mmm-yoso – Page 345 – 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.

Original Pancake House (revisit)

October 22, 2013 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, What Cathy Eats!

Hello there. You are at mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog. Cathy has a post today, because Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are just not ready to post about any of their recent meals.

The Mister and I try to avoid going out on weekends, to avoid crowds. Going to the Original Pancake House is always a treat and since OPH is fairly close to home (via the freeways), we stop by here during the week for quick breakfasts before running errands.

It's still crowded during the week, but usually no line out the door as happens on Saturday and Sunday.

Coffee ($2.50) is always accompanied by real cream, served in a heavy pitcher.

Table condiments are "American" compared to other condiment photos I've shown (no idea why we had a second sugar container). You can see the fresh strawberry specials; yes, we were here in early September, now the specials are pumpkin-centric.

The Mister's Bacon waffle ($8.50). The waffle is not a giant Belgian deal, but a normal size one, made with the OPH batter, which is very malt-y. I think the waffle has a nice sweetness on its own and just needs butter as a topping (no syrup). It's perfect- crispy on the exterior and with a nice, fluffy interior. There is a good amount of crispy, thick bacon pieces, served on top, so you can give yourself a bit of bacon in each bite.

Sausage, egg and pancake meal ($9.25). I adore the sausage here. It's thick sliced (about 1/2 inch) from a log then cooked to a crispy exterior. The spices are mild but there and have a perfect ratio. The sausage is made just for OPH. Of course, I ordered poached eggs (again, perfectly cooked) and pancakes as my side…because, this is The Original Pancake House. The batter is different than the waffle batter and also specially made for here. There is a definite sweetness to the large flapjacks, especially when butter topped and I don't think syrup needs to be added. But… since real, warm maple syrup is on the table, I always have some with a few bites of the pancakes.

Original Pancake House 3906 Convoy San Diego 92111 858-565-1740 Website

Green Acre -revisit- lunch in an office park setting

October 21, 2013 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Salads, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome back to our food blog, mmm-yoso!!! Kirk is busy, Ed (from Yuma) is busy and Cathy finally is not busy, so she's blogging today.

Yes, I wrote about Green Acre only five months ago. It's a favorite place of ours that is crowded at lunch time, with an Office Park crowd. "Regular" people can eat here, we've met friends here and have tried just about every menu item, which vary based on what's been harvested from the garden. I can't wait to try more 'cold season' selections, which should be available soon. For now, the fresh fresh salads are my favorite item to order.

The outdoor eating space is always clean and surrounded mostly by herbs.

Each day the regular menu is supplemented by chalkboard specials, which you'll see as you walk in the door.

The indoor eating space is comfortable and hs a few vignette eating areas.

The menu is slightly changed from the last time I posted, mentioning Chef Owner Brian Malarkey's name on the branding symbol, as well as altering some of the choices. I imagine the menu will change with the seasons, since some items won't be fresh and available.

Here is a full size "Purist" from the Brick Oven Bar ($12)- mozzarella, crushed tomatoes and fresh from the garden basil. It comes with the salad.

This is the Prosciutto salad ($8). A good variety of greens, sunflower sprouts (and seeds), fresh basil, some grapes from the garden and an olive oil based dressing. The Prosciutto is a very good quality

This is the half mushroom Brick Oven Bar selection ($7)- garlic, cremini mushrooms and a fresh mozzarella topped on an excellent flat bread. Again, the simple salad is included in the price.

The "Goddess" Salad($7) with added on Mary's free range chicken 'brick filet' ($6). This salad includes fresh herbs as well as edible flowers, capers, and Goat Cheese. It's kind of 'fancy' and delicious.The dressing is a champagne vinaigrette.

Here are a few photos from the garden, it looks like fennel, beans and peppers will be playing a role in future menu items.

Always fresh and good food here.

