You’ve probably seen my typical “red” baking mats on the blog many times to make cookies like this:

Or like this:

My trusty baking mats have always been there for me. But… I’ve noticed they’re starting to get kind of deformed while baking and I recently picked up some new silicon baking mats.

Okay, so I didn’t actually bake any Oreo’s… but I needed a prop! I didn’t have any cookie dough on hand so Oreo’s are the stand-in today.

These new silicone baking mats look promising. They have a nice feel to them and stick right down into the cookie sheet. I’m hoping they’ll see me through lots and lots of cookie baking in the future!

I have one extra silicone baking mat for one lucky reader so you can also bake to your heart’s content and not have to worry about stuff sticking to the pan.

To enter to win your own silicone baking mat, just tell me: what is your favorite baked treat (sweet or savory)?

For an extra entry, like this post on Facebook (must leave a separate comment make it count!).

Good luck! Contest is open only to US Residents. Winner will be picked via random.org. This contest is not sponsored by anyone except for This Tasty Life. Paderno World Cuisine is not affiliated with this giveaway in any way, shape or form. Content runs until May 29th, 2013 at midnight PST.

© mary for this tasty life - a san diego food blog, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cake decorating, cookies, giveaway, products

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I’m always altering that recipe I used for crispy creamy 5 cheese mac n cheese and Jake still, to this day, thinks that 5 cheese one is sheer perfection. But me? I’m always looking to improve it, change it, and make it better.

I happened to have a bunch of cheeses on hand to make this and this batch consisted of leftover cheese from Heather’s birthday dinner last week plus a mild cheddar and some brie triangles I had almost forgotten about. I used a combination of flour, bacon fat and butter along with Stremicks Heritage Organic Milk for the base.

If I’m buying milk, I’m always buying organic milk. I particularly find that the reduced fat organic milk tastes so much better than it’s counterparts which in comparison taste watered down to me. The organic stuff still tastes like actual milk, even if it’s reduced fat.

Of course, I don’t think the reduced fat organic milk will help you much here with full fat cheeses, but who’s counting? The creamy richness of the cheese sauce definitely shines through – the only way to make it better really would be to use heavy cream… and well, that’s like a super indulgence if you ask me. Plus, this way a little bit cheaper!

The next night I decided to make macaroni and cheese balls with the leftovers. My one mistake here was being impatient and not freezing the balls first. I highly urge you to not be like me and take this extra step so that the balls hold together better and you don’t start freaking out about how they’re falling apart right when you’re about to stick them into a hot fryer…

They were rolled in milk, a beaten egg and freshly toasted bread crumbs before being fried for a few minutes.

They were still good… but one of my mac and cheese balls was dry (the one that started falling apart) and the other was deliciously creamy (it held together).

Lesson learned.

If you want to try Stremicks Heritage Organic Milk for yourself (for this recipe, your morning cereal, or whatever else your little heart desires to do with organic milk), then I’ve got a great offer for you! Stremicks Heritage is giving 5 of my readers the chance to get some organic milk for themselves with 2 free coupons.

To enter, answer this question below in the comments: what’s your favorite dairy related recipe (grilled cheese? macaroni and cheese? yogurt parfaits? straight up milk & cookies?)

+1 entry by liking This Tasty Life on Facebook (please leave a separate comment for this)

+1 entry by liking Stremicks Heritage Organic Milk on Facebook (separate comment)

Rules and such: Open only to California residents. 5 winners will be picked via random.org and will receive 2 coupons to purchase Stermicks Heritage Organic Milk at a local market. This contest is sponsored by Stremicks Heritage Foods. Contest is open until May 29th, 2013 at midnight, PST.

© mary for this tasty life - a san diego food blog, 2013. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: giveaways, macaroni and cheese, organic, organic milk

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I don’t remember the last time I bought regular table salt, and quite frankly, I see no use for it. There’s a whole array of delicious salts that exist in the world that taste a thousand times better than boring table salt.

This is my current “salt collection”. The Fleur de Sel is the most used up bottle – I use it in cooking, in desserts (it’s perfect in chocolate chip cookies).

This is the Smoked Welsh Sea Salt that I picked up in LA a couple of years ago. The smokiness adds another layer of flavor to foods. It’s almost like adding smoky bacon to a dish – but instead, it’s smoky salt!

