What Cathy Eats! – Page 79

El Faro- Mariscos (Sherman Heights/Logan Heights)

October 19, 2011 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, What Cathy Eats!

El Faro has closed.

Welcome back the the blog called mmm-yoso!!! Today, Kirk and ed (from Yuma) are researching places so they can write posts. Cathy is finished researching and this is the rough draft.

Hi. The other day, The Mister and I were (yes, again) taking a little "stay-cation" in San Diego, Balboa Park, to be precise. Here is the Sculpture Garden, near the Old Globe Theater.

The parking lot near the Aerospace Museum was pretty crowded, as were the restaurants in the park, so after about two miles, we drove on the side streets looking for a place to have lunch.

Somehow, we got to Imperial Avenue -looking for the Farmers Market Building (it's for sale)- and a block later we saw street signs welcoming us to both Sherman and Logan Heights…and then saw the word "Family" on this building. I stopped and parked.

El Faro, Spanish for "the lighthouse" . Of course, they serve seafood. Thing is, we saw a mariscos truck and a small mariscos restaurant on the same block…never considered this part of town to have mariscos. But what do we know…
Lunch Specials…

and for future reference, Happy Hour. We walked in.

Five booths, seven tables and the kitchen in the middle. Like eating in Mexico. I asked and found out these owners have been here 13 years, and before they bought this place, it was a seafood restaurant.

Lime wedges, fresh (light and very good) corn chips and a mildly hot salsa were brought to the table (after ordering, a group of appropriate hot sauces were brought out, however, I used this salsa for everything- no vinegar or sugar and a good heat to it).
We decided to try a fish ceviche tostada ($2.25) as an appetizer. Really, really nice. The fish was fresh, flaky, tasty and the lime juice, tomatoes, onion and cilantro were complimentary and not overwhelming. The tostada was placed on top of lettuce and that cucumber slice, so it didn't get soggy.

The Mister's meal came with this large cup filled with a seafood soup. Excellent, fresh, very nice amount of seafood in the not too tomato flavored broth (it was more of a seafood stock base) .
After a long discussion with myself, I had decided on the camarones (shrimp) salad because of the description. Plain (home made) mayonnaise was the dressing and it complimented the very large (in size and number-24) shrimp. Lettuce, shredded carrot and chopped cucumber were the only salad ingredients. The topping of avocado, two slices of cucumber and the tomato added enough variety so that I could enjoy those shrimp in the dressing. This was filling, refreshing and worth the lunch price ($8.95).
The Mister's Pescado Entero ($8.95). A whole fried tilapia. Very fresh, firm fleshed, not muddy, fried perfectly (I ate the fins; so crispy).

The Mister ate just about everything else…

El Faro Family Restaurant 2249 Imperial Avenue San Diego 92102 (619)2311388

Saigon- a great meal

October 11, 2011 Cathy Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. Kirk is working a lot lately and so is ed (from Yuma). Neither of them has had time to write, much less read about food. Today, Cathy is filing a post so you'll have something to read.

Hi again. The other day, once again, I started driving with no purpose other than to find lunch. The Mister was along for the ride, not knowing where to go nor giving me suggestions except an occasional "well, you found more road construction" and- "turn here, I haven't been in this neighborhood for a while". Soon we were on El Cajon Boulevard and

the parking lot at Saigon was not crowded, so we stopped. We have been here many times and always have enjoyed it, but it stopped being a deliberate destination for one reason or another.

People were occupying the smaller tables, and we sat at one of the 7 chair tables with the Lazy Susan in the center. That century-old kitchen gadget would prove to be quite helpful with our three item order which we intended to share. Whenever we sit at a table with more than two chairs, I tend to move around and eat from a plate at every chair.

The item which we ordered before even looking at the menu- Banh xeo– usually takes a while to prepare. ($6.50) The delicate turmeric flavored fried crepe/pancake is cooked fresh and filled with
sprouts, green onion, pork and shrimp. It is served with lettuce leaves and fresh mint for wrapping the pieces you break off and whatever you stuff inside..and the usual dipping sauce, nuoc mam (fish sauce).

