Habana Cuba

This entry is out of order, since a bunch of us went to Habana Cuba before Christmas and prior to my leaving for San Diego, but better late than never!

We started out the dinner with a pitcher with sangria which was really good. It wasn't very strong at all, but it was quite tasty. I still got my "asian glow" after maybe half a glass with my cheeks getting warm and pink. We had a big group, but Jeremy, Christina, and I were going to share a few things.

We started with an appetizer of bocaditos or cuban sandwiches which were delicious! The bread was toasted nicely and the slow roasted meat inside as well as the caramelized onions with cheese just melded perfectly! The sandwich seems so simple but they were so delicious! We then split the surtido (?) for 2 which includes 3 types of meat- the famous slow roasted pork, a beef with potatoes dish, and chicken with onions dish. The side dishes were really good with fried plantains being the highlight for me, as well as the white rice (I think loaded with butter) and black beans. The slow roasted pork which is the cuban specialty apparently was really good and recommended by me :)

One of my friends ended up getting some desserts- tres leches cake, flan and arroz con leche. The cake was DELICIOUS, with a great moistness and wasn't too sweet which is a turnoff for me if a cake is too sweet. The flan was a little firmer than what I'm used to, but still creamy and good. The arroz con leche was a bit soupy and on the sweeter side (from the bite I had), but everybody else seemed to enjoy it! Overall, a good first cuban dining experience for me!

Lolitas- San Diego

Another must stop when I'm in San Diego is Lolita's, usually in Bonita for some carne asada! It's not like we don't have good mexican food up here in the bay area, but there's something about Lolita's and the memories!  I usually get a Carne Asada burrito or a Carne Asada taco with an extra corn tortilla to make it 2 tacos :)

My friend is obsessed with the Carne Asada Fries or the California Burrito which is a Carne Asada burrito with french fries, sour cream, and cheese in it.  She also claims that the salsa is to die for, but I'm not a connoisseur so I just use a little of the hot sauce like any other hot sauce! I'm also not a huge fan of the fries and carne asada thing, so I stick with the traditional burrito or taco... oh so good... I usually get it with horchata to wash it down, but this time I just stuck with water since it can be pretty darn sweet sometimes.  We met up with my friends who had never met Jeremy before, so it was a good time of eating good mexican food and catching up on what's new in our lives. I had mentioned carne asada fries to Jeremy (since french fries are his favorite "vegetable") a few days prior to going to Lolita's but he had forgotten about them- for which he still gives me a hard time about! He greatly enjoyed his carne asada burrito but talksa bout trying this carne asada fries business next time we're down there!

Another place I would have loved to go to was Tacos El Gordo for some more of the small street style tacos, but I didn't get over there and decided I could survive without it.  Maybe next time! Man, I love the numerous and delicious mexican eateries in San Diego!

Sushi Ota- San Diego

If you asked me what my favorite Japanese restaurant is in San Diego, I would be VERY quick to say Sushi Ota in Pacific Beach!

Jeremy came with me to San Diego this year for Christmas, and we went to Sushi Ota one night so he could experience the glory. My parents took us and we got the chef's tasting menu of about 7 courses as usual. We started off with a crab wrapped in cucumber dish topped with daikon, dried pomegranate, and a ponzu type sauce on top. My favorite dish was the foil wrapped steamed dish with an excellent broth! It had cod, enoki mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, mizuna greens, napa cabbage, and as I said, AMAZING broth. It was so good that Jeremy, who normally does not drink the soup and only eats the solids in any soup, drank all the broth!