This is a sea salt combined with honey granules so it’s got a hint of sweetness along with the coarse grain salt. I’ve topped this off on caramel cupcakes and other desserts.

This extra fine grey sea salt is one of my newest additions to my collection. It’s very fine – like a powder. I used it recently to make popcorn at home. I used coconut oil and added the grey sea salt in with the coconut oil before I added the kernels – perfectly seasoned popcorn! It stuck wonderfully.

This Mayan Sun Tropical Sea Salt is my other newest addition and my current favorite. It’s coarse and imparts a really delightful seasoned flavor to everything I’ve added it to lately – sauteed mushrooms, macaroni and cheese, scrambled eggs – just about everything is improved with a little pinch of this salt.

PS – I adore this new little container I got, which just happens to be a mini salt cellar (it was on clearance at anthropologie and the tiny spoon was what made me want to buy it).

In honor of my great love of salt, I am giving away one bottle of Mayan Sun Tropical Sea Salt so you can flavor up all of your dishes, too.

To enter this contest simply answer this question: what is your favorite salty treat?

Gain an additional entry by liking my salt cellar photo on Instagram. Leave an additional comment with your Instagram handle.

This contest is open only to US residents. One winner will be chosen via random.org and will receive one unopened bottle of Mayan Sun Tropical Sea Salt. This contest is not sponsored nor affiliated with any company – I just have a really serious love of sea salt. Entries accepted until May 28th, 2013 at midnight, PST.

© mary for this tasty life - a san diego food blog, 2013. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: giveaway, salt, sea salt

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I’m kicking off the week with a giveaway that involves the joy of BACON.

My love of bacon is pretty strong, considering the fact that recently I went on a Bacon Crawl and managed to not OD on bacon or get sick of that holiest of pork products. In fact, I just kind of want to add bacon to more things.

This weekend I added bacon to these Italian Sausages. But I also want to try bacon added to other things… like donuts. And desserts. And to salads… and really, just about anything.

More than that, I want to try other people’s creations – and this year at the San Diego County Fair I’ll be able to do just that by attending the Big Bite Bacon Fest on June 16th!

The Big Bite Bacon Fest will be bringing together the best chefs and competitive cooks to bring you a crazy amount of bacon goodness, ranging from appetizers and desserts and all points in between. Samples of craft beers will also be on hand to help wash down all of the bacon deliciousness (along with bacon inspired cocktails for an additional fee).

I’ve got two general admission tickets available to giveaway to one lucky winner! Big Bite Bacon Fest tickets also include admission to the San Diego County Fair.

Bacon + the fair = a really delicious day in my book.

Want to win a pair of tickets to the Big Bite Bacon Fest on June 16th? All you have to do is tell me your favorite bacon related food: is it maple bacon donuts, bacon wrapped scallops, macaroni and cheese with bacon or maybe chocolate covered bacon? Let me know in the comments below!

For additional entries, you may do any and all of the following activities. Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

+1 entry for liking this post on This Tasty Life’s Facebook page

+1 entry for tweeting this message: I need to get my bacon on! Win 2 tickets to the Big Bite Bacon Fest @sdfair on June 16th! http://bit.ly/13GZCIU #baconfest @kyten

+1 entry for liking This Tasty Life on Facebook

Contest is open only to US Residents. Winner will be picked via random.org and will receive 2 general admission tickets to the Big Bite Bacon Fest at the San Diego County Fair. Winner’s name will be submitted to Will Call for ticket pickup. Parking is not included. This contest is sponsored by Big Bite Bacon Fest. This Tasty Life is receiving 2 tickets in exchange for holding this contest. Entries will be accepted until midnight on March 27th, 2013, PST. Good luck!

© mary for this tasty life - a san diego food blog, 2013. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bacon, county fair, events, fairs, festivals, giveaway

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This is Heather! She’s holding one of the gifts I got for her, a product called Spiced Beer Jelly. I bought it on Fab.com and it came in a two pack along with a jar of strawberry balsamic jelly (which we also tried that night). The Spiced Beer Jelly definitely had hints of apple along with cardamon in the background (two of the ingredients used in the making of it). It was a little liquidy, but the flavor was quite nice. It didn’t especially taste like beer to me, more like apples and spices. We liked eating it with our cheeses!

