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Road Trip – Shangrila Himalayan Kitchen, The Landing Lakeside Dining, and Sugar Pine Point State Park

American/New American Restaurants, Indian Restaurants, Lake Tahoe, Nepalese/Himalayan Food, Road Trip, Travel

After spending two nights at the Forest Suites Resort, we checked out. We’d be spending the next three nights at the place I really wanted to stay at; the Landing Resort & Spa. Of course we had to figure out what to do before checking in….which was really easy. The Missus really enjoyed our stay in Tahoma on a previous road trip and while the small town didn’t have dog friendly restaurants or accommodations, we headed back up so She could do some paddleboarding at Sugar Pine Point Beach. The drive there was of course quite beautiful.

And once we got to Sugar Pine State Park, well, the Missus got to doing Her “SUP” thing ASAP. Which initially included JJ.

Who soon got tired of the whole thing. After which, I just took him to explore the area, which I was somewhat familiar with from our previous visit.

He enjoyed the walk and exploring.

Though he did miss his “mom”.

And then I saw this sign……which was indeed a “sign” for us to take our leave…..

On the way back into South Lake Tahoe, we decided to stop for lunch. The Missus waned something “different” so I found a place named “Shangrila Himalayan Kitchen”, a bit off highway 50 for lunch.

There was ample outdoor seating…..

And though the place was quite busy, the folks working were really accommodating as we sat outside.

We started with the Vegetable Pakora, basically vegetable fritters.

We enjoyed the sauces, because the fritters were on the bland side and the texture was quite “gummy”.

The Garlic Naan was fine, if a bit doughy. At least it had some nice garlic flavor.

The Lamb Curry was fine. Though the lamb was on the tougher side, at least it was quite aromatic, with a decent savory-richness. And quite hearty.

Really thick in texture…and we would have enjoyed a bit more spice.

We didn’t leave hungry though.

Shangrila Himalayan Kitchen
1142 Ski Run Blvd.
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150

We stopped to do some shopping on the way to check in…… We both cracked up when we saw this shirt.

And were tempted to get for….well…someone!

We then went over and checked in at the Landing Resort & Spa. I just wanted to stay here for the location. I enjoyed the view.

While JJ enjoyed…….

We just really enjoyed the fact that it was across from Lake Tahoe.

We decided to dine at the hotel’s restaurant; the Landing Lakeside Dining. The menu was no joke with entrees hitting the sixty dollar mark. Luckily, we weren’t very hungry and just did some cocktails and two apps.

The Duck “Nachos” were really like two tostadas.

The butternut squash sauce seemed a bit on the “thin” side and was too sweet. The duck confit tasted fine; good savoriness, but was on the chewy-dry side.

The Pork Belly just had too much going on.

With the yuzu emulsion clashing with the passionfruit glaze. Not sure why this needed chorizo, since the pork belly was nice and porky, and quite tender. The little dollops of parsnip puree was not enough to really contribute to the dish.

Really nice service with a good view of Lakeside Beach, but the dishes were a bit too over-the-top for us.

The Landing Lakeside Dining
4104 Lakeshore Blvd.
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150

But staying right across the street from Lakeside Beach had its benefits.

And dogs are allowed on the beach during the summer months; which is when we were here.

JJ does love the sand!

This was a lot more relaxed and peaceful than the busy Heavenly Village area. We enjoyed watching the sun set over the horizon!

Roast Duck from Noble Chef and Tacos from the Tacos La Chorreada Truck

Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants, Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

I’m still kinda “feeling it” from all the recent driving so just a quick post on some recent takeout revisits.

Roast Duck from Noble Chef:

I was in Balboa Crest Shopping Center checking on something, when I decided to pop into Noble Chef to see what roast duck prices were like. It had been a while since we’d been to Noble Chef. The prices and our visits to Eastern Dynasty have basically kept us away. The last time I’d had roast duck from Noble Chef it was a whopping $28 for a half duck! What the “duck” is going on? I was curious so I popped my head in…..

And to my surprise; on this day the half roast duck was $20.95. Like the same price as Eastern Dynasty. Hmmm……I’m wondering if there’s some competitive pricing going on now?

So, here’s what it looked like.