Green Acre 3535 General Atomics Court San Diego 92121 (858)587-6601 M-F 7am-3pm Website

P.L. Bagels (revisit featuring the Bialy) (Point Loma)

October 20, 2013 Cathy Breakfast/Brunch, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. Kirk or Ed (from Yuma) or Cathy usually write blog posts here. Today, it's Cathy's turn.

I wrote about P.L. Bagels in October last year, promising to follow up with a weekend only offering- Bialy. This yeasty, baked and onion topped product is similar in size to a bagel (which is boiled) but takes a bit more time and so is specially made only two days a week. Since The Mister and I try to avoid crowds, we usually aren't at the Point on weekends, but if we (meaning He) wake really early, we do drop by here before our morning walk and indulge in this special breakfast item.

Family owned and run, there is a friendly, familiar crowd here, picking up pre-orders or riding bicycles up to the front door on a steady basis on weekends. The parking lot is small, but the lines move pretty fast.

The prices are the same as in my last post (mini bagels are still 35¢ each) and, as always, it is cash only.

There are various cream cheese flavors as well as sandwich choices, along with breakfast specials (bagel with butter or cream cheese or egg & cheese plus small coffee for $2.50, $3.25 or $3.99). The ordering system and food preparation is efficient.

Here's a photo of a salt bagel and a bialy, each toasted and buttered. You can see the chopped onion topping is just placed in a small depression on the top of the bialy, not overwhelming the bread.

The bagels here are not large and crazy carb filled, but a 'normal' (as found in NYC) size. Also, the entire bagel is covered in the various toppings (the left side of that salt bagel, above, is the bottom).

Here's a photo of the bottom of the baked bialy. You can see the texture is more bready than bagel-y. It's soft and chewy, but not as chewy/dense as a bagel.

Here's a photo from another visit, where I ordered a bialy with egg (no cheese) and The Mister ordered an 'everything' twist with cream cheese.

The wonderful bagels are made fresh here every day, and the doors open at 6:30 a.m. and close when sold out (around 1 p.m.).

We follow our bready indulgences with a nice walk around Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, enjoying the views and paying respect.

Hope you are having a great weekend!

PL Bagels 3704 Voltaire Street, Suite 107 San Diego 92106 (619)223-4788 Open daily 6:30-1:00

Dia De Los Muertos bread-Tradition

October 19, 2013 Cathy Bakery, What Cathy Eats!

You are reading about the who, what, where, when and why of food on this blog named mmm-yoso!!! Well, at least some of those are included in each post. We (Kirk, Ed (from Yuma) and Cathy) try to write interesting, informative posts which are food-centric. Today, Cathy is trying.

It's October. The time is close to Halloween, and you probably have been seeing pumpkins, candy for sale and other 'scary' displays since August.

Pay attention to this last photo. It's a display in a Mexican Market in Chula Vista. Skeletons come alive and there are sorts of plates of food in front of them.

Decorated sugar skulls with 'gifts' for the dead. Yes, Halloween -All Hallows Eve- is just before the day before the Day of the Dead, a religious holiday celebrated by Christians. (In Catholicism, November 1st is All Saints Day and November 2 is All Souls Day.). The costumes and scary events of Halloween are meant to scare off the souls of the dead which remain on earth. In Mexico, the holiday is Dia de los Muertos and is celebrated on November 2 with making small altars or shrines to the deceased and leaving gifts for them.

Inside Mexican Markets and Bakeries, you will notice some displays of oddly shaped bread for sale near this holiday.

This is what it looks like out of the package. The symbolism- round signifying the circle of life, and topped with 'bones' of the dead, is Pan de Muerto (bread of the dead).

In some markets, it's just on the shelf with other breads.

In other Mexican Markets, it's boxed and displayed on shelves around the store.

The traditional flavor of this soft, eggy bread? Orange peel with anise -orange and black- the 'Halloween' colors.

