mmm-yoso – Page 246 – As in, yoso-silly, yoso-hungry, yoso-full, or best of all; mmm-delici-yoso!!!!! A San Diego based food and travel blog. An Ex-Pat Kama'aina and Friends explore food, restaurants, and travel from San Diego and points beyond.

Clearing Out the Memory Card – All those familiar places; Taisho, Okan, Sakura, and Iron Pig

September 5, 2016 mmm-yoso Gastropub, Japanese Restaurants

Here's something for a lazy Labor Day. I hope you all had a nice, relaxing long weekend.

Yakitori Taisho:

Still a favorite of mine. I recently had the pleasure of dining here with with Kirbie and her Hubby, it had been too darn long. I think we spent most of the time catching up….so I know I got no photos. And after all, I do have quite the collection, of posts on the place. In fact, the last time we travelled to Japan, it was to be about mostly Ramen and Yakitori for the Missus. And in spite of trying half a dozen places…..well….Taisho would have been a solid number 3. That says a lot. My only recent complaint about the place…….well, they've taken chicken karaage off the menu!

Not much new here……then having tried the quail, which was quite good.

Try it if they have it on the menu.

It's great to see that other Food Bloggers like Jinxi are enjoying Taisho and trying new things like akahimo.

Yakitori Taisho
5185 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

Wa Dining Okan:

Met up with some friends; Eric and Maria. And while I managed to miss a couple of dishes….this was a nice meal as always.

Man, Okan has sure come a long way since they opened. And it was nice to share a meal with new friends.

Wa Dining Okan
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Izakaya Sakura:

On the other end of the spectrum. My last visit to Sakura left something to be desired. The Ebi Kakiage Udon was good as always….but the older woman who works here was just plain rude.

She's always been a bit perfunctory; but this time very short and rather rude, to all the customers. Everyone has a bad day; but when you're in the service industry, you need to minimize those. We'll see what happens the next time…..I think it'll be a while…I visit.

Izakaya Sakura
3904 Convoy St #121
San Diego, CA 92111

Iron Pig Alehouse:

**** Iron Pig has closed

The Missus said I needed to up my veggie intake; so it was off to Iron Pig for the "Man Salad".

This time around; the rib tips were really dry and stringy; but those smoked wings were good as always.

Iron Pig Alehouse
1520 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109

Sunday Stuffs – Another Up 2 You Cafe Opening and Keil’s Becoming Sprouts on Clairemont Drive

September 4, 2016 mmm-yoso Markets & Grocers

It's a beautiful long weekend. Here's a couple of things I've noticed over the last few days.

Another Up 2 You Café opening on Convoy:

In the location that used to house several versions of a "Berto" (I think it was Rolando's last) Taco Shop on Convoy.

Noticed the public notice a few days ago. Looks like it's going to be yet another location of Up2You cafes. Which Kirbie, CC, Jinxi, and our own Cathy have posted on. Looks like this one will be a bit different as they will serve alcohol.

4403 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Keils in Bay Park Becoming Sprouts:

Listing this one since it's basically right up the block.

After something like 3 decades, Keils is going to become a location of Sprouts…..I was told sometime in 2017. I really don't shop here often; but I realize that Keils has been a fixture in the neighborhood and folks know the staff here. Kind of sad in a way…..

3015 Clairemont Dr
San Diego, CA 92117

A Day Trip to St Emilion and Dinner at Saveurs D’Aquitaine

September 3, 2016 mmm-yoso Beer, Bordeaux, Fine Dining, France, Travel

After a relatively relaxing day in Bordeaux, the Missus decided that we should take at least one day trip. I thought a nice 40 minute train ride into the village of St Emilion, which, in addition to claiming to being the oldest wine producing area in Bordeaux (dating back to Roman times), the village is a World Heritage Site.

Getting off the train, you immediately know what the cash crop here is……

You are engulfed by grape vines……

The walk to the village from the train station was about 15 minutes.

We had decided to arrive fairly early and the streets were sedate, it was quite charming. There were basically no one on the sometimes narrow street as we wound our way up the hill. I guess it wasn't quite "wine o'clock" yet.

There are two distinctive landmarks in the village. The first is the Chateau du Roi, which is located on the hill west of the center of St Emilion.

