Golden Chopsticks - National City

Golden Chopsticks Chinese Restaurant in National City is located right off of Plaza Boulevard (west) in the Seafood City/Big Lots shopping center across from Jollybee. I have been getting take out here for YEARS and it is, by far, my favorite Chinese restaurant in San Diego. Yeah, I'm probably one of the very few people who actually nominate this joint when it comes to recommending the best Chinese eats in San Diego Magazine or SignOnSanDiego.com. It's worth a shot, right?

Well, their food never disappointed me. Never ever. Their service on the other hand? Not the greatest, but their *hit or miss* customer service is forgotten after taking a bite of one of their salted pepper chicken wings or one of their succulent pieces of Chinese BBQ pork.

I'm a sucker for Chinese BBQ pork. I love the darn stuff, especially in or with fried rice. Their BBQ pork is like candy to me. I would rather have this than a piece of chocolate cake (and that's the truth!).

[special lunch menu with my little panda]

My hubby picked me up one late afternoon and I thought to myself, "Hey, we are never around during Golden Chopsticks' Special Lunch!" Special Lunch is only available Monday through Friday, 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Since I was craving BBQ pork, what an easy lunch decision it was for me. The "special lunch number one", it is!

You know, I think it was probably meant to be "lunch special", but I like calling it special lunch since that's how they printed it on the menu!

For to-go orders, I usually call ahead but since it was a random weekday, I figured that I'd visit without a phone call. The cooks and wait staff there are fairly quick and we were not in a rush. Upon entering, the same ol' staff that I recognized from years ago were working the tables, the line, and the cash register. There was a good number of people having lunch and as I expected, there was a table full of to-go orders in plastic bags or large party trays waiting to be picked up.

$4.95. Yes, $4.95 gets you about a pound of Chinese BBQ pork, about two cups of fried rice, and a vegetable egg roll. If you're eating inside the restaurant, it comes with a cup of egg drop soup as if you don't have enough to eat. It is an additional $0.50 if I wanted the soup to-go.

Being about 15-20 minutes away from Golden Chopsticks, upon arrival at home, the pork was still warm and deliciously tender. Both the fried rice and the vegetable egg were simple dishes but very flavorful. The egg roll was still crunchy and the veggies inside tasted fresh as if the rolls were hand rolled that morning. I only ate half of it -- and saved the rest for later. Chinese food is always good later.

[yeah, I took another pic - I was in awe of the portions]

Other dishes that I highly, highly recommend at Golden Chopsticks are the following:

• Salted Pepper Chicken Wings ... best WINGS in town, seriously. My mom is still trying to figure out how they make their wings so darn crispy. I love the crispy topping of fried garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, and chopped scallions.
• Mongolian Beef
  
• House Special Pan Fried Noodles
  
• BBQ Fried Rice

I will be back to try the Peking Duck (my other craving) and I have been told that I MUST try their Whole Fish in Brown Sauce. I would like to briefly blog about those chicken wings too. Yum. They sound so good right now.

Tips to know is that parking is non-existent on the weekends (crowds flock to Seafood City), call ahead for weekend to-go orders and take a friend for the convenient "drop off and pick up" (as if you're the getaway driver), and lastly, please don't expect white tablecloth customer service. The wait staff is quick & efficient and don't be surprised if they don't make any side conversations or even crack a smile. I'm telling you though, the food will make it all worth your while.

San Diego County Fair 2010

We look forward to the San Diego County Fair every year because of the fair food. Truthfully, I am not the type to indulge on items like the Krispy Kreme chicken sandwich, deep fried butter (yuck), or any deep fried whatnots that Charlie's Chicken offers annually. However, I did tell myself that I wanted to try one "deep fried somewhat reasonable thing" at Charlie's Chicken. I mean they are the king of the fried fair foods... you know?


