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Sine Wave Cafe (OB)

Breakfast/Brunch, Caffeine Fix, Dog Friendly

During my visit to Sourdough & Moore, I noticed a cafe with an interesting name as I walked to my car by the name of Sine Wave Cafe. So, I looked it up. The place had only been open since last May and seemed to have some major surfer/beach vibes. It was also dog friendly. Since our usual, Bay Park Coffee doesn’t open until 730 on Sundays, JJ and I decided to check the place out. I figured that 7am on Sunday’s in OB would be pretty mellow. And turns out I was correct. I easily found parking on Santa Monica Avenue, a few spaces down from the Post Office.

In what would be…at least to me, a quintessential location for a cafe in OB…tucked between a Smoke Shop and a Psychic, Palm – Tarot Card Readings Shop is Sine Wave Cafe.

We walked in and the very nice young lady working greeted us; came and gave JJ a treat and some “pets”. She took my order and we headed out to the front patio.

On the way out I noticed this framed photo and I asked who this was.

She told me it’s the owner’s dog and his name is….wait for it…Sammy! And suddenly I was getting my own personal “sine wave“! Cause you know why, right?

I had ordered a Cold Brew ($5) and a “Simply Avo” ($7.50). There was a Deluxe Avocado Toast which had Arugula, Feta, Sun Dried Tomato, and Two Poached Eggs, but that just seemed like too much for me at 7am. Anyway, I waited for my Cold Brew and then headed out to the patio.

Fairly light, smooth, and easy to drink. This was fine.

JJ was enjoying things as two customers came to play with him as they waited for their coffees, so he had a blast.

The young lady brought out my Avocado Toast.

This was pretty good. I enjoyed the chili flakes, which gave things a nice spice. There’s an acidic element to the mashed avocado; I’m thinking lemon juice. The avocado was fresh, no brown spots, easy to eat. The bread had been nicely toasted, great crunch, adding to a nice textural contrast. Better than some ten to twelve dollar avocado toasts I’d had recently!

This is a nice neighborhood place. And JJ seems to really enjoy OB. So, we decided to head on back on a recent Sunday.

I had seen an interesting item on the menu during my previous visit. Sine Wave has something called a “Brekkie” Calzone ($8) on the menu. So, I wanted to try that. When I ordered, the gentleman working told me “good choice, we have a current special…coffee and calzone for ten bucks!” Nice!

Basically, the same drill. I waited inside for my cold brew and then headed out to the patio with JJ. And the gentleman kindly delivered the “Calzone”, which I thought looked really light in color.

When I’m thinking of a “calzone”, I’m expecting a nice crisp, brown crust. This was doughy and soft; except for the folds which were really hard.

This was filled with a generous amount of egg and a layer of bacon that was a bit too chewy for my liking. The egg also didn’t seemed to have been seasoned, so the tangy marinara came in handy.

This was fine for five bucks; but I don’t think I’d pay eight for it.

Sine Wave Cafe
4810 Santa Monica Ave.
San Diego, CA 92107
Current Hours:
Mon – Wed 7am – 2pm
Thurs – Sun 7am – 4pm

On this morning, I decided to take JJ down Santa Monica Avenue to the waterfront. Things were a bit odd as I didn’t notice, but there were some folks camped out near the library. Though there’s always something interesting to see in OB.

Though things started getting a bit “grittier” near the CVS with several more folks camping out and asking for cash.

And we needed to really watch our step as the sidewalks in the area was covered in, ahem…”urban landmines” get my drift? The size of which seemed to make it of the human type.

Things cleaned up a bit as we got to Abbott Street and walked along the walkway a bit. It was a very nice morning.

The folks at Sine Wave treated JJ so nicely, that I think I’ll be back….probably for Avo Toast though…..

Take Out Revisits – Ngon Ngon to Go and Chaba Thai

Thai Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

It’s kind of funny. I recently made some revisits to places I’ve takeout from quite a few times. And while getting this post done; I noticed that I had actually done a post on these two places together once before! There must have been something triggering this, huh?

Anyway, here goes……

Ngon Ngon to Go:

Once a regular stop for me…well, it had been a while. I dropped by to place a takeout order and noticed something “interesting”. My usual, the Bo Luc Lac ($16), no longer included rice! There’s a version with fried rice, which is not what I wanted, but if I wanted white rice, there would be an additional charge of $2.