Yes. I took three photos. We should have just ordered two bahn xeo and been done with it.It was so good and filling.
The Mister ordered a small bowl of pho with thin sliced rare beef and flank ($5.25). The aromatics from the broth were wafting toward me -the anise stood out and the flavor was deep and rich. This pho would be great on a chilly day. Very tasty and filling. You can see the plate of add-ins behind the bowl- basil, sprouts and the unseen jalapeños and a lime wedge. The noodles were not clumpy and this also was an excellent meal by itself.
However, I wanted fish. The menu description "Catfish and rice $7.95" seemed to be what I wanted (no mention of hotpot). This came to the table sizzling and bubbling over the cast iron pot.

After a long while, the pot settled down. It was filled with catfish in a sweet-garlic-black pepper sauce. (A good sweet that a brown sauce has, not overly crazy yukky sweet.) Just catfish, sauce and those green onion fronds. It was exquisite and wonderful with tender, flaky, not muddy but very fresh tasting fish (some bones and some really good skin) that stayed hot the whole meal.

Glad we stopped here and refreshed our memory of why we used to return here over and over. We need to go through the menu… there are over 100 items.

Saigon 4455 El Cajon Boulevard (across from Hoover High School) San Diego 92115 (619) 284-4215

Sammoon-Mediterranean Cuisine (El Cajon)

October 10, 2011 Cathy Mediterranean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Sammoon is closed

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. Kirk, ed(from Yuma) and Cathy mostly contribute and post/blog about places and foods they have had as a meal. Cathy is posting/blogging today.

Hi. If you've ever had Jury Duty in El Cajon (there are four court houses where Jurors perform their Civic Duty in this large County), you may have wandered out looking for a snack or lunch on one of your breaks. Or you will. Just across Magnolia is the Panda Express and the newly opened Sammoon. This is a view from the parking lot and not from the courthouse…it is close to where Magnolia intersects with Broadway, where the Starbucks and soon to be El Cajon Brewing Company (which would be a far more interesting lunch during a court case) is located…just a bit more North in that same block/parking lot.

There is a menu posted outside…

As well as above the cash register where you order. You can see the spits of chicken and beef schawarma.

The inside is neat and clean and quite large(this location used to be a Red Brick Pizza franchise-see the oven all the way against the wall to the center/left?) (there is an area selling frozen foods(kubbas, potato chop, borak, cheese and beef pies) and bakery items (baklava-pistachio and walnut, and klecha-pistachio, walnut and date) as well as the sandwich rolls (Sammoons, 3 for$1)at the front, next to the cash register and also where this photo doesn't take you.

The Mister ordered the $4.99 special- a beef schawarma sandwich with a salad (cabbage with some fennel 'feathers' and parsley and a light dressing), pickles and a beverage (the sandwich alone is $4.49). The bread, baked here, is excellent-soft thin crusted, a nice chewy interior. Kind of a big pita. The schawarma is completely wonderful- tender, flavorful beef, cut thin. The sandwich was filled with fresh vegetables (tomato, cucumber, onion, parsley, a fresh yogurt based sauce and a sprinkle of some sumac). This was a substantial sandwich.

I ordered the chicken schawarma salad ($6.99). There is even *more* meat on the salad than in the sandwich. Plus cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and olives. The plate is pretty deep and there was also a lot of lettuce. The $2 extra was well worth it. The chicken schawarma was also very flavorful, moist, tender. Seriously good. (It was served with a very tasty house made dressing, olive oil based and very herb-y).

The Mister also decided to order some falafel (49¢ each) and they were fresh made with the chickpea mix having the texture of a really good hushpuppy-airy and fluffy- and served with fresh tahini (sesame seed sauce (on the right)) and a tart-sweet mango pickle sauce (on the left). Light, fluffy, perfectly crisp and not oily. I've gotten pretty picky- and have cravings for good falafel and these are in my top five.

We decided to wait for next time to try a dessert.

Sammoon Bakery & Restaurant Mediterranean Cuisine 190 N. Magnolia El Cajon 92020 (619)441-2823

Sun-Thurs, 10am-10pm, Fri-Sat, 10am-midnight

25 Forty Bistro and Bakehouse. Great Food In Old Town.

October 1, 2011 Cathy European Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

25Forty has closed and will be missed. It's said they will be relocating.

