Extraordinary Desserts

Extraordinary Desserts
1430 Union Street
San Diego, California 92101
(619) 294-7001

I've been wanting to go to this place for quite some time now and finally rounded up my friend, Yuri to go with me. Once you enter, there is a huge display case of treats. Take note of what items you liked because their menu doesn't include the display case items since it is constantly changing.



To my surprise, besides desserts they also sell small eats like cheese and paninis and have a wide variety of exotic teas that all sound so heavenly. But, on this trip I ignored the small eats menu because that isn't what they are oh so popular for.

So we ordered up things that looked mighty tasty, but my conclusion was this place was not extraordinary. Maybe I hyped it up too much or ordered the wrong items, but I'm pretty sure that isn't the case. This joint reminded me of the countless bakeries in Seoul. Hip, sleek, and amazing presentation of desserts; but once you put the thing in your mouth you discover it was all BS. Ah, what a bummer. The quest continues for extraordinary...

Pot of Falling in Love $6
Flavors of champagne and strawberries

The tea was really yummy though! hah

Banana Cream Tart $8.50

Ohhhh....ahhhh...look at the colors, but don't eat! I rather have a simple banana cream pie from Nation's

Warm Chocolate Bread Pudding $11.95
Served with chocolate chocolate chip ice cream

Never had a bread pudding like this, it was more cake like which I have no preference for. It was too dry and I thought for it being a chocolate bread pudding it would have oozing melted chocolate throughout. The ice cream was yummy though^^

Chocolate Macadamia Torte $8.50
Very light layers of chocolate sponge cake painted with dark chocolate ganache, whipped cream, myer's rum flavored pastry cream and roasted macadamia nuts

Not bad, but not extraordinary.

Muzita Bistro

Muzita Bistro
4651 Park Boulevard
San Diego, California 92116
(619) 546-7900

I'm no expert when it comes to Ethiopian cuisine, but I do enjoy eating it. For you first timers, don't be scared by the injera. You use the injera as an utensil by grabbing and wrapping up the food in it and eating it like you do with naan. It looks like a flat sea sponge and makes you want to poke at it to see if it's still alive hah. It's not bad, but definitely not something that I crave like a pregnant mama :P



Muzita Bistro is in University Heights and has a nice intimate setting. It's pretty small with a nice outdoors patio seating. The owner was in when I went and at the end of our meal, thanked us for dining there. He was very sweet and I could tell he loves getting to know his customers.

Brille of Mess (Honey Wine) $12

Pretty yummy!

Zigini Beggie $16
Berbere braised leg of lamb, stewed tomato and onion
Side of Alitcha atakilti
Stewed mixed veggies

Yummy!

Shiro $12
Eritrean style seasoned ground chickpeas (left picture; right)
Kantisha Kilwa $13
Button mushroom, zucchini, tesmi stewed tomato and serrano (left picture; middle)
Side of Halmi
Spinach sauteed with spices (left picture; left)
Side of Timtimo
Red lentil stew (right picture)


Okay, being the pigging I am and not being able to decide on what I want, I got two entrees hah. With each entree you get a salata (no misspelling here, I swear they spell it that way) and a side. For those like me who need a kick to their meal, then you're going to want to go for the kantisha kilwa. No way is it crazy spicy, but has a nice spice to it. The shiro along with the halmi were good, but a bit too bland for me. Timtimo was also yummy, but if I had to pick out of the three sides I would get the alitcha atakilti.

Of course I took a doggie bag home and surprisingly I ate the leftovers (I typically don't, yeah call me princess). Anyways, once I mixed it all together (like I do for bibimbap hah the Korean in me) and added Cholula on top, it was freaking amazing! Man, how sad is it that once I add Cholula to anything I instantly love it even more? Pretty sad...oh well :P

Oh, also even though the salata looks like a typical salad, it's sooo good. Their house dressing is amazing. Next time I go in I need to ask what they put in it. Also heard their beet salad is amazing.

The Oceanaire Seafood Room

The Oceanaire Seafood Room
400 J Street
San Diego, California 92101
(619) 858-2277

Oh man, I've been busy, busy. I know I promised you guys I would post up some yummy SD eats, but I wanted the first one to be a good one. So here it is, The Oceanaire! I never heard of it before, but ask any San Diegan with a decent taste bud and they will know what's up.

This sleek 1930's ocean liner look alike has top notch service and seafood, well except for the night I went they had two hiccups (more details about that later). However, despite that I still had a wonderful evening and would still recommend it to others.

The Oceanaire uses fresh catches from that day, so they have daily generated menus. I would highly suggest not coming here for a late dinner because you might be disappointed that an item has sold out. Though they do have a pretty extensive menu here, so I'm sure you can easily find something else.



