Cocktails – Page 2

Road Trip – The Alston Park Loop, The Riverfront Promenade, Dinner at Angele Restaurant, and Returning to the Fink (Napa)

January 3, 2026 mmm-yoso Cocktails, Dog Friendly, French Restaurants, Marin, Napa, and Sonoma Counties, Road Trip, Travel

Our one full day in Napa started with pastries being delivered to our room in the Napa River Inn. These are from Sweetie Pie a bakery – sandwich shop located in the Old Mill Complex next to the hotel.

A bit too much sweets for me; but we saved most of it to have as an afternoon snack.

We then headed out to Alston Park and spent the morning doing an easy walk along the Alston Park Loop Trail. A nice walk along the meadows, groves, and of course alongside some vineyards.

Of course we had to finish before things got too sunny/hot as JJ does not do too well under those conditions.

After which we headed into downtown and found parking on 1st Street….man, it gets pretty busy here, where the Missus did some shopping.

For some reason, the Missus just didn’t find Napa to be much fun….She thought it was on the boring side???

We returned to the hotel and finished off the pastries and had a nap. After which, the Missus just wanted some time to read, so I decided to take JJ out for a walk along the Riverfront Promenade which basically cuts thru downtown Napa. Here’s a view of our patio which was right along the promenade.

It was a nice little walk.

We walked all the way to the First Street Bridge which has a nice view of the promenade.

And there was shade for our fragile, heat sensitive, little squirt.

Check out this mural in front of a Tiki Bar named Wilfred’s……kinda sterotypical, yeah?

JJ and I took Main Street back to the hotel.

I kind of enjoyed some of the architecture.

I saw this church on the way back and walked over.

This is the First Presbyterian Church, built in 1874 in the Gothic style.

When dinner time rolled rolled around, we had noticed a French restaurant named Angele located just a few steps from our accommodations in the Historic Napa Mill.

So, we dropped on by and there were a bunch of al fresco tables available out front. The menu was quite interesting; a nice variety of dishes. As is our usual, we went with three apps and one main.

The baguette was nice and crusty, though a bit “doughy” for my taste.

I was fascinated by the Potato Beignets.

These were interesting. The exterior was crisp, though we weren’t big fans of the overly pasty and sweet filling.

The Pate de Campagne was “by-the-book” and quite good. Very porky, slightly offaly, hint of boozy sweetness-pungency.

The much needed cornichons and mustard allowing for some pungent, palate cleansing counterpoints.

The Beef Tartare was a bit on the mushy side.

And the use of capers was a bit on the heavy-handed side, though not bad overall.

The piece of Veal Sweetbread was huge!

It looked like it was overdone, but was quite tender-creamy. The jus was quite winey, though not unpleasant. The sweetbreads were a bit livery, but overly “metallic” in flavor.

The service was friendly and welcoming. And while not in the same league as L’Escargot in Carmel which we dined at a few days earlier, it was a nice meal overall.

Angele Restaurant
540 Main St.
Napa, CA 94559

It was still light out when we finished dinner, so we took a walk along the Promenade.

There’s so much public art in Napa. This one is named Grateful Harvest.

After crossing the 1st Street Bridge, we came across this.

This is the China Point Overlook and Park.

Did you know that Napa once had a Chinatown? From this park you can see the location of Napa’s Chinatown, which was razed in 1927 to make way for a Yacht Club. Which by the way was never built.

We then headed back to the Napa River Inn. From the sign at the door to front lobby it seems like “Ember” had checked out with only JJ and Nola being the two “VIPs” left.

After relaxing a bit, as I did the night before, I headed next door to The Fink for a nightcap. This time I took JJ along.

The woman working smiled as we entered and said “oh, I’m so glad you brought the pup along this time!”

And the owner…”the Fink” himself asked me if I had noticed anything strange the previous evening. When I said “no”, he told me the story of the hotel being haunted!

Yikes, it was time for a cocktail!

JJ was indeed treated like a “VIP” here as several customer came to pet him!

It was a really cool cocktail bar!

The Fink
530 Main St.
Napa, CA 94559

It’s the Et Voila Time of the Year

December 30, 2025 mmm-yoso Cocktails, Dog Friendly, French Restaurants

Well yes…it’s that time of the year again. Funny how we get into these habits. Even though we had other plans for NYE….we’re going to stay closer to home, Et Voila always comes to mind, especially for Happy Hour. Though we’ve had some NYE meals at ET, we just decided to drop by. Especially since they now have a “special” black truffle menu.

Which you can add for $18 to any dish, or pick something from that menu. Because we had JJ in tow and were sitting outside, we could take advantage of the Happy Hour menu as well.

So, we placed our order, of some HH favorites, and a truffle dish off the menu. And of course I had a Huckleberry Bourbon to start.

