Review - Azucar

Azucar is a Cuban style Patiserrie in the heart of O.B. its been open for just about 3 years now i believe. i remember being stoked when they opened because there really isnt much for pastries in ocean beach, and god knows i hate leaving the bubble when i dont have to. so when you add in the prospect of a cuban kick to everything, im even more enticed. now ive been coming here once every few months since they opened, and the food hasnt changed, its still delicious. i typically get the same thing every time i go, but not all at once haha. i pick and choose between the same 5 things, so that i dont feel like a fucking fat ass. but today i had to get everything, for the sake of the blog. im doing this for you, the reader! anywho, onto the food.

this little ball of yum is one of their famous Pastelito de Carne. little meat pie, if you will. for a believe a buck fiddy you can sink your teeth into the lil fucker and open up a pouch of sweet, sweet, meat. the meat itself isnt sweet, the meat is actually deliciously spiced ground beef, but the top of the pastry itself if brushed with a nice sugary glaze before being baked. mmm.

siiiiiick.

next is the Pastel de Queso y Guava. a cream cheese and guava paste - pastry. this thing is like a toaster strudel on crack. they have other various pastry of this sort, but the cream cheese and guava paste is other worldly.

this one that i had was actually not stuffed to the brim like they usually are, but i digress. still tasty.

keeping with the guava and cream cheese trend, they have multiple different panini sandwiches, and my favorite is the Havana - Roasted Turkey, Guava Paste, Cream Cheese. grilled to perfection, this combination is like the cuban equivalent of a post thanksgiving left over sandwich. amazing. they give you a choice of a green salad of fried plantain chips. i always get the chips, which on this visit, were slightly stale, i was a little bummed. but good nonetheless, served with a side of mojo sauce, which is filled with garlicky glory. after this i decided to try one of the mini desserts they have in the display, they cinco leches cake.

i brought this home to share with allison tonight, but that didnt change the awesome flavor of it. its their take on the classic tres leches cake. its an almond financier cake soaked with 5 different milks topped with a dulce de leche glaze and candied almonds. it was rich, but very good. i was happy with it.

now as i said earlier that the food hasnt changes in 3 years, there is something i noticed today. i really feel that the upkeep of the store front is really taking a toll. the tables were all pretty dirty, the floor was covered in crumbs, the white drapes on the wall were becoming stained at the bottoms. it was just kind of a bummer seeing that they arent putting much pride in the appearance of the shop. i know its OB and its supposed to be rugged and dirty, but come on. have some pride. keep your shit tight. be proud of what you do in all senses of it. at the end of the day you are supposed to be impressing people, make that happen, or live your life being content with mediocrity.

with that being said, i wont stop coming here. its delicious. and i highly recommend it. check it out!

Azucar
4820 Newport Avenue
San Diego, CA, 92107

www.iloveazucar.com

Random Work Stuffs - Tuesday, June 14th

ah family meal. one of my favorite parts of the day. not to say the cooking isnt the best, but i love eating even more than i love cooking. so when we have a lunch everyday at work, and its being cooked by one of the people i work with, or sometimes myself, its most likely going to be enjoyable, because we are all professionals and we know what we are doing. different days of the week determine what kind of family we will be having. one of the plus sides of working sundays is that we tend to do brunch type ordeals. someone usually stops on their way in and gets donuts, we make eggs and potatoes and just sorta relax for a few minutes before we get to prepping after a busy saturday. its nice. i went in this past sunday planning a making family meal, and i did. it wasnt anything special really, eggs, home fries, steak, cheese, chili aioli, the usual deal.

banged out some quick home fried potatoes with some peppers and onions, then cleaned up some tenderloin chains, scrambled some eggs, threw it all in a hotel pan, covered it with cheese.

melted the cheese, and piled on some chili aioli and some green onion-cilantro. yum. nothing special, nothing suprising and new, but i enjoyed it, and hopefully everyone else did. now remember i mentioned that someone usually brings in donuts? no one did on this peticular day. but while i was cooking brunch ted asked me how far out i was because he was timing something up. hmm..ok. little did i know

HE

MADE

FUCKING

DONUTS.
tell me thats not the right way to start a sunday afternoon?

anyway. last week someone donated some tips to the kitchen and john decided instead of splitting it to everyone so we could all get like 6 bucks or something insignificant, he would buy us lunch the next day from world famous Phil's BBQ. ive never had phils BBQ so i was pretty excited when i came out of the kitchen to see this

fresh buns, bbq sauce, potato salad, cole slaw, and the pulled pork that i have heard oh so much about. man. i am still burping up smoke flavor. not to say it was the worst thing ive ever eaten, but i honestly cant believe that Phils BBQ is actually open, let alone POPULAR?! it literally tasted like an ash tray. the buns were dry. the cole slaw was bland and not exciting at all. and the potato salad was just that, potatoes. no seasoning, no flavor, nothing. oh, a little bit of celery seed, but thats about it. it was a pretty big let down i gotta say. ive never desired to try and fight the crowds to go try Phils, and now i know that even if there is no line out front, i still wont even try to go in there. tough break. it was great of john to pick it up and bring it in, but 100 double cheeseburgers woulda done a whole lot better hahaha. if per chance youre reading this, john, thanks, really. anyway, carry on and keep eating!

