Saturday, April 30, 2011

Review - Tommy's Tex Mex

oh wow, another taco shop review?!!?!?!LOLZ OMGZ ROLFCOPTORZ!!!1!!1 i like mexican food, okay? it wont be the last one i write about either. anywho. ok, so living in OB for almost 3 years now, i would have thought to have tried this place before. its cheap, fresh, and within walking distance. so why did it take this long?! probably because they close at like 8 or 9 or something really early. possibly. POINT BEING, here i was, allison in tow, ready to nosh out of some of their famous (or so ive heard) flour tortillas. made with 100% vegetable oil, as they proudly proclaim. which is cool, if i want my fatty lard ass tortillas ill head down to las cuatro milpas. but i alread did their post, so nevermind that. its a very small place over by the dominoes on voltare, about a half a block up from the cat lounge. so ive always seen it, but never bothered. we get in there and ther was 3 people waiting for their food, one guy cooking and one guy working the register. theres a few tables out front and a few squeezed inside the little hole in the wall. i ordered the cali burrito, as i usually do, and allison ordered herself...wait for it...a veggie burrito! who'da thunk it?! i got a glass bottle mexican coke and she had a bottled water, i think my burrito was about 6 bucks and hers around 5.
our food took about ten minutes, which is fine, mainly due to the fact that they arent just hashing shit out. everything is cooked to order, fresh, and seemingly well put together. the only bad thing was that in those ten minutes i fought the urge to down my whole coke before my burrito even was dropped. i was able to salvage half of it.
heres what my cali looked like on the inside. gooey, meaty, cheesy, tasty. they tortillas they make in house every day are soft, toasted nicely on the grill, yet fairly think. which i cant say is a bad things. they have a little bite to them, which is nice. like a nice al dente pasta dish. the carne asada was very flavorful and everything in it was seasoned well. it has potatoes, peppers, cheese, guac, cheddar cheese and i believe a thicker salsa in there. it was tasty, i really enjoyed it. but. it was big. haha.
 that is the remaining burrito that i couldnt finish. so i pulled it open so i could get a picture of how full of goodness it actually was. it was like a pinata of burrito stuffings. flowing to the brim. not greasy either! nicely done. allisons veggie burrito, which looked like this:
was the vegetarian equivalent of my burrito. jam packed with all the fixins. guac, cheese, rice, beans, sour cream, more cheese, lettuce. and it all tasted good. she got mad at me becase the two bites i took of hers were filled with guacamole. thats her favorite part apparently. but then i was all like "shut up, i payed for it, ho!" and shit was tight. so anyway, being a salsa/hot sauce freak, i was happy with the options they have at their self serve salsa bar.
top left was a fairly sweet pepper sauce, which was really nice. top right, the really red one was your general red sauce, but it was nicely balance with heat and flavor. the bottom left was their version of pico de gallo. it was fresh, mild, and refreshing. then of course bottom left, was my favorite. it was essentially cilantro jalapeno water. it was super thin, super green, and super awesome fun time! i poured that shit all over my burrito and it was delish. i love cilantro so i was pretty stoked on that one. i could probably had drank that if i hadnt of rationed off the rest of my sugary mexican coke. but oh well. it was good.

i suggest you stop by this place, the menu it extensive and everything is very nicely priced. and by nicely priced i mean cheap as balls. they also sell their house made flour tortillas in singles, or in batches of dozens. they also make them in different flavors, i believe they had sun dried tomato, jalapeno, and one other flavor, i dont recall. so check it out! get out there and try some new shit folks.


