85C Bakery & Cafe

Hey!!! Long time no see! Forgive me? 

A couple of months ago I checked out this new bakery in Clairemont.  It's got great coffee, savory foods, sweet treats, and beautiful cakes for special occasions. 

I loved that it reminded me of a panaderia but it was Asian.  I liked the self serve and the very reasonable prices.  I purchased five pastries and a coffee and spent about $12. That's tough to beat.  Check out my photos and then check out 85C Bakery and Cafe. Enjoy! 

Sea 180 Coastal Tavern

Last weekend we ventured down to Imperial Beach to check out the surf dog competition. It was all sorts of cutes with different breeds of dogs actually surfing. I heard the announcers say hang 20. We'll be going back next year but we'll get there early so we can find parking and stake out a primo viewing spot on the beach. We watched from the pier which was still nice. 

Around lunchtime, we went to Sea 180, located in the Pier South Resort. The resort is part of  the Marriott Autograph Collection and just recently opened in January 2014. My husband and I are definitely going to stay there for a night or two soon. It's location is perfect, right on the beach and surrounded by fun places to eat like Cow-A-Bunga ice cream, Babycakes Bakery, Coronado Brewing Company (coming soon across the street,) and Sea 180, another Cohn jewel, on hotel property and directly on the beach. 

Sea 180 is a Cohn restaurant and that group also includes BO Beau and 100 Wines, a couple of my very favorite restaurants. I knew when I saw Brussels sprouts and flatbreads on the menu, I was going to be a happy camper. I love ordering those items at BO Beau too! One of the best features of Sea 180 is the ocean view. I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of it. The patio is right on the sand! 

The one of the left is what my husband and I shared. It's a Korean BBQ Pulled Pork Flatbread. It was sweet and savory and tangy. I will 100% order it again and again. Our friends ordered the one on the right, Meatball Flatbread, which the menu describes as "smoked tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and charred peppers." Our friends loved it. 

You guys, I was so in love, I took a close up of a slice. See the little greens? They added the perfect amount of herby freshness to the dish.

I didn't drink but everyone else did.  This is the red sangria. Doesn't it look beautiful and refreshing? I hear it was.

THE Brussels. There were four of us and we already knew how we felt about these. We couldn't split one dish four ways so we had to order two orders. Honestly, we could have ordered one more and it wouldn't have gone to waste. If you have not eaten Brussels at BO Beau or Sea 180 (they're similar) make it a point to do so. These are not your average veggie side. These are crispy, sweet, salty, amazingness.  TRUST ME.

The orange colored drink was their fancied up version of a tequila sunrise. I had a sip and thought it was delicious. 

That's my son on the left eating the french fries, more specifically, garlic herb fries. They came with lime aioli which I liked. My son didn't bother with it but he's a purest and doesn't dip anything.

Once we completed our meal we headed over to Cow A Bunga and ordered their famous ice cream. I had two scoops of peanut butter brownie. It was one of the creamiest ice creams I've ever had. For all of you ice cream fans and even if you're not (they have great coffee and chai tea drinks) you need to head on down to try this little place by the pier.

The sandcastles are being built in Imperial Beach starting tomorrow and the celebrations continue through Saturday at least. Here's the link to IB Sun & Sea Festival. While you're there check out Sea 180 (I'm urging you to make a reservation) for brunch or lunch or dinner and make sure to sit on the patio for the best view and then head on over to get your ice cream at Cow A Bunga.  Or if you're a cupcake fan, there's Babycakes.  Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Ironside Fish and Oysters

I was feeling like I hadn't ventured out and tried anything new in a while. The other night when my friend suggested Ironside for dinner, I jumped at the chance. I told myself I would remember to take pictures of all the food and make to post it! A few weeks ago I was in San Francisco and I remembered to take photos but then my phone died and there went all my delicious food pics. Waaaaah.  

How cool are these lights in the bar? The place has a cool vibe and is decorated with lots of stacked luggage. Fun, right? We were originally seated in the bar but asked to move to the dining room when we ordered our entrees and second round of drinks. 

Oysters are in the name of the restaurant, so we had to order some. Since none of us knew what type of oysters to order, we requested a variety. I preferred the smaller ones.  Oysters were served with a mignonette sauce, lemons, horseradish, and Tabasco. Sorry my friends, no cocktail sauce at Ironside. I enjoyed the oysters immensly and wondered why I don't eat them more often. Gotta do that.