According to what I read, this used to be the King's Castle and dates back to the 13th century. You can buy tickets to climb to the top, but since it was early the place wasn't open yet.

From here, you can view the rooftops of most of the village and get a nice glimpse of the other major landmark of St Emilion; the Eglise Monolithe, Saint Emilion Monolithic Church.

We were even more impressed after taking a tour….more on that in a bit.

We headed back down into the lower part of the village, then back up the narrow streets until we arrived at Place des Creaneux. This is where the TI office is located. They had just opened. We asked for maps and some other recommendations. As with our other experience at the TI in Sarlat, the young lady here was amazing; such a joy to deal with. She asked us if we'd "like to see a very interesting part of St Emilion that is not open to the public?" And we said, "of course"…..so she booked us for "Underground St Emilion"…the first tour, which started at 1030.

This meant that we had about forty minutes of so to kill, so we wondered around a bit. Around the corner from the TI is the Eglise Collégiale, the Collegiate Church. The Romanesque styling means this church has been around for quite a while.

The cloisters, built in the Gothic style is what this church is known for.

It was quite amazing to have a place like this all to ourselves.

It was getting close to the time of our scheduled tour. So we needed to get to that plaza below us. The way down was rather steep and we passed through a gateway; the Porte de la Cadene. There was a very rustic (and old) wooden structure next to the gate, I was told that the name of the gate is derived from "catena", which meant chain. Apparently, there was once a chain which controlled access to the main square of the town at this gate.

There a quite a few questions about the existence of this gate and structure; since it was within the village, why was there a "chain/gate" here? Who was being defended and/or protected? Who doesn't love a little mystery?

We were told to wait for our tour in front of the "three windows".

The tour itself was quite good. We got to learn a bit about the history of St Emilion, which is named after a monk, named, well Emilion, of the Breton Priory, who fled to this area to escape persecution from the Benedictine Order. He settled in a cave, dug out of the hillside that is now St Emilion. During the 45 minute tour, we visited what was (supposedly) his bed, carved out of bedrock, visited catacombs, and we saw paintings within the Trinity Chapel, done in the 13th century. The most impressive thing to us was seeing the amazing "church" carved out of the stone. There were huge devices which looked like they were used to stabilize the ceiling. It was quite amazing….as this all started as a cave carved out by a single monk. What was more surprising….is that we exited by a door near those three very windows where we first gathered. Who knew what lay behind them!

Even though our tour was in French, the young lady also spoke English so we really got a lot out of our time. Highly recommended!

It was still fairly early, so we decided to head back to Bordeaux. And while the train was rather late….there was an interesting conversation I had with a nice gentleman who told me that the "French are very detailed oriented, like the Japanese"….after which I told him, "however, if the trains ran as late in Japan….you know, heads would have rolled….", which got a nice laugh.

Getting back to Bordeaux, we caught the tram and got off near Cours de l’Intendance.

It was for me to "payer le prix promis"…..to go ahead and "pay the promised price" to the Missus. I had told Her that She could get whatever scarf She wanted from Hermes whenever we visited France (this, BTW has changed and gotten a bit more pricy). and so, the Missus got the scarf of Her choice….after all, love is priceless, no?

We had decided to finish up the eggs and cheese we had purchased the day before for lunch. But, we had seen some interesting beer in St Emilion….I know, we went to one of the great wine producing areas of France and bought some beer……which isn't even from the area. But the Missus still had another bottle of Her Chateau de Grand Moulin, so why not try these?

The Biere de Ferme Truffle was kind of weird….it had an strange off taste, little foam, kind of weak……fragrance of truffle, but the flavor is very difficult to describe.

The Ambree, on the other hand was very good…nutty and on the sweet (very Belgian) in flavor, I found it to be quite pleasant to drink.

We had a nice short nap, then it was off to dinner. The destination was close by. I'd read about a shop called Saveurs D' Aquitaine, which specialized in small dishes of local ingredients….the highlight being truffle. Since it was just a few blocks from where we were staying, we stopped by before leaving for the Dordogne and made dinner reservations for our last night in Bordeaux. So this was to be our last meal in Bordeaux. On the way to the restaurant, we ran into a woman who was lost, and insisted on me trying to help her….really! It was like some scene from a reality show…..me….trying to help some poor French woman…who kept speaking to me in French. Finally, she got the clue, and started cracking up at the strangeness of the situation.