Well, I just sucked it up and got some white rice with my bo luc lac. I ordered and went and did a bit of shopping, returning for my takeout.

That side of rice was fine, if a bit on the harder, drier side.

There was a generous amount of salad which was fine. I’d had experiences with browning lettuce and stuff before, but this was fine.

My issue was with the beef. Take a look at the color.

The beef had not been marinated/sauced appropriately in my opinion. It lacked the savorysalty-sweetness that I associate with this dish. The beef was also super tough and chewy. Just not fun to eat.

With the weird upcharge and the lack quality and execution. I guess, after all these years and visits, I’m closing the chapter on this one.

Ngon Ngon To Go
10550 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126

Chaba Thai:

Or as the Missus calls it; that “Chubby Thai place”. It had been a while and the Missus was wondering about the Krapow Gai. I would usually get that along with the Khao Kluk Kapi with Honey Pork, but on my last visit, it was mediocre, so I went with another item I’ve ordered from Chaba, the Tod Mun, the fried fish cakes.

So, I placed my order, ran to do some shopping at Zion and picked up our dinner.

First off, the rice that came with the Krapow Gai was terrible. You can see the brown, overcooked spots. It was really dry and hard.

The Tod Mun was strange. It was really hard and overly chewy…I mean quite tough.

The usual mild herbaceousness usually of the addition of lime leaf was missing. This was super bland. Even the typical fish sauce based dip was not helpful.

The Krapow Gai had it’s own set of issues. And no it wasn’t for lack of pidan.

As you can see on the photo below, where I put the dish into a container, there’s a good amount of century egg in this dish.

Rather, the ground chicken was very chewy and dry. I had ordered this spicy, but it was not. The seasoning was off as this was so bland. In fact we used the dipping sauce for the Tod Mun and all the fried basil from that dish as well to try to add flavor. I usually expect a salty-savory-mild sweetness in this dish, which was totally AWOL.

This was a very unsatisfying meal. I’d like you to take a look at the photos of these exact two dishes from our takeout visit in 2020 and compare.

This was quite disappointing. I guess we’re writing this one off as well. I’m not sure if “FOY” Si O still reads the blog, but maybe he has a recommendation?

Chaba Thai Kitchen
8010 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

Oh man, oh-fer-two…….

Circling Back to The Original Location of Menya Ultra

Japanese Restaurants, Ramen

While I was doing ramen posts on my three favorite ramen shops in San Diego and then a revisit to Kitakata Ramen Ban Nai, folks started asking me “what about Menya”? Well, what about Menya? I recalled not enjoying my last bowl from Menya….which in fact drove Calvin and I to head to Nagi in spite of the lines at that time. Though, taking a look at that post…well, it was on the Mira Mesa location of Menya. So, I headed to the Big List to see when I last visited the Clairemont location. Now this was interesting, my last five posts on that location of Menya was for takeout! Menya was a part of our takeout rotation during the pandemic. The last time I actually ate in the restaurant was back in August of 2017 and the last time I had the Ajitama Ramen was in May of 2017….like almost 9 years ago! Sheesh!

So, I made up my mind to revisit. I arrived on a Wednesday for lunch at around 1110.

This turned out to be good timing, since it does seem that there’s still a line during opening hours as the place was over half full when I entered.

I just got the Ajitama Ramen ($17.95).

My bowl arrived in what seemed to be the blink of an eye!

This was interesting as the broth was not very hot, thus the soup had a fairly greasy mouthfeel. Nice savory tones, not overly salty. Would have been pretty good if it was nice and hot.

The Chashu was somewhat tough and chewy, but still nice and porky.

And you know my pet peeve…..well, since the broth was basically just past lukewarm….of course the ajitama was ice cold. Sigh…..

The noodles were decently firm and slippery.

Well, this could have been quite good….but there’s a reason Menya is no longer in my top 4. There seems to be a lack of quality control here. Like many other restaurants, Homestyle Hawaiian comes to mind. Expansion seems to dilute quality. Too bad, because Menya was such a hit when they first opened in 2017. I remember being like the one of the first ten people in line on their grand opening day. To me, Menya changed the ramen game in San Diego. And blew up even further after making the Michelin Guide and being named Eater’s Restaurant of the year in 2017. It’s just not on my regular ramen rotation anymore.

Menya Ultra
8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 11am – 2pm, 5pm – 9pm

So “FOYs”…what’s on your ramen rotation these days?