It seems a bit weaker these days…but maybe its the HH curse?

This time there was no charge for the half baguette. Perhaps it’s based on what you order?

First up were the Beignet de Champignons ($10 HH). My goodness, this is what we usually order during HH with mixed results. This time it was so perfectly fried.

So crisp, the mushrooms almost buttery…my goodness! Which hides a mild earthy-saltiness. That aioli…which is almost like a basil driven thousand island does fine as well. Perhaps the best we’ve had over so many visits.

Unfortunately, another HH staple for us, the Raviolis aux Champignons (HH – $15) was off the mark for our tastes.

The raviolis were really tough, the sauce overly sweet, and we couldn’t make out the flavor of white truffle at all. I think we’ll be giving up on this one.

The next item, another HH staple set everything right again. The Terrine de Porc (HH – $13) was indeed “porc-y”.

It was quite offal-y and liver-y as well…so that whole grain mustard helped clean the palate and the sinuses. The Missus prefers the baguette with this to what is served.

And then what was supposed to be the “star” of the evening….from the Black Truffle Menu, we got the Champignons a la Royale ($28)….I know, we’re really into the fungi here.

First off, we really enjoyed the crisp and cheesy Parmesan Toast. For some reason the Perigord Black Truffle flavor didn’t come thru. The usually strong fragrance and nutty-sweet-earthy-ultra umami flavors quite faint. The sauce was too thin and watery, but had a decent mushroom flavor.

The Royale was more mushy than creamy and though it did have truffle and mushroom duxelle, the flavor didn’t come thru sufficiently for us.

Service was very nice as always. The woman serving us remembered JJ from our visit last NYE! She kidded us about loving our fungi. Though two of four is not that great in terms of dishes…it has us wondering if our tastes have been changing quite a bit over the last couple of years? At least the Happy Hour prices aren’t too bad.

Et Voilà!
3015 Adams Ave
San Diego, CA 92116

Road Trip – Morimoto Napa and The Fink

December 20, 2025 mmm-yoso Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Cocktails, Dog Friendly, Japanese Restaurants, Marin, Napa, and Sonoma Counties, Road Trip, Sushi and Sashimi, Travel

There was a restaurant I wanted to check out just a half block from where we were staying in Napa. Several decades back, I recall the Missus and I being glued to our television watching the original Iron Chef. And when I was in Philly for a conference, I remember being so excited having the chance to check out Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto’s restaurant there. Sadly, it was quite disappointing. But now, over two decades later, a few steps away from us was the Napa location of Morimoto. I thought it would be interesting to check out all these years after having dinner at the Philadelphia location.

And they had a patio! So I made reservations.

Upon walking over, we were greeted and seated on the patio. The service here was super friendly, the staff so warm and sweet. Folks came out just to meet and greet JJ! He was brought water….totally the definition of dog friendly. In fact, the next day while I was walking JJ, some of the folks working saw him and called out “hi JJ, hi JJ, how are you???”

The place wasn’t overly busy. Looking at the menu…well, it was obviously not going to be cheap!

I saw Sawara (Mantis Shrimp) on the menu; one of my favorite things, but they were out! Bummer….

Anyway, we placed our order and soon enough our food started to arrive.

First, the Toro Tartare ($32). This was kind of weird as it was so finely minced that it was more like Nakaochi (Tuna Scrape) making it really mushy.

The ponzu sauce was overkill; since it came with wasabi, nori paste, and other seasonings on the side along with sturgeon caviar. The sauce just basically nullified everything but the wasabi.

We got some Sushi….here they charge you by the piece.

Man, the quality of the seafood was top notch, though I would have preferred not having my o-toro ($16/ea) slightly torched, but it was still quite buttery, and don’t get me started on Hokkaido Uni ($20/ea) ok? Good lord, so melt-in-your mouth, buttery, and sweet-oceany tones…it took me back to Otaru! The Aji ($8) was a bit on the overly chewy-slightly metallic side and the Madai ($8) had too much wasabi. Still, this would have been really great, but the rice was hard and under-cooked and the sushi meshi was too strong. Sorry, but if I’m paying $88 for six pieces of nigiri…..

We ordered the Braised Black Cod ($43).

This was a non-starter as it was overcooked; even the sauce, which was overly salty could not save it. Such a waste of a nice piece of fish.

The actual “best” dish of the night was the Duck Confit Fried Rice ($20)

The Jasmine Rice was a bit on the dry side; the rice itself decently coated with a soy sauce – basil type sauce. You could make out the flavor of the duck in the rice; I’m thinking they use the confit duck fat for this as well. Loved that perfectly cooked egg, with the crisp edges and gooey yolk.

