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

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