We decided to go on a "Taste of the Fair" Tuesday where samples from a majority of the food booths are $2.00. I thought that it would be good way to have multiple tastes without getting full fast from the large portions at regular price. Browsing through the all the food vendors, some of the samples were not exciting, nor worth it -- french fries, a 2 oz. portion of chopped BBQ pork (in a teeny tiny cup! Think Rubio's salsa cups), 1/2 churro, 1/2 hot dog, etc. I think that the fair would generate more interest in these food booths if they offered a new flavor sample for $2.00 as opposed to the generic 1/2 corn dog. Not exciting!

However, there were a few $2.00 tastes that were worth it... kettle corn, 1/2 cinnamon roll, and others.

OK, so reading the new menu items on the Fair website, I noticed one that looked mighty interesting to me: Hash Brown Fry Dog (hot dog dipped in batter, then in hash browns or sweet potato and then deep fried) ...wha???

[waiting patiently to try a hash dog]

The Del Mar Diner is located in the "middle" of the park near the entrance to the amusement rides. It is near that little ice cream vendor that is shaped like a soft serve cone. The Del Mar Diner is the official home of the Hash Dog. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the $2.00 taste was a small portion of the hash dog. I really only wanted a taste and it was a perfect portion. The full sized dog is about 3 times bigger than the sample and is priced at $5.75 + tax.

The hash browns surrounded the dog were crispy and the hot dog was surprisingly juicy and pretty tasty. One down... more to go! I was even hungrier now.

Linda had a snack before we went inside the fair so she was craving indian fry bread. The $2.00 taste had two flavors offered... cinnamon/sugar and powdered sugar. Because I didn't have lunch yet, I only had a taste of hers.

It was a nice sized portion for the price of $2.00. The fry bread was made to order and served immediately right off the fryer. See that little piece that was broken off... yeah, that was me wanting to taste it and then I realized I had forgotten to take a picture of it. Ha!

I was still craving something savory and I knew it wouldn't be a sampling. I wanted something hearty and delicious. The smells of the BBQ'd meat as we walked through the fair were luring me to the Chuckwagon. I wanted BBQ and I have been craving BBQ beef brisket for a while now. The Chuckwagon line had a good number of hungry fair goers, but that did not stop me from getting a BBQ beef brisket sandwich ($7.75 + tax). I could have gotten the complete meal for an extra $3-4, but I wanted to save my stomach for more tastes.

The sandwich was served with a warm, slightly toasted soft bun and the chopped brisket inside was tossed in a little bit of sauce. The Chuckwagon offers their signature BBQ sauce at the condiment station in this huge container that usually dispenses hot coffee or hot water. I poured a little bit in a little 2 oz. plastic cup.

Yum yum yum! It was so darn good! The guys at the wagon gave my sandwich a hefty portion of chopped BBQ brisket. The meat was tender and very flavorful. The sauce was tangy, warm, and had a slight sweetness to it.

Next, THIS is what I love. My favorite snack in the entire world is potato chips. The Tasty Chips booth offers THIS sized portion for $2.00. It was a PERFECT compliment to my BBQ brisket sandwich. The chips were crispy and sprinkled with a little bit of salt. While I was waiting in line at the Chuckwagon, my hubby went over to get these for me. He poured a little Heinz ketchup in a mini paper cup. I loved the two flavors together, especially my Heinz ketchup! Yeah, I ate all of them. Pretty much all by myself.


Mom's Chocolate Chip Cookie Factory is all lit up with lights and easy to locate. It is located inside one of the exhibit halls where there are endless rows of craft faire-type vendors and are housed generally in the same corner. *hint: Exhibit hall near the Chuckwagon* Their chocolate chips cookies are so chewy, warm, and sweet. These cookies have a slight crunch on the outside and a yummy chewy inside.


The smallest portion of their heavenly cookies comes with eight cookies ($4.75 + tax). I ate six of them. And I got full. *sad face* I wanted MORE fair flavors, but couldn't let them go to waste.

