Lake Tahoe

Hey look, we're back!  Skiing in Tahoe with the family was wonderful, but it's really nice to be home.  I'm looking forward to some home-cooked meals and my own bed for a few nights before we are off to Austin, Texas next weekend.  Don't get me wrong - I love traveling, but this much traveling is exhausting.  We did have a few nice meals in Tahoe, but after eating lunch on the mountain every day and dinner at a restaurant, all I want are simple, homemade meals.  But if any of you find yourself in South Lake Tahoe anytime in the near future, definitely try Artemis Mediterranean Grill.  The food is great and relatively inexpensive.  We ate dinner there twice because after our first meal there my father (whose typical review of any meal is that it was "fine") declared that if Artemis existed in Maryland it would be on his regular rotation.  That is HUGE praise for my father.  And I can't say that I disagreed - the shrimp souvlaki platter was really nice (with nicely cooked shrimp, tasty homemade tabbouleh and garlicky, creamy skordalia), the lamb gyro pita was fabulously lamby, the Artemis fries were crispy and tasty, the chocolate galaktoboureko was delicious....  I would go on but I think you get the point.  It was a really nice dinner option.  Another option for cheap, tasty Mexican is Jalisco Grill.  But beware - it is closed on Sundays.  On that note, I think it is time to hit the grocery store and re-stock our kitchen.  The fridge is pretty much empty right now and if we are planning on cooking dinner tonight and tomorrow it's time for some groceries.

Mission Chinese Food

With this post I am officially and gleefully jumping on the Mission Chinese bandwagon.  The place is AMAZING.  One of the best Asian meals - traditional, fusion or otherwise - I have had in a really long time.  If you find yourself anywhere near the LES of Manhattan and you enjoy spicy, interesting food, you should haul ass to Mission Chinese.  And then be prepared to wait because the place is tiny and well worth all of the buzz.  Or you could do what Alex and I did and trek down there from the UWS at 2:30 pm on a freakishly hot Sunday and avoid the wait.  But if you are like us and you are running late (which was only partially our fault) you might give yourself heat stroke or an aneurysm over worrying whether or not you are going to make it before they stop serving lunch at 3:00 pm, so you should weigh your options and decide whether you want to risk missing lunch (and the ensuing depression, etc) or whether you want to just bite the bullet and wait... 

More (including more more pictures) after the jump!

San Diego

When we were going to San Diego all I could think of was sun and warm weather.  And then it hit me that San Diego is the home of the fish taco - and I looooooooove fish tacos.  Give me fish tacos grilled, fried, whatever.  I love them all.  And one of my friends who used to live in San Diego gave me a recommendation for a restaurant that she claimed served the best fish tacos in the city called South Beach Bar and Grille.  That was the one non-negotiable thing for me on this trip.  I didn't care what else we did, so long as we hit that restaurant for some fish tacos.  So our first full day in the city, we went for dinner.  And wow.  They were delicious.  Perfectly fried - not at all greasy, and very flavorful.  And during happy hour from 3-6 pm, the baja fish tacos (pictured above - I know it is crazy over-exposed, but the restaurant was so dimly lit that I had to use my flash) and the grilled mahi mahi tacos were only $2.50.  Being from NYC I assumed that they would be absolutely tiny, but they were much larger than I expected.  So we over-ordered just a little bit...  We tried two baja tacos, two mahi tacos, and one wahoo taco, plus a ceviche cocktail.  If I were to go again, I would avoid the ceviche cocktail and stick with the tacos (particularly the baja and the wahoo) because they were delicious.  This was definitely my favorite meal of the trip.

More after the jump!

Napa Valley

During our trip to San Francisco, one of the only non-negotiables for me was a trip to Napa.  I have always wanted to go to Napa and this seemed like the perfect opportunity for Alex and I to go.  So I got on Google and started looking up different wineries and restaurants to hit during our trip.  At first I came up with a list of 6 wineries that sounded interesting, but quickly realized there was no way that we could do 6 wineries in one day.  I suppose if you have a designated driver and only want to do tastings, rather than tours, you could realistically hit 6 wineries in one day, but I really wanted to be able to do some tours and take my time.  So in the end I settled on a tour at Frog's Leap, a tasting at Honig Vineyard and Winery, and a tour at Domaine Chandon.  For the record, the wineries I decided not to visit were Cakebread Cellars, Grgich Hills Estate, and Sterling Vineyards (which I really wish we had been able to visit because I have heard so many wonderful reviews of Sterling, but it was just too far).   So we rented a Zipcar, printed out some directions, and were on our way!

More after the jump!

San Francisco

So Alex and I just returned from San Francisco this weekend and the sad thing is (as exhausted as I was by the 6 hour flight), all I can think about is going back.  The food was AMAZING.  I don't know how you all feel about sourdough, but the sourdough at Boudin (pictured above and below) is justifiably famous.  It had a tang to it that you just don't get when you buy a loaf of sourdough at the grocery store or local bakery.  And not only was it delicious, it was also adorable.  The bakers at Boudin also make sourdough teddy bears, alligators, crabs, etc.  If you look at the next picture you can see the sourdough teddy bears and a crab, plus the head of an alligator on the top of the rack full of delicious bread.  Yum.



And then there is the produce.  We wandered around the farmer's market at the Ferry Building on Saturday morning and the produce there was unbelievable.  They had all sorts of stone fruits, pears, lettuces, radishes, mushrooms (my god those lobster mushrooms were unreal), etc.  I could have wandered around there forever.  And not only was the produce at the farmer's market good, they also had food stalls, including one that served the absolute BEST chilaquiles (pictured below) that I have ever had.  They were spicy, but not too spicy - actually, I would say the level of heat was perfect.  The homemade tortilla chips (they made their own tortillas by hand with an old-school tortilla press, griddled them, and then made them into chips), slathered in the spicy red sauce had just the right amount of sauce so moisten them without turning them mushy.  Then they were topped with onions, crema, and avocado, and served with a side of homemade refried beans and scrambled eggs.  My god I could eat those for breakfast every day.  Alex had a Japanese okonomiyaki pancake (pictured below) topped with sweet soy and a gently (and barely) poached egg, which was also good, but nothing could touch my chilaquiles.  Actually, our friend had a dungeness crabcake sandwich that I would say ran a close second to mine - the crab was sweet and the crabcake had a fabulous consistency, plus the bread they served it on was amazing.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of hers.  Oh well.  Also at the Ferry Building I had a chance to try the nduja salami from Boccalone Salumeria (whose sign reads "tasty salted pig parts") and a variety of olive oils from Stonehouse California Olive Oil.  For the record, their Lisbon Lemon evoo was so amazing that I couldn't resist buying a bottle and have already used it to make a wonderful salad dressing.

We also took a trip to Napa to visit several wineries, but more on that later!

More pictures after the jump!