When we arrived at the restaurant, it was strangely closed. Soon after, a young lady arrived and opened the doors. So here's what happened; the young lady who took our reservations, didn't know that the chef was booked for another event on the day we requested. The folks at the restaurant tried to get in touch with us….but hey, we didn't have pocket wifi this time around and where we were staying didn't give out customer info…appropriately so.

They could have easily closed us out…..but instead, we had a small private dinner for two….albeit, simplified and prepped ahead of time, by a very, very, nice young lady….I could not get a grasp of her name….so she said to call her "Vic"!

And so, while there were quite a bit of truffles present for dinner…..it didn't quite raise our sails….this was a very special meal….

The restaurant could have easily locked us out….it would have been totally acceptable. But instead, they went ahead and prepped us our own little special dinner. Which if not amazing, was still quite special. '"Vic" made the meal, as we got to talk about how life is in Bordeaux, and life in general……she was the highlight……and I'm hoping she is doing well in Bogota, which is where I understood she was headed after graduation.

In a way, this might have been our best meal in Bordeaux. Perhaps one day we'll return and actually have proper meal here.

Saveurs D' Aquitaine
16 Place des Quinconces
Bordeaux, France

As we took our final walk around the city….this joyfully unpretentious locale….I wondered, as I stared at the mesmerizing "head" by Jaume Plensa…..

What will I do the next time I'm here……

Back to Bordeaux – Returning to Bar a Vin, Fromage from Fromagerie Beillevaire, and a Little Self Catering

September 2, 2016 mmm-yoso Bordeaux, Cheese, France, Markets & Grocers, Travel, Wine Bars/Wineries

We'd had a great time in Dordogne, but were pretty tired and were happy to be back in Bordeaux. It all seemed familiar to us….we knew the drill, how to catch tram from the Gare Saint Jean. In fact, shades of Saint Jean de Luz, seeing us use the tram ticket machine…folks would ask us….in French how to us the quite easy ticket machine. It was so strange. If there was one person who really didn't look like they belonged, it would be me. Anyway, we ended up helping a couple of folks get their tickets….. We were staying at the same apartments, so getting settled in was a snap. As was getting back to our favorite little place in Bordeaux, Bar a Vin.

We got a simple cheese plate and a glass of wine each.

This was our third visit here, we just really enjoyed the place.

I had a glass of the 2008 Saint-Julien Chateau Langoa-Barton, Grand Cru……

It was lovely, rich, berry flavors, with not too much tannin…..

Bar a Vin
3 Cours du 30 Juillet
Bordeaux, France

The Missus then decided that it was time for a walk, so this time we headed up along the Garonne River, passing some interesting sites on the way…..

The Chartrons neighborhood was once filled with the homes of rich merchants, but eventually fell into disrepair. A large renovation project has turned the Quay des Chatrons into a hip and gentrified neighborhood…..

And further north is Bassin a Flot, once lined with warehouses, dry docks, and other industrial businesses, the place turned into a wonderful urban renovation project….now lined with bars, restaurants, and hip shops.

It was time to decide what to do for dinner. The decision was quite easy. Our favorite meal in Bordeaux was having some cheese and baguette, with a bottle (or two of wine), and just relaxing.

We turned around and headed back to Marche des Grands Hommes and the Carrefour Market.

We picked up some wine and other items and headed out.

On the street on the other side of Marche des Grands Hommes, that lead to Allee de Tourny was a cheese shop that I wanted to check out named Fromagerie Beillevaire.

The guy working here was quite nice and the selection was nice.

It was hard picking just 2-3 cheeses….but in the end we basically just chose three.

Fromagerie Beillevaire
8 Rue Michel Montaigne
Bordeaux, France

Looking back, I noticed we'd done quite a bit of walking on this day. No wonder we were pretty tired when we got back to the apartment. This time around, they put us in a huge 2 bedroom unit on the third floor, which was very comfortable.

The kitchen was well equipped.

And because we travel light, the washer/dryer was welcomed. As was the tub where the Missus could soak and relax……

I was really struck by the view out the round windows…….