We browsed through the shopping area, visited the winning flowers, and checked out some livestock. I was glad that I was walking off my full stomach.

[pretty flower that won 2nd place - seemed like a 1st place winner to me!]

[it's like butter, baby]

After resting in the smaller stadium to watch the young equestrians ride, I was ready for one last taste. Remember I mentioned that I wanted to try something fried from Charlie's Chicken??

As I looked at the two ginormous booths that Charlie's Chicken both own, I thought, "Man, those chicken & waffles sound good. Should have gotten that for my main lunch. Oh, well... next year!"


Then, I look over to my left at the large pictures of the fried offerings. I thought, "Well, I'm going to go with the O.G. deep fried treat that was introduced a long time ago. The Deep Fried Twinkie."

I order it with chocolate sauce (as opposed to strawberry) for $3.95 + tax. I moved over to the side and expected to wait a while since, you know, they still have to hand dip it and fry it to a good crispy texture.

NOPE. Served to me in a matter of 30 seconds after I paid. They were "pre-fried"!!! Sitting out? Under a heat lamp?

My Twinkie was hard to cut in half and the exterior was soggy. It looked like the chocolate sauce was put on earlier too! It was warm (thanks, heat lamp) but it was cooling down really fast. I picked it up and took a bite. It basically was nothing to write home about. It tasted like a darn Twinkie. I mean, hey, I did expect that flavor with with a little something extra -- like the crunch of the batter. It certainly was a disappointment and will not be getting that ever again.

Clouds were coming in, traffic on the 5 South was piling up, and we were drained from the sun and walking around. We did have a great time at the San Diego County Fair, with only a couple of disappointments... the deep fried Twinkie ... and me eating too many cookies.

See you next year, Fair!

CUCINA urbana - Bankers Hill

CUCINA urbana defines the word "cool". I feel so cool walking inside Tracy Borkum's fine establishment that was once called Laurel. Why? I would say the atmosphere, positive energy, eclectic decor, and how the Chef Magnanelli puts a creative twist on Italian cuisine, making it, well, cool.

[main dining room w/ cool wine room for large parties in the back]

I dined here twice in a matter of weeks because my first experience here was excellent. The food is so darn good. I just had to return to share the experience with friends who have not yet visited. Read on....

[first experience]

Arlene and I always try to meet up frequently to catch up on current happenings & new restaurants that we both have tried or would like to try, and to discuss our common interest of running races. We met at CUCINA urbana one early evening with a 5:30 PM reservation on MEATBALL MONDAY (1/2 off the giant meatball and the meatball pizza, 5-6pm).

Because it was Meatball Monday, I just had to order one of their giant meatballs as an appetizer. A simple entree of pasta and meatballs is one of my favorite comfort food dishes. Therefore, I love a good meatball (why do I want to say, "That's what she said" every time I talk about meatballs. Oh, The Office.).

Yum, it sure was a giant meatball. The size of the meatball is right between a baseball and a softball. It was topped with melted mozzarella cheese and chives. It was also surrounded by a small sea of tomato sauce which was tangy and delicious. The meatball was soft, juicy and full of flavor. Absolutely divine. Give me a bowl of linguine or angel hair marinara with this bad boy and I'm set.

The stuffed fried squash blossoms were offered to Arlene and I - as there was a mistake in the kitchen. We both never had squash blossoms before, so we accepted the offer. The squash blossoms are stuffed with an herb fluffy ricotta cheese, dipped in batter, and deep fried. They are finished with a complimentary lemon dressing and purple basil pesto. The batter was light and crispy and did not overpower the flavor of the ricotta and blossoms. The stems of the blossom resembled asparagus. We thought they wouldn't charge us since it was a mistake, but they did. It was all good because they were really delicious and well worth it.

