2/8/2019 Li'l Piggy's BBQ San Diego, CA

If we were a band, the pic above would be our album cover. Yes, album. You know, like a record? Never mind, dumb kids... But actually, vinyl is making a comeback. Now we just have to teach the kids what a record player is, and the joys of analog sound. But I digress...this is a food blog, not a music blog, as much as Adam would like it to be.

Anyways, we came back to Li'l Piggy's to reunite with a person that a lot of us had not seen in years! That person is Toni, pictured to the left in the flowery top, next to Russ, who is waving to get our attention. Or the server. Or whoever. With Russ you just never know. Could have been trying to catch one of the birds (not pictured).

Today we had Alex, Adam, Brett, Russ, Toni, Carol and yours truly. Ordered a lot of food because its all good. Although I think I might have been stuck paying for Carols food because my bill was way high. No worries though, its all about spending the per diem that you don't get unless you spend it. Right?

2/7/2019 Black Angus Steakhouse San Diego, CA

Danny, Alex, Carol

Sometimes, you just have to go find a place that the entire crew can go to and have what they want. So we added Carol to the group and headed out to Black Angus Steakhouse. THe Black Angus is a chain, but its one of those "cant miss" chains, and they are universally always really good, with a few exceptions. Especially if you stick with steak. Which pretty much everyone did except for Alex and Carol. Adam is the big eater this time, as he not only ordered the 1.5 pound bone in ribeye, but also got shrimp skewers on top of that!

 Alex got the pork ribs, which he split with Carol (who was not on per diem this trip), and the rest of us got some form of beef, ranging from prime rib to sirloin steak. But first, the appetizers (pictured)! Shown is the fried zucchini, buffalo cauliflower and stuffed potato skins. If you cant find something in that pic that you like, then you're just not expanding your eating horizons. Which reminds me. On this night, Adam resolved to try new things! I explained the "try anything twice" theory, and he decided to adopt that mindset and try things that he normally wouldn't Which, by the way, I consider a huge breakthrough for the man.

The slabs of meat arrived, and conversation stopped as we tucked in to what was probably 10 pounds of meat and in the end it was pretty much all gone and we were all stuffed to the gills.

Alex finally eats his ribs properly

You will notice that there is no picture of our server this time. This is because the establishment was so badly understaffed this night that I was ready to get up and help! She was still great, but her time at each one of her 23 (estimated) tables was limited so we did not hold it against her.

Black Angus gets 3.5 out of 5 with bonus points for great staff but takes a hit for not having nearly enough staff.

2/5/2019 Li'l Piggy's BBQ San Diego, CA

Leanne (photo used with permission)

We decided we needed BBQ. So Alex looked up a place right on the water called Li'l Piggy's It didn't look like much but it was right on the beach in Coronado and the smell coming from the place was awesome. So Alex, Adam and I went in. We were greeted by Leanne (right) and she was very enthusiastic to say the least.

I had jalapeno poppers for an appetizer, then we all ordered tacos since it was taco Tuesday. And by "everyone" i mean everyone except Adam, who ordered the brisket sandwich. Which he liked so much that he ordered a second one. No, not to go, he ate it right then and there. So that right there should tell you that the brisket there is above average right off the bat because Adam is by far our pickiest eater.

Adam feeds Birdie (the birds actual name)

So they have these pigeons here that will come right up to you and eat out of your hand, as pictured. They will not eat Jalapeno. Speaking of that, my poppers were not these little half peppers that are fried and filled with some unidentifiable substance. This was a whole, large, jalapeno filled with cheese and wrapped in bacon, then deep fried lightly with no breading. They were fantastic, although (and you've heard me say this before) they just were not really spicy. That, however, did not detract from the taste, and this also contributed to the reason we came back here. More on that later. Alex and I got tacos, and they were better than good, but not the greatest we have ever had. Such is to be expected of a place that does some things great (brisket, jalapeno poppers, mac and cheese holy crap i could write longer about the mac and cheese).

