btw. . .I guess we should clarify price ranges. Generally this means:
$ = less than $20 per person
$$ = $20 - $30 per person
$$$ = anything over $30 per person
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Coming Soon. . .
Next Reviews:
Phil's BBQ- American: chicken, ribs, etc.
Rambutan- Thai/Asian-Fusion
Tampopo- Japanese Ramen No longer operating.
Tamaya- Japanese Ramen and Rice Dishes
Coffee Break- Chinese teahouse style food/drinks
Guppies- Asian teahouse, snacks, drinks I no longer want to write a detailed review for this place but here's the gist of what I think of this place: You can find a dozens of teahouses that are cheaper and serve better tasting food than this place. Avoid at all cost.
Phil's BBQ- American: chicken, ribs, etc.
Rambutan- Thai/Asian-Fusion
Monday, March 10, 2008
EXTRAORDINARY DESSERTS
Extraordinary Desserts, San Diego
Website
Location:
Little Italy, San Diego
1430 Union Street
San Diego, CA 92101
This is an upscale, gourmet dessert place that also serves gourmet teas, snacks and sandwiches. We went here when visiting a friend in San Diego who told us that we HAD to try this place. It definitely had a very upscale feel to it. At the front of the restaurant is the display of all their cakes, cupcakes and other desserts.
Cakes range in price depending on size, roughly it is about $35 for a 6" round cake to about $50 for "10. Per slice, it is about $8. They have a HUGE selection of desserts that are all verryy appealing and it was difficult to choose considering that coming here would definitely be only on rare occasions. So after we came we waited to be seated by our server. The have a wide variety of teas and finally settled on a passion fruit tea.
Also on the menu were a varity of small snacks and spreads. We chose to order the parmesan pesto spread ($8) that comes with bread & cie bread (bread & cie is a local bakery in San Diego that is known for their bread. Oh and it IS really good!), and rigatoni chips. I can't really describe the taste of the spread because its really different from what I've ever had and what I expected.
My friend Dez ordered a grilled cheese ($8) sandwich which IS NOT like your typical, everyday grilled cheese sandwich because if it was it would be difficult to think why any SANE person would pay $8 for a grilled cheese sandwich. I don't remember what they put in their but it was THEE BEST grilled cheese sandwich I've ever had.
And finally...we get to dessert!!!
We ordered the Pavlova
The Passion Fruit Torte
We also ordered a slice of Ivoire Imperial BUT I don't have a picture for that. When I find it I will put it up. Let's start with the Pavlova. It is a meringue type of dessert. Inside it is filled with a white chocolate creme and topped with a variety of fruit and a pretty orchid flower. Our server told us this was one of the more popular desserts. It's definitely beautiful to look at but we found the filling to be a bit too sweet for our taste. The Passion fruit ricotta torte definitely had a lighter, delicate taste than the other two desserts. It is made of ricotta cake layers soaked in passion fruit juice and layered in passion fruit flavored whipped creme, kiwis and strawberries. This dessert had a more simple presentation, but it was also the only one we finished because the other two desserts were very rich. The Ivoire Imperial was also delicious but also rich in taste. It is made of pound cake soaked in vanilla bean, layered in white chocolate mouse, rasberries and cranberries then topped with white chocolate shavings and...24K gold coated roses and shavings?? Apparently they spare no expense when they decorate their cakes. I was confused if it was real gold or not, if I was allowed to eat, if I had to return it to them. . . obviously it was a first for me to have my food decorated in gold.
Price: $$
For dessert, it is a little on the pricey side but not so much that you can't indulge yourself every once in a while.
Recommended:
Definitely. Personally Jim and I prefer Asian cakes because they are not too sweet. The food here was delicious, if a bit on the pricey side for what it was. The desserts were wonderful in both taste and presentation. The cakes were a little richer than I'd like but the servings were big so you can probably eat a little bit of it and take the rest home. I think this place is a definite MUST try the next time you find yourself in San Diego.
Website
Location:
Little Italy, San Diego
1430 Union Street
San Diego, CA 92101
This is an upscale, gourmet dessert place that also serves gourmet teas, snacks and sandwiches. We went here when visiting a friend in San Diego who told us that we HAD to try this place. It definitely had a very upscale feel to it. At the front of the restaurant is the display of all their cakes, cupcakes and other desserts.
Cakes range in price depending on size, roughly it is about $35 for a 6" round cake to about $50 for "10. Per slice, it is about $8. They have a HUGE selection of desserts that are all verryy appealing and it was difficult to choose considering that coming here would definitely be only on rare occasions. So after we came we waited to be seated by our server. The have a wide variety of teas and finally settled on a passion fruit tea.
Also on the menu were a varity of small snacks and spreads. We chose to order the parmesan pesto spread ($8) that comes with bread & cie bread (bread & cie is a local bakery in San Diego that is known for their bread. Oh and it IS really good!), and rigatoni chips. I can't really describe the taste of the spread because its really different from what I've ever had and what I expected.
My friend Dez ordered a grilled cheese ($8) sandwich which IS NOT like your typical, everyday grilled cheese sandwich because if it was it would be difficult to think why any SANE person would pay $8 for a grilled cheese sandwich. I don't remember what they put in their but it was THEE BEST grilled cheese sandwich I've ever had.
And finally...we get to dessert!!!