Saturday Stuffs, the All ‘Dem Chains Issue – Wooltari Premium K-Food Closes, MOTW Coffee Coming to Kearny Mesa, The Sign for Ono Hawaiian BBQ on Clairemont is up.

Blog, Caffeine Fix, Markets & Grocers, Middle Eastern Restaurants/Cuisine, Plate Lunch, yoso-silly

Ah yes….I guess this one is all about signs (or lack thereof)….and chains……

Wooltari Premium K-Food Closes:

The Missus needed a refill of LactoFit, which She gets from Wooltari on Clairemont Mesa, so we headed over to Crossroads Center Plaza. To find that the place has closed!

Man, did they even last a year?

7420 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

MOTW Coffee Coming to Kearny Mesa:

Noticed a coming soon sign in the Balboa Office Building and Executive Suites…the building across from H Mart. It’s where the Subway used to be.

Something called MOTW Coffee was replacing the Subway. They seem to be building a outdoor patio as well.

Doing that Google thing, I learned that MOTW is an Arabic Coffee and Pastry Franchise headquartered in Indiana. They’ve got a bunch of locations, mostly on in the Midwest and East Coast. I didn’t see any locations on the West Coast, so this might be the first.

7710 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111

The Sign for Ono Hawaiian BBQ on Clairemont is up:

I knew about this for a while. I’d heard it was replacing Native Foods. So, just a couple of days ago, I saw that the sign was finally up.

Just in case you’re wondering….this is a chain, headquartered in Diamond Bar. In fact, the CEO of Ono, Joshua Liang, is a graduate of UCSD. Not quite sure what the “Hawaii connection” is…or even if there is one? Ono is said to have over 100 locations in California and AZ. So, we’ll see.

It opening next to the location that’s soon to be Nick the Greek…..yet another chain.

5604 Balboa Ave #107
San Diego, CA 92111

I am wishing for more locally owned or mom-and-pop places, but I guess with costs these days……

Road Trip – Blue Moon Over Avila, The Bob Jones Trail, Avila Valley Barn (Avila Beach)

Farmer's Markets/Night Market, French Restaurants, Markets & Grocers, Paso Robles/Cambria/San Luis Obispo County, Road Trip, Travel

After a restful night at the Avila Lighthouse Inn, I woke early to have JJ “do his thing”. We walked along the beach; right across the street.

Right through the small downtown area.

Things were so peaceful on this morning. Avila Lighthouse Suites provides breakfast, which was a nice way to start the day.

Looking for something to do; I found the Bob Jones City to the Sea Trail, which basically started right across the street from where we were staying.

It starts on a paved bike path, next to a golf course.

Crosses over San Luis Obispo Creek.

Which, unlike what it looks like in SLO, is pretty wide in a parts near Avila Beach.

The easy walk continues on Blue Heron Road and there’s some interesting things to see along the way.

And the terrain also changes; from the seaside, to hills, and some interesting rock formations.

It’s an easy 2 1/2 mile trail…we took it the opposite way and ended at the trailhead on Ontario Road. Instead of turning right around, we decided to head down the road and then take a right on Avila Beach Drive. No sidewalks here and some of the cars drive pretty darn fast, so it was head up all the time.

We got to our destination in about 15 minutes. The Avila Valley Barn, which features a market, a “sweet shack”, corn roasters, and several eating establishments; which were closed when we arrived since it was pretty early. But we mainly wanted to check out the market. We got some stuff for a light lunch.

The place was super farm themed……..there’s even a “farm zoo”.

And of course….you don’t mess with the chickens.

We enjoyed exploring…

Avila Valley Barn
560 Avila Beach Dr.
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405

To return to Avila Beach we headed down Avila Beach Drive and then took a short trail back across San Luis Obispo Creek. Along the way we came across this interesting outdoor dining area surrounded by gardens and trees across the bridge from Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort. This is the “Secret Garden”…it looked like a really cool spot and it also discreetly opens back up on the Bob Jones Trail!

From it, it was just returning the way we came.

We got back to our room, had our lunch, relaxed, and took ourselves a nice nap. We decided to get an early dinner and I knew just the place. So, we headed over to the pedestrian only area of Front Street.

Right at the beginning of the pedestrian walk is Blue Moon Over Avila.

We were seated by the very friendly Hostess on the patio. We actually took seats at the rail, so we could check out the beach.