The skin was nice and firm and most of the fat had been rendered off nicely.

The meat was toothsome and moist-juicy. It did seem a bit short in flavor, really lacking in the five-spice/anise tones, sweetness, though it was nice and savory. Also, the duck seemed a bit leaner then on previous visits.

Still, perhaps our favorite roast duck in San Diego……I guess I’ll keep popping in and doing price checks for duck. The other dishes here just seem over-priced still.

The Noble Chef
6159 Balboa Avenue
San Diego, CA 92111

I’m always up to try some roast duck if anyone has a current favorite!

The Tacos La Chorreada Truck:

On a recent hot afternoon; the Missus just wanted a light dinner and figured three tacos from the La Chorreada Truck would fit the bill. I actually had not visited since the truck moved two lots over back in November. So, JJ and I walked on over. I ordered my tacos “para lleva” and JJ and I went to have a cerveza at BHT. We then returned for my tacos.

They actually have a pretty nice sitting area set-up now.

Anyway, here’s our taco threesome…..

From left to right. Lengua…nice and waxy, fatty-beefiness. The cabeza…the best of the bunch on this day, very beefy, great with the salsa verde. And the smoky-savory-lightly spicy chorizo and the “neba-neba” of the nopales.

This was a nice and light dinner for us. It fit the bill since we weren’t hungry in the least on this day.

The Tacos La Chorreada Truck
3040 Clairemont Dr
San Diego, CA 92117

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Where on the road were we?

Mendocino, CA, Monterey/Carmel/Santa Cruz - Monterey Bay/Peninsula, Road Trip, Santa Barbara County, Travel, Ventura County

Well, we’re back from road trip number three for the year in case you’re keeping score. All places we’ve been to before.

From this city…..

A favorite of JJ’s which I think he’s been to four times already? We ate at our favorite place, actually the bar of a Michelin listed restaurant. They serve the same menu as the restaurant.

Then back to a city we visited during the end of Covid. We had really enjoyed the varied architecture, dating back from the city’s establishment in 1874. The city has done a great job preserving historic houses and buildings. We even took a wonderful self guided architectural tour when we visited back in 2021.

We actually stayed in one of the cottages on the property which was built in 1889 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Of course a waterfront walk is a must do when visiting.

Our next stop was one of JJ’s favorite locales. But first we made a short lunch stop in a town we hadn’t been to since 2015.

And the Missus, now in major “farm mode” thought She had won the lottery when I pointed out this shop.

Which She ended up spending a good amount of time and money in.

Our main destination was a lovely town we visited last April. We absolutely loved it and decided to return and spend three nights this time around.

Which meant, that along with the coastal trail which we loved, we could do some additional exploring. And we got to visit the beach along the coast and river which JJ loved.

And we also hiked along the river during one of the mornings.

Three nights gave us time to try some new things. We found a Pub with an outdoor patio, that served a really nice pour of Guinness.

The staff were so nice and friendly. And JJ made sure my beer was safe from Da’ Gnomes!

Our favorite restaurant here is still that. It was our favorite meal of the road trip! And cheaper than prices in San Diego!

Folks are very dog friendly…and they told us about a Pup Palooza happening close by….so of course we had to attend.

We had a fun time; we got to meet the two candidates for Mayor. Bodhi and Milo.

And JJ got to try his hand…umm…tail at painting!

Friends I sent photos to of JJ’s work thought it was pretty good.

Maybe I need to change his name to “Paw-blo Picasso”? But then we would call him “P-P”…not sure about that!

By now, the Missus needed Her Asian food fix…so we stopped for two nights in a city we really enjoyed. Which has a surprisingly decent Chinese Restaurant.

And this is where JJ’s love of croissants actually evolved……so you know how that goes, right?

We managed to hike on a recently opened trail as well.

Our last stop was a place we actually went to last month. There’s a restaurant there with a nice Happy Hour and the Missus loves all the Thrift and Consignment stores in downtown.

While the last time we had 15 days to for a similar road trip; this time it was only 7, so I’m kinda pooped. But, we did have a really fun time!

Back tomorrow with a new post. Thanks for stopping by!