Overall, we loved the folks working here, but the food just fell short. The products seemed top notch, but the execution did not do it justice. And at this price point, well…. It’s kinda like what my experience was at Morimoto in Philadelphia.

Morimoto Napa
610 Main St.
Napa, CA 94559

We took a short stroll after our meal. Right around the corner from Morimoto Napa is a location of Morimoto Asia. I know they have one in Waikiki as well. I took a looks at the menu; with stuff like XLB, Peking Duck, Sisig (!?!?), Pad Thai (double !?!?), Tonkotsu Ramen, etc, etc….

And then the faux Terracotta Statues…can you say PF Chang’s, in the image of Masaharu Morimoto???

What the heck???? Yikes!!!

Anyway, we walked along the walkway and promenade, enjoying the artwork.

We returned to our room….JJ was pooped, so I decided to walk a couple of doors over and check out the Cocktail Bar named The Fink.

I liked the somewhat nautical theme of the place. It was really quiet on this evening. I found it interesting to note that all the other folks at the bar were regulars.

The bartender was really friendly as was the gentleman talking to everyone. He introduced himself and I came to find out that he’s the owner of the place; Judd Finkelstein! Really friendly guy! I got to meet the “Fink” himself.

I got a favorite of mine; a Penicillin, which was nice and stiff!

Chatting with the bartender; I mentioned JJ and she asked me why didn’t I bring him in! So nice!

So guess who was coming with me to The Fink the next evening!

The Fink
530 Main St.
Napa, CA 94559

Road Trip – Revisits to Industrial Eats (Buellton) and Alchemist Garden (Paso Robles), and Lunch at Jeju Kitchen (Carmel)

October 18, 2025 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Cocktails, Dog Friendly, Korean Restaurants, Monterey/Carmel/Santa Cruz - Monterey Bay/Peninsula, Paso Robles/Cambria/San Luis Obispo County, Road Trip, Santa Barbara County, Taco Shops

Back in April/May, we took a two week Road Trip with JJ. He’d already proven himself during our road trips to June Lake, Morro Bay/Cambria and to Scottsdale/Winslow/Lake Havasu among others. We were basically doing a road trip every month and this “two-weeker” would cover two months!

This one was more “my thing” as I’m more of a city/coast kinda guy. Our northern destination was Mendocino.

Our “first leg” was going to be to a place now familiar to us Paso Robles. We decided to go up via the 101 and stop for lunch at another place I’ve posted on twice already; Industrial Eats in Buellton.

We had the same two dishes as on our last visit; the Smoked Duck Salad and Miso Cod. Both were just as delicious as what we’d had last time.

We’re still not quite sure what that avocado is for; but the cod is so buttery and the mushrooms add a wonderful earthiness.

From Buellton, it was an easy hour-and-a-half to Paso Robles. Since we started doing so many road trips during Covid; Paso Robles has become a favorite stop for us.

This time, with JJ in tow, we decided to stay at the Paso Robles Inn, which is right across the street from the Downtown City Park.

It was fairly pricey; but the location was great, as were the grounds….JJ was fascinated by the Koi Pond.

Our room wasn’t that great, the noise from upstairs and the rooms next door were fairly loud. So, while we loved the location; we’d try and find a different place to stay at the next time…..

Paso Robles Inn
1103 Spring St.
Paso Robles, CA 93446

Of course, once we settled in we headed out.

We enjoy stopping in at the Paso Robles General Store…….which is dog friendly.

And they stock Paso Almonds which are a must buy for snacks and gifts when we get back home.

General Store Paso Robles
841 12th St.
Paso Robles, CA 93446

As for dinner….well, our favorite restaurant in Paso; Les Petites Canailles is not dog friendly; so we thought we’d just grab some eats at what is possibly my favorite Cocktail Bar in California; Alchemist Garden; which I’ve already posted on three times! Though this would be the first time we’d actually be having a full meal there. We got a table on the patio so JJ could hang out with us.

Of course the cocktails were awesome!

We were pleasantly surprised at the food as well. The Bone Marrow was very buttery and though we had doubts about the Cherry Onion Jam; the sheet-acidity really paired well with the marrow.

It was also “Taco Tuesday”….so we ordered one each of the Shrimp, Duck, Chicken, and Skirt Steak Taco. Our expectations were very low….but man; the corn tortillas were decent and held up well. And the meats; especially the skirt steak and the shrimp, with a perfectly crunchy-crisp batter and tender shrimp were very good!

The skirt steak was topped with harissa; which had an almost kimchi like sour-spiciness….surprisingly good. We could even deal with the sour cream on the tacos as well!

Such a nice surprise and meal!