Tommy's Tex Mex
4145 Voltare Street
San Diego, Ca, 92107

Review - Dirty BIrds

ok. so. i hate PB. mainly because its filled with douche bags that wear nothing but tap out shirts trying to pick fights, and stupid drunk sluts that wear ugly dresses. but, i feel it is ok to venture out there every now and then during the daylight hours, if im in the mood for something different. and slightly douchey. so imagine how surprised i was to discover the seemingly douche-free chicken wing spot, Dirty Birds. it was about 3:45 last Wednesday, i had already spent 2 hours reading yelp trying to decide what i wanted to eat for lunch, then write a blog about...and i decided i wanted wings. dirty birds was at the top of the list, so i bit the bullet, threw on my flyest Ed Hardy hat, my tightest abercrombie jeans, and my sickest brightly colored polo (collar; popped, OBVIOUSLY!) and headed out to the Peebs. Located on mission blvd about 6 blocks north of garnet, there was ample parking right across the street. tight. i bro swagged my way down the block, attempting to look "chill". it worked. walked right in, there was about 6 people in there total at the time, 3 couples all enjoying the sunshine, beer, and chicken wings that they desired. so i was all like, aight, lets do this. sat down at a table by myself, the dude from behind the bar strolled over, layed down the specials and whatnot, happy hour, half priced wings. every day! word.

 i ordered a pint of shock top, reasonably priced at 3 bucks, i think? i made my way down the menu checkin out all the sandwich items and burgers and whatnot, all reasonably priced and if done right re probably decent fare. flipped the menu over to reveal this:
so many options!!!! i dig it! after about 5 minutes of trying to decide, my poor tummy was all like, ayo, i need some food. so i had to order. it was happy hour, like i said earlier, so all wings are half price. i decided to get 3 different flavors of 5 wings each. all flavors and marked by a number (1-5) noting how spicy they are. 5 being the hottest of course. i decided id start with the Dirty Blue (3). blue cheese mixed with their specialty hot sauce.
for my second choices i went with the Maple Chipotle BBQ (4).

whats not to like about that? maple? yum. chipotle? yum. bbq? yum. im in. and then thirdly i ordered what i really came here for.....
the Habanero wings (5). i love spicy. i put hot sauce on damn near everything i eat. so i def. didnt think these busters would make me drop a bead of sweat.

boy.

was.

i.

wrong.

i think my first mistake was tossing one of those right in my mouth the second they hit them table. they were obviously fresh out of the fryer. they burned. so not only did my mouth hurt from the temperature, the spice had no mercy. they were spicy. really spicy. the sauce is like molten hot lava running down your throat. its like napalm clinging to the corners of your lips like the tops of many a vietnamese trees! the shock top didnt help. i felt like a little bitch asking for a large glass of ice water. but oh well. thats what i guess for being cocky, right? besides my nuclear meltdown, they had good flavor. as did the other two flavors. what didnt make things better is that even though they were Maple Chipotle BBQ, they were also a level 4 in heat, so they were much milder. very full in flavor though.i will order a bunch of those ones next time as well. they were my fav.
the Dirty Blue wings were tasty as well. but ill pass on them next time. plus there is so many other flavors to try. so i cant stick with the same thing everytime.
there were a few wounded soldiers left on that battlefield for sure. ill pass on the haba's next time as well.  touche D.B.'s. touche. overall i walked out full of good sized chicken wings and beer and water(pussy!) with 16 dollars less in my pocket than i had before, and a smile on my face. so thats all that really matters. ill recommend it for sure. mainly if you wanna go grab some cheap wings and beers with some friends during happy hour. check it out, youll enjoy it. all wait staff was friendly and each order of wings came with a side of ranch and the traditional carrots and celery. parking should be easy to find and there is plenty of seating. now i kinda have another reason to maybe go to PB every now and then. maybe.


Dirty Bird's
4656 Mission Blvd
San Diego, CA, 92109

Thursday, April 21, 2011

A Tale Of Two Travis'

This ugly Fuck is Named Travis. He Worked at Market Del Mar with me for just around a year. we called him vince, since thats his last name (the j is silent). he moved on and headed north to the Bay Area. he works in Oakland and he likes food. he sent me an email today saying "hey, i really like your blog trav and i would give anything to contribute to it, i mean, youre so good and stuff and i dont think ill be as good of a blogger as you, but i want to try because you make it look so glorious!"