Dinner was a simple, but satisfying affair.

With the Missus' favorite bottle of 4,9€ (about $5.40/US) bottle of white.

The folks that ran the apartment also left us a nice bottle of white as well.

A very nice gesture.

The Missus had a bath, I had my glass of wine and started a post while looking out onto the street below.

After all of the activities of the previous couple of days; it was nice to just sit back and relax.

Thanks for reading!

Early Lunches at Sam Woo BBQ and Sieu Sieu BBQ

September 1, 2016 mmm-yoso Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants

Man, it's been pretty hectic at work the last 6 months. And I'm thinking it's not going to let up for a while. Recently, I couldn't really count on having lunch at a normal time….there's always some meeting, conference call, or some other thing that needs attention. More often than naught, I'll end up running to Nijiya, Mitsuwa, or Marukai for a bento. But sometimes, you just need to get out of the office….but there aren't that many non-fast/casual food choices before 11am. So recently, I went back to two, sticky tabled places for an early lunch.

Sam Woo BBQ:

Yes, it usually Cathy who does the Sam Woo posts. But I had a 11am conference call, followed by noon and 1pm meetings….so where to go at 930?

Man, it's been like 6 years since I've been here.

Went with something easy….the Shrimp Dumpling Egg Noodle Soup.

The dumplings were surprisingly decent, nice, tender filling…..rather light on the shrimp, but pretty good. The egg noodles, this being of the thin variety had been over-cooked and were mushy. The soup was hot, which was the best thing about it….low on flavor, lacking richness and that "aaah" factor, but it was very cheap at something like $4.25……so my bar wasn't set very high.

And yes, I still think about "the Killer Whale" everytime I pass by the place.

Sam Woo BBQ Restaurant
7330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Ste 103
San Diego, CA 92111

Sieu Sieu BBQ:

I'm not quite sure what time this place opens. Sometimes, I'll drive by at 1030 and they aren't open, on this day it was 1015 and they were doing some pretty good business already….some guy came in and picked up 2 whole roasted pigs! On a weekday!

Sieu Sieu BBQ is one of those places that always seemed to have "been there forever"…..within a few months of opening in September of 2008 (remember when this place was Maui Maui Hawaiian BBQ for a blink of the eye?) the place was already starting to look a bit worn. And by 2012 they looked like they'd been there for decades.

On this day I was starving and decided on the Roast Duck and Roast Pork on Rice ($8.50). I do like the two women who work here….they are always rather pleasant to me. And this time they got me this thermos of iced water to have with my early lunch.

In short, the rice was dry, the duck really salty and the skin too rubbery and chewy. The pork, in spite of it being on the fatty side (not necessarily a bad thing), was pretty good…..the skin was light and crisp, it was almost hot, which means it had been recently brought out, and was quite moist.

It might be a while before I return, but this was better than what I've had here in recent years. I think I was kind of extra critical since we'd just returned from Vancouver the week before.

Sieu Sieu BBQ
7420 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Prime Grill – A Korean BBQ feast with Kirk, Ed (from Yuma) and Cathy

August 31, 2016 Cathy Korean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a blog about food written by three friends who have known each other more than ten years, yet they've only shared about five meals together. Today's post is about one of those rare occasions, written from Cathy's perspective. Here is a link to Ed's perspective of that meal.

A week or so ago, Ed (from Yuma) decided to drive (from Yuma) to enjoy many San Diego foods he had been hankering for. He let Kirk and I know when and where he was going, had some questions about what to order and also had some 'blank slots' for meals. The stars aligned and all three of us were available on the same day at the same time. We decided to try some place new and it was fun!

Prime Grill has been open only about six weeks now, taking over the spot of the (Blue) Korea House which all three of us had been to but none of us ever posted about. The refurbished interior is neat and clean. The menu is pretty much a traditional Korean BBQ and as a first visit, we decided to try 'Combo C', the meal for three people.
Salad was brought out first (and we ate it as 'dessert', at the end of the meal) along with a variety of dipping sauces then

a variety of Banchan were brought out.
There were more than these; we were catching up and talking, not taking clear photos, you get the idea. The grill was being warmed and the tray of meats (with some veggies) was brought out. Our nice (and funny) waitress placed the vegetables and the thin sliced brisket on the grill first. This cooked rather quickly and the fat helped to begin the seasoning of the grill. Rib eye and boneless short rib were put out next and finally the marinated short rib and bulgogi. There also was a steamed egg and also a soybean paste stew brought out sometime in the middle of meat cooking.