At first I started to layer the caprese out all pretty and exact-like, then I said “f#@$ it!” and just kind of scattered it all on the plate. I used those sweet little yellow tomatoes along with some fresh mozzarella cheese (both from Fresh & Easy) along with some fresh basil from the garden. I sprinkled this with olive oil and a new tropical sea salt I just bought and it really brought out the fresh flavors from the cheese and tomatoes.

In addition to the caprese, we also had a cheese and fruit plate. From the bottom (left to right): Clawson Blue Stilton, Chevrai Goat Cheese, Smith’s Farmstead Sharp Cheddar and Kerrygold Skellig Sweet Cheddar

The blue stilton is a creamy, rich blue cheese. I really liked this one. Some blue cheeses are almost too strong to eat, but this one had a nice balance. It had that pungency that blue cheese has but it was also creamy and not overpowering. I really liked eating this one with a drizzle of honey or with some of the sweet strawberry balsamic jam.

I meant to roll the goat cheese in fresh herbs or something, but I got lazy and ran out of time. I picked this one up since it doesn’t hurt Stacey as much (she’s allergic to milk – yes, she still eats cheese and dairy products). Nice and extra creamy, this goat cheese was a bit mild and paired well with everything. Especially the grapes!

The Smith’s Farmstead Sharp Cheddar was extra super duper sharp – it almost hurt to eat it by itself from the really intense flavor it had. If you like that super “it feels like it’s punching back” kind of sharpness to your cheese, you should check that one out.

The Kerrygold Skellig is a new Kerrygold product that I noticed at Fresh and Easy not too long ago. It’s not sweet like dessert-sugar-sweet, but it’s definitely sweeter and more milder than the punch-you-in-the-face sharp cheese. I really liked it!

In addition to cheeses, I made a couple of mushroom dishes. This one I’m pretty proud of – it’s my remake of the mushroom souffle that I had at Via Lago recently! It’s made with three kind of mushrooms (button, baby bella and oyster), leeks, garlic, bread crumbs, Parmesan, olive oil, and a touch of cream. Mine didn’t taste quite the same as the one at Via Lago, but I thought it was pretty darn delicious. I molded it into a little round ramekin and then served it with a Parmesan cream sauce and a roasted garlic tomato sauce (jarred).

This was really delicious with some french bread, on crackers, with the sauces, with the cheese… with everything!

I also did one other really simple dish – grilled bacon wrapped mushrooms! I simply wrapped the bacon around each baby bella mushroom (these are a little bigger than the button mushrooms and have a little more flavor) and then cooked them off our gas grill outside until the bacon was cooked all the way. The mushrooms get tender and juicy and the bacon flavored cooks right into the mushrooms making it smoky and a little crispy.

This is the whole spread!

I also made dessert, but I didn’t take any photos of it because I’m silly.

Happy birthday to Heather! Get the recipe for the mushroom souffle below:

© mary for this tasty life - a san diego food blog, 2013. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: american, cheese, mushrooms

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Granny’s Donuts & Cookies Too

Yeah, there are only two dots at the end. Maybe they’re trying to say that they sell two things? And therefore only need two dots instead of the full three…

I’ve no idea.

But I chuckled at the name and the old-style look and gave it a quick look-up on Yelp and discovered they had red velvet donuts.

You know what that means!

It means I made Jake drive over there so we could get some.

This is the glazed red velvet donut. They only had one of those. I claimed it as my own.

And just to compare, I got an unglazed one, too.

They were both a deep, dark red just like their cakey counterpart. There was also a very tiny hint of chocolate in these cake donuts so I would say they’re pretty true to form.

They had a nice slight crunch (a sign of a fresher donut). I preferred the glazed one for the extra texture and sweetness.

I don’t know if I would go out of my way for one of these again, but I’d totally be into seeing if I can score a red velvet donut somewhere in San Diego. Anyway know of a place where a girl can get herself a red velvet donut? Inquiring minds full of donut dreams want to know.

I kind of want to have a donut tasting now.