The Alchemists’ Garden
1144 Pine St.
Paso Robles, CA 93446

The following morning we headed out to our next stop Carmel By the Sea. But first we decided to make a stop at Fiscalini Ranch. We had really enjoyed the easy trails and the views before, so we thought JJ might have fun. This time we did the Marine Terrace and Bluff Loop Trail.

Which JJ enjoyed!

And the views on the bluff trail are lovely.

And the wildflowers were beautiful.

And of course, there are the benches……

It was a fun time!

From here it was a two hour drive to Carmel. We’d be in early, so we decided to get some lunch. There is a Korean Restaurant in Carmel Plaza with outdoor seating…Carmel is known to be very dog friendly; we found street parking and headed on into the mall and Jeju Kitchen.

It was past noon, but it was pretty quiet. We easily found a table near the fire pit.

Serers were very friendly; even bringing JJ a bowl of water. Though the prices gave me pause.

The Missus got the Dolsot Bi Bim Bap. Which was $26 but had no meat!

The egg was fine; though we prefer crisp edges. Still the yolk was fairly soft and runny. The dolsot wasn’t hot enough, so no rice “crust” developed. The kimchi didn’t have a deep fermented flavor and was just salty and sour. And within the confines of the dolsot made this dish pretty bland.

Like I mentioned above; the panchan was pretty bland.

I ordered the Korean Fried Chicken – would you believe this cost $28?

The Mu Kimchi was overly sweet. The batter was too thick and initially crunchy, but got mushy pretty quickly. It was also pretty bland….something I’ll almost never say about “KFC”. I appreciate a bit of “lightness” in my KFC; but this was definitely not that. This one went in the “soy-garlic” direction. Though it was more drizzled sugar-soy. Overly sweet for our taste. Not enough sauce, lacking in depth of flavor….

The meat was chewy, but fine.

In the end, a shadow of Korean cuisine. I should have known better when I saw Miso Cacio de Pepe, Smashburgers, and Coconut Prawns on the menu. Lesson learned.

Jeju Kitchen (In Carmel Plaza)
106 Mission St.
Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA 93923

We took a stroll around the plaza….I think we prefer the shops in the Downtown Village/Ocean Avenue area.

We did manage to kill time before heading to our accommodations. We were staying at the Green Lantern Inn once again. Though this time for two nights, so we could spend a bit more time exploring!

Thanks for stopping by – hope you have an awesome weekend!

Paris – L’Escargot Montorgueil Revisited, CIAL Restaurant Coréen (since closed), and a place I’ve posted on a zillion times

October 4, 2025 mmm-yoso Caffeine Fix, Cocktails, France, French Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Paris, France, Travel

**** I’m not going into too much detail since there’s a revisit and CIAL has already closed.

I guess we’ve been to Paris so many times that it feels like my second home….at least the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Arrondissements do. And since our stay was basically a four nights to link the Cinque Terre/Milan to London, we really didn’t make too many plans as we figured we’d be returning soon. This was, of course before we got the “little squirt”, so perhaps we should have done a bit more….but still, this was like our 9th time in Paris.

Staying at the Citadines, near Les Halles is quite convenient. The studios have a full kitchen and we really enjoyed the view of square below.

As you can see, it had been raining the night before. And being the creatures of habit that we are, headed off to our usual stop for morning coffee and people watching on Rue Montorgueil; Café du Centre. As always, some cafe allonge and “une carafe d’eau”.

And watch the “theatre of life” pass before us.

After which we headed on out to wander aimlessly. You’ll always see something interesting in Paris. On this day, there was a huge line in front of this shop.

Looking in the window…well, I cracked up as it looked like stuff based on Manga characters. Looking up the place, I found out it’s a yearly pop-up for Maison Ghibli! A store featuring “stuffs” based on Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli! In Paris! My goodness! Paris is always full of surprises!

And of course, we love the names of businesses here!

The clocks seems to move so quickly here! Before we knew it; it was time for lunch. I’d usually plan for our meals….but since we just wanted to relax and enjoy ourselves we hadn’t made any plans. The Missus di want some Asian food. One of the great things about Paris is having access to a decent variety of cuisines. I mean, we have our favorite “neighborhood” Sichuan and several Ramen shops that we frequent. Heck, we’ve even had decent hot pot….though we’re still searching for some good jiaozi.

During our walks, I’d noticed a Korean restaurant, on one of the side street of Rue Rambuteau. Named CIAL Restaurant Coréen.

It was a bit chilly, so I thought the Missus would enjoy a Dolsot BiBimBap and perhaps I could get some Tofu Jigae.

It seems the place was quite popular with the French folks for KBBQ. It was quite interesting as I was greeted with “Annyeonghaseyo”! All the staff on this day were Korean and they thought I was as well!

Anyway, from what I understand this place has closed since our visit, so I won’t go into too much detail. The baechu kimchi was pretty good, fermented tones.

