A Few Great Hidden San Diego Restaurants, According to a Boston Restaurant Reviewer

So it looks like another weekend of heavy rain in Boston. This is, what, the 7th or 8th weekend in a row with rain? I love Boston, but this is ridiculous. With the rain, my daydreams of San Diego, CA, seem to keep popping up more and more (call it California dreaming). The other night, I was listening to a great rock station from Encinitas on Internet radio. It got me to thinking about Encinitas, where my cousins used to live before they moved up the coast to La Costa. One of my favorite restaurants in Encinitas is the 101 Diner. Located about 4 blocks from my favorite beach in the world (Moonlight Beach), the 101 Diner has everything, from great breakfast and lunch entrees to outdoor seating to a friendly, all-around nice guy of an owner. Almost as good, and just down the street, is Kim's Restaurant, which has terrific Vietnamese food. Better yet, neither of these restaurants is well-known (if you have looked at the site I founded, Boston's Hidden Restaurants, you would know I have a thing for great restaurants that haven't been discovered). Heading south toward San Diego, another memorable, but little-known, restaurant can be found in beautiful Cardiff-by-the-Sea. Pipes Cafe is a breakfast spot that is mainly frequented by surfers and Cardiff residents looking to show up late to work (word is, Trevor Hoffman, the great reliever for the San Diego Padres, is also a regular here). Pipes has fantastic breakfast plates, and the dining outdoors on the patio is a must. As you continue down the coast, you come to artsy Solana Beach, home to Fidel's, which is fairly well-known, and for good reason; Fidel's may be the best Mexican restaurant north of San Diego (though I have my personal favorite, which I'll mention in a minute). Fidel's is tough to find, since it's hidden in a neighborhood away from the ocean, but worth seeking out. Just before you reach San Diego, you hit La Jolla, a tony community that seems to have more investment places than restaurants. I like La Jolla, though, with its spectacular downtown park above the ocean cliffs, and its narrow, crooked lanes. Just south of the center of La Jolla is a little restaurant called Bahia Don Bravo. The owners of this authentic Mexican restaurant have a few branches in San Diego, but this one is special, since you can order the food to go and walk a few blocks down a side street to one of the most spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean that you will ever see. And there is even a bench where the view is, so you can eat in relative comfort. Bahia Don Bravo has the type of Mexican food that you just can't find in Boston. I always go there when traveling to San Diego, and always miss it when I'm back in Boston. Finally, you reach the wonderful city of San Diego. Where to go for food? Well, there are too many great places to mention here. A couple of standouts are Point Loma Seafood, with its memorable view of the city across the harbor, and the Coyote Cafe in Old Town. But my favorite is a little hamburger joint in Ocean Beach called Hodad's, which is where I had the best cheeseburger I have had anywhere in the country (and I've had a lot of cheeseburgers!). Juicy, thick, hearty, and smothered in cheese, the burgers here are impossibly good. Hodad's is truly amazing. Well, I guess my daydream of eating my way through San Diego is about done. As I look out my window and see the skyline of Boston, I realize that I do live in a great city. I just wish it wouldn't rain so much. Copyright © 2005, Boston's Hidden Restaurants. All Rights Reserved. Boston's Hidden Restaurants is a restaurant guide that features top little-known dining spots in Boston and New England. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Marc_Hurwitz/7271 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/38352

