Bleu Boheme, Kensington, San Diego, USA

I am by no means an expert when it comes to this place nor would I consider myself experienced in the French culinary arts.   I would, however, call myself a purveyor of all things fine or otherwise.

I've sup'd here several times and have always enjoyed myself immensely.  The feel, or what I would imagine France to feel like, enrobes you from the minute you gaze upon this corner establishment.  An inviting sidewalk bistro,  calling for you to sit, rest, and replenish yourself before heading back out to finish your day, or in evening time, onward home.  The rear of the main dining room is a large stone wall, elsewhere you are surrounded by what feels like ancient wood supports and beams.  Signs are hand written announcing the offerings of the day.

As of late our purpose here has been happyhour.  And here it's literally one hour of happiness.  

But oooooooooohhhhhh is it good!

Let's begin shall we?

http://www.bleuboheme.com/

The social hour, 5 to 6

(or for our European friends, 17:00 to 18:00)

Half off specialty martinis that normally go for $11.50, an inordinate amount of varying Moule Frites flavors to choose from, and fantastic small plates to share.  Arrive at 5 and there is ample time for 3 rounds, if you dare....

I am enjoying the Bleu Martini.  A fairly standard, and perfectly balanced, gin martini with two blue cheese olives.  Dare I say they might be Roquefort?

It's perfect

Hey Girl is having the Basil Martini.  Vodka based and from the way I've seen her chug these, they are good.   Sadly though I've never tried one.  Mainly because mine is so f'ing good that I don't want to waste my time.  Ask her though, she'll tell you all about it...

Worth another look, enjoy

Bar service is provided by this kind fellow.  An expert mixologist and just a really nice guy.

Back to the menu.  Honestly, this is only our second happyhour here at Bleu Boheme.  The first time we had the Provencales Moules Frites and it was amazing.  This time we are going for the a la Creme d' Ail, creme and garlic.  We are also eyeing the Escargot or the Gnocchi for our next round, but we haven't really made up our minds just yet.  So, bring on the Moules!!!!

 While we wait, here's a glimps of a few of the amazing appointments around the bar

For the preparation and serving of Absinthe

Is Dumbledoor near?....

Beautiful bread to share,  It's warm and wonderful.  Outside crispy, inside soft.  

Parfait

Bom bom bom BOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!

Yeah, ten bucks.  smells incredible, tastes even more than incredible, whatever that word is

This is obviously for the shells, which is vital so that you can get your face in the sublime sauce underneath.  

Just imagine soaking that bread, lightly buttered, in this stuff, leaving it for just a few secs, and then in, just put it in your mouth.   Sofaking good.

We were then about to order one of the choices previously mentioned, when the kind old gentleman next to me overheard us talking about our Moules and my martini with the blue cheese, and he hands me one of his Moules, he was enjoying the Roquefort.  And man oh man, we had to get them.  Yes, a second round of muscles, please!  This one is packed with Roquefort and onions and flavor! 

Are there other places in San Diego to get great muscles?  Absolutely

Is this place one of the best?  Absolutely!

Is this my new favorite martini spot?  Absolutely

Should you come here and check it out?  Absolutely!

Moules, frites, pain, boissons, profitez-en, et ils sont miex avec des amis.

DVA

Lezzet Cafe and Restaurant, San Diego, Turkish Food

http://lezzetcafe.net/

Hello Turkey

It's very nice to meet you.  I've heard a lot about you but I've never had the pleasure of making your acquaintance.  I've been thinking about you so much lately, and, as it's not likely for me to go ALL the way to see you, I thought I'd try to find a little bit of you here in San Diego.

Oh sure, I've had a Kabob and Turkish coffee, I've even smoked a Turkish cigarette hand rolled by my friend Ercan in Germany (and sick for the following 2 hours by the by)....,  but real Turkish food, cooked and served by real Turkish people, just sounds good today.  Let's roll.

A very brief search via the interweb leads me to this place.

Lezzet Cafe and Restaurant

It's south east of Barrio Logan, almost to Shelltown, on Main Street near Una Street.

Very creative paint selection..., but it looks cool/unique, and smells great as we enter.

They have a fairly standard sized indoor dining room and a large outdoor patio area with a lot of very comfy looking booths. 

We decided to sit indoors and I must say, the chairs are SUPER comfortable.  If they had A/C I could literally sit here all day.  I'm so digging this place already. 