Our Server went and pointed out the Coast Guard rescue exercises going on near the pier.

The Missus started with a glass of wine; I decided not to partake….I was going to get a brew later on. Our wonderful Server made some recommendations and we took him up two of them.

But first, we started with some Escargot ($18). This ended up being our least favorite item as the escargot was super chewy and the herb-garlic butter was to mild in terms of pungent savoriness.

The Croque Monsieur ($24) was delicious!

The melted Gruyere roasted crisp. Lovely cheesy-nutty-savoriness. It added an amazing textural contrast and layer of flavor to the toasted sourdough.

Heck, it almost seemed like the delicate rosemary-garlic ham and the milky cheese were just the secondary players on this. The salad was refreshing and nicely coated with a nice, light vinaigrette.

The Beef Bourguignon ($32) was also recommended and though I had my doubts, this was also good. The Missus really enjoyed it; especially since the flavor was nicely balanced, not overly winey like many versions we’ve had. And of course, the Missus really enjoyed all the lardons.

Pleasantly rich, nice savory beefiness, perfect amount of acidity, earth mushrooms, and a hint of smokiness. We’d end up having most of this for lunch the following day….it as still just as good!

This was a very pleasant surprise. In fact, we enjoyed it so much that we’d return here a couple of months later!

Blue Moon Over Avila
460 Front St.
Avila Beach, CA 93424

After dinner, we took a stroll along Front Street and JJ got his usual “photo-op”.

The Missus returned to the room, while JJ and I made it back to Locals Taproom, which we had both enjoyed the night before. The bartender remembered JJ and even had treats for him! I was having so much fun chatting with the folks here that I forgot to take a photo of my beer!

Needless to say, we really enjoy this place! They made us feel so welcome!

Locals Taproom
90 San Miguel St.
Avila Beach, CA 93424

We really enjoyed the vibe of Avila Beach and was happy to find a restaurant we enjoyed!

Zgara Revisited and Pita Grill SD

Greek Food, Mediterranean Restaurants

I was looking forward to revisiting Zgara again, since it had been a while. For some reason, I was missing their pork gyros. So, I headed off to grab some lunch and when I got to that area of Morena….well, there was no parking to be found….I could not even find any parking on Savannah or Vega street! So, I needed to come up with another option. I headed toward Linda Vista Road…thinking of perhaps J&T. Yorimichi2 also came to mind, but it was just a few minutes after 11 and they weren’t open yet. But instead of taking the left onto Linda Vista, I went straight ahead on Napa Street and turned into the Arrive Mission Valley center. My usual choice here would be Pho Kitchen….but it was a bit too hot for pho or bo kho on this day. I saw another place that caught my attention.

Pita Grill SD:

Pita Grill…hmmm….. So, I thought why not? And walked on in.

The interior looked very “chain like”; but doing a quick check; I couldn’t find any other “Pita Grill” in San Diego. The prices didn’t look too bad…but it seemed like one of those fast casual “concepts”.

Still, the prices were not bad.

It seems this was one of those places that makes everything from Gyros to Hummus….. All the nice women working were speaking Spanish. In the end; I went with a Chicken Shawarma Wrap ($14.95). My wrap was put together on the “line” and I picked it up at the register.

It was quite hefty. At first bite, I knew this wasn’t typical. The “bread”…this was closer to a tortilla than something coming off the “sajj”. It was chewy, not warm enough. The chicken was on the tougher side, not really Shawarma in flavor…lacking in savory-herbaceous aromatics….you could take this chicken and put it in a tortilla with some salsa and call it a burrito.

The “tzatziki” was really watery lending little of that sour-savory-herbaceousness to this. This made the stuff that Tahini and the now defunct Simsim seem like great traditional food! I’m sure this will do fine for hungry students at USD or folks looking for something not too assertive in flavor, but this really didn’t do it for me.

Unless anyone has a recommendation for this place, I think this is a “one-and-done”.

Pita Grill SD
5375 Napa St. Unit 110
San Diego, CA 92110
Current Hours:
Mon – Sat 11am – 7pm
Sunday 11am – 6pm

Now, I was really determined to head back to….

Zgara Greek Grill:

Once a upon a time Zgara was a big part of my “rotation“. I’d been a fan since they first opened in PB back in 2015! Then back in 2024, because of all our travels…I didn’t visit for about six months. I finally returned to find out that Eric, the original owner had sold the place. Folks I know who were regular customers have told me that the food has definitely changed and on my revisits under new ownership, I’ve noticed perhaps some changes.