There's something about the word "pork belly" that I makes me want to order anything that contains those two words. After watching Top Chef and the countless dishes they make with pork belly, my mouth has always been curious about what chef can do with the ingredient. I ordered the pork belly + farm egg pizza to satisfy my curiosity. The pizza also has potato slices, chopped scallions, asiago cheese, and creamy bechamel. It was like eating a breakfast pizza. The flavors were awesome. Each flavor complimented each other; maybe because it had breakfast items. I mean, pork belly is essentially where bacon comes from! I enjoyed the runny yolk and the mild onion flavor that the scallions lent to the overall flavor of the pizza.

Arlene ordered the pear + gorgonzola pizza as her entree. I have to admit that my first taste experience with gorgonzola did not go so well, so I was a little hesitant. After taking a bite, OMG, let me tell you... the caramelized pear slices, gorgonzola cheese, balsamic vinegar, caramelized onions, and candied walnuts and crispy, fresh arugula for added crunch... they all were a wonderful flavor combination. It was so good!

We agreed that we could have shared one pizza, but now we know. We only ended up eating one half of our own pizza so we ended up boxing the rest home.

For dessert, we shared the bittersweet chocolate budino, which came with a chocolate chantilly cream (comparable to a chocolate mousse) and a crunchy salted chocolate cookie. Yum!

[second experience]

[super cool painted wall]

To celebrate the end of the semester and to say "Bon Voyage" to Steph and Dan, we went to CUCINA urbana for culinary adventure that they, except for one friend, were experiencing for the first time. I was proud to introduce them to this gem in Bankers Hill.

Benny arrived at the restaurant first and ordered the first appetizer... the gorgonzola walnut mousse with sun dried tomato. The mousse was nice and creamy. Like the pizza, the gorgonzola was not overpowering and had a subtle flavor. When paired with the sun dried tomato on the Tuscan toast, it certainly was a great choice of an appetizer.

The fritto misto appetizer came with fried everything... calamari, shrimp, soft shell crab, veggies and a caper mayo. Who doesn't like fried food? All items were hot -- straight from the fryer. It was a simple treat that did not disappoint.

I suggested CUCINA urbana to my friends mainly because I wanted to try this... the risotto carbonara. Oh, yes. The savory ingredients of "carbonara" include eggs (egg yolks), pecorino romano (or parmesan) cheese, pepper, and a fatty pork like pancetta or bacon. Dee-lish! So, creamy risotto + carbonara = HEAVEN! It was fabulous. We all had a taste and it was by far, my favorite flavor of the evening.

We split the grilled romaine caesar salad with shaved parm, white anchovy, oven roasted tomato, and house made ricotta cheese. Although I know that caesar dressing is made out of anchovies, I couldn't look at it, nor wanted it to touch my lettuce. I know, I told you I am weird.

We ordered three pizzas to share since it was THRIFTY THURSDAY (1/2 off all pizzas 5-6pm)... the pork belly + farm egg, pear + gorgonzola, and the pepperoni. Of course, the pepperoni slice was awesome.

Our final tastes of the evening was the roasted strawberry fregolata and the bittersweet chocolate budino. The strawberry dessert has crushed pistachios, mascarpone vanilla bean gelato, and Meyer lemon coulis. Can you say TART? Yes, it certainly was -- and it was delicious. I especially loved the vanilla bean gelato!

It is always a special treat to go to CUCINA urbana. They have excellent customer service, delicious food, and like I mentioned many times, a cool atmosphere. Do it. Be cool. And get the risotto carbonara.

Azuki Sushi - Bankers Hill

[acai birthday cheesecake]

Thirty minutes after we arrived in San Diego from our Las Vegas road trip, my best friend, Donna, and her hubby picked me and our other bestie, Shells, up for my birthday celebration dinner. They asked me if I wanted to know where they were taking me, but for once, I welcomed the surprise and did not prepare what I was going to order by browsing the online menu. I was living on the edge. Ha!

We ended up in Bankers Hill trying and found a parking spot near 5th and Juniper. They were taking me to a little Japanese restaurant named Azuki Sushi, which is located right in between a large apartment building and a bail bond place.