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. Thanks for dropping by. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) and Cathy share bloggings of food they have enjoyed . Today, Cathy is blogging.

Hi again. This blog post is about a French Bistro located in Old Town- an excellent place for food in an unexpected setting. The Mister and I are enjoying finding different places to take our daily walks and the other day, we decided Old Town would be some place different. We haven't been here for an ocean of time and it's kind of the same, yet different in that a lot of the buildings have been fixed up and are (free admission) museums where the public can experience the history of life in San Diego. It is one of many State Parks in our County.

Just East, beyond the official 'edge' of the Park is Immaculate Conception Church, which allows tourists to enter and look around. It is on the corner of San Diego Avenue and Twigg Street. We walked one block South, to Congress Street, and started walking East.

We saw this lovely house, converted into a Bistro and Bakehouse, at 2540 Congress Street. Then I remembered: Mr. & Mrs. P, good friends, had told me about how much they liked eating here -in March of this year. Well, we finally got around to remembering to stop by; should have dropped in here sooner.

The interior is decorated in a clean, black and white color palette with white butcher paper covering the tablecloth and crayons in the jars on each table, so you can add some color if you'd like. There are more tables on the front and side patios. Those are all cookbooks stacked on the shelf above the bar. Specials are written on the chalkboard painted wall…

In typical bistro fashion, cold water was brought to the table in a chilled bottle and glasses filled with ice accompanied while we looked at the simple menu of a daily soup, two salads, pasta, sandwiches and late breakfasts.

I ordered the Steak Salad ($8). Thin sliced, still warm tender fillet, cooked medium rare with thin sliced tomato on top of mixed greens, perfectly dressed with a nice balsamic vinaigrette. This was huge, tasty and so very fresh.

The Mister ordered a tuna melt sandwich ($8) which came with the mixed green salad. The bread- oh my. A fresh baked baguette with a crispy crust, chewy insides, topped with an excellent version of tuna salad, which had finely finely diced onion and carrot in it, I think maybe a touch of tarragon, seasoned to perfection (there is no salt or pepper on the tables and there does not need to be). The Mister asked for Swiss cheese instead of the Pepper Jack that was on the menu. This was excellent and quite large.

Because we felt like it, we asked for a dessert- There was an array of fresh pastries on the counter and the choice was overwhelming, plus I didn't really want a sweet pastry. We decided to try the small cheese tray ($7), which seemed 'healthy' and more of a French Bistro-type dessert… A fairly large piece of Cambozola cheese as well as a good size piece of Gouda, accompanied by walnuts and dried apricots and that sauce- a house made raspberry, heavenly sauce.

It came with the fresh baked baguette loaf and butter…and we ordered a small French Press coffee ($3).

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

We went back the next week. It was so good.

Forgive these photos, my cameraphone should have been on flash…

We ordered the house made lentil soup ($4). This was excellent, made with (I think) a chicken based stock and filled with a variety of lentils, finely diced onions and carrot and celery and in deceptively large container.

The Mister ordered a Croque-madame ($8).

A Croque-madame is a Croque-monsieur with a hat…an explanation I was told a long time ago. I suppose that goes in line with women wearing a hat in church and men not wearing a hat there. In any case, I go with it.

The Croque- a crunchy bread (grilled) is filled with (thinly sliced) Black Forest ham and cheese, topped with a wonderful, creamy, velvet-y Bechamel sauce and then topped again with a fried egg (the 'hat' that a monsieur does not have) and sprinkled with a fine layer of Parmesan. A 'fast food' snack served in cafes and bistros in France, the croque is a fancy food to us… and the version here – the fresh baked, thick sliced bread, the wondrous sauce, the crunch, the egg (which had a glorious orange yolk) and the very flavorful ham was excellent.

I was in the mood for a late breakfast (there is a brunch served here on weekends, no breakfast during the week) and ordered a cheese omelet($7). Instead of the 'regular' side salad, I asked if I could try the only other salad on the menu- a kale salad. I was curious about a salad made of raw kale. It is wonderful. Finely chopped kale marinated in a balsamic, oil and soy and mixed with sweetened cashews and raisins…a flavor combination I would not have considered…and now a craving for me.