About the birds. I guess if you kick them out of the place too many times they remember you. One of the fatter pigeons actually attacked another of the servers, causing ducking, screams and a slight case of post traumatic stress. She came out unscathed however, and we avoided further attacks by making the already oversized pigeons even fatter. The theory being that if they were too fat, they woudnt be able to fly up high enough to get tangled in your hair.

Li'l Piggy's gets a solid 3.5 out of 5

2/5/2019 Rakitori San Diego, CA

Danny, John, Adam. John is the owner of Rakitori

If there is one thing we like, its when we go to a place that is a small business. Of course, we didnt know that this particular place was a small business when we went in, but we quickly learned. John (left, with Danny and Adam) was our server and is also the owner of Rakitori. After learning this, we were even more impressed. We all ordered something involving Ramen, except, of course, Adam, who did this blog a service by ordering nearly every grilled skewer dish on the menu. They were very well priced, and they were appetizer sized so he was able to get A LOT of skewers. We dont give him much crap anymore about ordering things off the menu that are different because hey, if we didnt have someone like Adam, life would just be boring, right? In addition to the menu, there was a huge chalkboard on one wall with daily specials, and thats where I found my Spicy Curry Ramen, which advertised pork belly. I was expecting a few pieces of chopped belly, but in this dish there was two huge pieces of pork belly, about half the length of a slice of bacon and 5 times as thick! The only gripe i had is that it wasnt quite spicy enough. But we have had this conversation before, so I wont start it again.

Lets talk about the ramen though. This is hands down the best ramen I have had since I lived in Okinawa. It was not a bowl of mush, and likewise it was not cooked to the consistency of pasta. It was just right! As were all the appetizers we ordered. I had a couple jumbo scallops on a stick, while Adam had pretty much everything you can imagine on a stick. He declared all of it to be quite good.

Alex and Danny ordered the ramen and sushi combinations and when they arrived, I sort of second guessed my order, but only for a second. The pictures were taken after they had already had a few bites, and it was difficult to get them to quit stuffing their faces long enough to get a shot of the food For this reason, you do not see that the presentation was perfect!

As an aside, and since this is a Japanese (primarily) establishment, it should be noted that presentation is very important in the Japanese dining experience. Rakitori scores a perfect 10 on presentation. That is, prior to the diners attacking the food like they havent eaten in a week...

We then learned that our server was actually the owner! That right there tells me that the work ethic in this place is above board. This is probably the best place we have gone on this trip, and is highly recommended to anyone that is in the area.

Overall Rakitori gets a 4.5 out of 5

The fantastic Ramen and sushi combo that Alex got

Danny loves Ramen

2/4/2019 Hunter Steakhouse, San Diego CA

Christina (photo used with permission)

 With our group reduced in number to two, Alex and I set off to Hunter Steakhouse to see what that was all about. I mean, any place that says they serve the "Best Prime Rib in Town" has to be investigated.

We arrived and were seated immediately, and suddenly Christina (left) materialized out of thin air and introduced herself. Christina has a "Mary Lou Retton" smile and was informed of that fact. Christina does not know who May Lou Retton is. Probably a little before her time, leaving Alex and I to wonder if we are really THAT OLD. (Spoiler alert: We are. Dammit.)

As far as Mary Lou Retton goes, she won the GOLD in the all around gymnastic event in the 1984 Olympics. No, really. She was a short little girl with steel nerves and the top of the gymnastics world at the time. So at least TRY to learn about famous people throughout history. you have the freakin internet in your hand for gods sake...

 
Alex ordered that massive stack of ribs you see adorning the right side of the page, and holding true to his nature, proceeded to eat about all of it. We had a discussion about the method of cooking (we didn't ask) and decided that they were boiled then roasted in an oven. Having said that, we all prefer smoked ribs, but this is a steak house, not a BBQ joint, so you can't be expecting stuff to be smoked, Its grilled or roasted and that's that. Stop complaining!