Eating Out In Paris On A Budget

This is Paris and it is raining, which is as it should be. Paris rain is not as the rain of other cities. It is softer, benevolent. It caresses, rather than soaks. Perhaps the main reason I come to Paris is because of the food. Not that I am a true gourmet. More a gourmand. It is perfectly possible to spend an arm and a leg on food in Paris. I am still in a state of shock after paying $17.50 for a single glass of beer. Granted, I was sitting on the pavement on the Champs Elysees and granted, I could have sat there all day. But I am still in shock. Normally I steer well away from such high-priced nonsense. When you go to Paris - and you should go at least once in a lifetime - make your own discoveries. I am assured it is possible to get a bad meal in Paris. It simply has never happened to me. At the following restaurants you will only get great meals. First and foremost, La Crémerie Polidor. If it was good enough for Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Andre Gide, Jack Kerouac, Paul Verlaine and Paul Valery, it is good enough for me. For lunch yesterday I had the plat du jour, which was cassoulet in the classic style. It cost $10. This restaurant has never heard of nouvelle cuisine. Its style of cooking is still firmly embedded in the twenties. (In fact, it opened 20 years earlier.) As are its decor and standard of service. And the fact that it does not accept credit cards. With my meal I had a pichet, a small jug, which is about a third of a bottle of Chateau Magondeau, a Merlot, which has won a Medaille Concours Agricole and is generally well spoken of. A full bottle would have been silly, but a pichet at $10 was just right. This system of serving excellent wines in less than bottle quantities is splendidi. In most restaurants you can have a carafe of house wine, which normally will be singularly nasty and probably will have come from Algeria or Morocco and be chemically treated. Sometimes you can detect that someone are the grapes first. You can drink it at a pinch. But you have to be desperate. A step up from that is réserve maison, or réserve du patron. This is much better and very drinkable. At the top in quality and price are the wines which qualify for the title vin delimité de qualité supérieur (VDQS), or appellation d'origine controlée (AOC). These can be truly splendid wines, but can be pricey and a bottle much too much to drink for one person. Some restaurants serve great wines by the glass or small jug and the good ones get the Coupe de Meilleur Pot, which is a much-coveted award. This means that you can sample the grand wines of France - and grand wines, indeed, they are - without doing dire damage to either your wallet or your liver. The best places to experience this superior plonk by the glass are in bars run by the Ecluse chain which keeps expanding. Originally there was one Now, I think, there are five bars. On offer are Bordeaux wines by the glass, some of them grand cru. These bars also have, beyond argument, the best chocolate. Back to Polidor for the moment. The ideal time to go there is around 1.30, when the first mad rush is over, but the atmosphere is still there. They don't accept telephone bookings. To get to it, take the Métro to Odeon on Boulevard St Germain de Près and walk through Carrefour Odeon and then up Rue Monsieur le Prince to number 41. It is not a flashy frontage and easy to miss. The unisex toilets are very probably a historic monument. After eating a literary lunch, go back down to St Germain de Près and turn left. You will shortly come to three great Paris institutions: Aux Deux Magots, the Café Floré and Brasserie Lipp. It was at Aux Deux Magots in 1964 and 1965 Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir held literary court. You can have a glass of wine or a tea, typically with lemon, or a coffee and huddle over it for hours without disturbing the waiters of Aux Deux Magots, who have seen it all. Always and ever you will see some tables occupied by Parisian lovers. They lean forward over the table with their spines concave, their buttocks jutting and their legs intertwined under the tables. Looks damned uncomfortable, but they do it by the hour. In Aux Deux Magots there was a dark-haired couple - both handsome - who were seemingly frozen eternally in this posture of adoration. If you are on a tight budget, there are many restaurants which serve better than acceptable food at ludicrously low prices. One example is Chartier, in Montmartre, which is at 7 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre. Take the Métro to Montmartre, come out into Rue Montmartre and take the first turning on your left. This is an immense restaurant, which looks like a set designer's idea of a waiting room for the Orient Express - always crowded, always noisy. In the old French tradition, the waiter writes your order on the paper table-cloth. At dinner for two, one had fish soup (great), the other fresh shrimps (likewise), followed by veal (better than good) and shashlik (dreadful). To go with this, a bottle of Côtes de Provence rosé and some cheese to follow. Total price 28 euros, under $40. If you are on a very tight budget the answer is to picnic. Start off with a loaf of bread. These are called baguettes, cost three francs each, and were the glory of France. Sadly, they have in recent years deteriorated because the bakers do not like working through the night to make fresh batches. So they make them the day before and deep freeze them. Another black mark to progress. Baguettes, nevertheless, are still better than any other bread. To buy it, head for a boulangerie. Easy to find - they are everywhere and emit a glorious smell of warm bread. If you want the best baguettes, head for the shop with the biggest queues, Parisians know their bread. Nearby will be a charcuterie - food shops in Paris come in clumps - where you can buy pâte, quiche, ham, saucissons (sausages) in all varieties, especially the dried, smaller kind. They will slice up the sausages for you. Many charcuteries also sell hot take-away dishes in plastic containers although I tend to avoid these as being too messy. An example: for lunch in a charcuterie in the Rue du Faubourg du Temple I bought a portion of feuillette de jambon; a portion of museau de porc vinaigrette; some potato salad and a portion of salade Chinoise. There was enough there to feed me until I was full to groaning and yet it only cost a few euros. Now, if you are a greater glutton than I, nip into the fromagerie, which will be somewhere on the same block, and experiment with cheeses you have never tried before. If you are quite open with the shopkeeper and confess ignorance you will sometimes find a selection of small portions being made up for you as a sampling kit. Lastly, the wine. Treat yourself to a bottle with a cork in it. Again, tell the wine merchant the type of wine you want and that you are learning about French wines and you are poor. You will be pleasantly surprised at the friendly advice and assistance you will be given. Where to eat your picnic? On a recent trip I ate my picnic meals in the little park at the Pont Neuf end of the Île de la Cité. Behind me, the Gothic wonders of Notre Dame. In front of me, the Seine. I ate like a king in solitary splendor. I was alone, but I was not lonely, I had all of Paris around me. Gareth Powell is a writer for China Economic Review Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Gareth_Powell/7873 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/38485

Cabo Restaurant Review - Alexander Restuarant - Fondue and More!

