Mr. Birria - Santee, CA, USA

https://www.misterbirria.com/

Ahhh, beautiful Santee, and right in the middle of a heat wave, and right in the middle of the week.  You can smell the victory in the air (well, maybe it's not victory I'm smelling...., but let's ignore that one for a minute shall we?)

Ughhh, how about a restart?

It's dinner, I'm solo, and I've been wanting to try Birria for a long time, so here's we go!  Birria being slow braised beef, in a flavorful red broth.  The tortillas are typically partially dipped in the broth and then fried on the flat top before the meat added and folded over (into a taco) and then griddled a bit more.

Simply looking at on-line rankings this place is one of the more popular spots, and it's closer to me than Chula or IB, and it's right off the freeway, so yeah, I'm going for it.

Parking lot tent eating, nice....

Again, it's hot, and I'm sitting in a parking lot in Santee, so hell to the yes I am gonna have a beer!

 

They wrap up EVERYTHING to go.  Even for eating in, like me.  This placed opened up during the pandemic, so I kinda get it.  From the get-go all orders were either to-go or via a delivery app and they are just letting that roll on.

I'm trying 5 tacos, one of every style.

These first 2 are the Quesa Taco, and the Taco Dorado.

The next 3 are the Keto Taco, Birria Taco, and the Mulita (not really a taco, but it kinda fits in with what I'm feeling).

The Quesa Taco is the one I was most excited about. I've watched countless YouTube videos on these, griddled cheese with the taco built on top, so I'm leaving this bad-boy for last.

The Dorado Taco.

I was going to explain a little about each of the next tacos, but as I ate them they ALL tasted the same.  No difference at all.  No pinché nada.

The Keto Taco was the same as the Dorado except it had cheese added inside.

The Birria Taco was the Dorado except it had pinto beans added inside.

The Mulita was the Keto except it was made like a quesadilla.

ALL TASTED THE SAME.

Did I say there was no difference?  Not sure if I made that point, cause they ALL TASTED THE SAME.  Just saying.

Next up is the consommé.  This is essentially the braising liquid from the meat.  Not only is the meat cooked in this but the tortillas are fried in a bit of this on the flat top (mentioned previously).  It's all for you to dip the tacos in as you eat them.

This one was pretty good, but again, it just tasted like the taco.  So having more of the beefy juicy flavor wasn't bad, just more of the same.

I haven't touched on it yet but the meat was AWESOME.  Super flavorful and soft, tender, and juicy.  

I could eat a ton of the Dorados.  Just those, like 5-6-7 of 'em maybe.  Dip and eat.

Beans?  If I didn't see them I wouldn't know that they were there.  Unnecessary.

And then this fucken thing.  Burnt cheese log in your (my) mouth.  No thanks.  

Because I left it for last it's all I tasted for a few hours.  Fubar'd that one.

In summary, I LOVE Birria.  I also liked this place a lot, but I wouldn't go out of my way to come here again.  If I'm near, fo-sho.  But the next stop will be to Chula, or some place new.  Let's see if there's a different flavor out there.  Right?

Birrie-ahhhhhh

DVA

Ragazzi Ristorante / Pizzeria - Grand Cayman

 

https://www.ragazzi.ky/

Business trip, yes, to the Cayman Islands, yes, and just shut up before you even start with me.  It's possible to be lonely, homesick, and even sad in paradise.  Oh no, I'm not any of those (I do miss the fam a lot) I'm just saying that it's possible, so let's have a little respect, decorum even, as you enjoy this most recent pizza post.

It's dinner time on my first day here and I'm dying for some new pie, I'd even eat a bad pie at this point, but let's hope for the best shall we?

A short 30 minute walk from my hotel in the sweltering heat/humidity of the Caribbean and I've arrived at Ragazzi Ristorante and Pizzeria.  I've done my research prior and frankly my expectations are quite low based on the presence of a rolling pin in a few of the photos on-line.  But it's fairly close to my hotel and has mostly great reviews, and as I've said, I'd be happy even if it sucks.

Let's start with a Negroni

It's surprisingly exactly to my liking. I little light on the vermouth and Campari, so not too sweet or bitter.  I know that the Italian Stallion will say that there is only 1 proper portioning to make a Negroni, but eh, he's not the boss of me (not yet... :-O  )

So yeah, we'll call this the first course and I'm quite happy.  

Andiamo

Amuse Bouche

Bruschetta.  Meh, was OK, no further comments available, a non-factor, neither good or bad, just very pedestrian and un-inspired, but not uncommon.  Let's continue on please

Caesar Salad

The best I've ever had?

YES, shockingly yes, a strong yes.

Why do you ask?  I'll start by saying that I didn't care for the egg, other than that it ate like every single piece of lettuce had the perfect amount of dressing applied directly and pecifically to it, each and every leaf.  And not overly dressed mind you, just perfectly dressed, every leaf, every bite.  There was no hunting for more or trying to distribute the too much.  

