This is Not Ridiculous *Horny,* I Don't Believe in Retail Therapy, & Good Eats @ San Marcos Brewery...

Before I write about yesterday's best laid plans, to the accidental readers who found this post looking for "sex with giant clams," or "sex with geoduck," I'm sorry to have disappointed you.

NOT.

Moving right along...

BBQ Ranch Burger

Notwithstanding the fact that The Man and I both hate big box strip center shopping (which is second only to mall shopping on the Migraine Meter) this morning started out with the best of intentions to get to Old Navy before 9am to take advantage of their $1 Flip-Flop Sale as well as to get some Summer clothes for the older monsters, after which we planned to head to T & H Meats to buy some pig parts to smoke when The Man's parents visit next week.

Chicken Wings

Well, by the time I'd had my morning coffee, posted a pic of the sunrise, gone grocery shopping at two separate markets, cleaned the kitchen, fed the family, folded some laundry, watered the plants, barked at the kids to get ready to go out, packed up Izzle's diaper bag and waited for The Man to put The Separation Anxiety Wiener in her prison of forlorn misery dog pen, it was practically lunch time.

By the time we got to Old Navy, the line just to get in was at least thirty to forty people deep, and girlfriend does not do lines... Specially not for non-food shopping. (If you guessed that I don't do Black Friday, either, you would be entirely correct.)

So we decided to shop some other big box retailers in the area to get what we needed and then have lunch at San Marcos Brewery in Restaurant Row before heading over to the butcher's.

Snausage Platter

Refreshingly drinkable beer that isn't overly complicated, hyper hoppy, or shrouded in craft brew elitism.

Golden Ale & Oatmeal Stout

Great chicken wings that weren't overly sauced or overcooked and even better burgers with perfectly pink and juicy medium rare patties on super-fresh brioche-y buns. The sausage sampler with stewed red cabbage, while not as well executed as the burgers, was easy enough to finish.

All in a casual, friendly, Old West-inspired, and well air-conditioned (which was a huge plus on one of the hottest and most humid days we've seen this year) environment with prompt, friendly service.

I would return in a heartbeat for those burgers if I found myself out San Marcos way again.

San Marcos Brewery & Grill
1080 West San Marcos Boulevard
San Marcos, CA 92078
760.471.0050
www.sanmarcosbrewery.com

shinae

Full album HERE.

Phil's BBQ - San Diego, CA

Let me be the first to say that I am a somewhat recovering dickhead foodie. Which is to say that I am always a dickhead foodie, and I'm neither proud nor ashamed of that fact, but I am learning that sometimes you need to reframe a dining experience in order to be able to enjoy and appreciate it on its own merits, rather than as against your own subjective hifalutin POV, and calibrate your expectations accordingly. 

That said, Phil’s BBQ, by all indications but the many glowing yelp reviews that have earned it 4.5 stars, is exactly the kind of place a dickhead foodie like me avoids like The Plague. Blaring (blues) music, glaring red fluorescent signs, theme-y decor, more than one location - you know - one of those concepts.

But sometimes you go to a place against your own strong intuition that you won’t like it because you think there’s no way that many people could love a thing without there being a good chance that you’ll at least like it a little. A been there, done that, if you will. Something you’re pretty sure you’re not going to like at all, but need to have experienced to arrest any lingering doubts you might have that you really can’t trust your own nose to guide your belly. Someplace you figure you might as well visit because you’re running errands just down the street from it, and you’ll probably not find yourself down that way again, and, well, there are all these other San Diegans who seem not to mind making the drive to that hood just to eat there...

Well slap my ass and call me Sally for once again not listening to that very loud inner voice that said, “Don’t do it, Shinae. They call themselves a BBQ joint and they don’t even have the big pig ribs. And they’re playing lots of loud music that only drunk white people dance to. And a bunch of other San Diegans love it...” (See? I told you I’m a dickhead somethingorother...)

An odd five spice note to the rub and/or sauce that made me think of pho while I was sinking my teeth into ribs and chicken that were swimming in cloyingly sweet and uncomfortably tart sauce. Greasy (as in even greasier than deep fried things should be) onion rings. Unremarkable sides. To my palate, that is.