I figured since it’s been over 5 months since my last visit, it was time…… At least there was ample parking this time around.

I quickly noticed that since my last visit in October of last year, the price of the Pork Gyros has gone up $1.60, from 11.86 to $13.46, that’s a 13% increase in less than five months!

Though they still feature a lunch combo at $16.04 which becomes $17.68 after 4pm. Me, I’m just wanting my pork gyros fix.

I have noticed that the new owner does wrap things a bit tighter and the pork seems to be more chewy these days. Also, there seems to be less tzatziki????

Still, that savory porkiness with some nice crisp bites, with a bit of acidity, pleasant pungent tones, with a background of olive oil is still there. So, while I do miss Eric, I’ll probably still be coming here for my gyros fix.

Zgara Greek Grill
1229 Morena Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92110
Current Hours:
Mon – Sat 11am – 8pm
Closed on Sunday

Fujiyame Ramen or is it 858 Ramen?

Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Chicken Wings, Ramen

Back in October of last year; I noticed that the long standing China Quick Wok was gone and was being replaced by Fujiyame Ramen. Well, I guess we hadn’t hit ramen saturation yet here in San Diego? In November, I read that they had opened. I headed on over at the beginning of December to find them closed. I returned a few more times…and each time they were closed, even though I had arrived during stated hours. So, I just waited a bit….well, more like three months! I finally took a chance and drove into that strip mall which houses El Pollo Loco and Mike’s Red Tacos. And yes, they were open!

Ample parking in the lot was available on this day, so I parked and walked on in.

The menu was small…though on an interesting note, I knew someone who visited initially and told me they had stuff like orange chicken and popcorn chicken on the menu which he thought was strange. They must have straightened out their menu, because other than the braised beef rice, the menu looked like thoose of a typical fusion ramen shop.

Ordering seems to be done by kiosk here. As I was checking things out, a very nice gentleman came out and recommended one of the “combos” as a good value. Well, being that the Tonkotsu Ramen here was $12.99…..which is right now really well priced. Getting a combo for $15.99 is even better, right?

I got the Tonkotsu Ramen, some chicken wings, and a drink for $15.99.

The Tonkotsu Ramen looked quite different from what was pictured.

No corn, but the addition of what seemed like chicken katsu? It was salty and fairly dry, breaded white meat chicken. I did find the addition of carrots a bit strange.

The chashu was quite chewy and fiberous.

The noodles were interesting, on the softer side, but not mushy, lacking the chewiness of ramen noodles. Things started clicking in my head. These noodles seemed more suited to Niu Rou Mian, than ramen…but perhaps I was imagining things?

The tamago was nice and warm, the yolk nicely cooked for my taste.

The broth was quite thin for tonkotsu, very salty, lacking in savory tones and the nice tongue coating texture.

Not my favorite bowl of ramen. This was kind of interesting, as I got to thinking the folks running this shop were not Japanese? And then my Chicken Wings sealed the deal so to say.

These were actually pretty good. Though not evenly coated, the batter was nicely seasoned and crisp. What sealed the deal in thinking the owners were not Japanese was the generous amount of dried chili on the wings. Don’t get me wrong, I did really enjoy this, but I don’t think your typical ramen shop would put all this chili-salt-white pepper on wings. The wings were nice and moist. I enjoyed this the most of what I’d tried at Fujiyame.

And then there was something I kept seeing; on the menu board, on the napkin dispenser.

Just then, the really nice gentleman came out of the kitchen. This was a one man show; he did everything! He introduced himself as “Chen”! A-ha, I knew it! We had a nice chat and he mentioned how the menu had changed since opening as folks didn’t care much for the ramen, they’ve made many changes. They redid the kitchen and menu, thus shutting down for a few months. Ok, so now I got it! As they made major changes, they started calling their ramen “858 style” – as in the area code for this part of San Diego (Northern), to indicate it isn’t traditional ramen. Interesting, huh?

I did see something “interesting” on the menu, so I decided to return. When I did, I noticed the 858 Ramen menu in the window.

I walked on in and now knowing the drill proceeded to order from the kiosk.