....well. maybe it didnt say that exactly. POINT BEING, he did have a good point, we are both named travis. and the blog is called "Travis Likes Food". so who am i to say someone else named travis cant contribute?!? hes gonna be your eye in the sky up north and be the in the field reporter of all things YAY AREA food related. i trust him to do a good job. i like the idea that alllllll my bay area counterparts will be able to read this blog now and be able to go out and check out places they saw on here. so heres to a new adventure. dont fuck this up vincej.


oh yea, and technically he hasnt even accepted the invite to be an author yet, i just assmed he would considering he asked me to do it. so this all may change. HA!

TC OUT

Review - Giorgino's Deli

so since you saw my attempt at Cheesesteaks a few posts back, i was on a mission yesterday to find the bomb ass steaks in SD. ive been to Gaglione Bro's a few times, they are good, but i wanted to try somethin else. so after a decent amount of yelpin' i fist pumped my way up to Golden Hill, by way of the scenic route through downtown-north park-south park (i wasnt lost, shut the fuck up!), and found myself (finally) at Giorgino's on 28th. its a tight little place. small, but with probably 6 tables inside and a few tables out front in the sunshine, i walked in, no one there. stepped up and said "yo, lemme git that!" referring to the Philly Cheese Combo (8.97) which includes a regular philly (meaning just meat, onions, and cheese), a canned soda, and you choice of; fries, cole slaw, macaroni salad, potato salad, pasta salad, and WAIT....heres the kicker....a soft pretzel. YES! like i said! lemme git that! i love having the option of a big hot soft pretzel as my side dish. its awesome! so heres the thing. good yelp reviews, boars head meat, Amoroso rolls (the best, if ya dont know, now ya know, wigga). it all sounds too good. lets peep game, homie.
10 inches long. soft, yet toasty, smellin good, and piping hot. lets get it. just a note. let yours cool off for a few minutes. i literally have no skin on the roof of my mouth due to the huge blister that this baby caused. but GOD DAMNIT IT WAS WORTH IT! killer sandwich. it was seasoned correctly, it was tender, flavorful, gooey. it was an awesome sando. i only ate half at the time though because i had to make room for:
the Pork Roll. apparently this is a Jersey thing. ive never seen it before but godamnit was it tasty. the offocial synopsis is this: "Pork Roll, or Taylor Ham, Grilled Pork with American Cheese on a Kaiser Roll." oh yea. oh yea. oh yea. get in my mouth. this bitch was basically an upgraded version of one of my homestyle fav's, the grilled SPAMwich. this thick cut ham had the same texture, but 1000% times more flavor of spam. with the soft roll and the melty cheese, it was a winner. also only ate half of this one. because i had to eat at least half of my
AWESOME SIZED SOFT PRETZELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!
DOUBLE PRETZEL POWERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!
ok, no its just the one pretzel, but it was soft, hot, salty, and came with like, a half cup of plain mustard. just the way it should be. ate half. finished off my dr. pepper*, they wrapped up all my halves, and i bid them adieu. only to meet with them in the near future. for sure. all of this food cost my about 15 bucks, but it was two meals for me since i microwaved all my left overs a few hours later and stuffed myself to the brim for the second time that day. and it ate just as well as the first time. so this is definatly a 2 thumbs up type deal. i highly recommend it my friends. go! do it! what are you waiting for???