Joyee Noodle House Opens in Renaissance Towne Center

Chinese Restaurants, Dog Friendly, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants

During my revisit to Chicago Fire Grill, I noticed a fairly large turnover of eateries at Renaissance Towne Center. I had Boker Kitchen on my “list”, but never made it before they closed. It’s now going to be a location of Mr Moto’s Pizza. The place that did catch my eye was the business that replaced the Rubio’s in the strip mall. A location of Joyee….which I would not be too interested in; but instead of being Joyee Dumpling House, this is a Joyee Noodle House. I’d actually been to the former location in 99 Ranch Market, which I visited once and had some really bad Jiaozi and Baozi…it was a one-and-done, so I never did a post on the place….though you can read about Cathy’s visit here. Eventually that location closed, with most locations located further North. I was actually going to do a visit to the Poway location, but was stopped dead in my tracks…..you can see why looking at the first photo of this post.

What I did notice is that this location had some outdoor seating and also that they opened at 9am from Friday thru Sunday. This parking lot can get kinda nuts, so that gave me the chance of easily finding parking.

So, I returned on a Sunday morning at around 10am with JJ and easily found parking. I walked over to the doorway and a nice young man greeted me. I pointed to JJ and a table and he smiled and gave me the thumbs up! And soon brought me the menu and some treats for JJ! Talk about getting started on the “right foot”, huh?

There’s an interesting Breakfast Menu which skews toward Taiwanese style, with Dan Bing and the like on the menu. But, this is Joyee “Noodle House”……

So, I ordered the “Signature” Beef Noodle Soup ($15.99). This is a clear broth version.

Which is known for having slices of daikon in it!

Awesome amount of cilantro, which helped since the broth didn’t have much anise – five spice tones. It was also not very beefy. Decent fat content, but super high on the sodium scale…..overly salty for my taste.

It looked like beef shank was used; the proper cut for this type of beef noodle soup, but unlike other versions I’ve had, the slices of beef was tough and dry.

The noodles were run-of-the-mill…seemed like something out of a package; lacking in “body” and texture.

I didn’t care for this much……

But, it was a good thing I ordered another dish; which I’d seen on the menu of other Joyee, but never ordered; the Salt and Smoked Duck ($19.99). I’m thinking that because of the name; this is more of a typical Taiwanese style smoked duck which is salted and rubbed with Shaoxing and other seasonings and held overnight.

While the skin wasn’t crisp and this was a bit on the saltier side; I enjoyed the winey-anise-slightly sweet tones along with the light smokey flavor. You can even see a sort of smoke ring on the meat.

Even though it looked dry; I enjoyed the toothsome texture. And when crisped up a bit in the air fryer…with the fat rendering slightly…well, the Missus really enjoyed the leftovers.

They also were so nice to JJ!

So, a week later, the Missus sent me a text asking me to pick up some duck on the way home. I went and got a couple of other dishes.

I’m glad we did takeout; you’ll find out below.

The Duck this time was even better. Deeper flavor; not as salty, more moist as well.

I saw that Popcorn Chicken was just $11.99. So I ordered it. The portion was quite large for the price.

I opened and took a look and a taste in the car…..while there flavor was fairly spot on; white pepper, a hint of spice, anise tones, perfect amount of salt….the texture was gummy and the coating lacked crispness. I was happy we were doing takeout, because I could fix the texture….you know how, right?

Yep, I removed all the fried basil and it went into the air fryer. Looks much better, huh? Much more crisp-crunchy and for some reason it seemed more moist as well. While not as good as the version at Soup du Jour, it’s cheaper and there’s that duck too.

I had also gotten the Bamboo with Pork ($16.99), which was another generous portion.

But was nothing special. While the julienned slices of pork were decently velveted, there were some pieces of the bamboo that were really hard and fibrous. The seasoning was a basic soy sauce based stir fry, it could have used more overall flavor.

Still, the Missus enjoyed that duck and I’ve figured out how to heat that popcorn chicken, The prices are quite reasonable as well. Though, I’m still not sure if I should retry the jiaozi? What do you think?