You can see some of the tiny black specks in this slice-the anise seeds. A sweet soft bread, which is meant to be consumed with atole- a hot corn beverage- or a good hot chocolate. If you see this bread in the store now, grab a loaf; it will be gone by November 3.

Last weekend, we were at Northgate Gonzalez and there were small Pan de Muerto in the donut shelves for 70¢. However, when we sliced into it, it was a very nice buttery sweet egg bread and not orange or anise flavored. A good, sweet bread, but not the traditional flavors. We didn't buy the large loaf because we have usually purchased from the smaller Mexican markets in the neighborhood. I'd look to see if there were anise seeds on the exterior of the bread to know it has the traditional flavors.

I hope everyone has a good weekend.

Tan Ky Mi Gia- Lunch in Mira Mesa

October 18, 2013 Cathy Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Tan Ky Mi Gia has closed. It will be missed.

Thanks for stopping by mmm-yoso!!! and reading about food. Today, Cathy is blogging: Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are really busy.

The Mister and I were craving Vietnamese on one of those crazy hot days a few weeks ago, but neither of us wanted pho. We had originally headed to Lucky Seafood and when we got to the parking lot, went to the other end of that group of storefronts- to Tan Ki Mi Gia, which Kirk has blogged about several times. The menu here is a mix of Vietnamese and Chinese dishes, "mi" is noodles, which is the specialty here- and we didn't order any this visit…

We had just missed the 'lunch rush' and had the restaurant to ourselves.

Although while we were there, several people came in to pick up 'to go' orders.

I enjoy the plethora of condiments available here.

As soon as we sat down, I placed an order for Banh Xeo ($7), which did end up being brought out last, as expected. The turmeric flavored (and colored) rice flour crepe is mixed and made to order.

It's filled with a stir fry mix of bean sprouts, scallion, pork and shrimp, served with lettuce and mint and nuoc-mam(fish sauce). I do like the lightness and crispiness of the crepe along with the softness of the fillings; the flavors really go well together.

We also had an order of spring rolls($5.75), fried in a delicate, very flaky wrapper and quite filled with fungus as well as pork and not many rice noodles, these came out of the kitchen hot and fresh. Again, these were served with lettuce and mint and nuoc mam.

We decided to share an order of lemon grass fish($9) – steamed and delicate, the flavors of lemon grass and soy were light and also went well with the accompanying steamed rice, steamed (topped with garlic and a bit of sweet hoisin) bok choy and small bowl of broth.

It was a delightful, fresh lunch on a nice day. Hope your week has been good.

Tan Ky Mi Gia 9330 Mira Mesa Blvd #A San Diego 92126 (858) 271-8899 Mon-Th 9:30-9:30, Fri-Sun 9-10

Aqui Es Texcoco-Barbacoa de Borrego (Chula Vista)

October 16, 2013 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for stopping by the food blog, mmm-yoso!!! Kirk is in the midst of a busy time at work, Ed (from Yuma) is recovering from a busy weekend visit to San Diego and Cathy's busy days ended about yesterday, so she's the blogger for now.

I liked Ed (from Yuma)'s most recent post, about barbecue and how he described his meal (critically) and began thinking of 'other' versions of barbecued food. Last month, I went on a Chula Vista Food Crawl (see the bottom of the post for links to all the places we went) with fellow bloggers canine cologne and Dennis, where our first stop of the day included 'proper' barbecued lamb (Barbacoa de Borrego).

Located at the South end of a strip mall on Broadway in Chula Vista, we arrived around 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday for this first stop of our food crawl. Cute little lamb on the signage. Just so you know, by 10.a.m., there was a line out the door waiting for seating.

There's another cute little lamb on the counter.

This is the entire menu. It is served from 8 a.m. until closing. Note the flavored waters are made here daily.

When you are seated, two sauces are brought out to your table (the green one is very hot-spicy, the brown one is essentially a mole and quite pleasant), along with cut limes and a cilantro-onion mix. These items go with lamb.