I ordered the Braised Beef Rice ($12.99) which was indicated as being “spicy”. Soon enough, my bowl arrived. And like the ramen, looked nothing like the photo on the menu. The menu says this has “potatoes”, but what arrived did not. And this had corn, pickled onions, and seaweed salad, which is not on the menu photo, nor indicated on the menu as well!

The rice had apparently just been cooked as it was steaming hot. Not very fragrant, a bit on the drier side but ok.

The corn, tart and sour pickled onions, and seaweed salad was just basically window dressing for me as I was interested in that beef.

The beef was toothsome, but not overly tough. And it did have that anise-soy flavor with hints of ginger, but I did not pick up any spiciness.

To me, this was more like Hong Shao Niu Rou than a typical Japanese braised beef which would be sweeter, usually with onions. Perhaps when the photo was taken, they were trying for something like Nikujaga…thus the potatoes in the photo, but in the end, it seems like one’s heritage always comes to play.

It’s going to be interesting to see what happens over the next few months. Will they officially change their name to 858 Ramen? Or perhaps totally change concept. Based on the braised beef, I’d be glad to try the Niu Rou Mian here. As for the fusiony mashup? Well, you gotta remember, I’m from the home of Saimin….. and after all, there’s Underbelly, right?

Who knows what I might find then?

Fujiyame Ramen
4310 Genesee Avenue Suite 108A
San Diego, CA 92117
Current Hours:
Thurs – Tues 11am – 830pm
Closed on Wednesday

Szechuan Chef Revisited

Chinese Restaurants

Recently, FOY “Xiāng Jiāo” messaged me, letting me know that she believed Szechuan Chef had been improving over recent months. I’d pretty much given up on Sichuan cuisine in SD, but heck, it had been almost seven years since my last visit….so, I convinced the Missus that the time was right for a revisit.

Strangely, the parking lot of Convoy Village Shopping Center was basically empty when we arrived for lunch. Thus, in stark contrast to other locations on Convoy, parking was a breeze.

After being seated, we ordered four items. After our meal, we took a look at what we had ordered and noticed something quite “interesting”. We ended up ordering a couple of the recommended dishes and a few more. In terms of price, this seemed much cheaper than our recent meals at Cantonese style restauraurants.

First up, the Pork Intestines with Pickled Vegetable ($19.99). One of my favorite dishes at Eastern Dynasty is a version of this dish. And personally, I prefer that version, which is strangely much more tangy-sour than this version. Also, the intestine here, while being quite strong in the savory-“bungy” category, the intestines were overly rubbery, lacking in that initial resistance, followed by a creamy texture.

The preserved vegetable was very mild in flavor. Not a terrible dish, but perhaps I should have ordered the dry fried version?

The Fish Fragrant (yuxiang) Eggplant (aka Eggplant with Garlic Sauce on the menu – $14.99) was much too sweet.

The eggplant was also quite mushy in texture. Not a favorite of ours.

Next up was a dish that “XJ” recommended that I’ve ordered several times, the Beef Tendon with Pickled Peppers ($21.99).

So, this was better than what we’ve had before, but it still didn’t bring on as much sour-tangy-spicy tones as we like. We enjoyed the good amount of garlic though. And the tendons were so very….well tender! They almost melted in your mouth. I could just imagine this in a bowl of pho! We kept wondering how the chef prepped these to make it so buttery smooth? It did lack the spicy though…so we may look at another tendon dish if we return.

There was one dish that brought the heat and turned out to be our favorite of the meal; the Pork Trotters Hot Pot ($19.99) which was placed over a heating element at the table. The first thing to hit you when this dish arrives is the pungent-earthy-“BO” of cumin. Great when emanating from a dish….not so great when exuding from the person sitting next to you on a flight….can you tell I’m still traumatized by that???

This was spicy stuff….good ma-la going on here. The skin on the trotters was very soft and tender. The potatoes seemed to have easily absorbed the essence of the chilies, especially the one’s on the bottom. The Missus, who grew up eating cauliflower in Northern China loved it in this dish. We did enjoy this; though the leftovers were super spicy the next day.

Overall, including one order of rice, the bill came out to be $78 before tip and taxes, making it cheaper than any of the Chinese dining experiences we’ve had recently. We did notice that every protein based dish we ordered was basically offal. Could that be why? Anyway, we may return in a bit. And I need to thank “XJ” who helped to get us out of our Chinese dining “rut”.

