Donovan's Circle of Fifths Gaslamp

So last night, we went to Donovan's Circle of Fifths in the Gaslamp, for a late dinner.  The setting certainly is beautiful.  High ceilings, soft music, and two kinds of bar tables.  The traditional bar table, and the counter height table, which is much more comfortable.  so we sat at the counter height table, which was nice.  The waitress showed up, and started hustling us.  Unfortunately, all the big-time steak houses downtown hustle their customers.  We ordered the classic burger.  It took a long time to get to us, and when we got it, everything was at room temperature.  The quality was very good, and the meat was excellent.  Since we split the burger, the portions are huge, we ordered dessert.  Even though the dessert menu is dull and uninspiring, the bananas foster crepe looked good, so we ordered it.  Well,  it took forty minutes for the crepe to arrive.  When it arrived, it was burnt.  When I told the waitress, she offered to replace it, but the kitchen was closed.  She didn't take the dessert off the bill, and we were treated with total contempt.  Donovan's is an official San Diego Tourist trap.

Taco Bell

So, last night the wife and I decided to go to Taco Bell for the Crunchwrap Supreme (only 88 cents, yesss).  On the Taco Bell website, it looks pretty good.  Lots of meat, sour cream, tomatoes and lettuce.  What I got, however, sucked.  What I got was just a lot of dry tortilla. It was hard to find the meat, the tomato, the sour cream and the lettuce.  The kid who actually made the food said he gave me one scoop (1 oz.) of everything.  So I told the kid behind the counter that what I got wasn't anything like what saw on the website, and the kid said he'd redo it.  Well, redo it he did, it was packed with stuff.  However, by that time, I had indigestion (indigestion, free with your order at Taco Bell).

Look, I realize that you're not not going to get fresh food at Taco Bell, or lots of it, but like a 99 cent store, it's not a bargain. 

Lunch at Iris

We had lunch at Iris Del Mar yesterday.  A white tablecloth restaurant in a lovely setting, near Torrey Pines beach.  We sat on the patio, and waited.  And waited.  No waitress for oh, 20 minutes.  Two busboys, wandering around without a clue.  They wandered around aimlessly, handed out menus, and poured drinks.  Finally, the waitress shows up. The waitress was overworked, since the busboys didn't do much. The patio is jammed.  We were served some rosemary bread, with some nice unsalted butter.

The waitress recommended the pizzetta as an appetizer.  The pizzetta had pumpkin seed pesto, duck confit, figs, and gorgonzola cheese.  What a mess.  The flavors all clashed, and ultimately, it didn't have any taste.  I had the crabcake sandwich, with the biggest crabcake I've ever seen.  The crab was fresh, but it needed more flavor.  It was served with red pepper puree, fairly blah, and a giant hamburger bun.  The bun was huge, not fresh, and not flavorful.  The fries were nothing special, either. The grandson had the half-pound hamburger, a tasteless exercise in meat.

I had a small house salad.  Their salads are very good, and what they are known for is their fried chicken salad.  Anyway, on the house salad,  they take a slice of brie, put crushed walnuts on it, and throw it on the grill, then they put it on the salad.  Delicious.

All in all, after spending $160 for lunch, I was disappointed.

Lunch at Claire's on Cedros

Today, we had lunch at Claire's on Cedros.  It was awful.  Let me tell you how. I walk in, and the decor is very rustic.  Cute, but you can't eat the decor.  I sit down. They emphasize the fact that they are a bakery, and that they bake all their bread on-site. There are rolls on the table.  I split and butter one. I bite in, it's been microwaved.  Eww.  Well, after one bite, I give up. Eventually, our waitress shows up.  I order the steak sandwich.  It's skirt steak, along with cheese, onion jam, arugula, and tomato.  It was awful.  The sandwich was served at room temperature, the meat was tough, bland, and mostly gristle.  Not only that, the roll was doughy.  All in all, a ripoff.  My mother had the duck confit salad.  A standard spring mix with a vinegary dressing.  The small piece of duck was tough and under-cooked.  Also, there was nothing confit about it. 

Epicurious.com defines confit thusly: This specialty of Gascony, France, is derived from an ancient method of preserving meat (usually goose, duck or pork) whereby it is salted and slowly cooked in its own fat. The cooked meat is then packed into a crock or pot and covered with its cooking fat, which acts as a seal and preservative. Confit  can be refrigerated up to 6 months. Confit d'oie and confit de canard are preserved goose and preserved duck, respectively.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/tools/fooddictionary/search?query=confit&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=submit#ixzz0kOSYy0l1

The duck meat should have been falling off the bone, and covered in fat.  My wife had the Italian omelet, which had peppers, sausage, onions, tomatoes and provolone.  I didn't try it, but my wife said that it was very greasy, as were the country potatoes served with it.  Even though we scarcely saw our waitress, she showed up to deliver the check.

Shopping at Henry's

Today I went to Henry's http://www.henrysmarkets.com/.  Henry's is a great health food store.  It has a great prices, and high-quality meats and veggies.  It's unpretentious, too.  I got a bunch of veggies.  Julie made chicken tikka masala, and I added green onion and mushrooms.  Delish.  Here's the recipe:

Chicken Tikka Masala

In a  slow cooker put:

4 chicken thighs,
2 diced potatoes
4 chopped ribs of celery
1 large sliced carrot (or 2 medium)
1 10-ounce package sliced mushrooms
1 C tomato juice (Low salt)
3 C water
1/3 C minced dried onion (huge time saver), or 1/2 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 C flaked coconut
1T Worcestershire
1T curry powder ( I use Delish)
freshly ground black pepper
1t salt (omit if using salty tomato juice)

Cook on low until the meat falls off the bone.  Don't overcook.  

Check out slow cookers here: slow cooker

Right now, I'm drinking herbal tea, and eating pastries from a Korean bakery.  More about that later.

Breakfast at Rudford's

Right now, I'm broke.  Busted.  As in no money.  Anyhoo, I'm eating at greasy spoons to save money.  This morning, we had breakfast at Rudford's, famous for being open 24 hours, and cheap.  http://www.rudfords.com/

We had the 2 egg breakfast,  and it was surprisingly good.  For only $3.79,  I had 2 poached eggs,  a ton of homefries (fresh, not frozen), covered in real cheese, green peppers, and onions, and an English Muffin.  It was basically the same price as a McDonald's big breakfast, and much better quality.  Rudford's  is a fun place for breakfast, even if it's no longer cheap, or good, for lunch and dinner.