Granny’s Donuts & Cookies Too
Multiple Locations
5550 Woodruff Ave
Lakewood, CA 90713

© mary for this tasty life - a san diego food blog, 2013. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: donuts

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After being seated indoors (it was a bit cool out on the evening we visited), we were treated to some complimentary bread. Free bread always makes me a happy girl, especially when it’s a nice crusty bread like the one served here. It was slightly warm and I used this bread heavily a little later on…

Jake started with a martini. I *think* it’s a guava martini. In any case, it’s fun to see him have a pink (err, as he would say, “lightish red”) beverage.

[calamari & fagiolini / calamari, wax beans, marinara - $10.95]

They started us out by parading a few appetizers in front of us. I was sad that Jake daughter was not able to join us since she would loved everything they brought out to us. The boys though are not into seafood and I was left to my own devices with this fried calamari & bean dish. The calamari was a little cold by the time it got to me, but a bathing it in marinara sauce livened it back up. Little chewy, not the best calamari I’ve ever had but still decent. I enjoyed the fried wax beans that came along with it as long for a little crunch and to mix things up a little bit.

[misto antipasto per due / calarmi, caprese, marinated mushrooms, olives, shrimp, cheeses, prosciutto - $18.95]

They also brought out this crazy large antipasto platter. Dear god. Take a gander at the deliciousness on this plate! This could easily feed a small army with a little bit of everything here and there. The cheeses were delicious and I got to horde the shrimp and marinated mushrooms for myself. An excellent dish for sharing.

[mushroom souffle / mushrooms, garlic, parsley, parmesan cheese, with cream and marinara sauce - $10.95]

This is a dish for all you mushroom loves out there.

*cue slow song*

Ahem… So… yeah… This was my favorite thing of the whole night.

Made with three kinds of mushrooms, this mushroom souffle got me all excited, hot and bothered. It’s mushroom extreme so you’re on the fence about mushrooms… well, you should still give it a shot. It’s earthy, lush, creamy and delicious.

I made good use of that complimentary bread we got by slathering this mushroom mixture and sauce on it and happily devouring it and relishing it in my mouth. It was so rich, well seasoned, and bursting with mushroom goodness. They recently posted about how to make this mushroom souffle on their blog, and I plan on trying it out this week. Stay tuned, I’ll let you know the results, so wish me luck on that one.

[salsiccia pizza / italian sausage and mozzarella - $12.95]

S. ordered a pizza – he did not want to order off the “Bambini” menu (probably because there was no pizza listed there) and opted for this one simple one with just sausage and cheese. I didn’t have a bite, but it looks quite good.

[costine de manzo / beef short ribs, barolo reduction, pearl onions, potato puree and fried leeks - $24.95]

Jake, after some debate, decided to order the Costine de Manzo – or, in words we understand, the beef short ribs. The short ribs were super soft-as-a-lamb tender with a nice sweet sauce from the barolo reduction. The potato puree was perfectly smooth and creamy and the fried leeks provided a nice contrast with some crunch and texture.

[pollo parmigiano / pan fried chicken, tomatoes, mozzarella, basil gnocchi - $17.95]

For myself, I ordered the chicken parmesan, which I know sounds kind of boring. BUT… I ordered it mostly for the basil gnocchi that came with it.

Upon first glance I thought I didn’t get any gnocchi afterall since the pasta here looks like tortellini. But… I quickly discovered the “tortellini” had the gnocchi filling! I’ve never seen gnocchi stuffed into something else so I was surprised by the presentation. Having the gnocchi inside of pasta kind gives it an extra level of texture and flavor. It was flavorful and different and I ended up really liking the gnocchi.

The chicken I was not quite as impressed with. I was sad that the sauce was on top and covering the whole thing since it made the chicken lose that “crunch” that I love so much. I would have been happier if it was just sauce on the bottom instead of on both sides of the chicken. The chicken was also a little dry in a few spots and I found myself mostly just sticking to eating the gnocchi. I’d happily eat the gnocchi by itself!

[dessert sampler]

We picked two things from their dessert tray for ending the meal, starting with this dessert sampler. It had mini versions of some of my favorite treats: a mini eclair, fruit tart, a chocolate covered strawberry and a mini cannoli. I was excited to try this to get a little sampling of everything, especially the cannoli since that was my favorite part of the meal at A Modo Mio in Hillcrest.