Been there, done that. 

That just means more Phil’s for the rest of San Diego! :D

Dean will have to compensate for this one by making me some ribs sometime in the very near future.

PHIL'S BBQ
3750 Sports Arena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110
(619) 226-6333
www.philsbbq.net

Clean Carpets & Chorizo Chili - The Little Things...

As I'm sitting here getting our carpet cleaned, wearing a two month old in a sling with a nervous wreck of a wiener dog at my feet, I have to tell you - I AM EXCITED...

...to have freshly cleaned carpets.

That's the truth.

For some, maybe most, this would be the height of boredom, the zenith of mundanity, the death knell of that thing we call having a life.

But for me, having had one of those lives, the kind that pulled me in too many different directions and had my mind going at such a speed that I hardly had time to look down to even notice if the carpet was dirty, this is living.

Trying to keep four chrysanthemum bushes alive and succeeding 75% of the time, managing to eke 6 peppers out of 2 pepper plants, learning that I can safely stack upwards of 40 rinsed dishes on the right side of our really small sink, wiping down the kitchen floor with a wet rag and some diluted Fabuloso because that Swiffer crap is so sticky and overscented it makes me angerfied, making a weekly trip to the laundromat and being forced (in a good way) to get our clothes folded the same day they get washed, and feeling pretty good about doing those things the best I can even though no one's watching or writing me a paycheck for it, is living. And living well.

As is coming up with a rockin' Chorizo Chili recipe out of the odds and ends in the kitchen, some of them downright dregs, that makes the Man's chili lovin' eyes roll back into his head.

(FRICKIN' DELICIOUS) KITCHEN DUMP CHORIZO CHILI
Serves 6

- 1.5 Tablespoons oil
- 2 medium yellow onions, peeled and chopped into a 1/4" dice
- 1 large red bell pepper, cored and chopped into a 1/4" dice
- 4 jalapeños, minced (how to choose jalapeños)
- 10 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 pounds 80/20 ground beef
- 10 to 12 ounces of Mexican pork or beef chorizo (the kind you have to cook - the packages usually range from 10 to 12 ounces)
- 15 oz. can of tomatoes
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons cayenne (or more to taste)
- 2 teaspoons cumin (remember, there's already quite a bit of cumin in the chorizo)
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 Tablespoon Tapatío (or other generally Mex-flavored hot sauce like Valencia or Cholula with a noticeable acid element. Tabasco will work in a pinch)
- 2 cups unsalted stock - chicken or beef
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt to start
- 1 or 2 (depending on how much beans you like in your chili) 15 oz. can(s) beans of choice, drained (I used garbanzos and ended up liking them so much in this recipe, I'm going to stick with them)

1) In a preheated medium pot (at least 4 quarts), sweat the onions, peppers, and garlic in the oil until the onions are translucent. (Probably 3 to 4 minutes.)

2) Then, turn the heat up to medium high, and, as the name of the recipe calls for, dump in the ground beef, chorizo, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, spices (cayenne, cumin, chili powder), hot sauce, and stock, using a spoon or spatula to break up the beef and chorizo, and give everything two or three gentle stirs to distribute all the ingredients evenly.

3) When the chili comes to a gentle boil (say a bubble per second), turn the heat down to medium low and simmer, partially covered (with a 1/2" opening on one side), for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4) Add the beans and kosher salt and stir them in to distribute evenly. Gently simmer again (gently meaning that there's barely detectible movement under the surface), partially covered, for another 30 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom every 10 minutes or so. Scraping the bottom is a good way to monitor if the heat is too high for slow cooking. If you can scrape fond off the bottom of the pot while doing a long simmer, your heat's too high, and you should adjust accordingly.

5) After 30 minutes, check the seasoning of your chili, and if you want to add more salt or spices, add them now, stir thoroughly a few times, and let it simmer again, partially covered for another 7 minutes or so. If not, it's ready to eat!

