The Cottage at La Jolla

Last week we went to the Cottage for some brunch. It is a famous and rightfully crowded breakfast place, and yes in the weekend it is jam-packed. I particularly enjoyed the fresh squeezed grapefruit juice and the Benedict. Hospitality-wise the waiters were friendly but the place was just too crowded and tables were small. Not much complain here though. Worth trying!

Yelp review

Blue Water Grill

Blue Water Grill is a down-to-earth, affordable and tasty seafood joint in Mission Hill. Located right by the free way I-5 this restaurant is not that easy to find, except for the always long line outside of the restaurant. It is that good.

I particularly enjoy the grill shrimps (jumbo shrimps are better yet), and the grill fish can get dry, not to my taste, but the shrimp is definitely a must try. I don't take the word "must" lightly.

Blue Water Seafood Market and Grill

煮粥6大秘訣 - a receipe for making congee/porridge from forward mail

煮粥6大秘訣 - 香港煲粥大師傳授

第一招: 浸泡：

煮粥前先將米用冷水浸泡半小時，讓米粒膨脹開。這樣做的好處：
1、熬起粥來節省時間；
2、攪動時會順著一個方向轉；
3、熬出的粥酥、口感好。

第二招：開水下鍋：

開水下鍋不會煮粥糊底
大家的普遍共識都是冷水煮粥，而真正的行家都是用開水煮粥，為什麼？
你肯定有過冷水煮粥糊底的經驗吧？
開水下鍋就不會有此現象，而且它比冷水熬粥更省時間。

第三招: 火候：

先用大火煮開，再轉文火即小火熬煮約30分鐘。
別小看火的大小轉換，粥的香味由此而出！

第四招：攪拌：

為了"出稠"，也就是讓米粒顆顆飽滿、粒粒酥稠
我們煮粥攪拌，是為了怕粥糊底，現在沒了冷水煮粥糊底的擔憂，為什麼還要攪呢？
為了"出稠"，也就是讓米粒顆顆飽滿、粒粒酥稠。
攪拌的技巧是：開水下鍋時攪幾下，蓋上鍋蓋至文火熬20分鐘時，開始不停地攪動，一直持續約10分鐘，到呈酥稠狀出鍋為止。

第五招: 點油：
粥改文火後約10分鐘時點入少許沙拉油
煮粥還要放油？

是的，粥改文火後約10分鐘時點入少許沙拉油，你會發現不光成品粥色澤鮮亮，而且入口別樣鮮滑。

最後一招：

底、料分煮：粥底是粥底，料是料，分頭煮的煮、焯的焯，最後再擱一塊熬煮片刻，且絕不超過10分鐘。
大多數人煮粥時 習慣將所有的東西一股腦全倒進鍋子裡，百年老粥店可不這樣做。

分頭煮的煮，最後再擱一塊熬煮片刻。

這樣熬出的粥品清爽不渾濁，每樣東西的味道都熬出來了又不串味。
特別是輔料為肉類及海鮮時，更應粥底和輔分開煮

Hexagone French Cuisine

It was a late Friday night nearing the end of the first restaurant week in San Diego. Trying to take advantage of that, bunch of us want to get some gourmet food. I like French cuisine, and I picked Hexagone which from the menu it looked pretty enticing.

Located in Banker's Hill, parking was not acceptable that night on a Friday. We parked about 4 blocks away, but that's mostly due to lack of direction. When we got to the restaurant, we were already late for about 30 mins from my reservation, but nonetheless we still got our names in. The place was packed full of people, and a lot of them were waiting for over 30 mins, hanging out in the side bar sipping small glasses of wine.

It was cold outside, so we went in as well, and got stuck in that area for more than 45 mins. By the time we got to our table, it was past 9 already. We were not impressed, to say the least.

I started with an interesting appetizer which I already forgot the name, though I remember that the appetizer there was not bad.

And of course, my duck. I could not imagine not wanting to try "canard" in a new French restaurant. It almost became my hobby. The duck was not good. It was dry and even the spice was not too interesting. A far cry from what I had tasted in Paris, and to a smaller extent to the excellent Tapanade in La Jolla which I will write about later when I go again.

Bips got lamb rack. I tried some of his, and they tasted ok. Mom's cooking was better! Though Hexagone did have some interesting sauce which I will give them credit for.

All in all, this place is over-rated, and over-priced. It could be that in restaurant week they were swarmed and thus a drop of quality. I don't know, but I won't go there any more in foreseeable future. There are a lot more restaurants to try out there!



Hexagone

495 Laurel St
(between 4th Ave & 5th Ave)
San Diego, CA 92101
Neighborhood: Banker's Hill

Yelp reviewers gave them 3.5 starts. I would give them 3.

