Not the best meal we ever had at Apollonia (La Jolla)

Apollonia is normally one of our fave delicious, sit-down, kid-friendly, not too stuffy restaurants.

Tonight they were off their usual quality.

Taramasalata and humus still good.

But worst spanaki lemonata ever (spinach too tough and chewy instead of melting in my mouth).

And the seabass turned out to be fishy and drenched in layers of unhealthy sauce (v. their grilled salmon, which is so light, delicious and simple).

If all the meals I'd had there were like this I wouldn't return. It may still take me several months. Stomach ache....

At least there was Baskins Robbins next door for a well-behaved boy.

New plant-based cuisine restaurant to open in UTC: Veggie Grill

Read this today in the U-T:  http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/aug/27/veggie-grill-opens-utc-mall-la-jolla/.

Will it be as good as Native Foods? Only time will tell. Sounds worth a try!

With Tender Greens there, and Seasons 52 being on ok option too, UTC may become a veggie wonderland! (not to mention bottega italiana for delicious gelato dessert!

Sea and Smoke Review (Del Mar)

Sea and Smoke, in brief:

--very loud

--very airy

--tasty food, interesting menu

--disorganized, disappointing service

--slow kitchen

--high prices, portions too large (this is fine if you really are sharing dishes, but if each person is eating something differnet - CH likes chicken, I'm a veggie - lots of food is leftover with a very big bill)

--there's a lot of fried food for "farm-to-table". I liked my mushroom dish (with poached egg, smoked lentil mousse), but did it really need potato chips on top of it?  And the dandelion greens didn't really harmonize with the rest.

We ended up cancelling some of the things we ordered because the waits between dishes coming out of the kitchen were just too long.  Either the bar is also really slow or our server was.

Too bad, because it's beautiful, interesting food, and I want Matt Gordon to succeed (nice guy, great chef). But I don't think we'll go back, at least until we hear other reports. Too bad!!!

Quick takes: Bongiorno's (Solana Beach) and Del Mar Wine Company

We have been eating at Bongiorno's for years. Better NY pizza than most places we know in NY and NJ, and rivals Sicilian Thing on good days. Very yummy.

Still, I never ordered the eggplant parm before. Thought it wouldn't be good. My boys wanted pizza last night and I wasn't in the mood.  Eggplant parm hero was HUGE and SUPER YUMMY. Great sesame Italian roll.  Very nice breaded eggplant and tasty mozzarella.  Definitely worth trying - it is not less good than their pizza.

Have been enjoying reasonably priced selections from the very knowledgeable fokls at Del Mar Wine Company. Just tried the Rio Madre Rioja with Graciano grapes (Spain). Super yummy and a very good value for about $10.

L-O-V-E Fish Public (Kensington)

Tried Fish Public tonight with a girlfriend. LOVED it.

Reviews on Yelp are mixed. Some say: delicious, great service!!!!  Other say:  not great service, food not delicious, and it's much too loud!  So....

The inside is very loud/"hip". And if you didn't order the right things, you might say, what's the big deal? And maybe you didn't luck out with your waitstaff.

But we sat outside: wonderful atmosphere on the patio, could hear eacho ther fine.

We had an awesome waitress: extremely friendly and knowledgeable about menu.

And we had very delicious food and drinks, even if some dishes were stronger than others.

So maybe you don't like it if you're inside and order the wrong things; and you love it if you're on the patio or don't mind noise, and get the right things!! I'm on the L-O-V-E side, very firmly.

DRINK MENU: Crazy delicious looking choices. And the Cape Cod Redo was an absolute home run.  FANTASTIC. Had to meet the mixologist, Dustin, and congratulate him. Lime-cranberry shrub, rose + vodka. A bit effervescent. Y-U-M x 3. I would have bought the bottles to take home if only they would let me.  One of my favorite cocktails in SD, and now one of my favorite restaurants.  My friend very much enjoyed the sangria. Fresh sangria cocktails are everywhere in SD right now, but this was an especially good example (had a taste).  They also have a great mocktail menu, so I switched to a fresh blackberry soda after having a cocktail (drivers have to be restrained!). Otherwise I would have been dying to try something else on the menu, like the Frenemy.