We ordered the Pavlova
The Passion Fruit Torte
We also ordered a slice of Ivoire Imperial BUT I don't have a picture for that. When I find it I will put it up. Let's start with the Pavlova. It is a meringue type of dessert. Inside it is filled with a white chocolate creme and topped with a variety of fruit and a pretty orchid flower. Our server told us this was one of the more popular desserts. It's definitely beautiful to look at but we found the filling to be a bit too sweet for our taste. The Passion fruit ricotta torte definitely had a lighter, delicate taste than the other two desserts. It is made of ricotta cake layers soaked in passion fruit juice and layered in passion fruit flavored whipped creme, kiwis and strawberries. This dessert had a more simple presentation, but it was also the only one we finished because the other two desserts were very rich. The Ivoire Imperial was also delicious but also rich in taste. It is made of pound cake soaked in vanilla bean, layered in white chocolate mouse, rasberries and cranberries then topped with white chocolate shavings and...24K gold coated roses and shavings?? Apparently they spare no expense when they decorate their cakes. I was confused if it was real gold or not, if I was allowed to eat, if I had to return it to them. . . obviously it was a first for me to have my food decorated in gold.
Price: $$
For dessert, it is a little on the pricey side but not so much that you can't indulge yourself every once in a while.
Recommended:
Definitely. Personally Jim and I prefer Asian cakes because they are not too sweet. The food here was delicious, if a bit on the pricey side for what it was. The desserts were wonderful in both taste and presentation. The cakes were a little richer than I'd like but the servings were big so you can probably eat a little bit of it and take the rest home. I think this place is a definite MUST try the next time you find yourself in San Diego.
KADO
\
KADO - Los Angeles
Sushi, Teppan, Lounge
website
Location:
6333 West Third Street
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Hours:
Sun. - Thurs. : 11:30 am - 10 pm
Fri. - Sat. : 11:30 am - 11 pm
This is yet another sushi/teppan grill place and will be the last place of this kind we will review in a while. Kado features Teppan style dining, a revolving sushi bar and a full service lounge.
Food:
We ordered grilled salmon, with a wasabi and herb rub, served with chinese broccoli and garlic mashed potatoes.
We also ordered the roasted half chicken served with roasted herb potatos, japanese mushroom/basil sauce and asparagus.
The roasted half chicken was really delicious. It was moist and flavorful and probably the best part of our whole dining experience. The grilled salmon was "alright" but it didn't really have much flavor and I didn't really like the balsamic vinigar sauce underneath. We had also ordered salmon sashimi which was mediocre. For the price, I would expect the cut to be better and the fish more fresh. On a positive note we did get free dessert and we chose the creme brulee.
Ambience:
It has an Asian-Fusion trendy upscale decor. They have a revolving sushi bar which would be more interesting if it had interesting items placed on it, but it had you're normal spicy tuna roll, california roll, etc. type of sushi. For a Thursday night this place was very quiet and only a few customers. On weekdays they have all you can eat sushi lunch for I think around $20 per person.
Service:
It was okay...our waitress was courteous and helpful, but considering they had verrry few customers it's hard to judge the service.
Price: $$-$$$
Expensive for what it is. We don't mind spending a bit if the food is worth it, but this place unlike Tuna Town is one of those trendy, expensive Japanese restaurants with mediocre food. The only memorable thing about it is that I thought the roasted chicken was really delicious.
Recommended?
Well, the place was not bad in itself but there really wasn't anything to set this place apart from other Japanese restaurants. As much as I liked the chicken, I don't think it's enough to warrant driving all the way out to L.A. and facing that traffic so that I can eat here. It was also expensive which the food does not justify enough for us to eat there again. So next time we'll pass on KADO and spend our money elsewhere.
KADO - Los Angeles
Sushi, Teppan, Lounge
website
Location:
6333 West Third Street
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Hours:
Sun. - Thurs. : 11:30 am - 10 pm
Fri. - Sat. : 11:30 am - 11 pm
This is yet another sushi/teppan grill place and will be the last place of this kind we will review in a while. Kado features Teppan style dining, a revolving sushi bar and a full service lounge.
Food:
We ordered grilled salmon, with a wasabi and herb rub, served with chinese broccoli and garlic mashed potatoes.
We also ordered the roasted half chicken served with roasted herb potatos, japanese mushroom/basil sauce and asparagus.
The roasted half chicken was really delicious. It was moist and flavorful and probably the best part of our whole dining experience. The grilled salmon was "alright" but it didn't really have much flavor and I didn't really like the balsamic vinigar sauce underneath. We had also ordered salmon sashimi which was mediocre. For the price, I would expect the cut to be better and the fish more fresh. On a positive note we did get free dessert and we chose the creme brulee.
Ambience:
It has an Asian-Fusion trendy upscale decor. They have a revolving sushi bar which would be more interesting if it had interesting items placed on it, but it had you're normal spicy tuna roll, california roll, etc. type of sushi. For a Thursday night this place was very quiet and only a few customers. On weekdays they have all you can eat sushi lunch for I think around $20 per person.
Service:
It was okay...our waitress was courteous and helpful, but considering they had verrry few customers it's hard to judge the service.
Price: $$-$$$
Expensive for what it is. We don't mind spending a bit if the food is worth it, but this place unlike Tuna Town is one of those trendy, expensive Japanese restaurants with mediocre food. The only memorable thing about it is that I thought the roasted chicken was really delicious.
Recommended?
Well, the place was not bad in itself but there really wasn't anything to set this place apart from other Japanese restaurants. As much as I liked the chicken, I don't think it's enough to warrant driving all the way out to L.A. and facing that traffic so that I can eat here. It was also expensive which the food does not justify enough for us to eat there again. So next time we'll pass on KADO and spend our money elsewhere.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