Giorgino's Deli
1237 28th St (between A and B)
San Diego, 92102


*Dr. Pepper Not Pictured

Taco Shop Tastings

i love tacos. burritos. quesadillas. obviously. so im always eating them. but i gotta try new places and check shit out. so heres a couple places ive done.

first off is my usual spot cuz its right down the block from my house. its Roberto's. everyone has a Roberto's near where they live, cuz its all over the place. its fairly decent. prices are good, and honestly it just gets the job done. usually i tend to go with a California Burrito, and a cheese quesadilla. i typically like their cali burrs because they use crispy shoestring potatoes, which is key IMO. i like the crunch it adds, soggy potaoes in a cali can ruin ones buzz. but on this night i decided to get a number 4, or 5 or 6, i dont remember what number it was but whatever. it was a chicken taco, chicken burrito, rice and beans. the taco was good,  the shell was crispy, not stale. he chicken was moist in both burrito and taco, flavored fairly well, toppings on both were generous. the rice and beans were run-of-the-mill. but what are ya gonna do?
overall after my large horchata, i think it was like 7 bucks, which is chill. i will always go to robertos because its right there, its fast, its cheap, and it gets the job done!

Roberto's Taco Shop
4770 Voltaire St.
San Diego, 92107


NEXT! i wanted something different, so i decided to give another shot at Adalberto's in point loma on rosecrans. i went there probably 3 years ago because all the Nazbo's said it was the place to go. that they have the best cali burritos. i checked it out, it wasnt good. when i ate it then the main problem i had with it was that there was far too much tortilla. hopefully that was just a fluke. i hadnt been since that time, so i figured 3 years later, maybe they dont have 12 foot tortillas for an 8 inch burrito.

WRONG!.......WRONG WRONG WRONG. see all that tortilla bunched up on the top left corner of the burrito? that amount of tortilla follows the burr allllllll the way down. chewy, dry, gross. what else was wrong? oh...just these soggy french fries. which pissed me off more than usual due to the fact that it is advertised as having "home fries" in it. which i interperated as diced crispy potatoes, ya know, home fries? seems they mean its more like when someone who doesnt know how to make crispy french fries, makes them at home. soggy, and stupid. its a pity that these two strikes were such big ones because the other fillings had good flavor and the carne asade was nice. oh well. tough break nigga, theres always FUBU. well that wasnt my only order. i also got a carnitas taco. it looked like this:
looks like a taco bell taco that got chewed up by a rabid corgi, huh? well it sure tasted like it. i could really taste the corgi in this one too...it was greasy, lukewarm, and bland. so much so on the grease-front that as i tried to take a picture with it, the grease from the wrapper made me drop my camera....as it was taking the picture.
D'OH! anywho. allison was all like "get me a potato taco, bitch!" and i was all like, please dont yell at me. so i got her a 'tater taco. it wasnt anything to write home about either. lukewarm, soggy pot's. get out of here!
possibly the only high point of the meal was that they actually have free chips and salsa. a rarity these days that i can appreciate.

 oh well. maybe ill try again in another 3 years. or when i need new sheets for my bed ill go pick up a few 'tillers. heres the 411 if you actually care to try.

Adalberto's Taco Shop
1868 Rosecranse st.
San Diego, 92106

Random Work Stuffs - Thursday, April 21.

soooooo im off today. but im still gonna drop a few work tidbits on yall bitch asses. i made family meal last thursday i think and i felt like havin philly cheese. so i was all like "A-YO! we havin philly cheese yo!" and made philly cheese. simple as that. it wasnt the greatest cheesesteak ever, but it didnt suck. and that is what i aim for. not sucking. heres a few pics.



not too shabby. and then i was asked to work the amuse bouche at some point last week, and i had really wanted to do some sort of chorizo goat cheese tart for a while (ted thought it was a bad idea). but chef was ok with the idea so we played around with it and came up with this:
its a puff pastry charlottan, goat cheese gelee, tomato jam, stone mustard aioli, artisanal chorizo. BOOM! delish.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Review - Alexi's Greek Cafe

