Memorable Morsels of 2011

It has been an extraordinary year for me with respect to food discoveries, and stepping beyond my boundaries. There are more good things and good people I ate with than I have the ability to mention. But there are some highlights of 2011. First meal back at Full of Life: avocado pot de crème with [...]

Cielito Restaurant and Taqueria

Props to an acquaintance, Jonathan, who had given me some details about Cielito that got me excited to eat here. He spoke of high quality, well-sourced fresh ingredients. That, I can get behind. My friend Eric was in town for the holidays, we were in the mood to splurge, so we came here a week [...]

La Tour @ The Pub

It was a mellow night, and I met with a friend for a catch-up chat. He’d not yet been to La Tour, so I insisted. He tried a flight of wine under Graham’s recommendations, and I had my usual splashes of whatever was good. Some European stuff. But what I *really* wanted was a charcuterie [...]

Goodland Kitchen and Market – Old Town Goleta

On Wednesdays the special of the day is banh mi. They use curry-marinated chicken, shredded daikon (radish), sweet peppers, carrots, cabbage with a Vietnamese-style dressing on a granary baguette. It included side portions of sweet tangerines and apple slices. The apple has a light turmeric dressing, which makes them derishous. The meal is $9. This [...]

Supper Club – Chef Pink

The third service of the supper club, with Pink as guest chef.

D’Angelos Bakery

It’s been ages since I’ve been here for a meal. I’ll guess about six years. Back then, people loved the poached eggs and I recall having a suspiciously perfectly shaped poached egg on toast for breakfast with my friend Michael. Times have not changed, the poached eggs here are still a highlight, and they are [...]

Rudy’s Restaurant – Goleta

This was a very opportunistic visit, and I was caught without my good camera, or even my average camera. All camera phone, so sorry about the crummy pictures. Still! Rudy’s has moved into a bigger space in that fine stripmall known as the Calle Real Shopping Center. Just next door to a shop I was [...]

New China Restaurant – Goleta

Today’s lunch was with Tom, who is vegetarian. I’d been talking up the dolsot bibimbap and he was okay to give it a try. The normal dish comes with thin sliced meat, and I requested this to be omitted. The woman at the counter offered to take it one step further and suggested tofu instead [...]

Meat n’ Potatoes

I was sitting at a popular blue-collar bar a couple weeks ago, and the friendly woman next to me started chatting about food. She mentioned that the restaurant spot next to the Creekside (RIP JR’s BBQ I still miss you!!) was soon going to reopen, and the place would be called Meat n’ Potatoes, with [...]

The Hungry Cat – Hollywood

The Hungry Cat in Hollywood has been talked up by Sue to keep it fresh in my mind, and it turned out it was just a few blocks away from the little bungalow we stayed overnight. All we had to do was roll out of bed, stumble around a bit, then saunter over to Vine. [...]