This is the clam chowder and it was excellent.  The way it was served with clams in the shell made it a little fancy, which I appreciated. There was pork and cheddar and potatoes in the delish chowder. Something that we all loved was that the soup wasn't thick. I highly recommend this.

One of my friends splurged and ordered the lobster, grilled. She said she enjoyed it.

Across the table, you can see the kale salad my friend ordered.  She said it was excellent and it was enough to take home and eat for two lunches. Nice! I ordered the beer braised mussels with sausage. DELICIOUS! The broth was heavenly. I only wished I had more bread so I could sop it all up. 

Well friends, if you love seafood, I recommend you get out to Ironside in Little Italy. May I also suggest you use opentable.com and make a reservation? The place gets packed.

Enjoy!

Brunch at 100 Wines

I've got a recommendation for all you brunch fans! You've got to check out 100 Wines in Hillcrest. This jewel is another wonderful Cohn restaurant, I love that group. I thought the space was beautiful and the menu was diverse. As soon as we finished up our meal, I was texting my girlfriends about this place, noting the $1 mimosas and scrumptious food. Enjoy!

This patio has so much character. It's the perfect place to enjoy $1 juicy mimosas or the $2 shabby pink champagne, my favorite. 

Mmmmmm, a delicious and gorgeously plated croque madam. Each forkful was dipped in mustard and enjoyed. I'll be ordering this again.

Cinnamon rolls baked fresh to order, butter cinnamon swirl, vanilla icing, and candied pecans. You can add bruleed bananas, gelato, or nutella. This was fantastic. My little boy gobbled it up. 

Osso buco Eggs Benedict, pork osso buco, Tabasco hollandaise sauce, English muffins, with mixed greens. I've never had Tabasco hollandaise. It was outstanding. It was a nice bright note to the creamy sauce.  

Apple butter hot cakes topped with tart cherry preserves and a side of maple sausage. My friend commented that these were the best pancakes he had ever eaten. Wow! They were really good. I was in love with the tart cherry preserves. Normally I don't care for fruit on my pancakes but this, this was wonderful. You've got to try it! 

Sublime Tavern

You guys! This is my first post where a restaurant invited me to a complimentary tasting! Let me reassure you that all opinions are my own.

The owner of Sublime Tavern, James said that he studied with a French chef to perfect his menu. You'll see, as I experienced, that the food at Sublime Tavern is elevated because of the attention to detail. And to top it all off, this is a family-friendly environment. You can bring your kids. Awesome! They've also got some great spaces for private parties. The patio is enclosed and overlooks the polo fields in Del Mar. It's great!

Ok now, on to my photos and how delicious everything was and how impressed I was with the staff. I brought my 5 year old son and mother-in-law with me for a second and third opinion!

Sublime Tavern offers a large selection of craft beers from the local favorites Ballast Point Sculpin IPA to Stone selections, Societe beers, and many many others. If you're a beer lover, you'll be happy. I tried something new, Rip Current Vanilla Storm. Wow! It was dark and tasted like vanilla coffee. I really enjoyed it. Thanks to my server for the recommendation. She also recommended a wine my mother-in-law liked.

an imperial stout with coffee and vanilla

We all enjoyed our food. Sublime Tavern put out a buffet of truffle fries, mac n' cheese, chicken fingers, and pizza for the children.  My son gobbled it all up. He told me the pizza was his favorite ... he is, after all, a pizza connoisseur.

We were served four courses and each course consisted of two items. The first course was homemade focaccia sticks and Belgian style truffle fries. Both were perfectly crispy and all together addictive. I had to control how much I ate because I knew three more courses were coming. 

homemade focaccia sticks

truffle fries

The second course consisted of salads, a wild arugula salad and a spinach salad.  My mother in law was ranting and raving about the spinach, declaring it was her new favorite. When the server came to clear the salads, she made sure she took another heaping serving. I think the minted sherry vinaigrette made it rather special and unique. The arugula salad was well balanced. The arugula was bitter and the bleu cheese was creamy and tangy, while the pears were nice and sweet. The crunch of the toasted almonds complimented it nicely.

bartlett pears, bleu cheese crumbles, toasted walnuts, blueberry pomegranate vinaigrette 

baby organic spinach, warm goat cheese, fuji apples, crispy bacon, toasted almonds, minted sherry vinaigrette

