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!

Mother's Day Treats at Costco

Hey everyone! It's Friday before Mother's Day and do you have a plan or a gift? Well, I kind of do. We're going to be have brunch at my cousins' home with my extended family. We'll drink lots and lots of champagne because that's essential for Sunday brunch and any celebration and have lots of yummy food. I volunteered to bring something sweet like cinnamon rolls and an egg dish. I think I'm going to bring this one. 

I was at Costco a couple of days ago (Mission Valley location) and saw all of the special treats that they make just for Mother's Day. They were dipping strawberries and shortbread cookies in chocolate, YUM. I look forward to those shortbread cookies all year long. There were flowers everywhere, even near the mattresses.  I also saw some other items that could be incorporated this Sunday if you're staying home. I hope this list of goodies helps you out and I wish you all a very happy Mother's Day! 

This is the first time I've seen Kirkland Prosecco. The price is right so I'm going to have to try it. Duh. 

This cake is so beautiful! It's a Starr Culinary Delight Lemon Raspberry Cake. It's only $8.69. This would pair nicely with Prosecco.

These beauties are new to me. They're $7.99 for the 6 pack. I think I'm going to buy these to serve instead of cinnamon rolls. It's my Mother's Day too after all so I think a store bought item is in order. I'm thinking about how delicious they'll be all warmed up. Yum.

Only $9.99 for these hand dipped long stem strawberries.... Can't beat that.

Finally! These are here! Short bread cookies dipped in chocolate.  Mmmmmm....

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!