Oh. You might want to know how it tasted; I don't have a thesaurus with me right now. Tender meat, deep, excellent flavors; quality. A special meal with special friends.

Prime Grill 4620 Convoy San Diego 92111 (858) 277-0800 Open 7 days 11-10

Spice & Soul

August 30, 2016 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Beer, Salads

**** Spice & Soul has closed

Back in December I noticed that Oasis Restaurant and Lounge had been replaced with Spice & Soul Kitchen + Tap. Oasis, with a bit of a strange combination of food items, plus drinks, plus hookah, just didn't seem to fit in well with the Bay Park/Bay Ho neighborhood, and never gained traction. I decided to drop in on one evening.

I basically dropped by for some grub and a couple of beers and sat on the bar. I like the set-up; small bar, casual dining area, and porch. Decent beer list and the guy who owns the place, I believe his name is Steven, was quite friendly, as was the staff.

I saw Salt and Pepper Wings ($9.50) on the menu and ordered that. It came with two sauces; I chose the Smoked Harissa Aioli and the Blue Cheese. I found the wings to be a bit odd…..it was quite apparent that they were grilled first, then lightly dusted, before the deep fry.

Not my favorite version of wings; these were on the dry side, more flakey than crisp, though the Harissa Aioli was pretty good. Just kind of strange overall.

What I did enjoy were the Crunchy Chickpeas ($4). Basically seasoned fried and roasted garbanzos which were nicely seasoned.

Crunchy, nicely seasoned, great flavors, awesome bar food.

A couple of weeks later, I couldn't decide on dinner, so I stuck close to home and dropped by S&S again. This time I ordered the House Smoked Brisket ($14) which was served as a sandwich on brioche with 2 side salads.

Not my favorite rendition of smoked brisket as this wasn't very smoky, was dry, the texture was also on the mealy side. Frankly, I don't think this was "smoked" in the traditional manner.

The coleslaw was better than the quinoa and rice which was very bland.

The brioche roll had been grilled nicely and the portion size was very generous.

Still, not a great meal in my book. A few weeks later, I decided on a "tie-breaker" and dropped by again.

This time I was pretty hungry so I ordered the Pork Chop ($15), which was very large.

It arrived, oil bubbling, nicely charred…like overhead broiling with something like a salamander had been used. It was nicely seasoned with the coffee and ancho rub that really didn't do well on the brisket. Here, it really tasted great. In fact, this didn't need the compound butter, as it was surprisingly moist for a fairly lean chop. The shoestring fries were nicely fried and crisp, I think they make their own ketchup here as it tasted quite good. The roasted veggies were on the bland side though.

After this meal; I decided to return and retry what I'd had on my first visit; the wings and chickpeas.

Though the wings were better; they didn't look to be grilled then dusted and fried anymore, they are still not crisp enough for me.

Those Chick Peas were still great though…..

And that should pretty much be it, right? Well, I just kind of let these photos languish, and wouldn't you know it, I went back to S&S yet again. This was during a fairly hot spell; so I got the S&S Wedge Salad, which I really enjoyed; simple seems to be the rule here, and even got a side of the brisket.

The wedge of iceberg was fresh and it wasn't over dressed. The dressing was fine, and who doesn't love some bacon to add some savory saltiness to the dish? The brisket was better this time around; more moist, you could make out the flavor of the ancho-coffee rub……you can just tell by the color that it was much improved. It's still not a favorite of mine, but it was better.

It was about time for a post…..but for some reason, I never got around to it. So in the meantime…guess what? Yep, another visit. I wanted those Crunchy Chickpeas, but it was no longer on the menu. Steve did tell me that it is served on the Crispy Kale Salad ($7), which is what I ordered.

The kale was indeed roasted…it almost looked deep fried, which brought out a mild sweetness, no issues with the romaine, nor the dressing which was a nice, light, vinaigrette. It was nicely dressed and of course I enjoyed the crunchy chickpeas and even the pickled onions. I'm usually not a fan of fruit in my salad, but in this case I did rather enjoy things.