We entered Azuki and were greeted with the traditional "irrashaimase" ("welcome") from the sushi chefs. I love that. Azuki's indoor dining area is small as there were a few tables to the left and the sushi bar to the right.

We chit chatted and we briefly browsed the menu of specialty rolls, hot dishes, and sashimi. After toasting my birthday with sake, we ordered a number of dishes to share:

• age-dashi tofu
• ahi poki
• grilled salmon w/ shiitake risotto
• miso black cod
• 5th & juniper roll
• stardust roll
• shrimp tempura roll
  

Tofu is delicious. A lot of people I know do not like the texture of it, but I actually love the soft texture. I ordered this dish because of that reason. Age-dashi tofu is deep fried and served with a yummy dashi broth. This dish had bonito flakes (dried tuna flakes) on top, which added a subtle fishy flavor to the tofu.

Shells absolutely loves ahi poki so we had to order it. The tuna sashimi, which is my favorite sashimi of all, was deliciously fresh and the touch of sesame oil to the fish was a great addition to the dish. I'm not that into the seaweed salad so I left it all for Shells, who can eat a whole bowl of it all by herself.

THIS was my absolutely favorite dish of the evening, the grilled salmon with shiitake mushroom risotto. Who knew that a sushi bar serves such a comforting, flavorful entree. The salmon was cooked perfectly and the risotto was rich & creamy. This dish would be perfect during a cold, rainy night. I enjoyed every bite... and I'm actually craving it right now!

The presentation of the miso black cod was beautiful as it was topped with saffron and julienne cut carrots. The cod had a definite sweetness to the taste. The edges of the fish were lightly charred. Yum, I loved the taste of that char from the caramelization from the sweet reduction.

This is the "Fifth and Juniper" roll that is a specialty roll with simple flavors like imitation crab, shrimp tempura, topped with spicy tuna and a sweet & spicy sauce. The addition of the chopped scallion added a great light onion flavor.

The first roll pictured above is the traditional shrimp tempura roll. When I ordered it, I didn't realize that the "Fifth and Juniper" roll had tempura in it at the time. Oh well, could have had different flavors. It was delicious, though!

The second roll, though, the "Stardust" was different and AWESOME. Who would have thought of eating thinly sliced lemon, including the rind? I thought the lemon was just a garnish, but it is meant to eat all together. It was mighty delicious. This roll has spicy albacore, imitation crab, and avocado inside and on the outside is topped with seared hamachi, thinly sliced lemon, and scallions.

To end the evening, the dessert sampler had four delectable desserts, including one with a single birthday candle:

• azuki stuffed banana
• green tea creme brulee
• acai cheesecake
• black sesame panna cotta
  

The stuffed banana and the green tea creme brulee were my favorites. As we left, I said to the chefs "Gochisosama deshita" (thank you for meal - it was delicious) and I meant it. I will be back!

Las Vegas, Nevada

[Fremont Street - Old Vegas]

Ah, Viva Las Vegas!

Vegas will always be one of our favorite getaways. In my opinion, Las Vegas has outgrown the label of "cheap buffets and slot machines" and has transformed itself to be a great culinary city full of fabulous chefs/restaurateurs like Thomas Keller (Bouchon), Rick Moonen (RM Seafood), Hubert Keller (Fleur de Lys & Burger Bar), Joël Robuchon, and Charlie Palmer (Aureole).

For my "thirty-something-th" birthday, we decided to take a quick road trip (less than two days) full of pai gow poker, craps, and of course, fun food adventures.

After arrival and check-in at our newly remodeled suite at the Flamingo Las Vegas (a TV screen in the bathroom mirror? Score!), we walked over to Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino to experience the "World's Greatest Hot Sandwich" at the Earl of Sandwich.