Sadly though… these desserts didn’t cut it that day. Luckily we had another dessert waiting for us because these little treats fell flat for us. The cannoli was soft and tasted stale – nothing like the crispy, thick crusted shell I had at A Modo Mio. The eclair suffered from the same “stale” taste and the tart was just “okay”. Of the bunch the chocolate covered strawberry was the best thing.

[lava cake with gelato]

The lava cake more than made up for the lackluster dessert platter and in retrospect we would have been happy with just this for dessert! It came with a side of gelato (vanilla with chocolate chunks) and the two together made for the perfect dessert happy ending.

Mmm… luscious, creamy, chocolate lava middle… come get into my belly!

This was rich, dense, and completely delicious. It was silky smooth and the completely melted insides melted my own little heart.

All in all we had a very lovely and very delicious dining experience at Busalacchi’s restaurant. It’s a delightfully sinful way to start a weekend and we enjoyed it all very much!

Via Lago Trattoria by Busalacchi
866 Eastlake Parkway
Chula Vista, CA 91914
(619) 216-8660

Disclaimer: Our meal was complimentary. I was not paid for this review and all opinions expressed here are forever and always my own, summarized from my inner monologue.

© mary for this tasty life - a san diego food blog, 2013. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: appetizers, cake, cheese, dessert, italian, mushrooms, pasta, pizza

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Tropical Star is located in a little strip mall near Balboa & Genesee, near the IHOP. It’s not a very big place and also doubles as a market.

There are about four tables inside with a couple of tables outside. Initially we were sitting outdoors since all the indoor tables were taken, but once they freed up we moved instead since it was quite windy that day.

This photo shows probably half the restaurant/market. It’s quite cozy in here! Upon first glance you wouldn’t really even know they served food here, since the counter/register is kind of hidden on the left. No one greets you and you just grab a menu, stand around awkwardly trying to figure out what to order, place your order when someone finally comes back to the counter and hope there’s a seat left for you.

They sure don’t waste any space here. Every nook and cranny is filled with product. These license plate holders, books and other items were above our heads at our table.

[arroz con pollo / pieces of chicken cooked with rice, seasoned with tomato, onions, and bell peppers.  served with red beans and green salad - $7.95]

This is David’s lunch. I didn’t try it. But it looks good, doesn’t it? I need to like, interview everyone about their meal afterwards so I can say if they liked it or not. I don’t remember!

[guava juice - $3.25]

David also got a Guava Juice. I don’t know many places were you can get guava juice. I feel like I tried this. Curse my memory today.

[papa rellena / potato puff, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, filled with seasoned beef - $2.50]

I ordered a papa rellena for an appetizer. The look, taste and feel of these makes me think of the potato balls from Porto’s in Los Angeles. These maybe look a little more “homemade” though!

Here’s a look at the papa rellena’s innards. These are a little different from Porto’s since there’s “other stuff” inside of them. There were some veggies and other seasonings in the middle there. The surrounding potato was nice and creamy and the inner filling was quite delicious. I think I still like the Porto’s version a little bit more, but these are another take on a really delicious item.

[pernil de cerdo asado / sliced roast pork served with white rice and red beans - $8.50]

For my main lunch, I opted to try this sliced roast pork dish. It was covered in a marinade/sauce that I don’t think was really evenly distributed over the meat since I had some really “intense” bites where all I could taste was the very strong flavor of the marinade (a combination of citrus, garlic and other flavors). Once I got under the top layer, the pork was almost devoid of seasoning. There were also some really dry pieces to the pork and the inconsistency just made for a very “meh” dish. I ate the red beans with the rice and while I’m not a huge fan of beans, I found these to be pretty acceptable. They had a pretty mild flavor. Overall nothing to write home about.

[ropa vieja / cuban style shredded beef seasoned with garlic, onion and bell peppers served with white rice, black beans, fried ripe plantains, and green salad - $10.50]

Here’s Matt’s dish! I believe this is the Ropa Vieja based on the menu description since I forgot to write down what he ordered. I didn’t try this one either. Sorry. Ain’t it pretty, though?