The beer list here is pretty good….nothing too exotic, but solid with a nice rotation. I've had Almanac's Saison Dolores, Duckfoot Honey Ale, and those solid regulars from breweries we all know; Alesmith, Ballast Point, Modern Times, and even Bitter Brothers. Honestly, S&S won't make me forget Tiger Tiger, hmmm, we haven't been there in a while; or even Blind Lady. Still, it's great to see places like this opening in our neighborhood. I remember when Bay Park Fish and Baci were the only reasonable choices. Now we've got some choices….and with Red Card opening (a post is forthcoming), things in Bay Park have come a long way since we moved here.

Spice & Soul
4033 Avati Dr
San Diego, CA 92117

Pho Hoa – All Hail the Old School Pho Shop

August 29, 2016 mmm-yoso Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

While completing my weekend "honey doo" lists a while back; I decided to return to Pho Hoa. Man, it's been like three years since I last visited this City Heights institution. And while I think this place has slipped over the years; the parking lot was almost filled when I arrived at 0845 on a weekend morning. So it's obviously one of the top choices in the area on a weekend morning.

Pho Hoa is totally old school; from the paying at the register, to the banquet chairs and sticky tables, to the menu being tossed at you and the Server hovering over you like it's expected that you've been here before and already know what to order….the menu is merely a vehicle that symbolizes all that Pho Hoa has. And what Pho had on this day was the same item I had last time #4…..which is now $7.40. All my experiences with the "tai" here have not been pleasant; there's a tendency for the meat to have a metallic taste to it. So I stick with the flank, brisket, tendon, and tripe.

This time around, the broth was much more acceptable, slightly beefy, not too heavy on the MSG, perhaps defatted a bit too much for my taste. The tendon was also decent as was the tripe. For some reason the flank and brisket fell short on this visit, the flank too tough and dry and the brisket lacking flavor.

There's one thing that has never fallen short here…it's the basil, cilantro (Ngo Gai), and sprouts…..always a generous portion, always sparkling fresh. I didn't need the lime today to balance out the broth, a good thing.

The noodles were also perfect.

These days, I sometimes fall into the trap of waxing nostalgically about the borderline indifferent, perfunctory, and hovering service…….I've noticed that things have changed at some of these places like Pho Hoa Huong. Even here, the guy smiled when he delivered my bowl of pho. The guy running the cash register even told me "thank you", when giving me my change. Changing times, I guess. I'm not sure when I'll be back to Pho Hoa, but at least this time around I got a decent bowl.

Pho Hoa Restaurant
4717 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Easy Pickled Celery

August 28, 2016 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Here's something you might not know about the Missus…She hates celery. Now, I can get away with using the leaves in a stir-fry; but for some reason She just doesn't care for the flavor of celery. She does however, really enjoy pickled items. So last weekend, the Missus wanted some white beans and ham hock….now I use the "Cajun Holy Trinity" as the mirepoix for that dish. So what to do with the leftover celery? The Missus had just asked me why I hadn't made my easy pickled onions in a while (because I've been busy at work and basically lazy on the weekends). So, I just used that base recipe, added some sugar, more salt, and some mustard seed. Also had half a Vidalia onion and of course some chilies from the garden. I did peel and do a quick blanch of the celery.

Well, turns out the Missus loves these….and I like them as a nice addition to a salad.

Slight spicy, with a touch of sweetness and salt, this is pretty darn good.

Easy Pickled Celery:

1 cup distilled white vinegar
1 cup water
2 tb sugar
2 tb Kosher salt
1 tsp black peppercorns
1/2 tsp mustard seed
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

peeled celery stalks cut to size
2-3 chili peppers (optional – I used some Chili de Arbol from the yard)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 small Vidalia Onion – quartered – but not cut all the way through (optional)

– Wash and sterilize a ball jar
– Combine vinegar, water, sugar, salt, red pepper, and peppercorns in a pot, bring to a boil and then remove from heat.
– Add peeled celery to pot to lightly blanch
– Place celery (and whatever else) in jar, add celery seeds, top off with pickling liquid
– Seal, cover, and refrigerate . Leave for 2 days before eating.