According to the history section of the website, the 4th Earl of Sandwich was John Montagu. He was known for being a commander in the British Navy, a card player, and originator of the sandwich concept in 1762. This franchise was actually started by the Montagu family who wanted to share their vision of the sandwich to the world.

After reading a few Yelp reviews, I was sold on paying a visit to the Earl of Sandwich for what everyone has called the best hot sandwich in Vegas. And, indeed it was. *drool*

Basically, it is a walk up "fast food counter" with a large menu above. The restaurant had plenty of seating on the other side, which was pleasantly full. This told us that our lunch choice was a fine one. We placed our sandwich order, moved along the line similar to a school cafeteria, grabbed some Earl of Sandwich kettle cooked chips (yum), a bottled water, and paid the cashier. We were given a pager, sat down on the counter directly across from the line, and patiently awaited the goodness we were about to receive.

As we waited, I watched each sandwich made-to-order as it journeyed through a large hot conveyor belt oven. Because the bread is super fresh and the sandwich is placed "open faced" through the oven, the bread is toasted and "flattens".

I have been craving a meatball sub for a while, but I wanted to have something that I couldn't get anywhere else. I ordered the Full Montagu, which received rave reviews on Yelp. The Full Montagu has roasted beef, turkey, Swiss & cheddar cheese, lettuce, Roma tomato and Earl's mustard all piled on freshly baked toasted bread.

My rectangular sandwich was wrapped in a pretty gold wrapper and sealed with an Earl of Sandwich sticker with the name of my sandwich, The Full Montagu. Oh, it was like opening a birthday gift. Really.

I have to say... the bread here is awesome. The bread is what absolutely made the sandwich super delicious. It was warm, soft in the inside, and had that little crunch from the toast... oh, so good. Didn't hurt that the roasted beef was just as yummy, as it was sliced thin. Very flavorful AND tender. I usually avoid deli roast beef because I think that the sliced beef would be chewy (as I have experienced in the past), but this sandwich proved me wrong.

We enjoyed our lunch and tackled the tables at the nearby casinos until it was time to head back to the hotel for the hubby's fantasy baseball draft and to get ready for dinner in downtown Las Vegas.

After telling my college BFF, Shaye, that we were going to Vegas, she recommended that we go to Hugo's Cellar for a one-of-a-kind dining experience in old Las Vegas.

Hugo's Cellar is located inside the Four Queens Resort and Casino in downtown Las Vegas on the Fremont Street Experience. As we approached the entrance to the restaurant, I noticed that it does resemble a "cellar" because there was a short flight of stairs that took you down to the waiting area & bar. It was very dark but welcoming. The environment reminded me of an old school "Butcher Shop" type steakhouse. Older men sat at the bar sipping their brandy, wine, and scotch and chatted as regulars.

The awesome thing is that every entree ordered at Hugo's comes with table-side made salad, potatoes, vegetables, AND chocolate covered fruit goodness.


*NOTE: The pictures taken here are BLURRY due to me rushing and not being totally comfortable taking pictures. I guess I shouldn't have felt rushed since the sweetest people work here!


When the hostess took us to our table, she handed me a single red rose! All the females received one upon arrival. Aww, how sweet! We were seated in a booth and the rose was put in a glass vase on our table.

I noticed that all the servers were male and dressed up in tuxedos with a neatly tied bow tie. Nice table cloths, bottled water, and an in-house Sommelier... this place was perceived to be "fancy schmancy", but I think it was inviting enough to welcome a bunch of casual tourists that have been exploring the city all day.

A basket of bread came our way with the famous cheese toasted lavosh and assorted fresh baked goods. The basket was accompanied by the prettiest butter rose I've ever seen. We placed our entree orders and patiently waited for the table side salad.

We were so hungry. I was really looking forward to the table side salad that Shaye was raving about and it's "just a salad". The couple next to us got to experience the salad demonstration first and Mike and I quietly watched. It was pretty darn cool to see that the server goes through every single ingredient for each individual person, asking him or her if they would like it on their salad.

