Restaurant week report: Crush (Solana Beach)

Nice meal at Crush for RW.  Bruschetta entree was fantastic (grilled good bread, great burrata, tomatoes, pesto).  Eggplant was very tasty and huge portion, but very heavy - wouldn't order in future.  Great "julep noir" (bourbon, blackberries, mint, lime).  Great music too, but not so loud that you can't hear your companion talk.  Glad we went. (though I must add that a friend went the night before and was less impressed with the salmon. But we were lucky!).  This place is becoming a favorite.

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!

Great night at Davanti Enoteca (Carmel Valley/Del Mar): Review

Third or fourth time at Davanti. One has to be careful with the menu. The giant ravioli dish is literally one ravioli for $10.  But we did very well tonight - delicious and copious and not too expensive.

JustLikeMeTwentyYearsAgo came along and we each had some of the following:
--Tenuta Luisa Pinot Grigio (researched the wine list beforehand, and found sites saying it was much better than your avg. pinot; I'd still like something fuller bodied but this was very good; better than the sips of falanghina and frascati that the server kindly brought for me to sample first)

--tomato/burrato/pesto salad with grilled bread: very delicious, nice portion; tomatoes were actually whole roasted golf-ball size tomatoes, rather than slices of cold heirlooms.

--roasted cauliflower: I had delicious roasted cauliflower the first time I went there, but this was a totally different preparation. Still, it was excellent and substantial.

--cavatelli: very light, and a perfect size for two people to share as a 3rd course. Tasty. Great crispy vegetables as a counterpart to the soft pasta.

--Salmon special. Well-cooked with some nice cubed salsa-style veggies and possibly fruit underneath (by this part of the meal I didn't notice what they were. They weren't astonishing in that I noticed each flavor, but they were tasty in a salsa kind of way.)

Walked around the mall afterwards to work some off and got a free cookie for Towne Bakery's 1st anniversary, along with a frosting shot for $1.25 (tasty). The outdoor seating is great too now at the mall. Who needs a different "main street" in Carmel Valley? (No to One Paseo!)

Got parking pretty easily too, at 7:30 on a Sat. night in the crazy Ralph's shopping center. Bonus!

Davanti is super-fun and delicious.  Love it on girls' nights!

Davanti Enoteca (Carmel Valley): Super-Yum!

Was not expecting Davanti Enoteca to be so good. It's in the infamous Ralph's Shopping Center in the 92130 that has become Beverly-Hills-wanna-be central (Burlap, Mia Francesca, Urban Plates, etc.).  Had some last-minute babysitting, so gave it a try.

ATMOSPHERE: Well, it's that same we're-in-the-strip-mall-but-we're-trying-to-feel-like-hip-main-street feel.  They mean well.

but the star is the

FOOD!!

Wine: loved my $13 Gavi. They let me try a taste first - wouldn't have ordered it at that price if it wasn't super-yum. Had a disappointing :( meal at my fave Charisma recently.  Would rather pay $13 for a super glass of wine than $7.50 at Charisma for a so-so one.

Appetizers: CH got this super-yum truffle egg toast asparagus. I got two of the anti-pasti of the night on a platter: zucchini "spaghetti" with pine nuts and parmesan, and charred cauliflower with some other yummies mixed with it. Happy Foodie Mom.

Entree:  L-O-V-E-D my pizza with funghi, taleggio and leeks.  WAY YUMMIER EVEN THAN THE CUCINA URBANA pizza.  If this place wasn't in the strip mall, it would move higher on my list. CH thought his rigatoni with sausage was ok.

He didn't love it as much as me, but it was a super fun and yummy night. This is probably the best restaurant in the strip mall (leaving aside Rachel King's desserts at Burlap). Can't wait to try it again!