The cheese omelet- perfect- like French toast- fluffy inside and crispy crust, the freshly ground black pepper complimented the egg. The cheese was three- Swiss, Cheddar and Cambozola. A very fancy cheese omelet.

It was time for dessert and we decided to not indulge in a pastry again. So we ordered the same as before…small cheese tray ($7) and small French Press($3). A perfect ending to a perfect meal.

We very much have enjoyed the ambiance, people working and quality of all the food we have tried here so far. We do look forward to going through the menu. 2540 is not a tourist trap; it is a wonderful restaurant which happens to be located on the edge of Old Town, about two blocks from the Trolley and is very much worth the stop.

25Forty Bistro and Bakehouse 2540 Congress Street San Diego 92110 (619)294-2540 (Closed Mondays) Website

Santee’s Pizza

September 29, 2011 Cathy Pizza, What Cathy Eats!

Santee's Pizza has closed. It will be missed.

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. For the most part, Kirk , ed(from Yuma) and Cathy share what they ate with you, the Reader of this blog. Today, Kirk is busy, as is ed, so Cathy is blogging.

Hello again. The other day, The Mister and I kept our "staycation" (and daily walk) close to home, at the Santee Lakes, a 194 acre preserve which is completely sustainable, with five miles of walking trails, and a campground which has a 300 hook up campsite as well as cabins you can rent and has identified 178 species of birds in the preserve area. There are six playgound areas, many picnic tables, grills and areas which can be reserved for larger parties and has paddleboats to rent. They sell permits for fishing (most places make you purchase a State permit to fish). The South end of the Lakes houses the Padre Dam Water District offices, where I can walk in and pay my water bill every two months.

As you can see, it was a beautiful, perfectly clear morning.

After a walk around five of the seven main lakes, we went to the Santee Library (three blocks from the South end of the Lakes, where we had parked in lieu of paying admission to drive a vehicle into the Lakes) and decided to try the "new" Pizza place in the same mall.

Simply named, and one of eight places where we can get pizza in this small city in East San Diego County, we were not expecting much and ordered "any two slices and a drink" for $5.50, also ordering one extra slice of just cheese pizza for $2. We took it all home.

This is a slice of White Pie: a no sauce pie, topped with Mozzarella, Ricotta, garlic and Parmesan.

Here is a photo of the Cheese pie slice and the Hills Trio- topped with pepperoni, sausage and Canadian bacon.

These were good. Really good. We made it a point to return.

The owner recognized us as the ones who had ordered a slice of Cheese pie. He asked how we were doing, how we liked it , was very friendly and interested. That is a rarity these days. We asked to order a whole Cheese Pie. 18 inches, $12.50. Only one size. {There are five tables inside and two tables out front, but we took the pizza 'to go'.}

Bottom of pie. Perfectly baked.

THIN, THIN crust. The sauce is home made, very tomato-y, with oregano and just the slightest touch of heat from red pepper. It is perfect.

In addition to six other pies/topping combinations, the menu also includes a House garden salad ($3 or $5; this is the large) with a choice of dressings…

and calzones. The basic calzone (filled with Ricotta, Parmesan and Mozzarella) is $6.50. Additional toppings are $1. You can see the calzone is half the size of a pie (same size box). The sauce is the same basic sauce, which, again, has just the right amount of red pepper heat and the oregano is the only spice the tomato needs…

Here is maybe a better photo of the calzone- and its thin, thin delicate crust…and cheese fillings.

To me, this is the best pizza I have had outside of Naples. High quality, hand made, Santee's Pizza has very friendly people working and makes an excellent product. We are lucky to live here.

Santee's Pizza 9225 Carlton Hills Boulevard (same mall as the Santee Library, at the corner of Carlton Hills and Carlton Oaks) Santee 92071 (619) 749-9949 Website

End of Summer and a Crayfish Party Plate at Ikea

September 14, 2011 Cathy Chains, Festivals & Events, Seafood, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is food blog based in San Diego County. Kirk, ed (from Yuma) and Cathy share blogging duty. Really, it's narratives about food we ate, eat and enjoy. Sometimes there's an explanation other than just being hungry. Today, Cathy is chronicling another one of her adventures.