Shaye was right - my own "personal" salad was delicious. I ordered romaine lettuce, peeled tomato wedges, bay shrimp, toasted pine nuts, croutons - all tossed with ranch dressing.

Between the salad and the main course, they give you a palate cleanser of a CUTE little raspberry sorbet cone. Yay! It was delicious and it did the deed.

Because it was to celebrate my birthday, I ordered my favorite special treat -- the charbroiled 16 oz. rib eye steak. YUM. Mike ordered the Chilean Sea Bass, an excellent seafood choice in my opinion.


My ribeye was charbroiled to a perfect "medium" and was covered in a mushroom ragout and rich bordelaise sauce. It was SO good and one of the most memorable ribeye steaks I have ever had. There's nothing like the taste of a charbroiled piece of meat cooked properly and rested for a perfect amount of time. Hugo's Cellar certainly knows how to cook a steak right. I enjoyed every single bite of it. The whipped potatoes melted in my mouth and the veggies were crisp and tender.


Mike's Chilean sea bass was moist and flavorful. He ordered it to be grill au naturale with no butter. I could taste the charbroiled taste in the fish as well. As if the meal couldn't get any better, we received our small platter of a dark chocolate dipped strawberry, milk chocolate dipped dried apricot, and white chocolate dipped fig -- one each for the both of us.

NOPE, not done with dinner yet. I had to order a dessert to celebrate my birthday. We ordered a pecan pie cheesecake that was so heavenly sweet and downright sinful. Hey, we were in Sin City, right? It was a great way to end the evening. That, and some loose slot machines inside the Four Queens before we called it a really late night in downtown.


After sleeping in due to a late night we totally missed breakfast and my morning coffee. We left our hotel to search for Stripburger at the Fashion Show Mall. I found Stripburger via Kristi's website: VegasMusings.com. On the side note, her blog is awesome and I absolutely love her food photography. Hi Kristi! *waving*

The Fashion Show Mall is located across the street from the Wynn Las Vegas and Stripburger is on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Dio Drive. After arriving at the restaurant, Mike reviewed the menu posted at the base of the steps and he was sold. Fried pickles? Baked buffalo wings? Yes siree!

Stripburger is a pretty darn cool place. We were seated outside to enjoy the perfect Las Vegas weather. Old school hip hop was playing (Bell Biv Devoe's "Poison"... oh yeah!) as we walked in. I bobbed my head up and down to the beats and read the menu to decide exactly which burger I was craving.


To start, we shared the baked chicken wings with celery sticks and chunky blue cheese dressing. The savory wings were served in this cute paper box with "Stripburger" parchment paper. They were absolutely delicious and had the perfect hint of heat -- not too spicy, the way I like it.

For some reason a bacon cheeseburger sounded REALLY good at the time. I mean, we didn't have breakfast so that could have been my deciding factor (unknowingly) - BACON. Surprisingly, the burger was just okay. The patty was a little juicy, cooked nicely, but the burger was served warm but to the point of almost completely cooled in a matter of five minutes. The bread is great, though. Soft and delicious.

I was jealous. Jealous of what my hubby ordered. OH, how I wished I listened to him. He said, "Hey if a restaurant is saying that this is what they are "famous" for, then you have to get it." Nope, I followed my bacon cheeseburger instinct. He ordered their "famous blue cheeseburger" and OMG, it was so darn delicious. Now why didn't mine taste as good as this one? OK, I thought that they were going to attempt to slather the burger with that chunky blue cheese that they served with the chicken wings. Not at all. It was this creamy, silky blue cheese that laid neatly on top of the medium cooked burger along with crispy, salty onion strings. Along with that great bun, it certainly was a combination meant to all be put together. Darn him. It was that good.