Joyee Noodle House(UTC)
8935 Towne Centre Drive
San Diego, CA 92122
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 11am-9pm
Fri – Sun 9am-9pm

Fish With You Revisited and an “Interesting” Observation

Chinese Restaurants

After our terrible revisit to Spicy City, the Missus wanted something “dependable”. Because the weather was still on the “cooler” side, She wanted “The Fish” (translation – Fish With You), versus “Da Fish” ( HFS). I now have the translation down! It had been a few months since our last visit so we headed on over.

We arrived at around 1145 and the place was empty of customers dining in; but there was a steady flow of takeout orders.

It was nice to know that our usual here, the Signature Suancai and Fish is still priced at $26.95. And one bowl of rice per person is still free…..I mean a bowl of rice is now like two bucks at most Chinese restaurants these days.

It seemed to have less chilies, which makes it easier for us when we take the leftovers home, as we remove the chilies to limit the crescendo of heat. It’s still spicy, though the Sichuan Peppercorns came thru a lot more on this visit. The fish still tender, there was a decent amount of suancai hidden in the broth. As mentioned in my previous post. We make sure to consume all the fish and take the leftovers home. We add tofu and shirataki….it’s almost better than the fish!

This is a nice lunch for $26.95, with leftovers for another meal.

There’s one observation we made during our visit. We noticed a buffet set-up against the wall.

The “red flag alert” went thru my head. While leaving the Missus asked if Fish With You was going to start serving Hot Pot and the young man said yes. They are starting in the next few weeks. Now, you might be wondering what the issue is. We’ve noticed that when businesses are starting to fail, they’ll often start going “off concept” doing things like hot pot. Which is what Juewei did before they closed. I’m hoping that Fish With You will stick around…….

Fish With You
3904 Convoy St. #101
San Diego, CA 92111

Baikohken Ramen Revisited

Japanese Restaurants, Ramen

After my last revisit to Menya, I figured I was done exploring ramen for a while. But on my way home, one other place came to mind. I’d visited Baikohken Ramen twice when they first opened in Hillcrest. Even spending like $23 for a bowl of ramen…..yikes! While I thought the ramen was overly hyped…they really pushed the Michelin Guide thing, it wasn’t in my “top tier” for ramen in San Diego. Still, because they really also push the Asahikawa Ramen thing…..and even though I prefer Santouka another chain that is originally from Asahikawa. I think it was time for another visit. This time, I wanted to get Baikohken’s shio ramen, which is my favorite at Santouka. Of course, this visit was highly dependent on finding parking…which wasn’t a problem on this day.

I strolled on in and the nice young lady handed me a menu.

I wasn’t looking for a $25 bowl of ramen……just the shio ramen which was $14.98, to which I added the tamago, a $1.98 upcharge.

Which soon arrived….and I swear, was my bowl of ramen grinning at me?

So, first things first….while the tamago is no comparison to Santouka which wins my award for worst boiled egg in a ramen, this was decently cooked, nicely flavored…but sigh…..ice cold! What’s a guy gotta do to get at least a warm tamago in this town?

The broth was lighter than Santouka’s but also much more salty. It did have that hint of seafood savoriness that the shio broth at Santouka in Asahikawa had and which Santouka in San Diego initially had when they first opened, but has since been removed. Still, in terms of tongue feel and “shio”, I prefer Santouka.

Baikohken doesn’t have toroniku, but their chashu is really tough and chewy for my taste.

It was also cold in the center! Because of this, the fat line running down the center was really waxy in texture.

The noodles were nice and slippery.

Which did a decent job of picking up the broth. Though on my last visit to Santouka, the noodles were much more firm than this. If you’ve read my previous posts on Ramen…you know I like my noodles “Katame” (firm).

In the end, close but no cigar…..I still prefer Santouka.

Baikohken Ramen
690 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92103
Current Hours:
Wed – Mon 11am – 230pm, 5pm – 930pm
Closed on Tuesday

Circling Back to Spicy City

Chinese Restaurants

After our pleasant revisit to Szechuan Chef, the Missus was wondering how some of the other Sichuan style restaurants in San Diego were. So, I took a look at my “Big List” and oh my….we hadn’t been back to Spicy City since 2015! Like I said, we’d pretty much given up on Sichuan food in San Diego. Anyway, we thought we’d give Spicy City a try and headed on over.