Szechuan Chef
4344 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 11am – 3pm, 5pm – 9pm
Fri – Sun 11am – 330pm, 5pm – 9pm

Road Trip – Locals Taproom, Mr. Rick’s/Custom House (Avila Beach) and Industrial Eats (Buellton) Yet Again

American/New American Restaurants, Beer, Paso Robles/Cambria/San Luis Obispo County, Pubs and Pub Grub, Road Trip, Santa Barbara County, Travel

Just three weeks after returning from our short stay in Idyllwild we were headed out again. This time for a bit of a longer Road Trip. Because our final destination would be over 9 hours driving, I decided we should break things up a bit. We’d be going in a bit of a roundabout way, but I thought the combination of both the shore and the mountains would be fun.

On our way out, we stopped at a place I’ve posted on numerous times; Industrial Eats in Buellton. Of course, we just got our favorites; the Smoked Duck Salad and Miso Cod which never fails to satisfy.

Industrial Eats
181 Industrial Way
Buellton, CA 93427

From there it was just an hour drive to our destination in SLO. I’d read a bit about a little beach town named Avila Beach. So, we decided to stay there to expand our horizons a bit. It is a charming little town of about 1,600 people. There’s basically one avenue where most of the businesses are located, Front Street, a portion of which is pedestrian only.

We stayed at the Avila Lighthouse Suites, which is very dog friendly, at one end of Front Street, and right across from the beach.

A decent view of the park and the some of the beach from our patio.

After checking in, we decided to take a short stroll.

Being just a short drive from SLO, I can imagine how busy the beach here must be during weekends and holidays. But this was a Wednesday, so things were so laid back and mellow.

We walked down Front Street until the road headed up the hill.

Then wandered back down the street to the pier, which is dog friendly.

Which gave us an nice view of the waterfront.

We headed back to our room to relax for a bit. Dogs are allowed on the beach before 10am and after 5pm. So a bit before 5 we headed out and took a look at the lagoon and river on the other side of Avila Beach Drive. I wanted to find the path we’d be taking for our walk the following day.

And immediately at 5pm, we were back on the beach, right across from Avila Lighthouse Suites where JJ had a “swinging time”.

The Missus went to change and freshen up for dinner. JJ and I decided to grab a “cold one” and the Missus would meet us for dinner.

There was a place about a block away, down on the corner of San Miguel Street and 1st named Locals Taproom.

I asked the woman manning the bar if dogs were allowed, she laughed and said, “of course!” The small bar was full of folks, all of whom seemed to be from the area. All of the brews were also from the area….I guess that’s why they call it “Locals”.

I got the Aurora a Belgian Blonde made by the Apogee Brewing Company made in Grover Beach, just south of Pismo Beach.

Very easy to drink…perfect for a warm day!

All the folks came to pet JJ….who ate it up!

It’s totally our kind of place!

The woman working, who is also one of the owners was so welcoming saying if we wanted to, we can bring outside food here as well. She also introduced me to one of the local brew masters who was having a beer at the bar! Really nice folks!

Locals Taproom
90 San Miguel St.
Avila Beach, CA 93424

Soon enough, the Missus walked on over and we strolled down Front Street looking for a place to have dinner. There are two businesses right next to each other; a large bar named Mr. Rick’s……

We had a seat on the patio and I ordered the Missus some wine and I got myself a cold one. The food is provided next door at Custom House, which has a typical food menu; everything from burgers to sandwiches, salads, fish and shrimp tacos, that sort of thing. I ordered the Carne Asada Fries from the counter at Mr. Rick’s when grabbing our drinks. And soon enough it was brought to our table from Custom House.

Man, this was huge! I’m thinking it was worth the $21 price tag.

It was typical, cheesy, chewy, but slightly smoky tri-tip, the fries were nicely crisp. The hot sauce was pretty mild, but it was what we basically expected.

And it was more than enough food for both the Missus and I!

Mr. Rick’s/Custom House
404 Front St.
Avila Beach, CA 93424

We rolled back to our room at Avila Lighthouse Suites and enjoyed a restful evening.

Thanks for stopping by!

Revisits to Romanella and The Pub – Happy Hours with JJ

Beer, Cocktails, Dog Friendly, Italian Restaurants, Pubs and Pub Grub

While I’m not a huge fan of most of the eateries in our area; I do appreciate the fact that many of them are dog friendly and that the folks working at these places are friendly….giving out a real neighborhood vibe. Recently, I took JJ to a couple of happy hours. I’d already done visits with him to Luce, Bay Park Fish, and the High Dive. And so it was time to revisit a place I hadn’t been to in over two years….