The ribs also came with a large pile of mixed veggies, consisting of zucchini, yellow squash, and carrots. That particular part of the dinner was a bit on the bland side, but hey, that's why there are salt shakers on every table.

Alex, however, didn't have a lot of time for vegetables as he ate 97.4% of his rib order so I guess that is an upvote for ribs at Hunter Steakhouse. Maybe they should advertise "Best Ribs in Town" also.

Pictured next to Alex's ribs, you see the 12 ounces of medium rare glory known as prime rib. I might remind you that Hunter Steakhouse tells everyone that they have the best prime in town, so I ordered it. It was, as expected, fantastic. Easily the best in town. I wouldn't say it was the best ever, but clearly they are well above average in the prime rib department. Also, I am not sure that this piece of prime rib was 12 ounce. I think it was more than that, because usually I can make a 12 ounce steak disappear faster than David Copperfield.

I couldn't finish this one, falling three bites short. Good thing it wasn't a food challenge, because I would have lost by three bites. By that I mean I could not eat another bite.

Overall Hunter Steakhouse gets a 4 out of 5, with bonus points for the service.

Whats that? Who's David Copperfield? Really? Seriously people open a book...

2/3/2019 Umi Sushi, San DIego CA

Back on the road means back on the blog and yes, back to stuffing our faces with various food and drink and writing about it. This time around we are taking a different tack, and letting the servers know up front (or at least when we remember) that we are writing a food blog. We'll see what happens.

In any case, here we are in San Diego for a week with Myself, Original Blog Members Alex and Danny, and New Member Adam. We ended up at Umi Sushi. I ordered two rolls, a spicy tuna roll and a different spicy roll called Kiss of Fire. Alex ordered an assorted sashimi plate, and new guy Adam ordered Chicken Fried Rice.

Adam with Chicken fried rice

Seriously. Adam ordered fried rice at a sushi bar. Just look at him over there to the readers left, eating cooked food at a sushi place. With a fork. We may have to re-evaluate Adam's membership in our little club....

Oh wait, no we don't, because we are all adults here, and we can do WHATEVER WE WANT. At least within reason. And the law. And...well...yeah. Anyways he said the rice was good.

During the ordering process we think we might have irritated our server, Joanne, because she told us several times that we could just fill out the checklist provided. In retrospect, I guess we could have, but we also had to split the check into three separate checks and there was only one ordering checklist at the table. Upon further reflection, we probably could have gotten some more checklists... All in all we didn't annoy her too badly, because she kept coming back to the table and taking care of us in an exemplary fashion, which led us,
subsequently, to tip well. Which we can do, because we are on per diem for this job and its technically not coming out of out paychecks to eat.

Alex tests the sake (salmon) sashimi

Alex (left and below) thoroughly enjoyed his sashimi plate as I did with the rolls. Although the spicy rolls could have been a lot more spicy, I fully understand that the restaurant has to cater to mere mortals, and they can't be serving sushi rolls that will burn your face completely off to just anyone. However, if you're going to call something "Kiss of Fire" it should at least be a little spicy, no?

Yes, hes going to stuff all that in his mouth.

Overall, Umi sushi was quite good, and we ate too much as usual, and actually considered ordering MORE food, which would not have ended well for anyone. I mean, Alex and I cleaned up at least a dozen gyoza, and then ate Adam's gyoza also since he didn't like it. Oh, I should mention that Adam falls into a special category of foodie, and that is the VERY PICKY section of eaters. This should be very interesting, indeed.

Umi Sushi gets 3.7 out of 5 stars, with the extra coming from the fist bump that Joanne gave me on the way out the door. The points lost included the not so spicy "spicy" rolls. We would definitely go there again, just not on this trip because we only have a week in San Diego, and this place is filled with good places to eat.