What did you eat this weekend?

[Granite]

Anyone else popping the Tums right now?

What did you eat this weekend?

I went to Bencotto for the first time yesterday (lunch) and it was divine.

[jmtreg]

Saturday - went to Perry's for brunch, where I had the "Mexican fritatta" - which is neither all that Mexican or a fritattta, but still pretty good. For dinner, I walked over to Saffron and had ra-na noodles with chicken, and then for dessert, I had blackberry sorbetto from Gelato Vero.

On Sunday, I went to the Hillcrest Farmer's Market, and had cactus and squash blossom quesadillas. For dinner, I made a simple pasta dish with some Mona Lisa hot sausage and canned tomatoes, and then had some strawberries for dessert.

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Hillcrest Farmer's Market
San Diego CA, San Diego, CA

[littlestevie]

Sunday, Olivenhain Brat and Beer fest. mmmm. And to start the day off right, Encinitas Fireman's pancake breakfast in the 7-11 parking lot on D street.

[Lynnester]

Antica Trattoria for lasagna. Got my fix.

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Antica Trattoria
5654 Lake Murray Blvd La, Mesa, CA

[Ewilensky]

Market salad, brunoverdi and marinara pizza from Bruno's. Bistro salad from Cafe Chloe. Grilled fish tacos for friends and family Saturday night and ate the leftovers Sunday (and probably tonight as well).

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Cafe Chloe
721 9th Ave, San Diego, CA 92101

[JRSD]

Did your lasagna taste like it was made to order? I love the pasta at Antica, but was pretty disappointed in the lasagna - the noodles were kind of soggy and kind of rubbery in parts.

[steveprez]

I had an incredible taco made by an 8 year old girl. Did an Adventure Princess father/daughter camping weekend at Catalina. There's a "tribe" that every campout does "10 O'clock Tacos" on Saturday for the whole "nation". It was "street-style" with pork carnitas with shredded cheese and they had onion/cilantro relish and one of the dads makes his own home-made hot sauce. I know that sometimes camping makes mediocre food taste better but this was seriously one of the best tacos I've ever eaten. Made me realize just how much I've come to appreciate Mexican cuisine since moving to San Diego!

[MrKrispy]

Had Fennel frites at Neighborhood, but that was it because the cooks forgot the rest of the order and then it was closing time. Ah well.

I made a chimichurri flank steak...damn I could eat that every week!

[Granite]

That's too bad. Was there Friday and had some great eats and drinks. Did you enjoy the frites at least?

Also hit up Lefty's for a thin slice of pepperoni on Sunday.

[JRSD]

I had sweet potato pancakes at Tyler's Taste of Texas in El Cajon. The pancakes were very good, had a nice sweet potato-ey flavor. Some interesting takes on breakfasts like huevos rancheros on top of corned beef hash patties, homemade biscuits and some other Southern items.

Anyone looking for a diner would find that this place fits the bill - open 24 hours with all of the classic diner fare and items like chicken-fried steak, hush puppies, fried green tomatoes.

Enjoyed it more than Perrys or La Mesa Bistro which had been my close by coffeshop/diner breakfasts. Anyone tried their fried catfish or beef ribs?

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Tyler's Taste of Texas
576 N 2nd St, El Cajon, CA 92021

[Fake Name]

Tyler's has become an early morning stop (like, 430 or 5) on my way out to ride in the desert. Their ham steak is indeed very large.

[RB Hound]

I ate at Cheesecake Factory. We waited an hour and a half for a table, but boy was it worth it. I had a yummy Memphis Burger and Red Velvet Cheesecake for dessert.

[toutefrite]

Went to Azucar for the first time. The strawberry scone was hands down the best I have every had in a bakery. Buttery and tender. THe cream cheese roll was also perfect.... the pastry was perfectly crisp and buttery with a layer of hard sugar that shattered with each bite. DH, had the Cubano sandwich. Very tasty, the mojo sauce a bit overwhelming though.