The Pub:

It was perfect weather for JJ….slightly overcast….he doesn’t care for direct sun and heat, so I decided to see what happy hour was like at The Pub. So we took the 20 minute walk down the hill. The place was really mellow when we arrived. Though I’d been going to The Pub from the days they first opened and was named “Dan Diego‘s”, I had never eaten on the patio. Which is now nicely covered.

Our Server, I believe her name is Angela was so sweet to JJ…who of course would then kiss up to her every time she passed.

I was just going to get myself a Guinness….beers are $2 off during Happy Hour which is before 5pm on weekdays making it $5.50. It was a nice pour, smooth, perhaps a bit too much of a head.

Nice malty, lightly bitter, smooth and mildly coffee-ish.

I was just going to have my pint and head home….but I noticed that several of the appetizers were 50% off during weekday happy hours! And I saw something on the menu that caught my attention…and no, it wasn’t the haggis which I’d had last time. It was the Poutine, which was just $5.50 during HH! It supposedly had Wisconsin Cheese Curds, which of course instantly brough my trips to Madison back into view.

What arrived really didn’t remind me of poutine. I mean, I wasn’t expecting what I’d had at.. say La Banquise, but this even looked weak as Irish Poutine.

I did enjoy the thick cut chips, which actually kept a bit of crispness for most of the meal. The gravy was too gluey, salty, but lacking in the dark brown color, and other than the sodium pretty weak in other aspects….I usually enjoy a bit of savory complexity given by Worcestershire sauce, or a beefy, mild sweetness.

The ratio of cheese curds to fries was also off and the curds lacked that lovely mild “squeak” I enjoy. And unlike most cheese curds I’ve had melted fairly quickly.

Still, this was more than enough to fill me up and for $5.50……with the Guinness, just $13? These days that’s a bargain, right? Plus, Angela was so nice to JJ. I’m sure we’ll be back…..I hope to find something I like on the menu.

The Pub
2415 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110
Current Hours:
Wed – Thurs 330pm – 10pm
Fri – Sat 1pm – 11pm
Sunday 930am – 330pm
Closed on Monday and Tuesday
$2 off drinks before 6pm
50% off Pub Bites before 5pm on Weekdays

I’d recently checked out Romanella‘s website, thinking about taking JJ for Happy Hour and noticed a bunch of changes. They’ve stopped serving lunch during the week, replacing it with “brunch” during the weekend. And Happy Hour was now from 4pm to 530pm weekdays only. I guess that 2pm – 5pm HH and weekday lunch wasn’t working out? Anyway, JJ and I headed up to Romanella; the Missus was craving some of those Oxtail Meatballs; so I figured JJ and I would get an early dinner and save the rest for the Missus.

Romanella:

We were greeted as always and had a nice table on the patio.

A couple of the folks working here are always nice to JJ and he even sometimes gets his “water” before I do!

So, of course I had to get my favorite HH cocktail, the Smoke of the Gods ($9).

Nice, somewhat fruity tones from Tequila, with a touch of smokiness from Mezcal. Not overly sweet.

I was happy to note that the HH items have not changed in price.

Though the Oxtail Meatballs ($14 – HH) seem to have more ground beef than oxtail as the texture has become more firm and is less beefy in flavor. Per a text from the Missus, I was allowed one meatball…..

Still, that tangy marinara sauce went nicely with the bread provided…at no extra cost mind you!

In terms of portion size the Pinsa Porchetta is still a bargain at $14 during HH.

Not the thickest slices of porchetta, but the flatbread has been nicely toasted, the marinara is acidic, tangy, with a hint of fruitiness. The mozzarella is stringy, though very mild and there’s some potato in this as well. Two slices usually fills me up!

So, the Missus got Her meatball and could only finish two pieces of the pinsa. I’m hoping Romanella stays in business. There was only one other table filled during our stay.

Romanella Cucina Romana
3055 Clairemont Dr.
San Diego, CA 92117
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 4pm – 9pm
Friday 4pm – 10pm
Saturday 9am – 3pm, 4pm – 10pm
Sunday 9am – 3pm, 4pm – 9pm
Happy Hour – Mon – Fri 4pm – 530pm