Tag Archives: san diego

Mother’s Day Weekend: the Cottage

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the cottage

A beautiful recommendation from my sister, we decided Mother’s day would start off with a bang. Tucked away in a corner of La Jolla downtown is a nice little restaurant that sells great breakfast. My sister had previously been here with some friends and gave it raving reviews.

They do not take reservations so we made sure to arrive a bit early in anticipation of the mother’s day line. Surprisingly, there really was not too many people waiting and we were seated after ~20 minutes. On a side note, we noticed quite a few mothers being celebrated…brought a smile to my face.

The menu is pretty simple, there aren’t too many dishes to chose from. We settled on a Tuscan omelette and a Baja Chicken Hash. The portions were large enough for two dishes to be split and the Cottage staff was pretty nice about splitting up the plates for us. If the portions seem smaller in the following pics, they’re half sized.

All in all a very nice, quiet, professional place. We never felt rushed or super cramped. There’s good ambient noise but never felt like I had to raise my voice or anything to speak. Coffee was organic and had a more muted taste (said mom and sis) and we really appreciated not feeling like we just ate a tub of lard. Felt healthy.

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Baja Chicken Hash
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Tuscan Omelette

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Mother’s Day Weekend: Point Loma Seafood and NTC Promenade

Mother's Day Weekend: Point Loma Seafood and NTC

With a relaxing weekend ahead, my sister thought, “let’s do a picnic”! Seafood + serene surroundings of a relatively little known area should make for a peaceful afternoon.

Point Loma is a beautiful part of San Diego that is home to a lighthouse with a stunning view, a Nazarene University, tide pools, Rock Church, 5 guys, a naval training center and so much more. It really is a gem of SD. At the NTC park there are such wide expansive fields with such few people on saturdays, future events here for sure. Continue reading →

Krist Liquor: Meat Market

Krist Liquor: Meat Market

last week i posted a snapshot about a taiwanese place here in san diego and W.Ying pointed out an undeniable truth. San Diego = mexican food. so in light of that i thought i’d follow it up with SD’s bread and butter. i wasn’t going to post this until after easter but got my housemate’s blessing so here it is.

quick context. my housemate’s been fasting meat for lent and along the way he’s invited friends to see what he’s been cooking (take a look at jmw590.wordpress.com). he’s only got 4 more days! Go J.WU!

now being able to see and taste his vegetarian food first hand is amazing and he’s done an outstanding job holding true to his fast. that boy can cook. initially i wanted to support him so i started eating less meat myself.

but then i snapped back to reality and decided to make up for lost meat. so i waited until he was out of the house on saturday before throwing meat on the grill. great globs of glorious mexican marinated meat on the grill. yeah.

Krist Liquor: Meat Market
pollo asada and adobada. chef at work taught me how to make spanish rice!

Tucked in between a jack in the box and a KFC is a tiny unassuming liquor store on Linda Vista ave. a few blocks away from church. I owe a huge one to H.Lang for bringing me here the first time. only a linda vista local would have this kind of knowledge. i must have driven by this place hundreds of times over the years without realizing it.

Against the far wall inside is a meat market that sells the best pollo asada (marinated chicken) in San Diego. i can confidently make that claim and stand by it. at $2.70/lb it just doesn’t get any better than that. they have a vast assortment of asada, adobada, al pastor and the price is extremely fair. packet of a dozen corn tortillas…0.99c! have tried their carne asada and adobada so far and they’re absolutely great too.

i’m no expert griller and when it comes to bbq, I typically leave it on a little too long. in spite of that, it still comes out the juiciest most flavorful meat ever. the only reason left to go to taco shops are for salsas which i can’t make. krist sells salsas too, but i’ve yet to try. oooo…another reason to go back!

yelp (no reviews yet on their food): http://www.yelp.com/biz/krist-liquor-san-diego
Krist Liquor: Meat Market
seriously…who da thought?

Lai Chen

Lai Chen

(top left) beef noodle soup (top right) “ba wan” aka meat round 
(bottom right) pork on rice w/ bamboo shoot

I don’t know much about taiwanese food. except that I like it. Fortunately! There’s a taiwanese restaurant that opened in La Jolla Miramar and it’s been vouched for by a few people. Seems like the guy’s been in business cooking for taiwanese families for a while out of his home kitchen but this is a new restaurant venture. actually a friend of mine had food catered by Mr. Chen for a month after his wife (who is taiwanese) gave birth. 
 
i liked it! the owner’s son manned the front while his dad was in the back. nice guy. feels good trying a mom and pop type restaurant.
 
reviews haven’t been as kind so far but I haven’t really heard of a better taiwanese alternative down here in SD, so go check it out!
 
yelp reviews: link
*quick update: been notified to be cautious with the oyster pancake. for trained stomachs only =P