Twenty-Five Forty (Old town): Restaurant Revisit Review

Went to Twenty-Five Forty recently with SuperBoy (it was supposed to be a date but the babysitter couldn't come).

Quick report:
--Service a little slow to start as usual, but they're working hard to make the good food

--Bread basket: just as delicious if not more than usual; SB's eyes lit up when he tasted the corn bread mini-muffins and he kept taking more bread

--Zucchini soup: blander than the soups I've had there before, but ok

--Side salad: not as good as I remembered, ok. 

--Eggplant parmesan ravioli (minus bacon): SO GOOD. They make the best fresh pasta here. Sauce was delicious too. Not a huge portion, but would get again.

--CH got rigatoni and enjoyed it a lot. He also got bratwurst with fresh sauerkraut and he seemed to like that too

--SB's grilled cheese sandwich: a good buy for $10 (since it's not only for kids). He got cheddar only. Was grilled on a delicious baguette/panini roll, with good cheddar; fresh steakhouse fries on the side; and some spring mix.

--Shoyu cosmo. Very tasty. Couldn't tell the difference between that and a real vodka cosmo.

So a couple of missteps tonight, whereas I never had anything less than superlative here before. But we would still come again.

Mediterranean Room at La Valencia (La Jolla): Review: Definitely not a must-try!

Decided to try the Mediterranean Room at La Valencia. Had never been, and had thought they had a redesign/relaunch.  Menu looked good and reasonable, and reviews on Yelp and Opentable were mostly good.

Verdict: Totally missable! We had a nice evening because it's quiet and we had a nice conversation, and service was friendly enough. It was a nice touch that the sous-chef brings the entrees out.

However, the atmosphere is totally: out-of-date fancy hotel where you take your great-aunt on her 80th birthday. Food, ranged from (one dish only) "tasty enough" to "totally meh" to (CH's entree and my dessert) "not very good at all". True, it was less expensive than other La Jolla restaurants.  But as CH said, "Tell me why you picked here instead of Nine-Ten?" "Because we hadn't tried it and it was half the price," I said. "Half the price, less than half the flavor!" CH declared.

The bar was hopping, and the patio might have had a nice atmosphere. But no one need feel they need to give this place a try! (Dessert was the best example: got a gelato sampler: chocolate, salted caramel, and strawberry champagn gelato.  Salted caramel = BARELY salted if at all. Sickeningly sweet. Tasted like Ralph's non-premium ice cream. Couldn't eat it.  Strawberry champagne sorbet = ugh. Again, sweet like a 5-year old would like. Chocolate = edible. Not that great. Ate it anyway because it was too depressing to have paid $9 for this bowl of horrible ice cream instead of having gone to Haagen Dazs next door for better ice cream).

25 Forty Bistro (Old Town): Dinner and a Show, Part Two!

Before seeing the amazing Allegiance, we went to 25 Forty Bistro and Bakehouse in Old Town.  Like our last visit several months ago, we thought this is just an amazing restaurant that is so under the radar (TOO under the radar - they should have more business on a Sat. night - patio was hopping but was mostly empty inside).  Go, taste!

Delicious things tonight:
--their bread basket: so ridiculously delicious and worth paying $4: three adorable warm mini-muffings, superb whole wheat mini-roll, two foccacia-type rolls that CH hogged, and fab baguette. Great butter

--ordered soup of the day: zucchini: just as scrumptious as when I ordered cauliflower soup last time. Very delicate.

--CH got the simple green salad (super bargain at $4) and liked it as much as I did last time

--I got a white sangria made with soyu vodka (they have a wine list but can't do anything with hard liquor except soyu).  Not the best best cocktail ever, but refreshing and tasty and interesting enough. AND only $6.

--I got a crazy delicious homemade fettucine with organic veggies. LOVED. THE. GREEN. BEANS. Don't normally like green beans.  Scarfed up all of the veggies - they were so flavorful.  Pasta was great too. Beautiful presentation.

--CH got a ribeye, which arrived looking so impressive, on a block, with gorgeous fries, a little greenery and some sea salt.

Service not the fastest ever, but it takes some time to make great food. And they were very friendly.

(Baby near us was crying loudly and luckily didn't stay too long. Too bad to get a babysitter and then listen to other loud babies! But the crayons on the table are a nice touch for well-behaved toddlers)

We were too stuffed to get dessert, which is what they're apparently known for.