We also had really good sushi such as two different types of Aji (Spanish Mackerel my favorite), and a special toro (fatty tuna). We put Jeremy to the test by giving him uni (sea urchin) and ikura (salmon roe) which even many Japanese people don't like. It took me a long time to actually eat it, but I still don't choose to eat it over other sushi items. He definitely tries everything once, which I think is a great characteristic! We also asked specifically for a salmon skin handroll for Jeremy & I since I love them! I don't think they're as good in a regular roll because you don't get as much of the crunch factor when the crunchy items are distributed throughout a long roll. It was warm, very crispy, and absolutely delicious, especially with the extra salmon pieces added into the roll. Jeremy really enjoyed it too. You can get that roll in other places, and I may be biased, but I love everything about Sushi Ota. The place is pretty casual, not the elegant, snooty feeling restaurant you have to dress up for, but I love the food and Mr. Ota is fantastic. I have and will continue to go every time I'm in San Diego!!

Sonny's BBQ- Eating in Florida

My first time in Florida is this Thanksgiving to spend this holiday with my fiance's family.

Jeremy, Jeremy's mom, and I went to eat at Sonny's BBQ, which is a large chain of BBQ places around Florida.  Jeremy had wanted BBQ so we went for lun-ner on Tuesday.  Jeremy was excited for the sweet tea and all you can eat pulled pork.  I also had a sweet tea, which they served in ginormous cups.  Jeremy downed his first glass, but I'm not sure if I even finished the first big glass because they kept filling my cup.  I had to also get a glass of water because I'm not used to drinking so much of a sugary drink, but I must admit the sweet tea was very tasty, though even sweet tooth Jeremy thought it was a bit sweet.

For our meals, I got a half rack of baby back ribs with cornbread.  For my 2 sides I chose baked beans and green beans, since I'm usually lacking vegetables when I go out to eat.  The ribs were good but nothing special to call home about.  The meat was nice and soft, and the sauce was good- not overpowering in sweetness or smokiness.  I highly enjoyed the cornbread without butter, especially with the rest of the food that was very flavorful.  The baked beans were really good with ham or bacon pieces baked in.  It was on the sweeter side, but I still highly enjoyed it.  The green beans were good too.  They were very soft since they were stewed in a pork base, but very flavorful.

Jeremy got the all you can eat pulled pork with garlic bread and his 2 sides were fries and baked beans.  Apparently it's all you can eat on every part of your meal- great news for Jeremy! The first batch of fries for both him and his mom were cold but the second batch were oh so fresh and hot.  I had one of those, and yet again as usual, burned my tongue because of my lack of patience.  They were the normal crinkle fries- I'm not enough of an expert to say for sure that it was the frozen kind, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were. I didn't try any of his garlic bread but he says "It was AWESOME." He also got second helpings of it, so it must have been good. Now onto the main part which was the pulled pork.  That was actually quite delicious and I actually felt like I should've ordered that too.  It was easier to eat and scrumptious, especiall since you are able to doctor it up if you want to with the 4 available sauce bottles at the table.  I believe we used the "Sizzlin' Sweet" sauce on Jeremy's mom's recommendation which was a good one!

We were definitely too full for dessert, but the menu looked good.  Besides, there was superb homemade apple pie and Publix Cookies & Cream ice cream waiting for us at home when we were ready for it!  I would definitely go back to Sonny's again to try either something new or go for that pulled pork, cornbread, baked beans, and... I'll decide on that last vegetable side dish later :)

Thanks for Lun-ner Jeremy!

Royal Tofu House

A colleague and I went to Royal Tofu House recently for lunch, because it's really close by and I felt like something warm but healthy in the cooling weather.  I had been to other korean restaurants such as in Cupertino Village but had not tried this one, so we finally went.

Overall, it was good, but there weren't as many side dishes that came with our food as some other restaurants I have been to.  However, each of the side items were good.  A broccoli with tofu dish, little fish dish, bean sprouts, seaweed, and of course kimchi.  I'm not a kimchi expert, but I thought it was actually quite good.  I dipped it into my soup to spice it up a bit more, as well as eat it with my rice.  I can be pretty weak sauce when it comes to spiciness but this was just right for me!  So all you really spicy kimchi lovers may not enjoy it as much.  

I ordered the vegetable tofu pot, mild spice, and thought it hit the spot.  Of course I burned my tongue as usual since I'm so impatient when it comes to food, especially when I'm very hungry! Their rice was good too.  I would definitely go back again, especially with the proximity, but I can't say it was the best ever!