Since we were on a food crawl, we were sharing and tasting and planning on other stops so ordered three tacos to share ($1.95 each). The top right is 'meat' (lamb shoulder or thigh) the one in front is rib meat (nicely fatty) and that one on the top left, I chose-brains. Each meat is unique in flavor and delicious. I grew up eating lamb and my initial taste of the meat and rib tacos brought back good memories. The brains tasted like liver, both the first taste and when I burped as we were walking to our next destination.

We also chose two quesadillas to share. ($2.50 each). Above, the mushroom, which was very nice and rich and buttery.

Because none of us had ever had 'fresh' huitlacoche (a fungus that grows on corn)(I've had a canned version packed by Goya), we decided to share one here. Good idea to try the milder mushroom first, as the flavor of this corn smut is strong. I liked it; my blogger friends not so much.

I had to bring The Mister back here to share the flavors enjoyed. Surprisingly, Aqui es Texcoco is not crowded around noon on Wednesdays. We were seated immediately and ordered a squash flower quesadilla ($2.50). Always wondering what to do with our squash blossoms from the yard or the Farmers Market (which we have usually stuffed with cheese and fried) having them stir fried and mixed into melty cheese was a great way to eat those flowers.

Each of our orders came with a small (10 oz) lamb consomé (lamb broth made with drippings of the roasting lamb, with garbanzo beans and rice), a slightly spicy very flavorful way to begin (or be) a meal. It's served in styrofoam cups, as it would be at your neighbor's home.

The regular order lamb plate ($8.75) 1/3 pound shredded lamb meat and tortillas. That's it and it is all you need.

Three grilled quail plate ($9.50). We wanted to see how quail should be prepared. They were not treated like little chickens and baked, but splayed, seasoned and grilled and served with it's own sauce, which went perfectly with the meat.

Yes quail are small, but have the same bone structure and number of bones as chicken and turkey…a bit of work, but tasty. The food here is great, the service excellent. Back in 2008, guest blogger Miz Ducky had a post here about Aqui es Texcoco and things seem to not have changed much in the interim. I like consistency.

Aqui Es Texcoco 1043 Broadway Chula Vista 91911 (619)427-4045 Website

What’s going on with El Charco?

October 15, 2013 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

**** El Charco has closed

I don't always have the best timing…..more than few times I've sat on photos of meals, only to have places close, burn down, change owners before I even have a chance to do a post. Heck, I even did a post on one of these places. The Missus and I had gone to El Charco, the shop that opened in the place of Birrieria's la Guadalajara twice right after they opened. I decided to wait on doing a post until I went a few more times…..you know me, I often will wait until a few visits before doing a post. Anyway, guess what I saw on my last attempted visit.

Which I found kind of strange since they've been open less than a year….I hope they truly are closed for a remodel……though peeking through the glass revealed that everything looks the same.

Anyway, here's a very abbreviated post.

The place created some nice buzz, since Paco Perez, the owner of the very successful and popular Aqui es Texcoco was a partner in this venture with the owners of a small chain of taco shops in Mexico City.

Many of the items we tried were on the salty side. Our favorite item by far was the Al Pastor, which hit all the right salty-sweet-porky notes for us. It was right up our alley.

The other tacos we tried ranged from good…the Missus loved the chorizo….and the huitlacoche quesadilla was not bad.

The Villemelon was a salty mess…the chiccharon brought nothing to the taco. The chuleta ahumada; smoked pork chops was also way too salty, being almost bitter.

The Missus really did like the tortilla soup, though…..

The Chicharron de Queso looks quite dramatic and we enjoyed it at first. After a while, it became too much of a good thing.

The Alambres is also quite a bit….the Missus hardly put a dent in the one She ordered with Chorizo and Pastor.

We do hope they renovate and reopen as the place displayed some promise to us…….

El Charco Mexico City Style Tacos
1310 Third Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91911

On a clear day, you can see…… Pho-Ever

October 14, 2013 mmm-yoso Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

Pho cryin' out loud…….