Was this some fluke, some casual stroke of luck?  Has to be right?  The stars aligning into one beautiful bowl and then they streaking out beyond the horizon to hide once again?  Right, this place can't be this good overall.....keep going, or rather, let's go, together. 

Wood fired oven

Legit

The pizza forming techniques also look legit

Hand shaping, nice, stretching, also nice

Hanging the pie off the edge (??? what ???) I mean, yeah, good for the stretch.

And then who is peeking in?.....

Don't reach for the pin!!  Please!

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Man - o - Man, why you do this?  You are killing any light airyness that you've created with the rise of the dough, which is made here every day.  It's a travesty, a shame, and a sham.  I feel as though we've crashed and burned right at the finish line, tripped and fell as we are reaching out for the tape, reached the dock only to sink before we can tie off.  Bad.

And then WHAT?!?!?!?

Wowzer, that's a looking a like a good apizza 

(sounds Italian if you say it like that, New York Italian at least :-))

Somehow the crust has remained light and fluffy, contrary to my previous suppositions. 

A perfect balance of toppings to crust.  

There was also a nice tang to the sauce and the cheese was nice and melty, a proper balance, but I feel like I said that already, but at this point I'm so shocked that it bears repeating.   

Fluff

And crisp

I was sure that the rolling pin would make the crust, at least the stuff at the edge, hard as a rock.  But no, not at all the case.  Astonishing.

All of my misconception have been shattered, I am a man lost.  How can this happen in such a place that smacks of less than average slop for the tourists that flock to this island.  

People caring, with passion, about the food that they offer, and using techniques that I thought I knew the effect of? 

What has happened to me, have I slipped off the edge of reality, or is it simply that maybe I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about sometimes?  Which, please hear this clearly, I enjoy.  I take it as a recalibration of "what I know"  which can and should change with the times.  Have an opinion, that's OK, but re-visit those, check where you're at, validate what you think you know.  Restaurants (and people) can and do change, and so do opinions.  Mine certainly has, at least on the topic of rolling pins for pizza.  Oh no, I will not do it myself, but it will no longer be an automatic diss should I be aware.

Tiramisu Ice Cream

Made with house made Tiramisu.  That part was good but the ice cream part has mucho mucho ice crystals within, which tells me that it's been in the freezer for a while (many days) or wasn't properly churned when it was made.  

Either way, it was OK, but just.  I wouldn't order it again, I'd just get the Tiramisu.

Shatter, or at least test, those misconceptions that you are holding on to, you might be pleasantly surprised, or at a minimum, confirm that what you know is what you know.  Either way it's a win.

Go out and win one today.

DVA

Dave's Hot Chicken, East Houston Texas, USA

 

https://www.daveshotchicken.com/

Ahhhh, beautiful East Houston Texas, where the days are hot and so is the chicken (???)

We'll just see about that....

It's lunch time and we saw this spot the other day, and there's no way we weren't going to try it.  

After a few minutes of research I found out that this chain started in East Hollywood California, which brought my expectations down just a bit.  I'm not hating on East Hollywood, not at all, but I don't think it's known as the hot chicken capital of the world (right Nashville?!?!?)

Any-who, here we go

Yeah, looks killer

I also ordered a side of Mac-N-Cheese, and immediately wished that I hadn't

It tasted like a bowl of nacho cheese with macaroni mixed in (and I bet that's exactly what it is).  

I took 2 bites and covered it back up.  Not worth my time (or available space in my body, which after 5 days of being here in Texas, and eating like the locals,  feels more like 2 bodies than 1)

Back to the good schizzz

The sandwich consists of the chicken (you can get it any level spice you like, or none), kale slaw, pickles, and their "Dave sauce"...... no comment

It's really good

All of the flavors work GREAT together, so much so that you can't (or at least I couldn't) really single out any individual one.  It's like they are all playing the same tune.

The bread is soft on the outside and nicely toasted on the inside.

The slaw and pickles give crunch and some tang, but are not by any means overpowering.  

The chicken is moist, juicy, and the spice gives a great flavor.  

If there's any complaint, well not really complaint, more of an enhancement I could offer, would be that I'd want the chicken to have more crisp or crunch to it.  I know it's not an easy thing to achieve after you add a sauce to it (I believe the spicyness-ness is a sauce and not a dry add), but to me, to get this thing to the next level, would be to achieve some amount of crunch, if that's even possible.

Thanks Dave, great job, great sandwich! 

 

I hope that I have another opportunity over the next few days to see you again.

Gobble gobble gobble (that's what chickens say, right?)

DVA

A Long Walk To Ocean Beach (from East Mount Helix....)

So, I'm going to take a long walk

There's no deep reason for this, it's not a fundraiser and I'm not having another mid-life-crisis (have I had one before?!?!?), It's simply been a while since I've done something like this, and it seems time.

