the very end (which wasn't long since I was hungry). The chashu wasn't exactly super moist; but it was tender enough. Now, the pork belly was delicious. It was not overly fatty while still being fall-apart tender. The egg was done right with a soft yolk and enough seasoning. Honestly, this ramen could work in Vancouver.

Not everything was a bed of roses though. Our Okonomiyaki was pretty average at best. We appreciated that they jam-packed enough filling to make 2 orders; yet it was too dense and doughy. I actually thought it could've used more oil in its preparation, it was a bit dry as well. With the abundance of cabbage and veggies, the whole thing fell flat taste-wise despite the sauce and bonito flakes. I had to resort to using sriracha to liven it up, much like how Bob Blumer does in his Tabasco commercials (however, Tabasco is weak compared to sriracha). For the kiddies, they had their favourite which is of course, the Yaki Udon. This was decent with plenty of ingredients such as cabbage, carrots, sprouts, pickled ginger and pork to go with the udon noodles. However, the pork could've stood to be less fatty though. In terms of flavour, the noodles were very mild which suited the kids fine. If it were me, it needed a bit more seasoning. The noodles were also on the softer side with the veggies still being crisp.

Lastly, Viv didn't feel like ordering a full dish of anything and went for a side order of Kimchi Fried Rice. Lo and behold, the plate of rice was pretty large. Too bad there was very little kimchi flavour though. It was pretty bland and lacking any form of kick. I suggested she add some sriracha and that seemed to do the trick. The fried rice kind of summed up the food here at Tajima - it's okay. However, the ramen is where it's at. It is easily comparable to other places where good ramen is not hard to find.

The Good:
- The ramen is pretty good
- Reasonable pricing
- Friendly staff

The Bad:
- The rest of the food is average
- Wow, that's not many spaces in the parking lot...

The Mission

After a failed attempt to wake the kids up for an early morning breakfast at 7:00am the day before, we had no choice this time around. You see, we had to switch our itinerary around to accommodate my "camera" incident. Yes, my trusty DSLR bit the dust and there was no way we were gonna complete the trip without one, especially since I lugged a telephoto lens all the way down here. The day before, we were supposed to head to Sea World for a day of fun and pictures. Well, I had to switch it to the following day so I could head to a local camera store to get a replacement. The problem with the switch of days would be that our visit to Sea World would be on a Saturday. Great. The crowds... So we woke up the kids early and headed out for breaky at 7:00am in order to get to the opening time for Sea World. Imagine the joy in that exercise. Well, at the very least, we could hit one of the places which hung in the balance. The Mission was another one of those "popular" places which came with a side of long lines. Aha! Get there just after opening and voila, no lineup!

With a bit of research in hand, we knew what to order. The Mission French Toast was a must apparently and Viv did the honors. The fresh baked cinnamon bread on a palette of berry puree was beautifully presented and of a large portion; however, Viv thought there was too much cinnamon. However, the blueberry coulis rocked which made it a unique and good French toast. For the kiddies, we got them the Apple Sausage and Eggs. As the name of the plate suggest, the star was the sausages. They were bursting with sweetness, in particular, a peppery kick. The meat was moist while still exhibiting a bounce texture. The accompanying scramble eggs were fluffy and the rosemary potatoes were soft inside and crispy outside.

For myself, I went vegetarian with the Soy Chorizo & Eggs. As expected, it was not a heavy breakfast consisting of soy chorizo scrambled with eggs, served with black beans, cheese, chipotle crema & flour tortillas. The soy chorizo scramble was quite good with fluffly eggs and decently masked tofu product. Overall, the rest of the plate was a bit plain. Now, to be fair, breakfast can only be so exciting. Hence, we weren't really "wow'd" by anything. The bottom line is that the food was good and the prices were reasonable.

The Good:
- The food is solid
- Reasonable pricing
- The service we got was friendly

The Bad:
- Usually there is a lineup, not sure if it's worth the wait