Yeah, we overdid it again and also ordered the trio of strings, fries, and fried pickles. I love different flavors and I could not resist all of these if they offered all three in one fun basket. The fried pickles were my favorite, next to the fries. The onion strings were cut so thin that they were difficult to eat and dip in the tiny cup of ranch dressing. I would prefer thick cut onion rings and to save the strings for a burger topping.

Tip: Split a burger and get the pickles/fries. Saves you money and a heart attack.


The morning before we headed back to San Diego, we drove over to the Venetian for a Bouchon experience that I will never forget. Oh, Thomas Keller... you and your French macarons!

Bouchon Bakery is located at the main level of The Venetian right in front of the theater where Phantom of the Opera is played. It is this little coffee bar with pastries. Could be called a patisserie, I guess!

I have heard a great deal about these macarons which I had no idea how they looked like (yep, I actually did not go to the website before hand). So, in line when they asked me what I would like to order, I asked, "Do you have macarons right now?" OK, I didn't see that they were labeled. Bet you the people behind me were like, "This lady is crazy." The woman behind the counter answered "yes" and pointed to the massive selection of these delicious cookies staring right at me (they were right in front of me - doh). I am crazy.

She started naming off all these flavors. Dang it, the pressure was on to decide which ones to order. I order one chocolate, one vanilla - my simple favorite frozen yogurt flavors - and a Cafe Mocha. My bill came out to about $13. Wow. I think each cookie was $3.59... but WORTH every penny!

We "parked" at an empty information booth just on the other side of the bakery, took my food pictures, and started off with the chocolate macaron. I slowly took a bite to experience all the textures of the cookie: crispy, light on the outside and CHEWY in the inside. The inside reminded me of a moist chocolate brownie. What I loved the most were the textures. Awesome. I was glad that I saved the vanilla macaron for last because that was even tastier than the chocolate one. I can still smell the fragrant scent of vanilla bean coming from that cookie. My favorite taste of the weekend were definitely the macarons. Hands down. Now I am curious about the rest of the flavors - raspberry, lemon, cappuccino, orange. I'll be back for sure for the box of six all for me *evil laugh*.

[drool]

*Sad face* We waved goodbye to Las Vegas and started our five-hour drive back to San Diego just in time for the Easter festivities. After passing by the numerous signs advertising Mad Greek in Baker, CA for many, many years... I told the hubby that I wanted to try what they call the "Best Gyros in the USA". This was one of Guy Fieri's first stops on 'Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives' when the show first aired. I figured, what the hell, I wanted to try it. I was a curious as a cat and the macarons did not fill me up.


We waited in line at the drive-thru and were two cars behind to order. Man, I tell you. The wait was LONG but that meant that they were cooking everything to order. At least that was what I believed as we moved like a snail. The menu board was old and falling apart. We located where it just listed "Gyro" on the menu and ordered just that. It was a big surprise to see what a $10.00 gyro came with because seriously, all it read was "gyro". Nice.

The large box came with a big ol' foil wrapped gyro, accompanied with rice pilaf and a serving of tzatziki sauce. The sandwich was full of HUGE chunks of gyro meat, sliced tomato, onions, and lettuce. I broke off a piece of the gyro meat and it was flavorful and delicious. The entire pita sandwich was warm and I was right, it was made to order because everything was fresh-tasting, including the vegetables which were still slightly chilled. The rice pilaf was fluffy and seasoned perfectly.

I took a close up shot of the tzatziki sauce to show the large cubes of cucumber and fresh dill (as opposed to shaved cucumber). It was absolutely the best tzatziki I have ever had. I could have eaten a bowl of this with kettle chips, my favorite snack. Putting this sauce on the gyro made the sandwich even better. We could have easily shared the sandwich because I only ate a third of it.


After the last bite of the gyro that I could handle, it signified the end of our Vegas road trip. Las Vegas is just right around corner so next time, I have my list of restaurants that I want to visit for sure:

• RM Seafood
• Bouchon Bistro
• China Mama
• Raku
• Ronald's Donuts

It wouldn't hurt if we won a jackpot next time either.