The Missus’s Dolsot BiBimBap was ok. The dolsot wasn’t hot enough and the rice never developed a ncie crust.

I decided on some Doenjang Jigae; the fermented soybean based stew. It was fairly weak in flavor, but really did warm me up.

Basically mediocre Korean. Still, it’s interesting to see the variety of cuisines available in Paris!

CIAL Restaurant Coreen (Since closed)
16 Rue Mondétour
75001 Paris, France

We did a typical after lunch walk and took in the sights….

Before heading back to the Les Halles area.

And indulging in another typical travel habit….the afternoon nap!

Upon waking, we relaxed, had some tea, before deciding to head out for dinner. And of course, there was something happening close by….on the stage right outside Les Halles shopping mall.

For some reason, I felt like the “musicians” were having just as much fun as the folks listening!

While in Milan, the Missus really became attached to Aperotivo time and of course, She wanted to experience the same here! So we headed back up to Rue Montorgueil and Café du Centre.

Though we’ve had drinks here before; we’d never had little bites with our wine and Kir Royale before!

This was quite nice!

Café du Centre
57 Rue Montorgueil
75002 Paris, France

As for dinner? Well, I hadn’t made any reservations for our last evening in Paris. My initial thoughts was to hit up a Boullion, perhaps Bouillon République again? But the Missus really wanted to have the Escargot at L’Escargot Montorgueil once again! I guess She wanted to make up for the dozens of times we walked past the place thinking it was tourist hell…..and then finding out that it was quite good. We entered doing our best “marcher avec grâce” (walking with grace)….well, at least the best that a Sansei from Hawaii with two left could do…..

Our Server was again Olivier, whom we thought was a caricature of the stereotypical French waiter. But much like what we thought about L’Escargot Montorgueil we were wrong.

Olivier had a great sense of humor….drier than a French Sauvignon Blanc, delivered with a totally straight face! When we asked him how long he’d been working at L’Escargot Montorgueil, he told us “many, many, years…..longer than the furniture here has been in existence, older than Monsieur Escargot on the sign!”

Of course we ordered the Escargot and the Foie Gras, both of which were as good as what we had on our previous visit.

And of course because I’m so predictable these days….in the comments of my previous post “FOY” Kenneth asked how the Chanterelles were….because he knew we must have ordered them the next night, right?

Oh man, the boiled egg with a sinfully oozing yolk, the sauce so rich, a light acidic sweetness to go along with the earthy, yet lightly sweet-savory tones of the chanterelles.

There was not enough baguette to sop up all the drippings. We went thru three baskets of them!

The Missus really enjoyed the wine picked out for us. In spite of what we were eating, She wanted a white, so Olivier chose this.

The Missus also enjoyed the Creme Brulee for dessert.

While I had a lovely Vermouth.

This was a lovely last meal in Paris. And, I’ve learned my lesson to not disregard places just because of their location.

L’Escargot Montorgueil
38 rue Montorgueil
75001 Paris, France

After dinner we took a nice stroll up Rue Montorgueil….just enjoying the vibe.

Before heading back to the hotel. We’d be getting a nice night of sleep before heading back to London. Instead of flying, we’d be getting there a way I’d been wanting to travel since I first read about it many years ago. Boy, was I excited!

Thanks for stopping by!

Circling Back to Kindred

April 30, 2025 mmm-yoso Cocktails, Vegetarian and Vegan Restaurants

Our visit to Kali's Garden Cafe had us wondering how Kindred was doing. It had been almost four years since we visited, which was during the pandemic. As a plus, we knew they had outdoor seating so we went just after the 5pm opening time during the week and got seated along the counter on Beech.

Kindred Rev 01

As always, the service was friendly, though things got a bit tight as the clock ticked along.

Kindred Rev 02

We placed our order and I decided on a cocktail. I asked for something smoky and not too sweet and the "Akuma no Uta" was recommended. I should have known that something titled "The Devil's Song" would be pretty darn stiff.

Kindred Rev 04a

Kindred Rev 04

This was no joke as it made its way down my throat. I actually enjoyed it, but one of these was more than enough!

Our food soon started arriving. Starting with the "Doom Bloom"; basically tempura mushrooms.

Kindred Rev 03

So crisp and light; the earth and almost sweet Shimeji, the savory Oyster, and the meaty Trumpet Mushrooms were really tasty. We both thought the watery-mayonnaisey yuzu sauce was a bit too mild and the mushrooms could have used more salt. But overall, a very nice dish.

I really like Yuba, so of course we got the BBQ Yuba Skewers.

Kindred Rev 05

Grilled in this manner, the yuba attains and interesting crisp, yet chewy texture. The BBQ sauce was interesting, perhaps a bit too sweet, but the pungent hot mustard really cleared our sinuses in a very enjoyable way.