Situated on the marina in Cabo San Lucas, nestled amongst the many restaurants and bars at Plaza Bonita, sits a lively little restaurant where flaming pans light up the night. Fire leaps high releasing the pungent aroma of herbs and spices while oohs and aahs escape from the mouths of diners. Passersby stop to take in the show, some walk on but many are drawn in by the culinary exhibition. Like us, they are soon to be fans of Chef Alex Brulhart, owner of Alexander's Restaurant. Alex hails from Switzerland and brings a unique culinary style - crafted in his homeland's alpine heights - to sea level here in Cabo San Lucas. Combining French- influenced cuisine of Swiss origin with hints of the tropics and Mediterranean, the menu offers something for just about any palate and craving. Twenty years as a chef have honed Alex's skills and the proof is in the tasting. Couple his talents with a well-trained staff and you have the makings of a memorable dinner with friends or that special someone. For starters, try the Escargot Chablisienne - Snails sautéed with white wine, butter, garlic and herbs with mushrooms. For a salad, the Caesar prepared tableside with only fresh ingredients and under Alex's watchful eyes is a must. Both paired well with a Cassilero del Diablo Merlot recommended by our waiter. Entrée selections are diverse, and while we heard great things about Alexander's Shrimp Tempura with a Thai coconut-chile sauce, we opted for the Chateaubriand for two. One of many entrées prepared tableside the show is not to be missed. Chef Fabricio Petrelli expertly prepared our entrée with a showman's style coaxing flavor from the spices sprinkled from high above the pan and controlling the dance of fire that seared those flavors into the premium cut of Sonoran beef. Soon we cut into butter-soft beef tenderloin with a rich but subtle Béarnaise sauce. Accompanied by mashed garlic potatoes and tender-crisp fresh vegetables we were nothing but delighted with the dish. Seafood lovers will most certainly enjoy the catch of the day as it is a fresh as fresh can be. Caught locally aboard boats managed by Alex, the time from catch to pan is very short. In addition to the fresh catch, Alexander's also offers a succulent Surf and Turf combination featuring Shrimp and Filet Mignon, Shrimp Stuffed Chicken Breast, Whole Lobster and Shrimp Capice - fresh local shrimp sautéed with capers and cognac. For the meat eater, Alexander's offers a variety of steaks as well as lamb chops in a red wine and rosemary reduction. In addition the menu also features a Seafood Platter for two that includes the catch of the day, lobster tail, filet mignon and scallops. House specialties include fondue dinners for a minimum of two people featuring cheese, seafood, beef or Fondue Bourguignon. Homemade pastas complete the selection of entrees. No meal is complete without dessert and Alexander's is the only restaurant we know of in Cabo that features the longtime Swiss favorite, fondue. Dipping fresh fruits into a decadent chocolate fondue is an experience not to be missed. Other desserts include Bananas Foster and a variety of crepes all prepared tableside with more fire and flare. For those who look for the finer things in life and believe that great food is one of life's greatest gifts, Alexander's Restaurant is not to be missed. Whenever you venture south of the border to the tip of the Baja peninsula, do yourself and your taste buds a favor, stop in for a wonderful meal by the sea. For more information, visit them online at http://www.alexandersrestaurants.com or call them at 1-817-866-6702 from the U.S. or 624-143-2022 while in Cabo. For more information about Cabo, visit http://www.CabosBest.com Richard Chudy is the author and President of Cabo's Best, a travel website dedicated to Los Cabos. To learn more about Cabo, visit http://www.CabosBest.com or email Richard at cabo rich@cabosbest.com. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Richard_P_Chudy/6091 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/88704