So here I was again, up around the Oceanside area. My first instinct was to drop by Guahan again. But since this was going to be before 11am, I had my sights on another place I'd been wanting to check out. Unfortunately, that place was packed…..at 1015 no less! So I had to settle for a plan B. Pho is always a viable back-up and there was a place fairly close by that I'd been told about but had never really been motivated to try. I think it was due to a mental block…….created by the name of the place.

Pho-real….it's called Pho-Ever and while it doesn't even come close with as does the "mother lode" with regards to names of pho shops, it was really hard for me to take this one seriously. I a serious two-fer', the restaurant next door is called "Thai One On"….. really. Just add in another restaurant name and you have a conversation "Pho-Ever"? "Yes! Pingo", now let's "___-____ Thai One On".

Still, here I was in Vista, it was a clear day, and like Barbera Streisand sang, "I could see Pho-Ever".

I walked into the place, which seemed like a nice neighborhood Pho shop, there was a family seated up front, and the flat screen was set to some children's show for the kids, a nice touch. The folks working here knew everyone who came in except myself, all regulars it seemed, though none were Asian, it was still a nice sign.

As for what to order? I just went with good 'ol #1, the Dac Biet, the house special….extra large bowl ($7.25).

The bowl arrived…..well not as hot as I'd preferred, but ok. The broth was cloudy, though it had fairly good hue. The flavor was very mild, mostly salty, very light on the beefiness, and was very "pho not to offend". Nothing really stood out, no onions, beef, nothing really…..

The herb….it should probably be singular and not plural, well, 'nuff said. The bean sprouts were very fresh. I really didn't need the lime because at least this wasn't an MSG bomb.

The noodles, and there was a good quantity of them was fine, perhaps a bit softer than I like, but still not bad.

As for the protein, well as you can see, it was pretty sparse. The place says it only uses "filet"…..beef tenderloin, which is nice, but where's the supposed "rare steak" (Tai)? If you're serving "filet", I would like having it "rare" as stated. All the "well done" steak was fine. The flank was extra chewy, but that's nothing new, the lack of beef flavor in that cut and the brisket was. The tendon was fine, if a bit harder than I'd prefer. The tripe was nice, but also pretty sparse.

The folks here were nice and I enjoyed the neighborhood vibe. This seemed pretty much middle of the road, nothing wrong with that.

Pho what it's worth; I preferred the Pho I had at Pho Lena and Mr Pho. I know, I still haven't made it to Pho Lucky, Yummy Pho, or Pho San Marcos…..I haven't pho-gotten about it. Ok, that's it, no more pho-puns for a while…..

Pho-Ever
485 S Melrose Dr
Vista, CA 92081

Red Peppers Stuffed with Lamb and Rice

October 13, 2013 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

I had about 4-5 ounces of lamb and a some rice left after making my lamb loco moco. Not much really. I've been swamped at work and didn't want to make a special trip to the market, so what to do? I looked out into the garden and around the kitchen and decided to make some stuffed peppers….lamb, rice, herbs, onion….we had a bunch of red bell peppers lying around, why not?

It turned out pretty well……

I also made a Shakshuka like sauce which brought everything together for the dish, which is so easy it's criminal. The only thing was the wait which was 45 minutes in the oven, but gave me time to make the sauce.

I actually went ahead and measured everything out except the oil, salt, and pepper. This is for two, you can just multiply everything out for more peppers.