First Ethiopian Food Experience

To celebrate my roommate Christina's birthday and experience Ethiopian food for the first time in both of our lives, we went to Zeni Restaurant in San Jose, which got great reviews on Yelp.  I was expecting long lines since we didn't get there until close to 8pm, and Yelp had warned that lines are long between 7-9pm on weekends.  There were 6 of us that went, so we ended up waiting 40 minutes or so, but we went next door to a discount shop to roam around and hang out so it wasn't too bad. Besides, if there are a lot of people always waiting to eat at this place, that must be a good sign!

We finally got in and the place was cute.  A bit cozy in between the groups so if one person had to get up to wash their hands, it was a tiny ordeal but we managed.  The seats were actually quite cushier than I thought, and quite comfortable although most of them had no backs. Okay on to the food...

We ordered the vegetarian combo which came with I believe a spicy lentil dish, a cabbage dish, a greens dish, perhaps a potato-ish dish, and a cold type of bread salad using their spongy unleavened bread.  They were all different flavors, but tasty and flavorful.  The only one I didn't have much of was the spicy lentil one, because it was very spicy and I'm a bit weak sauce when it comes to pure heat. We also ordered a chicken dish that looked like it had a tomato flavored sauce, including chicken, onions, and carrots. It tasted quite good alone as well as with the spongy bread they give you.  The third thing we shared was the beef dish which was a green curry type sauce but not spicy.  It had some potatoes and a few other vegetables I believe, but that was really good too.  It kind of reminded me of a pulled pork type look for the meat, but again very tasty when the sauce absorbed into the spongy bread.  

I'm glad we also got the appetizer salad to have some raw, cold greens to balance the warmth and different flavors of the other dishes.  The bread alone wasn't my favorite thing due to the sourness that it had.  I really liked the pieces on the plate underneath the various sauces, because the flavor had soaked in and made the bread very flavorful and not so sour.

We also got a bottle of the Ethiopian honey wine because we had heard that it was pretty tasty and went well with the meal.  I like plum wine so I thought I might like it, but I wouldn't get it on my own again.  It was a bit too sweet and had an odd alcohol or wheat-y aftertaste to it.  I'm not sure it really complements the food that great either, but again I'm not a wine expert!

Overall, the food was good, but not at the top of my cuisines list.  I am willing to try more Ethiopian restaurants if there are specific really good ones people recommend, but I'm more likely to go eat a different cuisine.  I'm biased but Japanese and other asian foods still rank at the top of my list! Aside from that, the point was to spend time with beloved friends and celebrate a birthday so it was a success and HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINA!

Sushi Tatsumi

I went here for lunch the other day since it is close to where I work.
When I looked at the menu, it was a bit pricier than the usual lunch sets, but I said what the heck and went for the sushi and broiled mackerel. I was very pleased with what I received, because it was not just the typical lunch set but so much more.

I knew I couldn't describe everything and give an idea of how good it looked, so here are some pictures. The first is of my lunch set which included rice, salad, tofu, fried spring roll, potato salad and miso soup along with my 2 choices for the lunch set. The salad was different from the usual lettuce with creamy dressing. Instead it had mixed greens with other veggies and a light vinaigarette which I liked a lot. The tofy was in a dashi sauce that was great. The mackerel was quite tasty with a squeeze of lemon and lots of daikon oroshi! The spring roll was nice, hot and crispy. I also would like to mention that I highly enjoyed their rice which glistened more and you could tell it was a higher quality rice.

The second picture is the 4 pieces of nigiri sushi I got. The fish was very fresh and tasty. I wish I had salmon instead of ebi, but maybe I'll ask if I can trade next time. The ebi was actually better than I expected though! Overall, I must say I was very pleased and would go back again! Of course it can't be every time since it's a bit pricy- probably $20 with tax and tip for this lunch, but worth it!