[Fake Name]

Friday was Cucina Urbana, Saturday was Brunos! And I just had an excellent roast chicken I prepared here. Some rolled tacos, two donuts from Mary's, and other miscellany.

[notjustastomach]

Didn't go out this weekend. Instead we made:
Caesar Salad from the old Time Life Foods of the World series recipe
Pasta alle Vongole
Frittata with Zucchini & Red Peppers
Braised Escarole
and Almond Tuiles filled with lots and lots of strawberries & creme fraiche

[Granite]

Whoa, host a festa and invite me!

Hey Josh, thanks for the tip. Have you ever heard of people feeling intoxicated from eating pho? I thought maybe MSG could do it.

[MrKrispy]

hey that has happened to me a couple of times, both from a Pho place on Mira Mesa Blvd just past the mall. I had to go back to work, that wasn't fun!

[Granite]

Really? Man, I felt like I was roofied...! WTF?

[foodiechick]

Sounds like a satiating weekend, but what did YOU eat at Cucina Urbana? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Granite]

I really don't care too much for CU. Been a couple times, the food was always good, but it didn't do much for me. Bencotto is more my style with very simple Italian food done right, I feel like CU is a little more innovative with their dishes, and that's not what I'm looking for w/Italian.

Oh! Did have some spicy pork miso ramen from Tajima on Friday night. Always a pleasure.

[Josh]

Today:
Big Easy for brunch. Wife and I had bananas foster waffle, beignets & veggie scramble. Waffle was ok. The topping was really good, but the waffle itself was too leaden and bready. Beignets were fantastic - especially dunked in the chicory coffee. Veggie scramble was surprisingly good, would definitely get this again.

5th Avenue Pho for dinner (think that's the name). Really good. Great addition to the neighborhood. Less fancy than Saigon, but a cut above the average pho place in terms of ingredients. We will be regulars here for sure.

[Granite]

Josh, can you make a pho recommendation for me? The couple times I've eaten it I felt like I was missing something. The last time I ate it, I had some weird reaction where things got kinda trippy for a sec.

Also this weekend: A chicago hot dog AND Kabe Korean BBQ taco truck in less than 8 hours. =( Suffice it to say I'm out of Tums!

[Josh]

Hm. Not sure what to say there, pho is a favorite food of mine, but I know some people can be pretty underwhelmed by it. The broth is important, and some places do it better than others. There's more on the menu than pho, though, and you might like other dishes.

The place is on 5th and Robinson, and I'd suggest just trying whatever looks interesting to you. Both times now I've had the Bun Tom Nuong, which is awesome. It's kind of like a salad made with a 50/50 blend of cool rice noodles and fresh lettuce, with other shredded veggies, peanuts, and grilled shrimp. It comes with a fish sauce/rice vinegar dressing.

[cstr]

eggplant pizza.

[foodiechick]

Good question. Love Bencotto, what did you order?

Veal cheeks then a pineapple galette at lunch yesterday on the deck at A.R. Valentien after taking in the Chihuly exhibit at The Salk. Pretty decadent day.

[Granite]

We started off with pecorino al tartufo aged with truffles and served with clover honey and honeyed black pepper pears! This might be the best cheese I've ever had at a restaurant. It was served at a proper temperature and was sharp and tangy and had large truffle shavings and intense flavor throughout.

Then we split the Gemelli with Bencotto sauce (tomato cream/panchetta). It was hands down delicious. Cooked perfectly, not over sauced... I thought of Mario Batali's never ending reminder: 'the pasta is the main dish, the sauce is a condiment.' This was absulutely true at Bencotto, and the only way you can really pull off such a thing is if you have stellar pasta, which they do.

Portions and prices were great, IMO, although I wish that prosecco was a little less than 10 bucks a glass...

[foodiechick]

Well, your description has sold me. We are going to have to try that cheese when we return next time.