New list of favorite restaurants in SD:
1. Grant Grill
2. Alchemy
3.  25 Forty
4.  Searsucker
5. Cucina Urbana

(so-so meal at Charisma pushed it off the list. Still haven't had a bad dish at 25-Forty)

Jimmy's Famous American Tavern (Point Loma)

Hit Jimmy's with CPGirl and her family this week (I can't remember why I started calling her that and better remember soon or she'll need a new name!). She thinks it's fab so had been encouraging us to go. Was great!

Atmsophere: nice patio, boat view, great heaters, grass if the kids want to get up and play.

Liquor options: tons of wines by glass, great cocktails. I ordered the sunset martini: fresh lime juice, cranberry juice, orange infused vodka, blood orange puree, simple syrup, some other stuff. Was a little sweet for me at first, but as I drank more I thought it was very sweet and tart and tasty.

Food: I enjoyed my sea bass sandwish (a daily special) a lot. French fries were nice (peppery ketchup).  Simple green appetizer salad was outstanding - very fresh and perfectly dressed (not too much vinaigrette).

CH liked his prime rib sandwich.

SuperBoy was not as thrilled about his grilled cheese, though CPGirl is a big fan of the sandwich. I think he was just under the weather, as he got sick later. They brought him  a cookie, which looked nice.

Would love to return if nearby - a very fun and tasty place to go with or without kids.

Lincoln Room: The best value in the Gaslamp/No place for date night

Here's the thing about Yelp: everyone can be a critic! And you don't know who the folks posting are. So when Yelpers recommend a palce, it could be great.....could be not so great! This is yet another reason why I miss Naomi Wise.

We were going to the theater tonight (Rock of Ages - way better than we thought it would be - totally campy and over the top but completely entertaining); 6 pm curtain at the Civic Theater does not leave much time for dinner!  I picked the Lincoln Room, using Yelp, thinking it would be fast, tasty and inexpensive. It was all of those things (ridiculously cheap and decent food) BUT the yelpers didn't mention that they were all young and don't mind ridiculously loud music. I'm not THAT old, but we couldn't even carry on a conversation in there. It was just too loud. So much for date night! The first glass of $5 happy hour wine I got I thought would be a big bargain (a Paso Robles zin that's normally $10) but it was N-a-s-t-y. Luckily they let me swap it out for a normally $12 glass of Au Bon Climat Pinot, that was a pleasure to drink for $5.  I also enjoyed the portabello mushroom sandwich.  But we won't return - just too loud for parents-on-a-date!  But for people with no funds in the Gaslamp, it is apparently the place to go for Happy Hour. It was packed at 5 pm on a Sun. Must be crazy on F&S.

I would be bummed that we walked past Grant Grill and I missed out on a Jeff Josenhans cocktail to go there, but that would have been out of keeping with going to Rock of Ages - much too posh!  We didn't get to talk on our date, but the Lincoln Room was a fun bar and made us think of being young in the 80s!

One small thing: must remember at Sher e Punjab that their dal is not my favorite thing there! Went this week and enjoyed the eggplant and veg. korma but could have done without the dal - it's pretty boring for there.

A toddler outing: Kidding Around + Cafe 56 (Carmel Mountain/Rancho Penasquitas)

I don't usually review play areas, but we visited the new Kidding Around today. Kind of austere/boring for Mom & Dad (they need music, they're working on it), but Super-Toddler absolutely loved all the tunnel slides and cars. We'll undoubtedly return. He's also digging Way Beyond (UTC) but I haven't been there with him yet so can't vouch for the mom part of the experience.

Being over in that area was an excuse to try a place I'm always getting ads for: Cafe 56 on Black Mountain Road. Good to know about. Not gourmet by any stretch, and I won't claim it's super-yummy. But it's a diner-style American food restaurant that was quite mellow and pleasant. They had good music on (Joni Mitchell, Woodstock, came on during the meal - they had XM 27 the Bridge on), and all of our food was decent. (Mickey Mouse-shaped pancake for ST; french toast, ham and eggs for CH; and mahi-mahi tacos for me). Not gourmet but relaxing enough - ST stayed in his seat and got a blueberry muffin at the end as a reward.