The Chimichurri Seitan has always been a favorite. And it seems they've made it even better.

Kindred Rev 07

The gluten was crisp on the exterior, yet slightly creamy inside. It just went well with the spicy Harissa like sauce and the mild horseradish sauce. This is indeed Satan's Seitan….so good it's evil!

The last item was the "Charred Remains" – charred broccoli.

Kindred Rev 08

The broccoli crowns were nicely charred, the stems a bit too hard. The ricotta cheese really seemed to clash with the spicy chili oil. This was pretty sizeable portion.

Overall, we really enjoyed our meal at Kindred. And even though they won't convert me to "Vegan-ism", they just put out tasty food, and I feel better for eating it. Service was friendly as usual. We'll be sure to not let 4 years go by before revisiting!

Kindred Rev 00

Kindred
1503 30th St.
San Diego, CA 92102
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 5pm – MN
Friday 5pm – 1am
Saturday 10am – 1am
Sunday 10am – MN

Road Trip – Cailloux Cheese Shop (Solvang)

April 19, 2025 mmm-yoso Cheese, Cocktails, Dog Friendly, French Restaurants, Road Trip, Santa Barbara County, Travel

After our rather "busy" morning and afternoon, we settled back into the Viking Inn for a nice afternoon nap. When dinner time arose, we didn't want to go very far. There was a place we'd seen the previous day, that was actually open on a Tuesday (many businesses are closed on Monday and Tuesday in Solvang). Cailloux Cheese Shop is located in a courtyard that also houses McClain Cellars, Dascomb Cellars, and Cordon Tasting Rooms. It is a cheese shop – restaurant, you purchase cheese – charcuterie – wine to go, or have access to a menu of French style dishes along with accoutrements for a cheese plate along with beer and wine by the bottle or glass.

We were having an early (430) dinner, the place closes at 6pm, and this seemed perfect. So, I went in and placed our order, paid, and we had a seat in the patio. The folks working here are so very friendly and kind. We were immediately asked if we needed the heaters turned on. Which we didn't.

The Missus went with a Chardonnay and I had a Savignon Blanc.

The Missus wanted to try the Cassoulet, which seemed like a bargain at $18, so we started with that.

At this price, I didn't expect anything like what I make at home, but this was pretty good. The Guanciale added a nice rich, porkiness to the dish, which wasn't overly salty.

There was a decent amount of duck in the dish; kind of chewy, but flavorful. The beans unfortunately, were pinto, I didn't expect Tarbais or even Flageolet beans at this price point, but thought even Cannelli would have been better. I did mention this to the kind older woman who helped bring out our dishes; I believe she is the owner, who said pinto beans are the only thing they can afford to keep the price down. I totally understand!

Our Cheese and Charcuterie plate was huge!

I liked the fact that they "flagged" the cheeses for us. I especially enjoyed the Mitica KM39, firm and flavorful, it went well with the bread. I'm a fan of blue cheeses so I enjoyed the Stilton. I wish they sold Port by the glass, which would have been perfect with this; but unfortunately they don't. The Missus enjoyed the Spanish Chorizo and I the prosciutto and pate. The Pico went well with the candied walnuts as well.

This was a generous and well put together plate. The staff are wonderful. I was curious about the name of the place, "Cailloux" translates to "Pebbles" in English, but we weren't near a beach or river bed. I asked and was told that the owner named the shop after her late pooch, named "Pebbles"! You gotta love it! I know JJ did!

We were finishing right before the 6pm closing, but were told "please take your time – we won't be leaving until after 730". Very nice! It was a perfect early dinner for us and we'll make sure to return!

Cailloux Cheese Shop
1623 Mission Dr. Suite L
Solvang, CA 93463

We strolled back to the motel; the Missus relaxed in the little grass area reading. I took JJ for a nice stroll in the neighborhood. After JJ had his dinner, I took JJ to get a nightcap. During our last stay in Solvang, we discovered Vaquero Bar, attached to the Coast Range Steakhouse. The place seemed to have quite a few locals. I decided to take JJ and head on over.

The place was empty, except for one other customer, who seemed to be a regular.

I had a fairly "stiff" Old Fashioned and a nice chat with the Bartender, who also works with the county doing road repairs. He confirmed my "observations" on the morning and evening traffic patterns. He told me that this was indeed "slow" season. Things start picking up at the end of March, going all the way thru summer/early fall.

Vaquero Bar (In Coast Range Restaurant)
1635 Mission Dr.
Solvang, CA 93463

This was a perfect end to an enjoyable stay.

Though we had yet another road trip coming up in a few weeks!

Stay tuned!

