We enjoyed the nice walk along Porto Antico as we strolled back to our hotel.
Yes, it was somewhat touristy….check out all the cruise ships.
But, things were still pretty relaxed and mellow. And the ship were already leaving port as we passed.
We checked into our hotel and tried to figure out where to get dinner; I wasn't able to get reservations at my first two choices, so I did the obvious. I strolled down to the front desk and asked the really friendly gentleman working for a recommendation of a place that made good local style cuisine. He told me that when he has friends and family staying nearby, he recommends Vegia Zena. He told me look at what the other tables of locals were getting and not pay attention too much to the English menu. The place was a short two streets away, tucked down one of the atmospheric "caruggi"; the alleyways that weave thru the city.
We found the restaurant and entered. It was very brightly lit in comparison to the caruggi. The place was half full; we were quickly seated.
And two menus; basically placemats were placed on the table; one with the Italian menu; the other with an "English" menu. As you can see; the Italian menu had many more items.
Some bread and foccacia were quickly provided.
The foccacia was quite good; crisp, then soft, light saltiness……I got a hint of why folks had mentioned focaccia Genovese to me!
We placed our orders….this being Genova; home to the world pesto championships, of course I had to get the Trofie al Pesto.
While being perhaps a bit over-sauced; the pesto tasted so fresh; peppery-garlic tones-I could really taste the pine nuts in this! Oh the peppery-anise flavors as well. The pasta was perfectly cooked; the slight "twists" holding the sauce well. This was our fourth Trofie al Pesto in Liguria….I could tell the Missus was getting tired of it; though I could have kept on having it!
One thing the Missus wasn't tired of was the seafood; especially the Mussels.
This was a huge portion. Sweet, plump, wonderful brininess….no grit to be found!
For our final item; I had noticed a dish that looked quite good on another table; so I discreetly pointed it out to our Server and ordered it.
Not quite sure what the name of the dish was…I'm thinking it's the Misto Mare Vegia Zena? Man, more wonderful mussles; that langostino! The highlight was the stack of pesto enriched seafood in the middle of the plate. It was so delici-yoso!!!!
And the Missus enjoyed Her dessert.
The meal was a pleasant surprise and the nice fellow at the hotel desk earned himself a good tip as well!
Service was a bit on the serious side; except for the woman working who was quite nice. Overall, a very nice meal! 
Vegia Zena
Vico del Serriglio 15R
Genova, Italy
After dinner we took a stroll away from the port and down the alleyways into the city.
Getting a first glance at some of the more ornate buildings heading to the historical center of the city.
Until we got to the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata del Vastato.
From here we decided to head on back to the hotel. I'd become quite interested in the cuisine of Liguria; so much like we did in Emilia-Romana, we'd be doing a small group food and history tour the following day.
So it was time to head back to our room and get some rest!
Thanks for stopping by!
The eggs were again nice and runny; no oof flavors. The polenta cake nice and crisp, good mild corn flavor. The carnitas a bit on the mild side in terms of flavor and also slightly stringy and dry, but not bad. The Mozzarella was fine, though the tomato added some good acidity to the dish. The "salsa" was also on the milder side in terms of spice and acidity. Still, this was not bad.
And we learned something from our meals with JJ. There's a definite difference in "Dog Friendly" versus "Dogs Allowed". This was simply dogs allowed. They are just ignored by the staff. Perfectly fine with us. It's been interesting finding places to dine with JJ!
There were some things I quickly noticed. The liner was very wet, so I started turning over the XLB and guess what? Four of the six had wrappers on the bottom that were cracked and all the "soup" had leaked out. This will also tell you what I thought of the wrappers; too thick, brittle, lacking the slight delicate texture I enjoy. I'm truly not expected anything like I had at 
Looks like lunchwagon tonkatsu, eh? It had been over fried, the breading hard, as was the dried out pork. It could have used some flavor; you know, five spice, soy sauce, a good pre-breading marinade. If it was brined or marinated, I couldn't tell. 
The bread was very crusty…it was indeed quite fresh, though it didn’t hold up real well because there was a bit too much mayo. The menu said the banh mi has pate in it; but I could not find, nor taste any. There was a good amount of pork, in chunks, fairly chewy, but decently savory-sweet-salty.
I had noticed that it was toasted, which was a clue that the folks here weren’t using Shokupan, the classic Japanese Milk Bread; a must for a egg salad sando, which this was definitely not. I missed the light, fluffy texture and the slight sweetness that the proper bread brings to the sando.
Which was quite interesting as the papaya was sliced into wider strips and I loved the appropriate use of Lao Eggplant; slices of the small green orbs of goodness. This was nice and pungent so it was obvious they used a good amount of fermented crab and fish sauce. I ordered it just medium spicy…which was still pretty hot! I then noticed that there was a combination of two chilies in the salad. Both Thai bird and another. When I inquired the gal laughed and said; "yes, it's more spicy because the chef also uses dried chilies as well!" 
And while the rice was on the dry side and the sauce for the chicken was a bit heavy in the oil department, this was pretty good overall. The skin while a bit on the chewy side had nice flavor and as a while the chicken had been nicely poached as the flesh was quite tender and there were hints of winey-gingery-“fowlness”. One positive for having a rather oil heavy sauce was that it clung nicely to the chicken.
Well, in her comments Ayaka describes it as "perfect flaky crust outside, right amount of butter to have moist and chewy texture with light and airy layers." Almost sounds like our 