When we first moved to San Diego in 2001, if I recall, the sign read “Beijing” Spicy City. Basically claiming to serve Beijing style Sichuan cuisine. Still, it was the only game in town for anything resembling traditional Sichuan food…until Ba Ren came along in 2003. Ba Ren really changed the game for us, we didn’t need to head over to the SGV for Sichuan. Of course Ba Ren closed in 2012. I have such great memories of the place. Well, enough of that. Spicy City has been around since 1997 or so, but has gone thru several ownership changes. My first blog post on Spicy City was when they went thru an ownership change in 2008. I know for certain that they went thru at least one new set of owners as of 2014. But have lost track since then. And viola! It’s April of 2026 and we’re eating at Spicy City!

Interesting to note that while Convoy Pointe Plaza was very busy…folks jostling for parking spots. I actually had to park on Engineer Road, Spicy City had only six tables filled by the time we left. And also of note…..we were the only Asian’s dining here!

I actually overheard two of the other tables ordering as they arrived after us. Stuff like Walnut Shrimp, Beef Broccoli, and Beef Chow Mein were being ordered. What the heck?

Also, the Missus for some reason wanted the Twice Cooked Pork with Garlic Sprouts, which they were out of. But they did have the “Homestyle” version ($16.99). In my own somewhat cynical mind, I think the “homestyle” means whatever they have on hand? Anyway, this was terrible.

The Hui Guo Rou, which should be somewhat chewy, was super tough and lacked flavor. Usually, in the Sichuan versions of this dish there would be some spicy and savoriness…this was just plain bland…where was the doubian, black bean, garlic, ginger?

The best dish of the meal was the Pork Intestine in Dry Pot ($16.99) and this still lacked the “ma-la”, the numbing spice typical of Sichuan cuisine.

At least it wasn’t bland. But the intestine was really tough and rubbery. Very little spice encountered. The best item in this dish were the soybean sprouts on the bottom of the dry pot. At least it had flavor and a nice crunchy texture.

I really wanted the Ko Shui Ji (“Mouthwatering Chicken” – $15.99) so I ordered that. For some reason it was the last dish to arrive. When it did…..well, it really gave me pause….. What the heck?

The portion size was humongous. It was covered with a thick layer of sesame paste which overwhelmed the dish, really blocking out the spice, acidity.

For your reference; this is what it looked like back in 2015:

The amount of chicken was huge, large dry slices.

This was a pretty disappointing meal…an “oh-fer-three”. The service was fine, at least the really rude guy who used to work here isn’t around anymore it seems. You know, I wasn’t expecting Mountain House or even Barshu. Just some solid Sichuan would have been fine.

But as it is; per the Missus, we’re done exploring anymore Sichuan in San Diego for now.

Spicy City
4690 Convoy St. #107
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 11am – 830pm
Fri – Sun 11am – 9pm

Donburi Rice Bowls (National City)

Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Japanese Restaurants

I was recently in the National City area and decided to get something to eat. 8th and B Poke came to mind. I hadn’t been there in a while, but it was just past 10am and they don’t open until 11. I could have driven to Poke Etc, but decided to see if there was parking on the Market on 8th. I’d been meaning to check the place out before, but could never find parking. On this day, I kind of lucked out. I say “kind of”, because I did find a parking spot, but it was just a 60 minute stall. Which meant this would be a take out visit. So, I walked on over.

Not much open at 10am…..and there were locations of places like Kiko’s whose truck I’ve been to Morena several times. The cuisine is mostly Mexican here and most places were closed, but I did have one in mind. If only I could find it!

I checked out the map and was still a bit confused….

Though finally, I came upon the destination.

Donburi Rice Bowls was the place….I kind of knew that this would probably a Westernized fast casual kind of place. After all, “donburi” does literally mean rice bowl in Japanese….so Donburi Rice Bowls is kind of redundant in my opinion.

Anyway, I took a look at the menu; the prices seemed pretty reasonable for these days.

Not being able to make up my mind…and with the clock running on the parking, I decided on the Sumo Bowl ($17) which means you can have two items. I went with the Yakiniku and the Karaage. After placing my order, I was given one of those “buzzer” thingamajiggies. I then went to check out the market hall a bit more. Things seemed a bit cramped and thoughts of bringing JJ went out the window when I saw the pets weren’t allowed in may places…even the patio.