Paris – Those Familiar Places Café du Centre and Maison de Chengdu

April 17, 2025 mmm-yoso Airport/Airline/Cruise/Rail Food, Caffeine Fix, Chinese Restaurants, Cocktails, France, Paris, France, Travel

Well, during our trip to London, the Cinque Terre and Genoa, and Milan, you knew I had to include my favorite city in Europe, right? Yes, we were staying in Paris, though only for four days this time around. Since we'd been on the go during our trip so far; we just wanted to mostly hang out in Paris. This was our seventh trip to the "City of Lights".

Our flight from Milan to Paris was just briefly delayed. And we had a decent lunch on the flight.

To make things easy for us, we stayed at the Citadines Les Halles. It was easy to get to from CDG via the RER Blue Line. From there, it was just a short walk to our favorite little street in Paris, Rue Montorgueil, which I've posted on many times. And of course, we had a seat at our favorite cafe, Café du Centre to just watch time pass us by.

It was pretty late in the day for a Cafe Allonge, so the Missus had a glass of wine and I had a Kir.

My goodness, it was great to be back in Paris!

Café du Centre
57 Rue Montorgueil
75002 Paris, France

When dinner time arrived, we decided to head on over to our favorite simple little Sichuan Restaurant, Maison de Chengdu. Which we first discovered when we stayed in Paris for two weeks and our apartment was just a block away. We strolled up Rue Montorgueil…..

Then taking a right on Rue Réaumur…yes, it was kind of the long way, but we enjoyed passing all those familiar places, including the apartment we stayed in during that two week visit. A right on Rue Volta and we had arrived…..

The restaurant was pretty quiet on this evening.

Though they had a ton of food delivery orders.

IMG_3330a

This time we took a seat on the ground floor and basically ordered the same items as on our last visit. And of course, we started with a Tsingtao.

IMG_3323a

The only item that was not as good as on our previous visit was the Stir Fried Mountain Yam as it was missing the red and green bell peppers and had hardly any woodear.

The Intestine Dry Pot was nicely cooked; the intestine actually had a bit of "crunch" to it, along with a decent amount of numbing tones from the Sichuan Peppercorn.

The Green Beans had a bit more pork this time around and was stir fried nicely.

The Missus got Her Chinese food fix in. All of this came out to about 42€…..let's say $50/US, which along with the minimal tipping in France, this was a bargain.

You can read about all about our previous visits in the links.

Maison De Chengdu (古味成都)
16 Rue Volta
75003 Paris, France

We took a nice long after dinner stroll, thru all those familiar streets, doing the Flâneur thing. In Paris, it's quite easy getting your "steps" in. You just don't realize how much you walk.

It was a joy to be back in Paris!

The Shed and Sidecar Bar

February 9, 2025 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Cocktails, Pubs and Pub Grub, Sandwiches

I'm sure you've noticed that we've been taking JJ everywhere…..looking for places the little ball of energy would be able to hang. I'd been wanting to check out the latest food stand that's opened next to Sidecar Bar, a favorite of the Missus, which we hadn't been back to in a while. It's called The Shed and took over the "shed" next to the bar back in the middle of 2023 if I recall.

The Shed 01

It's basically a burger stand, but I'd been told that the tri-tip sandwich was quite good. So, with JJ in tow, we thought it was time for him to hang at Sidecar.

The menu is brief; but covers burgers, chicken sandwiches, fries, and such.

The Shed 02

To order, you basically press that little button, right under "Anthony Bourdain's Middle Finger Salute" and the friendly guy will come out to take your order.

The Shed 03b

And for a modern touch, you're given one of the buzzer/beeper contraptions.

The Shed 04

And you go to the counter and press that "button" again. I think it would just be perfect if the button would be on a plastic "half-peace sign salute" thing. It would just make the experience complete, right?

I ordered the "Just the Tip" ($17.70) and an order of Garlic Parmesan Fries with Chimichurri ($8.30). The portion of fries was generous.

The Shed 05

This was a bit disappointing for us as the fries were gummy and dry and for some reason, the savory-saltiness of the Parmesan was quite muted. We'll pass on this in the future.

The tri-tip sandwich on the other hand…..

The Shed 06

Was pretty good! The trip-tip, though not smoked, was very tender, beefy, nicely seasoned. The brioche bun had a touch of sweetness that complemented things nicely. The fried onion rings…well, that's always a great touch. The chimichurri sauce was fine, though both the Missus and I noted that something a bit more pungent, like perhaps a horseradish based sauce might be really good with this. Still, we'd gladly have this again.

And of course, the Missus loves Sidecar…..

Sidecar Rev 01

And since we needed to…ahem, work on our "immune system", well, we thought some Penicillin would do the trick. Prices have gone up $2 since our last visit and this cocktail is now $12.

Sidecar Rev 02

I like the combination of Scotch, Mezcal, and Ginger in this. And also the fact that it isn't overly sweet.