Next they brought out Get Figgy With It Pizza and Ecstacy Mac n' Cheese. The pizza was a perfect combination of salty, sweet, and bitter. The mac n' cheese was incredibly decadent. I did have another little scoop of the mac because it was that good. Comfort food, my friends, comfort food. I've been looking at the menu online and saw that they offer many varieties of mac n' cheese.  There's one called Rapture Mac n' Cheese and it's got pulled pork and caramelized onion and parsley.  I gotta go back! 

figs, prosciutto, balsamic glaze, olive oil, and garlic base

gorgonzola bechamel, applewood smoked bacon, mushrooms, roasted red pepper, garlic thyme 

Last came two entrees, braised boneless beef short ribs over mashed potatoes and their vegan coastal bounty. The short ribs were falling apart tender and nicely seasoned. The potatoes were a perfect consistency. Now, I was really impressed with the vegan coastal bounty. The lemongrass coconut sauce was so so good flavorful.

braised boneless beef short rib, caramelized shallot whipped potatoes, bleu cheese crusted green beans, red wine reduction

corn and ginger with quinoa, lemongrass coconut sauce, wild mushroom and mixed beets

I'm already planning when I'm coming back and who I'm bringing with me. I'm thinking I'll be meeting some friends here with my son and my husband and I'll also be meeting some girlfriends to have a beer and that vegan coastal bounty. They're going to love it. You're going to love it too. Enjoy!

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at The Headquarters

Sunday night we had the privilege of attending the ribbon cutting ceremony for The Headquarters at Seaport District. It was a great event that showcased the restaurants and retail occupying San Diego's Old Police Headquarters and really celebrated the SDPD history of that location. Yes we did have our photos taken in a jail cell with actor inmates and our drinks were served by bartenders dressed in SDPD's old tan uniforms. It was very very cool.

It's open! It's finally open!

There are many fabulous restaurants occupying The Headquarters and our first stop was Pizzeria Mozza. We got inside and my husband made a reservation for next weekend and I went straight to the counter to watch the cooks using the pizza oven. We were served refreshing spritzers, savory pizza, and their famous butterscotch budino. People! You need to try their budino! It's a thick velvety pudding topped with a caramel sauce and rosemary pine-nut cookie. 

I snapped an action shot of the pizza oven on overdrive.

Fennel and sausage pizza, really fresh. 

This is THE budino. Try it. 

Our next stop was Puesto. We have eaten at their La Jolla location so we knew what to expect, delicious tacos and drinks. That's exactly what we were served. What was new to us was the space and the design of Puesto. It's great! It's industrial and contemporary and the perfect spot to visit with your friends and family. There are many stylish sitting areas, inside and out. 

Just one of the sitting areas.

See the black and white floor? That's tile. Pretty cool.

Tacos al pastor and chile relleno. 

I've never eaten at Seasons 52 but have been wanting to. I thought I'd wait for The Headquarters location to open. Last night their staff was offering desserts. My husband tried the cannoli and I jumped at the pecan pie with vanilla mousse. OMG... So good. I'm looking forward to returning and trying their full menu where they proclaim all items are less than 475 calories. I've heard nothing but good reviews and can't wait to come back. 

Cheesecake Factory is one of the big anchor tenants at The Headquarters. Of course it is. They are famous for their big delicious entrees and their desserts. Guess what I sampled? Rich, creamy, dense chocolate cheesecake. Because The Headquarters is a historic building, the Cheesecake Factory had to do some custom design for this very special location. I must say that I think it's their best one. 

I was sad to see that Eddie V's won't be open until Februrary 2014. However, that is perfect timing for our wedding anniversary. ;) Even though their space isn't ready, the staff from Eddie V's was out in full effect offering succulent scallops for us to try. Delicious, and I can't wait for the grand opening.  

Delicious bite

In addition to all the restaurants, The Headquarters has specialty food shops and retail like Kitson, The Sunglass Hut, Venissimo Cheese, Geppettos, Starbucks and more.We loved it all. 

Venissimo Cheese

The night ended with a special performance by The Temptations and a sky full of fireworks. It was quite the evening and I hope that you will be enjoying The Headquarters at Seaport District. You'll have to see the transformation for yourself. The restaurants, the retail, the plaza, the fountains, everything. Enjoy! 

Fireworks over Puesto