Allison hates me. she was having a bad day as it was so she wasnt too pleased when i told her i tried out a new greek place while she was working. but its ok. not the first, probably wont be the last time, sorry babe. but onto the food. im a huge Gyro fan. i love greek food altogether, but Gyro is my SHIT! so im always on the lookout for the good stuff. yelped this place, seemed fairly positive. plus it was cheap, so i says saddle up(to myself, of course) and hit the road for the long journey....to hillcrest. i found a parking spot on 6th right in front of Hong Kong Chinese (which will warrant its own post, next time i dine there at 3 in the morning). the meter still had 58 minutes on it which was tight. headed over on foot to alexi's. the small place located directly across the street from buffalo exchange on 5th between robinson and university.  walked into a fairly busy place. sat down at a table for one. the one man show was workin the room, takin orders droppin menus runnin food. he somehow asked me twice in a 2 minute period if i was ready to order although avidly attending to at least 20 other diners. the prices for everything at lunch is peaked at 8 bucks. i opted for the lunch special of a Gyros sandwich, fries (or salad), and a medium (refillable) soda. for 5.75. good price! but i also wanted an app. so i ordered the Saganaki, or, Flaming Cheese.

it looked like this.

but only after he brought it to my table on a gnarly little sizzle plate with a lighter and some sort of alcohol and quickly set the room on fi-yah. well, just the cheese, but the 2 feet of flame from my one person table in the corner made everyone in the joint stop and stare for a few seconds. then after exstinguished, i macked on that shit with some warm pita and tzatiki. it wasnt the most delish cheese ive ever had, but it was tasy, and for 4 somethin, it was worth the show and the melty cheese.

my main lunch came right after that.
yes. that is tapatio. i need to pause here for a little flashback. my long days of culinary school. waking up at 5 am to be in the kitchen at 630. and then usually not heading home till far after 8 in the evening. and some days heading straight to work for an 8 hour shift. they were long days. i loved it, but it was long, and long usually equals to rough. but one of the bright shining memories or DVC culinary school, was walking across the street from campus at lunch breaks and mowing down some nosh from Flora's Gyros.  Flora himself loved us culinary students, so he would hook us up big time. slappa the bass. BIG TIME. and for 2 and a half years of gyro grubbage in the time of my life, i was topping my gyros, with tapatio. i love that shit. i will DRINK tapatio. so it damn near brought a tear to my eye when i was sittin there with this gyro, and these fries, and this dr. pepper. and i asked for some hot sauce and BAM! tap. hit it!
i gotta admit. 5.75? cheap. therefore leaving me to be satisfied with just mediocre food. but this godamn gyro was FAN-FUCKIN-TASTIC. it was crammed to the brim with meat (the hillcrest special...Hi-Yooooo *rimshot), flavor, juicy, tapatio enhanced meat. the tzatiki was creme de le creme. the fries were fried to perfection, seasoned well. and my dr pepper never seemed to get past half full. (it was a half full kinda day). i ate my food. i smiled. i payed. i let. to return very soon. got a sweet lil pic on the way out of the meat spinner.

so if youre in the hood, stop by, if not, make a day of it. theres plenty of shit to do and see even on that one block. so if youre feelin fabulous, just opa your way in the front door at Alexi's. and stuff your face with meat. or vegetable based food. which is also delicious and stuff. now i owe allison a lil lunch. maybe youll see us there this saturday afternoon. and i coerce her into loving me again with the smell of falafel.

Alexi's Greek Cafe
3863 5th Ave (between Robinson and University)
San Diego, CA 92103

Random Work Stuffs - Wednesday, April 6th.


howdy friends, heres some random crap for ya to look at and hopefully make you hungry. i made family meal today. i wasnt sure what to make, so i figured pasta. ok, pasta, with what, mmm...cheese sauce. mac n cheese. but lets step it up. make a bechamel based cheese sauce, spice it up with some andoullie sausage, throw some fried chicken strips on top. garnish with ketchup. its like big person mac n cheese! "hot dog" slices and all. delish. oh, and theres a garde manger salad. it was underseasoned.




johnnie broke down a big ass yellowtail. it was sick. i really wanted to eat the collar. but that always gets saved for arch, one of our bar regulars. lucky dog.


and then completely unwork related. i had some in n out the other night. 4x4 animal style and some animal fries. kick ass!