So to start off, you must get oysters. I really haven't ate oysters, so we got recommendations from the waitress on some good ones since I was a noobie. We choose four different kinds and got two of each. My favorite was the Kumamoto *drool*

Fanny Bay - British Columbia $1.95
Kumamoto - California $2.95
Luna - Carlsbad $1.95
Blondes - Carlsbad $1.95

"To eat an oyster is to kiss the sea on the lips." - Leonard Beck
However, if it's too salty of a kiss then just add cocktail sauce :P

"Kid Dynamite" Blue Crab Crusted Mexican Mahi Mahi $36.95
Sake and soy poached Bok Choy with Screaming Rooster Sauce

Oh man, I love how it has a slight kick to it and cooked perfectly.

Sauteed Alaskan Halibut Louie $39.95
Topped with jumbo Lump Crab Meat and Caper Beurre Blanc


OMG, I loved the top part of this dish. The jumbo crab meat and capers was amazing! I could eat a whole plate full of it.

However, here comes the first hiccup, the halibut was sadly dry on the sides of the fish. We mentioned it to our waitress and she insisted they fix it. So to be safe, we just switched the order to another "Kids Dynamite" Blue Crab Crusted Mexican Mahi Mahi. The manager came out with the new dish and apologized. However, when we reached the middle of the fish, it was raw (two hiccups)! What the freak! hahaha. Once again, we told them what was up and we switched to the Baked Stuffed California Dover. Both times, the staff was very forgiving and understanding (which should be the case anyways hah). The person I went with, Dan has been here many times and never had something like this happen. Everything is always perfect, maybe it has to do with The Oceanaire being bought out by Landry's? Who knows, but whatever I still enjoyed myself even with hiccups :D

Baked Stuffed California Dover $29.95
Stuffed with Baby Bay Shrimp, Blue Crab and Brie Cheese

Yay, finally perfect! hah

Obviously for those two hiccups, the restaurant did two comps, Dan's entree and the Baked Alaska.

Baked Alaska

It was my first time having a Baked Alaska and it was yummmy! Ice cream, meringue, and rum. Hence, the flames. They comp this too if it's a special occasion like a birthday or anniversary. Can see why it's a popular spot^^

Metro Cafe

Metro Cafe
11188 Washington Place
Culver City, California 90232
(310) 559-6821

Alright, just a heads up. If you just write 11188 Washington, you will get lost. Don't be like me and shorthand these directions to save time, you will get lost because of the confusion of either turning on Washington Place or Washington Boulevard, hah.

Besides that, this is a nice breakfast cafe to stop at for some bomb pancakes and other treats. I also heard great reviews about their dinner menu since that is when they bust out the traditional Serbian dishes. Never had it before, but sounds darn good.

Anyways, since I was stopping by for the breakfast. I wanted to try the Banana House Special which I heard great reviews about. Since I was running late, I had my friend order for me but she accidentally ordered just the plain banana pancakes. Which by the way was delish, I never seen so much bananas packed into a pancake before. MmMmmm...

But, of course being the fatty that I am, I still placed an order for the Banana House Special. How much better could it get? Oh, much better. Everyone at the table was aiming their forks at it. Nice and warm sauteed bananas. Sauteed in what? Rumor has it brandy, brown sugar, and butter. I little desserty, so beware. But, sooooo good. It's now on my top three banana pancakes list.

Country Scramble $9.95
Scrambled eggs with ground turkey, fresh spinach, mushrooms, onions and fresh tomato
Comes with breakfast potatoes and toast


Banana Pancakes (3) $6.95


Sauteed Banana House Special (3) $7.50

A must for all banana pancake fans!

Bravo Farms

Bravo Farms
36005 Highway 99
Traver, California 93673
(559) 897-5762

I've traveled many times up North on the Interstate 5, except this time instead of going to Berkeley or SF, my stop was Fresno. To go to Fresno, you diverge from Interstate 5 onto Highway 99. While cruising along, you always see signs to stop by a local farm. Eh, I normally brush them off because I am so impatient and want to get to my destination quick. Well, we were starting to get hungry and a Bravo Farms ad came up about their great cheese. My friend, Rikki loves cheese, so I suggested maybe we do a stop. No kidding, 10 signs later it's telling us to stop at Bravo Farms because they have date shakes (OoOOo), nuts, fruits, a petting zoo, playground, ice cream shop, cafe, wine, and etc. We were cracking up with each sign. We thought the place would be ridiculous and lame, but stopped anyways. Boy, were we pleasantly surprised!