Hi. The other day The Mister and I found ourselves in Mission Valley, at Ikea. Ikea is the Swedish furniture store that has a cafeteria in the midst of furniture displays and a small grocery, called the Swede Shop, at the exit. I've Posted about Ikea on two other occasions. We went to the Swede Shop looking for some snacks and noticed the advertising displays- all about the annual Crayfish Party, a Scandinavian celebration of the end of summer.

We could have purchased all the food and decorations for a party for $20…

The food consists of, naturally, kilo of crayfish (which are indeed crawfish, but in Scandinavia, the miniature lobsters are boiled in a dill based brine, instead of the cajun seasonings used for a crawfish boil)

some roe,

bread and cheese. (Sauce came frozen with the crayfish)

and always, gravad lox is part of any Swedish plate.

We decided to walk through the store first to get some exercise while looking at furniture and decor and buy the snack food on our way out. Then we saw this sign. We could get a whole party for $3.99!

So we stopped at the cafeteria.

I spied a whole plate of gravad lax (raw salmon cured with sugar, salt and dill) and took it from the cafeteria display. ($4.99)

We also saw lentil soup as the soup of the day. I always like it from here. ($1.99) It has a deep, rich flavor and is always thick with lentils. You can see my gravad lox plate had plenty of lox and a lot of spinach which I treated as salad. It came with a hot honey-mustard. Heat, but not from chilis…Scandanavian spice…

The Crayfish Party! six cooked crayfish (served cold), small shrimp, crisp bread and cheese, roe, gravad lox on a bed of spinach. That's a half hard boiled egg topped with a mayonnaise in the center. You can see the spices/flavor enhancers for Scandinavians consist mainly of dill and lemon. Simple food. This was a satisfying and celebratory meal for $3.99. Very fancy and very nice.
The Mister is very good at opening crayfish…

We bought all the ingredients as we exited so we could have our own party at home. Easy and good.

Yes, it is almost the end of summer. Does anyone have any traditions for the change of seasons?

IKEA 2149 Fenton Parkway 92108 (619)834-1520

Mariscos Hector’s – Chula Vista

September 13, 2011 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the food blog you are reading. Lately, Cathy has been writing about her "staycation" walks around the beautiful County parks while Kirk has been updating his Turkey and Greece vacation from this year and ed(from Yuma) has let us in on his vacation to Julian. Cathy is back with something different.

One of our recent walks was quite educational as well as a bit challenging (downhill from the start, therefore uphill to return). This time, we had beautiful views- one, of the Otay Lakes Reservoir…

while walking the one mile path…

with a beautiful view North

and many, many athletic venues- courts, fields, tracks, this archery range…

Yes, the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista. There is a path and the public can walk it and view the various venues from it (access directly on the fields is restricted).

There are three BMX riders at the top/starting gate behind the Field Hockey field (court?). You can see we aren't very close to the track. However there is a BMX Development Track closer to the main building and it has several sets of bleacher seats close to the field. The BMX Supercross World Cup will be held here September 30-October 1 (www.ababmx.com) (www.uci.ch)

So anyhow, we walked and enjoyed this new-to-us venue (the Olympic Training Center opened in June 1995) which has a great audio tour as well as the views. Then we drove through the Eastlake section of Chula Vista, looking for something different.

There was a major intersection with three of the corners filled with stores and shops. In the one which had the Kohl's, I spotted this. Of course we stopped.
It was quite large and clean inside, with a bar which had a view of the kitchen,
as well as a bar which was alcohol centric.
We were seated in a booth with very a large, thick granite table and corn chips, a very good spicy-hot fresh salsa and cut limes were placed on the table.

I wanted a champechana cocktail, but also wanted to try other items on the menu. When I saw there was a champechana tostada on the menu ($5.95), I decided that would get me the flavors but not be overwhelmingly filling…but it was huge! Lots of fresh shrimp, octopus, bay scallops cooked in lime juice with added cucumber, tomato and cilantro. This was definitely fresh made for me with tender octopus, fresh shrimp and flavorful, small, bay scallops. There are oysters in the champechana coctail and I can get that next time, if I am so hungry.
The Mister saw a calamari tostada on the menu for only $1.95, so he ordered it for us to share. This was not your typical squid. First, this must have been a very large squid since the pieces had a good diameter. The meat was tender and meaty. It was sauteed, cooked in a salsa which made it tender…almost stew-like. It was very good and I'll order it again.
On the menu, the tacos were priced as "Piece" and "Order". Piece meant one taco; order meant two tacos plus rice and beans. The Gobernador was $3.95 for the single taco and $7.95 for the order. I pulled out my phone and used its handy calculator…