New York City Restaurant Reviews and Other Matters of the Hat

In NYC for The Headwear Association's 98th annual dinner at Tavern on the Green in Central Park, I was enthusiastic about trying a restaurant that I had seen reviewed some months previously in the NY Times. Favoring vegetarian cuisine for the past 16 years (James Rachel's 1990 book CREATED FROM ANIMALS: The Moral Implications of Darwinism sealed this decision back then), I have been waiting for what I knew would arrive some day- Vegetarian Fine Dining. So on the evening of St. Patrick's Day, the day after the association dinner (good event but, at best, middling meal at T on the G), I set off for the East Village and Heirloom. I wasn't disappointed. When one enters most vegetarian restaurants, what is almost always palpable is the fidelity of the staff to the work. It feels good to be at a business where the people working there have a passion for what they are doing. In the case of vegetarian restaurants, for most staff, it is also a philosophical conviction that they are doing is the right thing.* So in Heirloom, you are met by hip, attractive, friendly well-dressed hostesses, wait persons, bar tenders, with whom you are on the same wave length (there's also something sexy about this - but unfortunately I am old enough to be these people's father). They might be cut from the same cloth as the jeans and t-shirt people that you encounter in most veggie joints, but here we're all playing dress-up - it's fun, it's sophisticated, the décor is cool, it's all well done. It's also an important statement - Vegetarianism** is not mutually exclusive from fine dining. On to the food: I'm seated with a good view of the bar and the front door - I'm catching the scene - I am happy. The wine menu is interesting, but California is conspicuously absent as are the great pinot noirs of Oregon. I'm not sure what this is about (I hope not another example of pretentious New York demonstrating their imprudent superiority by dissing California in favor of Europe- I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt). The two different reds I ordered (glasses) were good - the quality was right for the price. The menu is simple - a good idea - divided into "First Course" and "Second Course". This works very well as one doesn't need a lot of choices as one can eat everything on the menu. Vegetarians are usually eliminating four-fifths or more of a menu right out of the gate in most restaurants. So after seriously considering "Truffled Portobello Crostini with Apple Celeric Compote: balsamic vinegar reduction, truffle corstini and lavender honey", I go with "Sous-Vide Poached Egg with Crispy Sweet Potato: meyer lemon foam, greens and horseradish oil". Both my waitress and the server make the point that I should thoroughly mix the various parts of this dish before eating. Wow! What a brilliant idea - this really works. You've got warm-cool, crispy-soft, bland-spicy, runny-dry, and lots of great flavors all happening in harmony. This was the big winner of the night. I was having more trouble picking a "Second Course". I intended to go with the favorite of the NT Times reviewer, but it was no longer on the menu. I settled on something unusual (for me at least), "Anson Mills Creamy Grits with Smoked Hominy: avacado, queso fresco and roasted tomato-poblano salsa". I surmised that this down-home, mid-America sounding dish would be just the ticket for my weekend theme - don't accept New York as cutting-edge Mecca on reputation alone.*** Well, this dish was fine, but it couldn't keep up with the superior opening act. After couple of bites, I did come to appreciate the simple comfort food that was the objective. But the dessert almost did measure up to the appetizer - "Black Cocoa Cake, with Chocolate-Bourbon Glaze: sweet chestnut filling and espresso ice cream". (Like most of the rest of the world) I consider myself an authority on chocolate - this was great. And the big surprise was that the chef de cuisine herself, Amanda Cohen, served me. After a perfunctory inquiry about the meal, she mentioned that she noticed I was carrying the Times review. Given the fact that I had had this article tightly folded into the palm of my hand and was reading it very discreetly, Ms. Cohen's observation really impressed me. And that says something else about Heirloom - people are paying attention to their diners. As a merchant myself, that virtually says it all. On Saturday afternoon, I caught the R-train for Brooklyn and visited with Tom Toomey, certainly one of the finest California hat store managers of the 1980s. Tom was a pioneer in the, now full-blown, downtown San Diego renaissance when he managed The Village Hat Shop in the then new Horton Plaza. Many years after his tenure at the hat store, customers would regularly come in asking for and about him. After a long stint in Russia and surrounds, he has settled in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn and is following his passion for art - http://www.tcatdesigns.com. We took a long walk in his neighborhood and ultimately landed at Al Di La Restaurant. And what a good landing it was! Everything was top notch at this restaurant including the best entrée of the weekend, the truffles and ricotta ravioli. Briefly: For an over-priced brunch at the Carnegie Deli you can get insulted by grumpy old-school waitresses at no extra charge. Dukes on Broadway in Midtown makes a good sandwich (hot or cold) highlighted by the bread. And the winners are: Heirloom - On Orchard Street near Houston in the East Village. Al Di La - On the corner of 5th Avenue and Carrol in Park Slope, Brooklyn. * I spent that afternoon at The Museum of Modern Art where a MOMA lecturer argued that the modern "art object" need not be beautiful, need not be skillfully executed, need not be tangible. Nothing mattered but "the idea" and that all ideas are fair game today with no cannons and no rules. She argued for a kind of relativism where all ideas are equal and nothing mattered other than if the art was "interesting". She used examples of "artists" shooting themselves in the foot or nailing themselves to a Volkswagen as arguably having merit as art. She, the lecturer, refused to pass any judgments on these so-called works of art (or anything for that matter). In the end, it was hyper-academic drivel - really unnerving. I was left believing that this borough, where the St. Patrick's Day parade organizers had refused to let gays and lesbians march, was in fact really as provincial as some argue. [But Heirloom, where something mattered, saved the day for Manhattan.] ** My philosophy professor friend (and a native New Yorker) argues that not eating animals is really quite conservative philosophy - anything but an eccentric stretch in thinking. For those of you still grappling with this question, ask yourself if your cousins should suffer so that they can be your food. Then realize that we are all animals differing only by some matter of degree. *** I met Diane Feen, the editor of the yearly HAT LIFE Directory and bi-monthly HAT LIFE Newsletter at Bergdorf-Goodman, a NYC department store temple, for a visit to the men's and women's hat departments and lunch. Hats were way over-priced and their "lunch special" fussilli that I ordered was runny and tasteless (I think they opened a can of tomato sauce and poured it on poorly drained pasta - no kidding) - this was the worst meal I can remember eating at a restaurant in a long time ($18!). And, everywhere you looked, women were wearing full-length fur coats (okay with MOMA I guess, but it would be equally okay if I tossed a gallon of blood on these ignoramuses). What are these pathetic people thinking? This could never happen in California. Fred Belinsky VillageHatShop.com [http://VilliageHatShop.com/] http://Berets.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Fred_Belinsky/37702 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/228249