APP:  Salmon tartare: very delicious, with some yummy sourdough crostini (very thin and light)

SALAD: This was the least successful dish of the evening.  Peach, blue cheese, almond, chicory. It wasn't terrible (I liked the dressing and the chicory), but the blue cheese was much too heavy for a summer salad, esp. with peach. Just did not come anywhere near the peach salad I had earlier this week at Davanti.

OCTOPUS APP: I didn't eat the octopus, but my friend said it was very good, and the portion was humongous, not an app size at all.  I tasted the salad, the romesco sauce and the artichoke stems.  DELECTABLE. We would both order the romesco sauce on its own and eat with bread.  One of the best things at the restaurant. YUMMMMM.

FISH ENTREES:  We split sole entree and salmon entree. Both fishes were perfectly cooked.  Sole was tasty but less inventive: straight forward brown butter, almonds, green beans.  Salmon was more inventive and very delicious. Served with fennel cut like sauerkraut (with yummy peppercorns or whatever they were), butter, and grapefruit (though I skipped the grapefruit).

We were too full to have dessert.  Can't wait to try it again (I just need another friend not allergic to fish!)

More yumminess at Davanti Enoteca Del Mar

There is a definite science to ordering at Davanti Del Mar, which is fast becoming one of my go-to favorite restaurants (especially for a get-together with a girlfriend). Some items are reasonably priced, delicious, and copious (any of the pizzas, about $12). Others are tiny and astronomical (that one ravioli for $10).  So when I go with a friend, I always try to do one of the following shared plans:

--appetizer ($8-10)
--salad (8-10ish)
--Pizza DOC or Pizza con Funghi e Taleggio ($12 or $13)

OR

--appetizer ($8-10)
--Salad ($8-10ish)
--pasta ($15ish)
--fish ($19ish)

You get to try a lot of different tastes and it leaves you from spending lots of money and still being hungry.  My friend was avoiding dairy so we did the second plan.  Very successful and delectable evening as usual at DDM

App: we had the roasted cauliflower, this time with lemon, olives and lots of other yummy things. Everytime I go the roasted cauli preparation is different, but it's always delicious and a very healthy and filling and reasonable - not to mention very tasty - way to start the meal

Salad: we got the peaches with pickled apricots, bibb lettuce, nuts (hazel?) and honey citrus vinaigrette. This salad was SICK, aka CRAZY.  The pickled apricots were crazy good, and the whole salad was yummy. This is an epic salad dish.

Pasta: got the cavatelli with fresh vegetables and ricotta salata.  If you were just ordering this, you would think it was tiny and a ripoff. But after our cauliflower and salad courses, this was just the right amount of pasta for each of us to have. Light and tasty. My second time ordering this and I would get again.

Fish:  Very nice seabass special.  On top of zucchini spaghetti. I was finally full at this point and finally didn't clean my plate.

And WINE is always a highlight here, and I appreciate that they let me try a few sips before deciding.  Wasn't sure whether I wanted a medium-bodied white or red.  Tried the barbera (boring, not for me, at least this night), and also the $12 special white of Manincor Riserva Della Contessa. Blend of pinot blanc, chard and sauvignon, if I remember. Crazy delicious. LOVED IT!

Quick takes: Native Foods (Encinitas), Rimel's (Del Mar)

Still love me some NATIVE FOODS.

Black bean soup delish. Still like the macro bowl, but want to try something different next time as it wasn't quite as good the second time.

SuperBoy loved the oatmeal cookies with cream inside (he said it tasted like carrot cake frosting, though it's vegan)

RIMELS: love their cole slaw. And I don't like slaw!