ANYHOW…the gobernador was *wonderful*. This version had a lot of chunks of mild chiles in an almost cream sauce…or really melty cheese and were filled with shrimp. (Gobernador tacos, Sinaloan in origin, have the common denominator of shrimp and cheese and then each chef seems to make it their own…this is a great version).

One note- the corn chips that came with salsa, the corn tortilla with the tostadas and the corn tortilla used for the tacos were each unique and flavorful and very very different in texture. That was another delightful surprise. We will be coming back to try the Parrillada dishes (barbecue) which include carne asada, kabobs and lobster as well as the various fish dishes. Oh and there is a breakfast menu! I guess we'll go back to the Olympic Training Center more often…

Hector's Mariscos 2305 Otay Lakes Road Ste 201 Chula Vista 91915 (619)421-1300 Website

(yes, the website is www.hectorsmariscos.comand the sign above the door is Mariscos Hector's. You'll find it)

Pho Tay Do- a year later

August 31, 2011 Cathy Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Hi. You are reading mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog. Cathy has a post today. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are post-less at the moment.

Kirk wrote about Pho Tay Do last July and The Mister and I stopped in that following weekend. It is in the same 'parking lot area' as Vien Dong III (if you drive West within it and then head South to University). We really liked what we had ordered in the heat of the summer then, as well as in the cold wetness of 'winter' and this year have returned for our 'not wanting to cook at home' meals.

As you can see, there are pho "Happy Hours" here now. (It looks like you get a large bowl of certain flavors for $4.95 between 5-9 p.m., daily, but I am not certain of all the details)

The bamboo decorated interior is bright and clean…

Table condiments are pretty standard.

I feel I must comment on the sugar. Every time we have been here, I notice at least one person pouring sugar into his/her bowl of pho. I've never seen this anywhere else and don't quite understand it…

On this day, The Mister ordered the grilled pork chop, tan hu ky and shrimp broken rice plate ($7.50). (Tan hu ky is fried bean curd -stuffed with chopped shrimp; always a favorite). This plate is a filling meal and always done just right- the shrimp and pork chop are moist and grilled just right.

This warm day, I did want to order bun (pronounced 'boon') (cold noodles on top of salad), which comes with a variety of choices of toppings. I was going to order bun with cha gio, but not for the pork flavor as much as for the crunch. When I saw the many vegetarian options on the newer menu, I chose the tofu filled cha gio as my bun topping…($5.50)

You can see the finely minced tofu pieces inside the roll. It was very good. All the flavors in the bun were complimentary. The base of the bun here is more cucumbers and bean sprouts than lettuce, and I find that very refreshing. Mint, scallions and peanuts do round out the flavors. If you notice the sauce bowls in the photos, that darker colored one came with mine, the 'vegetarian sauce'. It has a wonderful deeper flavor. Another good choice in this part of town.

Pho Tay Do 5296 University Avenue San Diego 92105 (619)582-0603

Tender Greens- and a Point Loma visit

August 30, 2011 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! It's a food blog. Kirk is having internet problems, ed(from Yuma) is busy with coursework starting, so today, it's Cathy blogging.

Hi again. It was yet another day of walking for The Mister and I, this time with a glorious view of San Diego with the Bay, the Navy Submarine base and Naval Air Station Coronado…

All a magnificent view from Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. A very serene, cool walk on one of the days when the temperatures in East County were almost unbearable.