Review - Surfrider Pizza Cafe

when people ask me about pizza, i tell them Newport Pizza is the bizzness. but that doesnt mean i wont try other places, especially if they are in Ocean Beach. so i never went to this place when it used to be Casanovas, mainly because anytime i went by there, it was closed. so it closed down and reopened as Surfrider Pizza Cafe. offereing pizza by the slice, whole pies, sandwiches, baked goods, and of course, smiles. a few of my comrades have praised this place so it was only a certain amount of time that i could put off going in. so memorial day i rolled over there with Adam The Giant and i wanted to take advantage of their lunch special, which is two slices of any pie and a 16oz fountain drink for 6 bucks. its a pretty damn good deal honestly, so i figured i couldnt be let down. walking in you are greeted with a fatties wet dream

all baked in house, or so im told. so upon perusal of all the pies in the case i decided upon a slice of the Signature "Surfrider Pizza"(right), and a slice of the Roasted Chicken Barbeque(left).

the surfrider consists of roasted garlic, white sauce, gorgonzola, tomatoes and basil. then the BBQ Chicken consists of roasted chicken, gorgonzola, bbq sauce, red onion, and cilantro. so heres the thing, i like my thin crust pizza to be crispy. thats how thin crust should be, if you dont want it crispy, dont get THIN crust. this thin crust wasnt very crispy. it was decent, but it was fairly chewy. so i feel like they tend to overwork their dough. the other thing that bothered me was the sparsity of the toppings. the bbq chicken had maybe 6 or 7 small pieces of chicken on it? and all the toppings were small. so if youre gonna not put alot of topping on something, at least make them bigger toppings. which they werent. over all it wasnt bad pizza, but im very critical when it comes to such things, due to the fact that pizza is very near to my heart and as a pizza cook for almost 3 years back home in the bay, id like to feel like i know a thing or two. now something about Adam The Giant is that he is going one year without eating pizza. so as he goes into Surfrider alot, he has established a relationship with its employees and because of that, they always make him a custom "wrap" everytime. he always requests that whoever makes it, make whatever they want to eat. on this occasion, they made him this.

gorgonzola, chicken, basil pesto, and avocado i believe. now it sounds decent, but damn. picking it up and having pesto oil basically tattoo your entire forearm was definatly a downside. it was just ok. after all that i decided to try the baked goods.

i got a Carrot Cake Cookie, and a Rasberry Cupcake. MEH. yea. i said it. meh. just, meh. they were ok. not the best cookie cupcake combo ive ever had. the cupcake was fairly dry and didnt seem to rise much. it was pretty dense. and the cookie was just ok. so, whatever. overall, it wasnt bad, but im highly critical, so take it how you will. i still prefer Newport Pizza until someone conquers them. but honestly for 6 bucks for two big slices and a soda with free refills, its a good deal, if youre in the area and dont feel like walking to newport.

Surfrider Pizza Cafe
2163 Abbott Street
San Diego, CA, 92107

www.surfriderpizzacafe.com

Bay Area Review - C.R.E.A.M. (Berkeley)

COOKIES RULE EVERYTHING AROUND ME
! CREAM! GET THE COOKIES! ICE CREAM SANDWICH YAAAAAALLLLLL!!!!

im in the bay trick. on vacation, meaning i get to try a bunch of sweet ass stuff that i normally wouldnt in san diego. so yesterday we were moseying around telegraph on the berk side down by the campus (ucb campus, that is), and on the corner of telegraph and channing, what was boarded up around 3 years ago and i remember speciafically it being advertised as a cereal store, now stands C.R.E.A.M. Cookies Rule Everything Around Me. no joke, people. it is and artisan cookie-ice cream sandwich store. they make all their cookies in house, and use delicious double rainbow ice cream. they also have plenty of vegan options, which is apparently somewhat necassary these day, at least in berkeley. for two bucks you can get one large scoop of any flavor with two big ol cookies. you can also order just ice cream, or just cookies. brownies and fruit bars also have their own spot on the menu. i ordered

Matcha Green Tea ice cream with two Butter Sugar Cookies. the green tea ice cream was smooth and sweet and the butter cookies were fresh out of the oven. no more than 20 minutes at the most. they were still gooey in the middle. delisshhhhhhhhhh. i wanted another one. moms got this

Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream with Vegan Snickerdoodle cookies. her cookies werent warm due to the fact that the vegan cookies and brownies and stuff sit in a display case since they are obviously less popular. they were still good cookies though. so yea, this is just a small entry, but theres plenty more to come. so sit tight, and try not to get raptured!!!

C.R.E.A.M.
2399 Telegraph ave.
Berkeley, CA, 94704

http://www.creamnation.com/