[tostones rellenos / stuffed tostones filled with black beans served with a side of avocado - $4.95]

Lauren ordered off the vegetarian menu and let us all try some of her tostones rellenos, which ended up being my favorite thing! I think she ordered the rice on the side. I’ll have to ask her later about that.

The little tostones cups are made with fried plantains and stuffed with black beans and some kind of cheese. The cups tasted nothing like plantains to me. They had a bit of sweetness to them and were quite crunchy. I loved the crunch and texture of them and were surprised that I liked them at all since plantains are not exactly my favorite thing ever. I like seeing how things can be produced in different ways though to make you go, “Aha! I like it when it’s done like this!” I didn’t put any avocado in with it, but I have a feeling that would have made it even more delicious.

For an afternoon treat, I bought one of these alfajor cookies that were under a glass cake stand at the register ($1.50 each). David and I went up together to get a few cookies to go and kind of had to wait around awhile until someone wandered back up to the register… I started wishing they had one of those bells to ring for service!

It was worth the wait to get one of the delicious cookies though. It has a thick caramel filling in the middle and the outer layers had a very rich, nutty flavor with the consistency and taste of crispy, buttery pie dough crust. I managed to get an embarrassing amount of powdered sugar on the front of my shirt as I ate these. Luckily I don’t care about such things. Pure deliciousness!

While I didn’t love everything I got, I did manage to try a few really tasty things that would entice me to come back here to have those things again and possibly try a few other items on the menu. There’s definitely a feeling of “homemade” and cooked to order food here, something I always appreciate and am on the lookout for.

Plus… cookies! Nom, nom, nom.

Tropical Star Restaurant & Specialty Market
6163 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 874-STAR (7827)

© mary for this tasty life - a san diego food blog, 2013. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cheap, cookies, latin, latin american, puerto rican, vegetarian

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“What? They put cheese on their breadsticks?!”

“We’re going to Pat & Oscar’s for lunch, aren’t we?” asked Jake.

I simply nodded and we tromped back the way we came to try these new breadsticks.

Since I didn’t want to just eat breadsticks for lunch, I also ordered us a salad. Something that looked new to me on their menu.

[bangkok chicken salad - lettuce, cabbage, carrots, green onion, mild peppers, cilantro, wontons, and chicken in a sweet chili thai ranch dressing - medium, $13.49]

I’ve been wanting to always eat Asian-type salads lately. I think I just really dig the wontons or something. This had a nice healthy mix of greens and veggies. The only disliked item in this were those crazy banana peppers. For some reason every time I got a scoop of salad, I had a crap-ton of them on my plate. The sweet chili Thai ranch dressing was also surprisingly nice and fresh – it had a hint of the sweet chili flavor and a hint of ranch, too. The combination sounds kind of weird, but I think it works here. It’s also not really heavy on the dressing, keeping things light and fresh. I loved the cilantro in this as well since I love that flavor. Makes everything taste bright to me.

[four cheese breadsticks - blend of muenster, mozzarella, cheddar and pamesan - 4 for $3.99]

There was an extra wait for the breadsticks since they had to prepare them fresh. They don’t just churn these out like they do with the regular breadsticks and these require extra prep work.

We had completely finished our salad between the three of us before the breadsticks arrived.

The kind of cool thing is that bit of cheese hanging over the end of the breadstick – it’s crunchy and pure cheesy goodness. As for the breadstick itself, it was much softer than the original breadsticks. There’s no outer crunch and no slather of garlic butter – instead you get cheese! The cheddar was the really predominant flavor here out of the four cheese blend.

[bacon cheddar breadsticks]

These are the bacon cheddar breadsticks. There are again some “crunchy” parts from the cheese. The bacon was not really crisp, more of a softer bacon sprinkled on top with the cheese. While I did like the flavor of the bacon with the bread, this breadstick seemed much heavier then the original breadsticks. These again are also quite soft on the inside and very soft all around. The cheese almost acts as a protector around the breadstick, keeping it soft.

Overall, I wasn’t too impressed with the new breadstick toppings. I’d prefer to just eat the original breadsticks with their glaze of butter and garlic and a nice outer crisp with a soft, fluffy inside. At $1 per breadstick, I just didn’t think they were worth the extra price and wait for a little bit of cheese on my breadstick. I really missed the garlic and salt from the original and I don’t think I’d give that up again just for these. These breadsticks felt a lot richer and heavier in my stomach as well.