As we drove down the hill, The Mister and I were thinking of what we wanted for dinner. The idea of going home to cook was daunting and since we were in the area, we decided to stop at Tender Greens.
The unassuming exterior belies the wonderful meals to be found inside. I have posted about Tender Greens on one occasion and mentioned another visit in the middle of one post.
The menu is right above where you order…

You'll give your name and walk along a glassed kitchen prep area, seeing all the ingredients and watching your order being assembled…
The in House made charcuterie, fresh figs…
roasted vegetables,
The various proteins offered. At the end of the walk is the cash register where you can also order a desert and get your beverages and your order, all presented on a jelly roll pan which is your tray…you find a seat and can enjoy your meal.
We decided to share a bowl of rustic chicken soup ($4) Mostly dark chicken meat (the flavorful stuff) and a myriad of vegetables- the bowl was packed with potato, squash, carrot, onion, fresh herbs- lemon thyme is so complimentary. Always a good bowl of soup.

The Mister decided to try the Craft salad ($10.50), there were six slices of the house made salumi, Feta cheese, roasted peppers, olives, pickled onions, pickles, capers mixed in the 'young lettuce all erfectly mixed with the right amount of Cabernet vinaigrette.

I decided to try the 'Happy Vegan" this time.($10.50) What a wonderful choice! The greens were topped with a lemon vinaigrette and the scoops of salads, each with its own flavor, were individually wonderful- From the right- A farro/spelt/wheat grain mixed with dried cranberries and hazelnuts tasted rich and had a nice 'tooth'. The green hummus was fresh and had an underlying green onion flavor. The third is mostly red quinoa (you can see the quinoa 'tails' in the photo) mixed with cucumber and yellow beets and tasted creamy. The tabbouleh all the way on the left was a wonderful bulghur and had peppermint as it's green, making it sweet (to me).

The combination of vegan tastes was perfect and the overall salad was filling and refreshing, not at all what I expected vegan food to be. I want to try other vegan meals now.

Tender Greens 2400 Historic Decatur Road, inside the old Naval Training Center/Liberty Station San Diego 92106 (619) 226-6254 Website

Cafe Cabaret- a coffee shop with food.

August 29, 2011 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Caffeine Fix, Vegetarian and Vegan Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Hi. You are back at mmm-yoso!!!, possibly a bookmark on your Tool Bar, or perhaps you got here by Googling. In any case, Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are not blogging today, Cathy is.

The other Friday, again after one of our walks around a body of water…

Lake Murray on this day…

The Mister and I started driving and somehow got to Adams Avenue. We saw this sign. I rounded the block and parked.

It was the "French Crepes" sign which attracted me, because I still hadn't had any since my quest for crepes went unrequited a few weeks ago…

However, just the beverage menu here was filled with choices and when we saw menu items (sandwiches, salads, kabobs), breakfast items(omelets, scrambles, waffles, pancakes, French Toast) and some of the daily chalkboard specials, the crepe was soon forgotten and we ordered, paid and found a place to sit.

An outdoors-brought-inside decor with many tables inside the building as well as on the patio, apparently offering free wi-fi and community setting, we felt comfortable here.

The nice young lady who took our order brought out the regular coffee we had ordered. I found out the owners are Ethiopian, explaining some of the menu items. {Yes. Too many beverage choices has me wanting to see if a place can make a regular cup of coffee. (Cafe Cabaret can.)}
The Mister had ordered the Vegetable samosas, a light snack ($4.99) which came with a salsa dip as well as a yougurt sauce and some carrots and cucumbers.

These pockets of just baked flaky triangle shaped dough were filled with a delightful blend of peas, lentils, potatoes, carrots, spinach, tomatoes, onions, perfectly seasoned with cumin and coriander.
I ordered the chalkboard special falafel sandwich, which came with salad, hummus and whole wheat pita ($4.99). The salad dressing was a raspberry vinaigrette and the dipping sauce was yogurt based. The fresh hummus was topped with a nice-hot Harissa sauce. The falafel inside the wheat wrap were probably made from a dry mix, had and interesting garlic flavor on their own and were cold (!) inside the wrap filled with lettuces, onion, tomato and cucumber accompanied by a sauce which seemed to be a mix of the yogurt and harissa. There was a lot of falafel in the sandwich and the meal was quite filling and very tasty, although I ended up using all of the other sauces on the table and not the raspberry salad dressing for the salad- it tasted too sweet to me.

This was another lucky find for us. We'll stop by when we are in the area again.

Cafe Cabaret 3739 Adams Avenue San Diego 92116 (619)284-1819 Open 6:30-10 p.m. 7 days. Breakfast 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Website