Ariana Kebob House

So tonight after class we went to this Afghan place at the edge of Mira Mesa. This is my third time, maybe fourth, already, and yes I love the food here.

For the past couple times I had the same dish, the lamb shank, but it was so good that this time I had to force myself to try something different.

 So I had the beef skewer. And yes, the Afghan chef did it again! The beef was very tender and marinated just right. The rice was amazing as well. You can say I was hungry, but I finished the whole plate very quickly without anything left. At about $17 bucks, this definitely deserves a two thumbs up.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/ariana-kabob-house-san-diego

Sushi Ota

When it comes to eating sushi in San Diego, one cannot ignore the giant Sushi Ota in Mission Beach/Pacific Beach area. They are the de facto best standard in town. Hiding in a corner mall next to a gas station, it would be easy to miss if you don't know where you are going.

The big white sign helps, but it doesn't stand out too much, except for the line up of people. It is so common that, in fact I have never seen Sushi Ota without a line. Walking in without reservation is guaranteeing yourself a good 45 mins of wait. So reserve ahead of time! I have been there more than 6 times I think, and fortunate enough, half of the times I went with business customers so I did not have to pay... And ya those meals were good.

On to the important stuff. Going in you will find a row of Japanese sushi chefs (yup, no Mexican sushi chef - not trying to be racist here. I love Mexicans but you know, authentic chefs are usually better) on your right busy preparing the food. They don't have too much space in there, so adding the amount of people waiting it can get quite packed. One key thing about Ota is that the seafood there is very fresh. So fresh that it is not rare to find part of it still moving! And oh ya, fresh sweet prawn tastes really good.

Last month a couple guys from sales of Epson Toyocom came by for another round of sales pitch. My coworker Barry knew them back in Japan, and my project uses Epson's component as well, so we have legitimate reason to gather up. And man, the sales manager really knew his food well. He started us with a grand tour of raw fish (sashimi), with a special pick of ama-ebi (sweet prawn).

 

And yes, the prawns were still alive even in such a shape!

After sashimi, the manager from Epson introduced "Monk Fish Liver" dish to us. This paired very well with sake, and he picked his favourite smooth sake, the "Hakkaisan". These paired so well that at a point he was repeatedly saying "死でもいい" (it is even ok to die[after consuming this pair]). Not to that extreme, I really enjoyed this, leading to a later exuberant meal with my local friends in Sushi Ota again (more on that later).

Now on to sushi.

I liked the top right ones, which were made from preserved roots of certain plant, giving it a sour but gently refreshing taste, but did not leave my mouth dry, rather creamy. I need to find out what that is! Most sushi were good, but I really liked the left ones on the second row from the top, the 金目鯛 kin-me-dai (golden eye snapper, "splendid alfonsino"). That was another favourite pick of smooth sushi from the manager who knows how to live (on left). He really knows his stuff.

At the end of course they picked up the tap, while Barry and I did not know how much we spent, but it must be substantial.

Later on, about a couple weeks later, my friend Allan sold his shoes and got some extra dough to burn. So we headed up to Sushi Ota to have some good dinner. We started with some normal sake, but I had to order that monk fish liver again.

Those two big fat round slices were the liver. As the Epson guy was saying, "this is the 'wine and cheese'  Jappon style!" Next, of course I had to order my favourite sushi of the time, the kin-me-dai. And this is the reason I came back in such a short time, "in search of kin-me-dai".

And the other stuff. Mind you below was just my sushi and they were not shared because of the price. Usually I share my food but not this plate. I shared some of the monk fish liver though.

This was Allan's plate:

And finally, the 3 grades of tuna belly (トロ): meguro, chu-toro, o-toro (tuna, middle toro and fatty toro)

The damage was substantial to my standard. That $100 on the left was for one person (me) only!

But don't get scared off. We ordered exuberant amount of sushi. As you can tell that was even more than what the Epson guys ordered (4 of us shared that plate). If you haven't already, you gotta try them if you care about the quality of your sushi.

Sushi Ota [webpage]

Address: 4529 Mission Bay Dr., San Diego, CA 92109

Reservations: (858) 270-5670/5047

[ Yelp review ]

Bon Appetite

Over the course of time I had various experience posting pictures of food and review of restaurant/eat-outs on Facebook, but I found that venue not suitable to share this passionate subject. Posting it on the wall will get too cluttered; posting it in an album, it is not as personal, and lack the freedom to flow liberally on my description of the food.

Blog, though old by Internet's standard, is created for the sole purpose of disclosing and sharing one's thoughts! So here it is, and "Bon Appetite!"