Red Peppers Stuffed with Lamb and Rice:

2 Red Bell Peppers
1/4 lb ground lamb
1 1/2 cup cooked jasmine rice
2 Tb minced mint
3 Tb minced cilantro
2 Tb thinly sliced scallions
2 Tb finely minced or grated garlic
1 tsp crumbled Turkish oregano
1 tsp Spanish paprika
1 Tb ground cumin
1 tsp ground chilies
1-2 Tb olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
water

– Preheat oven to 375
– Cut the tops off the peppers and level off the bottoms of the peppers. Remove the center, discard the seeds, and trim out the interior of the pepper.
– Combine the all the ingredients except the peppers and water in a bowl.
– Stuff the peppers
– Place the peppers in a pan, I used a small cast iron pan I have and add about 1/2 inch of water.
– Place tops back on the peppers and place in the oven for 30 minutes.
– After 30 minutes remove the tops of the peppers, these should already be pretty soft.
– Drizzle olive oil on the meat filling and put back in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

You may want to serve this with a salty tomato based sauce, or something similar….think of the flavor profile of lamb. This was fairly gamey and went real well with the sauce I made. I'll probably do this again soon.

Evora: Praça do Giraldo, Cafe Arcada and dinner at Taberna Tipica Quarta-Feira

October 11, 2013 mmm-yoso Memorable Meals, Portugal, Portuguese Food, Travel

We'd gotten into the habit of taking a break and having a snack and some espresso when we were feeling a bit confused or tired. We ended up calling this the "Lisbon Rule" and it was time for that rule to come into play. So we headed down the hill from the Roman Temple, thru Rua de Vasco da Gama…..

We stopped to admire #15 Rua de Vasco da Gama……why? Well, according to what we read, Vasco da Gama lived here after returning from his first voyage to India. So…..Vasco da Gama really "slept here"…

A short while later, we were on Praça do Giraldo, for all intents and purposes, Evora's main square. This is where you'll find the older men chatting, talking politics, young people hanging out, drinking coffee, tourists mingling among them.

The square is named after Giraldo (Gerald) the Fearless, who drove the Moors out of Evora in 1165. It is a nice open area with the Church of Santo Antao and a rather quaint fountain from the 16th century. All this sunny brightness belies the supposed 22,000 condemnations that occurred here during the Inquisition or that John II sanctioned, then watched his cousin Fernando II's decapitation here in 1483. No, nowadays it's a whole lotta sunshine…and snacks….

At Cafe Arcada……

This huge, cavernous shop had got some prime real estate. You walk on up to the counter; place your order, then find a place to sit.

We decided on sitting at one of the outside tables to people watch….

Cafe Arcada
Praca do Giraldo 10
Evora, Portugal

It was easy picking out the locals from the tourists, from the students…..probably just as easy to picking us out….

We noticed an interesting "gap" of sorts….there were many young people in their late teens and early twenties and an equal amount of folks older than 50. We figured that the university brought the young people here, but most all leave after their education, as does most of the young people.

Feeling refreshed, we headed west and outside the walls of the town for the first time…well not including the taxi from the train station.

We headed West and found a nice walking path around the perimeter of the walls of the town. Outside the walls, Evora seemed a different town…more modern, more traffic. Really, what should we have expected?

It was a bright sunny afternoon and we were enjoying ourselves.

As we turned the around the Southwest corner, we noticed a playground for children and also that the area on the inside of the city walls seemed to be level with the top of the structure.

Working our way back through into the town vis Rua da Republica we found ourselves in the Jardim Publico……the Public Garden. It was a nice place for a break, plus there was free WiFi in the gardens.

I noticed this bust of Flobela Espanca, poet, feminist, and all around tragic figure. I'm not sure why it's here.

After a nice rest we headed back to our little sanctuary called the Albergaria do Calvario. Did you notice that we didn't have lunch? Well there was a reason for that. After a short rest, we headed back out. In just our two evenings here, we noticed something interesting about life within the town walls. Most businesses closed at 7pm. At 730, the restaurants started opening. The rather busy streets are sedate and quiet at 715….

Perhaps it was too late for the older locals, all of the day-trippers are gone, and too early for the students, which were probably fortifying themselves with the Portuguese equivalent of instant ramen for a late night of partying….which probably didn't happen within the city walls anyway.