This place is way cute and has so much collectibles. We spent over an hour there and didn't even realize it. We wanted to stay longer too, but sadly I had an appointment I needed to get to :(



After browsing around, we finally sat down in the ice cream parlor and ordered some food and of course DATE SHAKES. I've never heard of such thing, I must have some now^^

Water


Date Shake $4.75

Can you see the pieces of dates in it? It's more like a vanilla malt shake with a hint of date, but still darn good even though they only put 4 dates in it. Yes, four! I counted :P

BLT $7.95
Crispy smoked bacon, lettuce, and tomato served on a bread of your choice.

My friend told me it was yummy. Bacon was just right. Oh my gosh, their fries are yummy because of the seasoning they use

Good Ol Mac N Cheese $7.95
Golden brown mac and cheese made with a blend of their gourmet cheeses. Choice of side.

Very cheesy and can tell they used the good stuff^^

Afterwards, stop by their market. They have some amazing stuff there. Their toasted almonds are worth the splurge. They have many different types of creative jams to choose from and the list goes on and on.

Eva's A Caribbean Kitchen

Eva's A Caribbean Kitchen
31732 South Pacific Coast Highway
Laguna Beach, California 92651
(949) 499-6311

Had dinner here after visiting the Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach. This is a few miles out from the main streets of Laguna Beach, but it's well worth it. Take the lovely shuttle bus service that is offered for free all the way down to South PCH. It was my first time taking it and I really enjoyed seeing the south parts of Laguna. We arrived early to the place and was pleased to find out they did have vegetarian options here, no other than from Eva herself. We had about 30 mins to kill and discovered Table Rock Beach, which is located at the end of Table Rock Drive. Very nice and filled with the locals, for sure do a stop.



Once time passed, we were ready to order in this cute restaurant. I really only wanted one thing, the Cajun Prawns. Even though it is an appetizer, I heard such awesome reviews about it on Yelp that I made it my main dish along with a side. Also, check out their rum drinks. Heard great reviews about them, but didn't get to check it out.

Ginger Beer $5.00

Even though this isn't a beer and just a ginger soda, it did not disappoint. A nice dash of ginger. I thought it was worth the $5 (sort of hah) and was really refreshing.

House Bread

Freshly baked!

Side of Plantians $4.50

Not dry at all like some places


Cajun Prawns $11.50
Black Tiger Shrimp, marinated in lime, garlic, and chili and then dredged in Cajun spices and seared in a black skillet

Oh man, this was amazing! Thank you Eva and thank you Yelp. I can't even describe how awesome the combined spices were, you must check it out yourself. I basically ate all the spices by using their bread to soak it all up hah^^

Tofu Creole $14

My friend enjoyed it. I had a bite though and it was so bland compared to my Cajun Prawns. Probably should of tried it before having my dish hah. If Eva did a tofu dish combined with the cajun spices from the prawns dish, I would be in heaven.

Zucchini Nachos at the OC Fair

Everyone loves the OC Fair, right? I've been kind of eh about it. But, my friend really wanted to go this year. The OC Fair has countless options of what to eat, so I started researching ahead of time. I stumbled upon Food Frenzy blog about the OC Fair highlights and became aware of ZUCCHINI NACHOS. Wow, my eyes grew with hunger and next thing I knew I was on the road towards Costa Mesa.

Chicken Charlie's was what I was looking out for. I actually saw two on the fair grounds, but wouldn't be surprised if there are more. Each stand kind of sells different things, so don't just assume they will have what you want like I did hah.



Zucchini Nachos $9.75
Battered fried zucchini topped with nacho cheese, bacon bits, and jalapenos (I got it without bacon bits)

I liked it. Would get this over nachos because it's "healthier" hah. Of course, was not enjoying the price, damn OC Fair!

Friend wanted greek food, but was not impressed along with being wallet raped



Gyros Sandwich ~$9

Was told it was not so great. I had some of their Falafel sandwich and the Tzatziki sauce they use is nasty. Do not get it!

Cupcakes!! Here, you "build" your own cupcakes. You can't go wrong, right? You can choose from mini or regular. I went with a mini cupcake just to check out if they were legit. You pick what kind of cupcake, what kind of frosting, and what kind of topping. This place was surprisingly yummy, so order away!



Mini Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting Topped with Oeros $2

MMmmmm...too bad I was so full that I couldn't order another.

Those who like frosting, get a frosting shot for a $1.50



Can never pass these up! hah

After stuffing your face, you for sure need to walk it out. Forget the petting zoo, I've always been a sucker for infomercials and the OC Fair has a crazy expo for it. We were lost in there for hours and came out with too many goodies.

There isn't much time left to go folks, so get moving!

OC Fair
88 Fair Drive
Costa Mesa, California 92626