Hot Soups Steakhouse NYC to Enjoy the Perfect Soup

If you think that all there is to a steakhouse is a great piece of beef then you are sadly mistaken! Many people frequent a favorite steakhouse in search of their premium dish of surf & turf. Surf & Turf satisfies two lusts at once: a great piece of aged Angus beef preferably in the form of a porterhouse steak and the butter-soaked 2lb lobster. Now what food connoisseur can possibly resist this combination? And at the far end of the table a deep bowl approaches. Yes, it's the soup of choice, French Onion. The dripping cheese over a brown caldron of spiced soup coming to quench your appetite for this delicacy . Yes, there are a variety of menu items to attract the New York gourmet at a steakhouse! If you are fortunate enough to live in New York then you have a steakhouse in every direction you can walk. This can lead to endless questioning of which steakhouse to visit tonight. Restaurants come in different classes and a steakhouse is no exception. When I look for a steakhouse for the evening I often think about what mood I am in first because you can find a steakhouse for every mood that exists. Is it going to be a young crowd or an old stogy group full of wisdom and wine? Once I have narrowed down my steakhouse choice of evening then it's on to the wine choice. Will it ever end? The best way to get the biggest bang for you buck out of a steakhouse is to plan ahead, way ahead! Don't expect your favorite steakhouse to be ready to take you off of the street. A premium steakhouse will be booked weeks ahead which will leave you on the curb settling for the mediocre steakhouse down the block with the health violations, just kidding. But seriously folks, you need to plan for a great steak adventure. You wouldn't just pop up at the airport for a marvelous time without a reservation so don't try it with your steakhouse either. Depending on the degree of cooking the taste and look of the steak differs vastly. So if you love to eat your steaks cooked rare, then ask the steakhouse specifically to cook your steak rare. For steak lovers a rare steak is something they just love. Steak lover believe that the more juice a steak retains, the tastier it is to eat. However there are some people who are just put off by the very thought of a steak being not cooked properly. They feel that eating meat that has blood retention is not at all healthy. Every city has its quirks about steak and New York City is certainly no exception. We name our side dishes with the word steak in them like: steak fries, beefsteak tomato and steak shakes. Okay, maybe the last one is a stretch but you get my point. The compliment of the right side dish to accompany your steak is so important that I make the best choice, which is to let my waiter decide, and then they always pick the perfect dish. After all, my specialty in life is not serving up the best meal, it's enjoying it! The internet is also another good option for you to find out a good steakhouse in NYC that serves you hot soups of different kinds. The simple click of the mouse can open up the whole world to you. Check out the steakhouses and see if they serve what you want to eat. Having hot soups in a steakhouse in NYC will surely be an enjoyable occasion for you if you select the best combination of wine, steak, soup and the perfect side dish. Neil Folley holds a Masters Degree in Hotel Management. He loves good food and arranging private parties. He is working for Markjosephsteakhouse. To book for Sunday private parties and enjoy Hot Soups [http://www.markjosephsteakhouse.com/menus.html] visit #1 Rated Steakhouse in New York http://www.markjosephsteakhouse.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Neil_Folley/51726 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/302901