Praça do Giraldo at this time of day was literally a ghost town….

We walked on over to the old Moorish Quarter where Botequim da Mouraria is located. I had been looking forward to eating here from the time we finalized plans for our trip. The folks at Albergaria do Calvario were nice enough to get us reservations here.

No, this isn't some Michelin wannabe, though it only had ten or so tables.

There isn't a menu per se….you trust Zé Dias. This is just Evora's version of Omakase….. There's basically one sitting per evening. The meal is 25 Euros per person. You will have reservations. You eat what they serve you. You are not vegetarian. You love pork and rustic, local food. If you can answer "yes" to all of the above, you'll enjoy yourself.

Quarta-Feira serves a fixed menu, whatever they deem to be in the mood for on that day. It's a family run operation. The front man has his caricature on the bottle of wine they serve, Zé Dias. He was quick to gesture to us……not much english spoken here, by patting his belly that this is/was perhaps a flattering profile of the man.

You be the judge. The wine itself was not bad…it lent itself to the food we were served. It is also included in the meal and when Zé Dias noticed we had finished our bottle…the Missus really enjoyed this bottle, he brought us another, all included in the price.

It's imperative that you have reservations here. Four groups of folks came in during our meal, all were turned away because the one sitting they had was booked. Second big thing I noticed, it's probably a good idea to get there early. Some items are prepped ahead and you won't get the full enjoyment of the dish if you get there later. Look, there are those of us who believe that the customer (usually "I") is the "center of the universe", but sorry Charlie, this is a small operation……this is nothing like the "typical Roman service" of "you are blessed to eat here" that we encountered in Rome. By the way, those are quotes from a resident of Rome.

Things started out with bread….of course. And some Porco Preto. I've mentioned the Black Iberican Pig
before. So it's an obvious starting point for a meal in the Alentejo.

And some nice oven baked cheese……

This was where coming a bit early was to our benefit as this dish didn't look quite as good, gooey, and hot as later patrons arrived.

Along with this, we got some very tasty mushrooms with chives and olive oil. I'm thinking there was some garlic as well as these were packed with flavor.

At about this time a group of three gentlemen sat down on a table next to us. Two of them were locals with a visiting professor from the University. We'd find that a seal of approval during our trip would be the phrase "very typico, very typico" to indicate local cuisine and specialties from the residents. This was where they took folks to sample local cuisine….like I'd take folks to Ono Hawaiian Foods……

We were brought two small dishes. The fried item was intestine….which was totally delici-yoso. It was so amazingly savory, yet very clean in flavor. The roasted peppers were fine, but I was infatuated with the guts… I would have been happy with a plate of that.

The main course was roasted Black Pork.

Also at this time Zé Dias noticed that we had finished our bottle of wine, so he brought us another?

Anyway, this was local stewed pork shoulder. Having had so many doses of the "other white meat" this was amazing. I just loved the fact that pork in Portugal tasted….well….like pork! This was simply stewed, the flavor of swine coming through……pigs fed on acorns and pasture raised, this is the standard here. You don't need to mess around with it.

The pork was moist, tender, full of flavor, and not very oily.

Along with the potatoes, we were served two other dishes.

What was really funny is that we don't recall the flavor of one…which is to the right, and still think of the other, a version of esparregado, a spinach dip of sorts, as memorable, full of herbaceous flavor.

Dessert was served…….

Which the Missus really enjoyed.

And a bottle of Vinho Licoroso was placed on our table. A Digestif called Vinho Licoroso. we were specifically told, in one of the few English phrases of the night "no Porto….no Porto". But this really tasted like a nice port.

This was a nice way to end our time in Evora….in fact, the Missus was kind of angry that I didn't schedule more time for us here….but how was I to know?

I'm thinking we'll be back…..

Taberna Tipica Quarrta-Feira
Rua do Inverno 18
Evora, Portugal

Here's a panoramic photo of Evora from Largo da Porta de Mouro.