Now that Sidecar has the Shed to provide some eats, I think the three of us will be dropping by a bit more often.

The Shed 07

Sidecar Bar
1310 Morena Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92110

The Shed
1312 Morena Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92110

Cinque Terre – Back to Monterosso al Mare, Aperitivo at Ananasso Bar, and Dinner at Gambero Rosso (Vernazza)

January 18, 2025 mmm-yoso Cinque Terre/Genoa, Liguria - Italy, Cocktails, Italian Restaurants, Italy, Seafood, Travel

After enjoying our time in Riomaggiore and Manarola, the Missus decided She wanted to revisit Monterosso. Which was not a big deal since it was just a 12 minute train ride to Monterosso and boy was I happy we weren't hiking there! My knees were still stiff from that one! Like before, we got out at the station in the New Town and walked thru the tunnel to the Old Town. This time we went further up the main street, Via Roma.

Along the way, we came across something that kinda reminded us of Japan in a way. A vending machine. This one is like a portable pharmacy!

We enjoyed doing the "Flâneur" thing. After a busy morning, just wandering in the largest village of the Cinque Terre with a "massive" population of 1,300, away from the major tourist stops was relaxing.

It gave us time to really appreciate the beautiful colors of the Cinque Terre.

As we got closer to the train tracks and the shoreline more businesses appeared, but because this was the winter season, things seemed quite sedate.

Sometimes, just meandering around can be more fun then having to see all the required sights.

As we headed back to the New Town and the train station, the Missus decided She wanted another gelato from Gelateria La Scogliera. And of course we needed to sit and have that view of the bay as well.

Gelateria La Scogliera
Via Fegina 20
Monterosso al Mare, Italy

Back in Vernazza, we climbed those stairs back to the apartment and relaxed, before heading back out. We strolled down Via Visconti toward the breakwater to get that "typical" view of Vernazza Harbor and Piazza Guglielmo Marconi.

It seems that more than a few folks had the same idea in mind.

Then it was time for something I'd really taken to during our stay in Milan; aperitivo time. And the lovely Piazza Guglielmo Marconi seemed like the perfect place.

So, we were back at Ananasso Bar, where we'd had our morning espresso. We actually sat at the two top right out the door of the shop. And guess who decided to take a "break" below my seat?

Yep, it was the ferocious feline we saw earlier in the day! Of course, I wasn't going to try to make it move, nor even bother it at all!

As for our aperotivo.

The Missus ordered the "non si sa", the "bartender's choice"! In this case an interesting aperol with tequila and mezcal, which was right down the Missus's alley. I got the Negroni Basilico; made with Cinque Terre Basil and Cocchi Americano which added a nice bitter-sweet tone; the basil added some interesting peppery-anise flavors.

Ananasso Bar
Piazza Guglielmo Marconi 30
Vernazza, Italy

We also got some free entertainment, courtesy of this fellow.

I guess he's one of the caretakers of the piazza. He came on down singing, greeting everyone, playing "air guitar" on his broom!

Such a nice and friendly fellow.

By this time, the waves started picking up.

Quite dramatically.

At one point, the first couple of tables nearest the beach on the piazza got splashed. I'm glad we sat where we did!

For dinner, we picked a spot next to Gianni Franzi where we'd had dinner the previous night. We were told that Gambero Rosso was the "finest" restaurant in the area, so we had to check it out, right?

It had started drizzling and the waves were pounding the shore, so we dined in the warm, stone walled dining room.

The service was a bit rushed, but the place was pretty busy. Prices were a bit more than on the previous night. Sticking with local seafood/products and uncomplicated dishes had served us well thus far so we weren't going to deviate.

First up was the Misto de Acciughe alla Gambero Rosso. The house style anchovies. Basically both fried and filet of anchovies.

These were fine; the fried version crisp and savory, the salted filets fine, though not as full of umami as we'd had the night before.

The Trofie al Pesto was better than we'd had the previous night, though not as enjoyable as what we'd had at 5 Terre Bistrot.

The real "winnah" of the evening were the Mussels. Oh my, so plump, mildly sweet – oceany, not a bit of grit to be found!

Cooked simply and perfectly. We plowed thru this in no time!

Like I said, simple and local…….

Ristorante Il Gambero Rosso
Piazza Guglielmo Marconi 7
Vernazza, Italy

Things were quite damp when we left the restaurant. And not all of it due to the mild drizzle.

Looking between the buildings you could see what the waves had brought ashore. In fact, waves were hitting the window of the living room of the apartment! I wish I had taken a photo of that!

We were really enjoying ourselves. The charming and colorful villages, the views, the wildness of the sea….but, to be honest, it was those little special moments that really made our stay memorable!