Yes, I've taken an all day walk before, many times actually.  I've done the 3-Day Walk 3 times (20 miles a day, 3 days in a row), and I've walked from North Park to the beach a number of times (once I walked back as well).

This one is roughly 18.85 miles and I guess that it will take about 7 hours, give or take.

The route (as noted below) is also very rough, but should be very close to the actual.

I'll depart at 7:00am, on Saturday November 13th.

All are welcome to join me, for all, or part, or none.  Meeting me along the way to say hi or offer a water, or Band-Aid or Tylenol (joking, I'll be fine :-), would also be cool.  

I go pretty fast, and won't be making many stops, other than for quick nourishment and biological breaks, so keep that in mind if this sounds interesting to you.

But know that, honestly, there is absolutely no pressure to join or act or even care about this.

I'll be posting my progress to Instagram, so if you want to check in on me here's the link (I also post a lot more there than via this blog, so if you want to see more of what I'm actually doing that's a good interface to do that):

https://www.instagram.com/dvasandiego/

I hope you all are staying healthy and happy.

Make it a great day.

DVA

Mom's Pizza and Pasta - San Diego, CA, USA

 

https://www.momspizzasd.com/

Allow me to present to you a truly special restaurant, run (and owned) by 2 really exceptional people.  Rob and Raya have created not only a comfortable family-feel pizza and pasta (handmade I might add) spot, but the food is really incredible.  And you know me, if it wasn't I'd have no problem calling it like I see it, and a little later in the story you'll see for yourself, and then hopefully you'll go and  try it for yourself. 

First, let's start with the oven.  Hot Stove Pizza is what the sign says.  Like, what even is that?

My first look and I was like "a conveyor oven, come on, this is not going to be good"

And then I peeked a bit closer, and what did I see???

The conveyor inside the oven is actually made of stone slats that convey the pizza (or whatever) from one end to the other.  BRILLIANT!!!!  

This provides the nice and crispy crust that you get from direct contact with a cooking surface, while eliminating the hard to reach places to clean, or locate a pizza, in a traditional gas oven, or wood fired, etc...  From what I recall it was running at a temp of ~650f.  

Canadian made, super unique, and I love it

I'm now looking forward to eating more than I was 10 minutes ago, let's get it!

Caesar Salad

And, as I typically do, I forgot to take a photo.  It was decent, not amazing, but a nice tang to the dressing and freshly shaved parm on top.  Nice, but we're not here for the salad, and honestly if the wife wasn't along I wouldn't have had it at all.... just sayin'.

Kid pie?

Well, it's all the kid would eat (cheese only) but we each had a slice, and madonna was it good!

The crust, just look at it

Yeah, the crust, it's magic

The crisp and crunch was off the charts.  And not the crunch of being over-cooked or stale, etc.. this crunch, when you bite into the crust, shatters into little bitty crunchy pieces, a never-ending crunch if you will, and then the interior pillow hits you.  Light and fluffy, slightly chewy, combined with the crunch shards..... someone wipe the sweat from my forehead, I'm overheating!

I need to pause the typing for a sec so that I can go get a leftover slice from the fridge, I'll be right back, I can't type another word until I get this pie back into my mouth.....

OK, thanks, sorry for that.

Stromboli???   Strom-yesi!

Chicken Parm Stromboli

It's made with the same dough as the pizza, a dough that is aged for several days in the fridge, and not old mind you, so don't start with that, it's a ferment in ball form (a ferment, is that a thing?).   Rob tells me that they typically let it go for 4 days, which my buddy TK will back me up on, is quite nice  :-)

Geeze-Louise, even just the photo looks amazing  Delicious view right?!?!?!?

And then the king arrives

Pepperoni sausage, classic, love it, can't get enough, it's the "go-to" for me for sure.

What else can I say?  We drove 30 minutes for this dinner, and I would (and will) do it again at twice that if need be.  Maybe we'll try the pasta next time?  Maybe we'll try IT ALL next time?

I do have 2 final comments:

1) They are located right next door to (literally the fence separating the properties) a childcare/preschool, so they can't serve any alcohol (no beer, wine, etc., no pinché nada).  It wasn't a big deal for us as we had the kids in tow, but if it was date night I'm gonna want a beverage.

2)  I found out about this spot from Instagram via someone that I follow, Bobs' Pizza Tour in NYC.  We had both commented on one of his posts, and I saw their name @momspizzasd, and looked them up and BAM!  I love the magic of that (thanks @bobspizzatour !!!)

3)  Yeah, I said 2 but it's my blog so meh....Rob and Raya have another location, a more formal dining experience with wine (yes!!!), but it sustained some water damage and has been closed while that's being sorted out.  Trattoria Ponte Vecchio, Del Mar (Carmel Valley Road).  Look for a post on that coming soon (Ammy, get ready, we'll need your babysitting services as we're gonna relax and enjoy:-))

DVA