¡Buen provecho! Yeehaw! and all that,

shinae

Sam's Diner - Civic Center/Tenderloin, San Francisco

Dinner on Day 3 in San Francisco...


So when we first arrived to the hotel on Monday after a longass drive with my parents arguing in the car on the very last stretch and everyone being incredibly frustrated with the Market Street NO LEFT TURN situation for what seemed like miles, we were first greeted by the incessant chattering of a front desk person who would not SHUT THE FUCK UP like a crazy tweaker person and then a bellman who would not SHUT THE FUCK UP but more like a cokehead. And I determined that afternoon that I would not listen to one fucking word either one of them was saying, least of all the bellman's restaurant recommendatioN, Sam's Diner being it.

But then last night, my mom got a hankering for fried chicken to eat with some of these pickled jalapeños she packed (to eat with her mobile ramen), and assuming that my dad was going to be going out to dinner with us, we wanted to find the closest place possible that served fried chicken. And Sam's Diner, right across the street from our hotel, was it.

And at first, we were just going to let my mom order her chicken to go to bring back to my dad whom she left in the room because she'd had enough of his bitching for the day and just get some crap at Burger King right down the corner, but there was something quirky and inviting about the place that made us decide we would rather sit down and eat there. 

I'm not sure what did it for Dean, but for me it was first the Korean Tacos special written out on the sidewalk sign and then seeing an actual Korean woman working the counter and what I think was an ensuing mild fascination that this woman was running a diner with a menu that was 99% All American Diner, but managed to incorporate a couple of little Korean inspired dishes to it. 

You may ask why I assumed that the Korean woman working the counter was the owner and not just an employee. I'll tell you why. Because she's Korean, and it's simply not part of the national character of Koreans not to be self-employed or at least absolutely abhor the notion of working for someone else. And even if they're not all that good at being self employed, they're usually even worse at being an employee. :P


Turns out I was right.



Yelp Review

And it appears her Korean tacos are a big hit with lots of people who've tried them. I can now count myself among them.

My mom's fried chicken and +Dean Robinson's French Dip were not necessarily stellar examples, but they were absolutely reliable.


But beware the incredibly slow service.


shinae

Sam's Diner
1220 Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
415.626.8590
www.samsdinersf.com

Little Griddle - Civic Center/Tenderloin, San Francisco

Our lunch on Day 2 in San Francisco.


No one was particularly in the mood to eat in Chinatown today, so we headed back toward the hotel in search of something to eat and decided on this place that we've walked past a time or two in our neighborhood explorations.

Joey's Sweet & Savory, hold the 'maters.

It's funny the complicated mental calculus that goes on in your head when deciding whether to try a place you haven't researched - it's something about the name, and something about the font they use on the sign, something about the kinds of people who are already sitting down and eating there, and then of course whether or not the menu appeals to you.

And all those little factors about this place just seemed to assure me that we would at least have a decent, if not great, meal.


And it was way beyond decent, actually. The burgers here were exceptionally tasty and juicy, the beef was of really good quality, the buns perfectly soft, light, and slightly sweet and eggy, the cheese really creamy and cheesy, their house sauce really yummy, and their homemade pickles perfectly seasoned and crunchy.

Super cheesy tongue-wagging boiguh...

And Dean, Joey, our little burger connoisseur, and I all agreed that this place stacks up there with the best of the really good restaurant burgers we've had, and at an exceptionally good value.

Joey wants to make me promise to go back before we leave, but we are in San Francisco after all, and it's so many restaurants, so little time, so I told him I can make no promises.

A very strong recommendation if you're in the Civic Center/ Tenderloin area in search of a great burger (that actually comes with fries) at a really good price.


P.S. That dessert you see is an apparently brilliant use of day old doughnuts called the French D'OH!, which is cinnamon sugar dipped doughnuts, apparently griddled, then served with ripe bananas, strawberries, chocolate sauce, and really creamy real whipped cream.

P.P.S. blogger formatting can bite me. >|


shinae

Little Griddle
1400 Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
415.864.4292
www.littlegriddlesf.com