Eventually, the buzzer went off and I picked up my hefty feeling package and headed home. Once home I unpacked. Knowing that I’d be doing takeout, I made sure to get the Sriracha Mayo for karaage on the side.

The container was indeed hefty…there was a sumo sized portion of rice to be sure. In fact, I could only finish half of it and saved the rest.

The rice was fine….quite typical, not very fragrant, but fine.

The karaage seemed like the frozen stuff, like you’d get from Ajinomoto, or the like. The chicken was on the drier side, the thick batter kind of mushy. The flavor very generic, pulling to salty.

The Beef Yakiniku was the better of the two items. The beef had been sliced thinly and griddled nicely.

Quite a bit of gristle, but because it was sliced thinly, it didn’t bother me too much. I enjoyed the pungent-sweet onions. The marinade skewed to the sweeter end of the scale but was not bad at all. Pretty much by-the-book Yoshinoya-ish.

Overall, the beef was pretty good, pass on the karaage, fits the mold of fast-casual, food hall dining. The amount of rice was huge and the prices reasonable for these days. Not worth a special trip, but I’m glad I tried it.

Donburi Rice Bowls (In the Market on 8th)
41 E 8th St.
National City, CA 91950
Current Hours:
Daily 10am – 9pm

The Croissant Compare – Wayfarer Bakery, Relic Bakery & Kitchen, and Izola

Bakery, Croissants

A little over a week ago “FOY” Kenneth sent me an email regarding having croissants from both Relic and Izola and doing a compare. I did mention that Izola has pretty much come off my “list” ever since the croissant had crossed over the $8 mark! I also mentioned needing to do a compare of croissants from Wayfarer and Relic, which I indicated were my two current favorites here in San Diego. Yes, I admittedly have a “thing” about croissants. In fact, I have an entire category for it! And yes, there are 61 posts (this is number 62). It basically all started during our visits to Paris. And it just gained momentum after visiting La Maison d’Isabelle.

Anyway, Kenneth’s wonderful email got me off my butt and on one recent morning, I first drove up to Bird Rock, which had a bunch of folks waiting, but no one in line to order, to get my first croissant. Then down the 5 to Relic for the second. I was just going to do a compare between Wayfarer and Relic, but since I had already paid for one hour of parking and Izola was just 4 blocks away…I just decided the “heck with the eight dollar price” and went to Izola as well. Needless to say; it was an interesting walk, with some “personalities” along the way.

And here’s what the croissants looked like.

Can you guess which one was $4.80 and which was $8.62 (!!!!)?

Well, let’s start from the most inexpensive. The “Plain” Croissant at Wayfarer ($4.80).

The shape was interesting. I think that “croissant” literally means “crescent” in French. This was not quite that. It’s much different in shape than what I had back in 2020.

Wayfarer seems to sometime overbake their croissant as was the case here, with the laminate too flakey, basically an explosion of flakes upon bite.

On this visit, the crumb was a bit damp and not honeycombed enough. It also seemed less buttery in flavor. Kind of a bummer as at one time, due to the recommendation of RD and CathyGreene, this was my favorite croissant in San Diego.

Wayfarer Bread & Pastry
5525 La Jolla Blvd.
La Jolla, CA 92037

Top left is the croissant from Relic Bakery & Kitchen. To me, of the three, it most resembles a classic croissant in shape and is currently priced at $5.

On this day, it was nice and golden in color, except for the two folds on the top which you can see seems over baked. It was nice and flakey, crisp, not falling to pieces. The interior was quite airy and light. Nice crisp ends and foundation.

I could make out the butter in this, in my mind it could use more as the salt to butter ratio seems a bit off.

A relative newcomer to the East Village/Downtown, this is my current overall favorite.

Relic Bakery & Kitchen
845 15th St.
San Diego, CA 92101

And then we have the $8.62 “Signature” Croissant from Izola. Now, I remember when Izola opened in the third floor of a business building Downtown. Where they’d actually deliver online orders by basket to the curb during Covid. At that time; the croissant was $3.75. Then Izola opened near Faultline Park with a bit of hype in 2024 and their croissants crossed the seven dollar mark. And now….well…you see the price above, right?