Le Eyzies de Tayac – Fonte de Gaume and back to Pizzeria La Milanaise

August 27, 2016 mmm-yoso Dordogne, France, France, Pizza, Travel

There was one reason why we came to Les Eyzies. It was to visit Font de Gaume, the only site in France with "polychrome" (colored) prehistoric cave paintings still open to the public. The catch was, there's no advance tickets sales, you need to show up and wait in line and purchase tickets for one of the "tours". The ticket office opens at 0930, we got there at 7am and there were already people in line for one of the 52 tickets available on this day! Carbon Dioxide is starting to damage the 15,000 year old paintings of 230 animals, so access is limited. We could have gone to Lascaux and visited the Lascaux II, which is a replica of the original, now closed to the public because of carbon dioxide damage….but seeing the real thing was on the Missus' bucket list, so here we were. One of the reasons we stayed where we did was that it was a short 2 kilometer walk up the street.

Folks were sitting around chatting, checking their smartphones, staring off into space, or like me, checking out this very social little guy, who seemed totally unafraid of humans.

Like clockwork, the place opened at 0930. We were about number 14-15 in line. The only English tour of the day was at 10am and we easily got tickets to it! Since it would be starting fairly soon we just hung around for 15 minutes and off we went up the trail.

Of course photos aren't allowed, but let me just say, this well worth 5 times the 7.5 Euro ticket price….that's right, it seems they really care for this place and aren't gouging you. Much like the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, this place left us amazed and truly touched. The artwork is quite amazing, one of the particular paintings, which looked somewhat abstract and 3-d had our guide tell us, "see, even then, they had a Picasso!" And then there was the famous "Reindeer Kissing" painting. This is truly a worthwhile place to visit. I'm not sure how much longer it will be open to the public, but it is truly a treasure.

We left on a high, we decided to walk back into town and grab some lunch. But first, the walk……Les Eyzies is in essence a one street village, near the north end of that walk is the Hotel Cro-Magnon.

This hotel was built in 1868, basically on the site where the first Cro-Magnon skeleton was unearthed. The owner of the hotel was Monsieur Magnon and it was on his land the remains were found. Thus the name, Cro-Magnon….which in simple terms means, "Mr Magnon's Hole"…..you gotta love that! Just think, all those guys you called Cro-Magnon…..you were calling them "Mr Magnon's hole……" Which might have been appropriate!

Turning back, it was time to decide on lunch. We were kind of tired…sleeping on what felt like plastic sheeting didn't translate into a good night's sleep and the Missus really enjoyed the salad She had the night before, so Pizzeria La Milanaise just seemed like the easy choice.

So the Missus got Her salad. Meanwhile, I decided to go just go for it and got the Pizza de Campagnade (14,3 €/about $16US), mainly because it was topped with…yes, this is the Dordogne…Foie Gras. My curiosity had gotten the better of me it seems…or maybe not as this was pretty good.

It was a nice thin crust, the edges charred, but not bitter. It was merely topped with foie gras after the pizza baking process, which answered my questions of how foie gras would survive on a pizza. Under that cheese was a nice amount of "magret fume" smoked duck breast which was quite good; the "sauce" was persillade, basically a parsley-herb-garlic-oil-vinegar mixture that really resembled pesto in this case. It was quite rich….as in after the salad, we had one-third of the pizza and the foie gras and took the rest to go. So here's the thing, sixteen bucks here in the Dordogne gets you smoked duck pizza topped with foie gras……..

Pizzeria La Milanaise
41 Avenue de la Préhistoire
Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, France

We walked back to our unit, stopping again at the win shop at the end of the street….this time we noticed a photo of the owner; the guy running the register, who looked a bit less dapper than this photo……his "Bond….James Bond" picture.

Getting back to the apartment, it was a bit too early for a nap, so we got into the car and decided to take a drive around the countryside. We came across a village named Campagne.

The Chateau and park was closed, but it was a charming little stop. Wikipedia says the population of this town is 345.

Which of course makes one wonder what life here is like……

Later that evening, while we finished the remnants of the pizza along with a nice bottle of wine, I noticed some movement on the hillside. There were some deer grazing. In some sense it looked so peaceful……in harmony with the surroundings. Perhaps this was what the beautiful Dordogne does to you…..