Holiday Eating in San Diego - 2007-12-30 17:14:09
<<< Previous - A Cat and His Heater | Next - Tooth photo, MythBusters Save the Day, Sing of Chiron Beta Prime, and other Random Linkage >>>San Diego has so many wonderful restaurants, it's really hard to know where to start. Luckily when we have guests that gives us a chance to catch up on the places we want to try - and more importantly give Jon The Hard to Shop For a present.
So first of all, let me highly recommend
Arterra Restaurant. We each had very different choices and everyone enjoyed the presentation and the food. Jon had the tasting menu and so had a great sampling of everything. I've learned the hard way that I really can't do tasting menus - I'm miserably full by the time dessert arrives. Better to focus on a main course and then have dessert, and I'm much happier. Also if Jon gets the tasting menu I'll often have a bite or two, and then know what to get next time!
So, photos of Jon's food first. On the left, this was the first dish: Hawaiian Ahi Rolls - Caramelized Palm Hearts, Jalapeño-Pistachio Relish, Grapefruit Essence, Lava Salt. On the other plate: Bacon Wrapped Tiger Prawns - Crispy Poblano Roulade, Avocado Terrine, Duo of Pepper Purées. On the right, second course, and Jon was making serious "I am enjoying this" faces during this one. Dish: Stuffed Rainbow Trout - Prawn & Chestnut Stuffing, Chorizo, Chino Farms Cuitlacoche.
On the left, Jon's main course: Rib Eye Pave & Short Rib - Cauliflower Gratin, Bacon, Black Truffle Biscuit, Chino Farm Vegetable Roast. My father had this as well, a larger portion that was on the non tasting menu. Also high marks as extremely tasty. On the right, Jon's dessert course - hand seen in photo indicates that Jon was not going to wait for me to get a better photo! Dish: Valrhona Chocolate Bouchon - Brownie, Smores Ice Cream, Toasted Marshmallows. Since I'm not a huge fan of (even the best of homemade) marshmallow I can't say anything - Jon deemed this dessert wonderful. I was very happy with my bread pudding - only the photo came out so badly that it's not worth sharing.
Neither of these shots came out particularly well but I really wanted to add the information about the dishes as I don't want to forget them (for future reference!). On the left is my main course: Kurobuta Pork Tasting - Housemade Sausage, Spice Rubbed Loin, Crispy Confit, Sweet Potato-Turnip Hash. And I really REALLY enjoyed this - great sweet/savory tastes going on here. (I've been in a bit of a pork fest of late - but then I usually blame that on the variety of really good carnitas I'm able to find in San Diego.) On the right is my mother's dish: Dish: Maple Leaf Farms Duck Three Ways - Roasted Breast, Rillette, Seared Foie Gras, Sweet Potato Gratin. The chocolate colored thing behind the sweet potato is a baked pear. I had a bite of the sweet potato gratin as I was most curious about it - very tasty. I did not taste the duck only because, from what my mother was saying, I'd have ended up very jealous about not having chosen it. Such is the danger of "just having a little bite" off someone else's plate.
Short version: Arterra does lovely things with food. We're planning on going back sometime, hopefully soon. There's a cheese plate offered with dessert which we didn't get a chance to try, so that's definitely something to go back for.
On another day we ate at
Island Prime, another place I'm planning to visit again. Sadly (or perhaps not so sadly for us) there's only one photo - the Key Lime Pie:
This was possibly the best key lime pie I've had in years - and a huge huge piece - actually a small pie, not really a slice. Which meant that there was plenty of great graham cracker crust to go with the smooth creamy tart-yet-sweet filling. (Yes I LOVE this kind of pie!) Luckily we had two of us to a serving - we probably could have split one four ways, but with two sharing we definitely had more than enough! And there is a reason you're only seeing the After Photo instead of the pie Before - couldn't wait to take a photo before digging in. The fish main courses were good - but happily we saved room for the desserts. Have I mentioned I loved this pie?
Our big traditional dinner was at the
Hotel Del Coronado, known locally as The Del, on the 25th. In fact since I usually call it the Del I tend to forget it's known as anything else, and have to be reminded yearly. I really love the architecture and the roof color of this place. The interior is all this fantastic old dark wood - but unfortunately so dark that photos are a bit hard for me to manage. Thus
this fuzzy photo of a Christmas tree. And
this Santa with what appears to be a Weasel in his bag - I'm still confused about that one.
This is only the second or third time we've done the Christmas Buffet at the Del but I really have to recommend it for its easy set up and choice of foods. (Not to mention the fact that you pay ahead of time and then not worry about it once you're there - tip and all included.) There's an appetizer table, a table of hot dishes, several carving areas (turkey, ham, roast beef), and a whole room of desserts. Seemed to be a bit less variety of desserts this year, but by the time I got there I only wanted to nibble at a few things anyway. For some reason I got fixated on their glazed ham, which had that perfect mix of sweet and savory, so I had way too much to eat in that area. Great chestnut stuffing too. A tip if you ever try this out - book yourself for the noon sitting. Fewer people are there and you can easily get a great table by the window.
From the Ballroom where we were eating we could look out on people ice skating. Except that as the day got warmer the ice started to melt and they eventually had to close the rink. Part of the goofiness of California to be ice skating at the beach - I do love living here.
There's a family photo of my folks and Jon and I here in
this set - if you're signed in to Flickr. Let me know if you can't see it and I can add you to the list of friends and family.
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