As I walked in, I took a look at the Croissant on display and had second thoughts….

It looked pale and somewhat soggy….but, I went ahead and ordered one. It was actually a 15 minute wait for my croissant after ordering….they are quite popular.

But here’s that $8.62 croissant. I gotta say, it’s quite hefty, and has that roundish shape…..

The laminate was not as crisp as Relic’s, but at least it wasn’t over baked. It was decently flakey as well, though one end was not very crisp.

It was decently honeycombed, but a bit on the wetter side. I was told that Izola uses butter from Normandy for their croissants.

There’s a light butter flavor, but for some reason, I detected some sweetness in this?

After doing this compare; I’m sticking with Relic for now. Izola is decent, but the price?

Izola
1429 Island Ave.
San Diego, CA 92101

Kenneth and I had a nice back and forth in our emails…..it was kinda fun!

Kenneth: “Well, if I had known that the croissant cost $8!  It was good but not that nice.  For that price I want tasting it to make me feel like I’m back on Montorgueil!”

Me: “Can you imagine what Parisians would think if a Patisserie on Rue Montorgueil charged like 7 Euros for a croissant aux buerre???“

Kenneth: “There would be rioting in the streets!“

So true! Thanks again for thinking of me and sending me the wonderful email Kenneth!

And I’m always open for croissant aux buerre recommendation for San Diego!

Road Trip – Lam Watah Nature Trail to Nevada Beach (Stateline) and Lotus Pho (South Lake Tahoe)

Banh Mi, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, Road Trip, Travel, Vietnamese Restaurants

After our morning hike and lunch at My Thai, we settled in for a nice nap. Upon awakening, we decided to drive across the border into Stateline and right up the 50 to the Lam Watah Nature Trail. It’s a nice, easy, mostly paved trail that takes you thru a meadow area.

Past Jennings Pond.

And then thru a forested area.

You end at Nevada Beach. I had read that there’s a portion of the beach on the south side that was dog friendly. And we found signage that indicated where it was.

And we simply followed the “paw-steps”.

Until we ended up at an area near the dock where pups and people were having a good time.

And JJ made a new friend!

After JJ was done frolicking, we headed back past the campground and back onto the trail.

Heading back to the hotel, we showered up and relaxed for a bit. When it came time for dinner; we decided to get something simple. All the restaurants in Heavenly Village seemed very toursity and the very popular Base Camp Pizza had a super long line.

On the previous evening, I noticed a Vietnamese Restaurant right next to South Lake Brewing Company, which seemed to have outdoor tables. So, we walked on over and yes, the restaurant named Lotus Pho did have outdoor seating.

We weren’t too hungry and it felt too hot for pho; so we just ordered some Spring Rolls ($10.50) and a Grilled Pork Banh Mi ($13.95)…..yes, it was nearly fourteen bucks for a banh mi…but heck, this is Lake Tahoe, right?

The Spring Rolls were basically stuffed with the wrappers stretched and contents under pressure. Did not look very photogenic.

Huge amount of vermicelli noodles and lettuce….no mint or cilantro in sight. The wrapper was super chewy, the peanut sauce on the sweeter side.

Lots of proteins…the pork was decently flavored though chewy, the shrimp had been cooked decently.

I kinda thought that Lotus Pho would be very “gringo-fied” and looking over the menu added to my suspicions. The only options for the banh mi was grilled chicken or grilled pork.

The pork had been seasoned decently…more like pseudo teriyaki; missing savory tones, and on the sweeter side. It was toothsome, but not overly tough. There was even cucumber in this! The pickled veggies were fine; if shredded a bit thinly. Nice amount of cilantro and the peppers did have a nice kick. There was a nice layer of pate as well, a pleasant surprise as I didn’t expect much.

The bread was very dough and not really a banh mi…..closer to a French loaf in my opinion. It lacked the yeastiness, but due to the density was quite filling.

Overall, a fairly westernized Vietnamese restaurant though I’ve had worse.

Lotus Pho
4000 Lake Tahoe Blvd. Suite 25
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150