Oh well, it’s nice to see them trying out new things – but sometimes you just shouldn’t mess with an original.

O’s American Kitchen
Multiple Locations
375 Parkway Plaza
El Cajon, CA 92020

© mary for this tasty life - a san diego food blog, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bread, breadsticks, chain, lunch

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We just happened to go the same day as Taste of Hillcrest, but we went early enough that the meandering crowds did not affect us in any way. T was also able to tag along this time to finally try the items, too. Isn’t he a lucky, lucky boy?

[crue fries / garlic parmesan fries · mac sauce · melted cheddar jack · aws bacon · ranch · chives   - $9]

But of course we started out with the Crue Fries. Trust me, it was hard to not also order the macaroni and cheese again. I almost did. These were just as tasty as the last time I had them. I like that there’s just enough sauce on them to not overpower the dish or make all of the fries soggy. The fries stay crisp underneath the sauce, cheeses and bacon and just all mixed together in your mouth for the ultimate happiness.

[dressed avocado / maldon salt · cracked pepper · magni evoo · fresh lime · small salad  - $7]

I also tried the Dressed Avocado which also came with a little side salad. While I did like the creamy, buttery avocado (avocado is, after all, one of my favorite things), I found is this to have a littttttttle too much lime for my liking. I also wished that it had more salt overall and the seasonings and flavoring didn’t really made it across all of the slices. I still ate most of it (shared with T) though I was a little let down by the seasonings. Less lime for me, please. More delicious salt.

["chicken fried" steak / texas style prime flat iron · sausage gravy · scrambled eggs · breakfast potatoes - $11]

It was breakfast for us since we got there right at 11AM when it opened and we shared one breakfast dish and one lunch dish. We opted to try the chicken fried steak. Jake, T and I all loved the sausage gravy – that part was delicious – but we thought the steak was just okay. It seemed a little too thick to me. We still prefer the one over at Toby’s, but we still liked this one and ate every last bite on the plate.

[p.b.l.t. / brown sugar pork belly · heirloom tomato · baby gem romaine · roasted garlic mayo · d bar fries - $10]

A pork belly sandwich was sounding mighty good to me, and after I had a bite of this I didn’t really want to eat anything else…

The sandwich is on a fresh roll that’s toasted and filled with some of the most delicious pork belly I’ve ever had. Tender, juicy, flavorful and meaty, the pork belly here was simply outstanding. The other sandwich accompaniments made it taste very fresh and I’d have a hard time not ordering this on every single future visit to D Bar.

I actually saved my last bite of food as the rest of this sandwich, so it would be the last lingering flavor in my mouth (before dessert, anyway). It was that good!

[d=mc2 / milk chocolate mousse • salted caramel • praline crunch • peanut nib crumble - $10]

When our waitress back by to see if we would have dessert, Jake started to say “no” and I gave him the most incredulous look I could muster. As if I would want to come to D Bar again and not try a dessert! I didn’t care if it was only noon, I was totally trying something sweet!

I had Jake and T try to guess what I wanted to ordered… but neither of them could guess that day. The d=mc2 sounded really good to me – it was sort of a chocolate experiment on a plate with all of these different “levels” of chocolate. You had the chocolate ice cream with peanut nib crumble (smooth and creamy chocolate with crunchy bits), the milk chocolate mousse that had a gelatin texture with some kind of “dust” (I think it was peanut dust) and the chocolate and salted caramel thing waaaaay over there on the top.

Here is it from another angle. Also! The chocolate drops with lines and little cocoa pearls made for the prettiest design ever on a dessert plate. Each element had a different flavor and texture and combining things together made it adventurous and fun. I loved the play on textures here, the salted caramel bits being my favorite (dragged through the chocolate sauce on the plate, of course).

All in all it was a really delicious brunch at D Bar and I can’t wait to come back and try other things (especially of the dessert variety).

D Bar
3930 5th Avenue.
San Diego, CA 92103
619.299.3227

© mary for this tasty life - a san diego food blog, 2013. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: american, appetizers, brunch, chocolate, dessert, fries, lunch, sandwiches

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