Decor = awesome

Beer and wine are on the menu, they also have EVERYTHING Turkey, just no stuffing/cranberry sauce...jk

Moscato wine, pretty sweet but also pretty refreshing. 

Very cool bar.  I could easily see sitting here in winter time, or at least when it's not 100 degrees outside, and enjoy a coffee or tea.

Let's get the food rollin in, we are here to eat!

First to come out is Tandoori bread and three sauces.  I'm not sure if this comes with what we ordered or if it's like chips and salsa at a Mexican restaurant.  What I DO know is that it looks and smells killer.

The white sauce is Haydari.  Kind of similar to a Tziki, but not really.  It's like yoghurt and ground walnuts, and it's good.

The green sauce is the Avocado sauce.  This was my favorite,  Doesn't really taste much like avocado, but there's a lot going on in this bowl.  And it's a bit spicy.  Not blow you away spicy, just perfect, subtle, just enough to temp and tease but not hurt. 

The last sauce is similar to a salsa, but Turkish style.  No idea the name, but it's yummy.

The bread is beyond amazing.  Crispy and crunchy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside.  Served piping hot.  It looks like it was brushed with butter and sprinkled with sesame seeds just prior to baking.  

seni seviyorum türkiye

De-lish

We also ordered the ground lamb kabob plate.  It comes with salad and rice.

What can I say?  I wish I knew different words other than amazing, spectacular, delicious, wonderful, etc..  New words need to be created to describe this.  The smell is overwhelming.  The depth of flavor is beyond comprehension.  

The rice was not the star on the plate but it was terrific in it's own right.  Fluffy and light.  Not mushy but also not too hard, absolutely just right.  Perfect flavor.  It knows it's not the main event, but it plays the role of sidekick expertly.  

 I won't bother with more words here.  Please just enjoy with your eyes.

So good

Our awesome new friend brings on the next two dishes

Grape Dolma

Rice, beef, onion, tomato, seasonings, perfection

There is magic happening in this kitchen.

Homemade Beef Manti

Beef, onion, pepper, and salt wrapped in a homemade pasta topped with some sort of sauce, I can't even begin to guess at what it was.  A unique flavor, very light and delicious. 

To me this dish defines this place.  Fresh, handmade food, made by people who KNOW what they're doing, cooking with love, and for people they care about.  Primarily people from their home who are here in a land not unfriendly but also, probably, not all that familiar.  Yearning for something from home, recognizable.  

The finger model is back...

This is not only great Turkish food, and I am by no means an expert on that for sure, but this is simply good food, period.  If you want to eat, and eat well, come here.  

seni çok seviyorum türkiye!

DVA

Mr Dumpling, Kearny Mesa/San Diego

In lieu of a website, as they have none, here's a photo of their menu.

Mr. Dumpling Restaurant 

7250 Convoy Court, 92111

(858) 576-6888

So, where to begin ?

It was quite an impromtu beginning of sorts.  Big-D and I were gonna have lunch and at the last second, before departing from his ever multiplying family, he sent me a link to this restaurant.  Apparently he's seen this place a million times working in the area and has always wanted to try it.  I, however, have never heard of it. When I arrived the building appeared to be abandoned, until I spied the flashing OPEN sign.

Dennis emails:  Leaving now, grab a table....

Turns out reservations aren't necessary.....

This is high-noon, in a busy industrial/business parky kinda area.  This place should be overflowing with people.  Tajima 2 has a 45 minute wait right now.....

I am very afraid

My cheecks are already starting to clench

We were warmly greeted by two nice young ladies who showed us to our table and took our drink order, ice teas all around please.

As we started perusing the menu they asked if we have been here before.  Upon hearing that this was our first visit, and becasue they are OBVIOUSLY in need of more customers, they said that they would bring us something, "a special item..."  But you'll have to wait a bit for more of that...

Here's the "Local flavor menu"

Place setting

Table decoration

Welcome snack

These were pretty good and the first food we've tried here, so we are now, gradually, getting a bit more optimistic. 

Obviously these are lightly pickled cucumber and bean sprouts.

Our "special item" turned out to be a scallion pancake.  They called it a green onion something or other, but it's the same.  Very light on the scallion though, and really you only taste flour.  It tasted a lot like a flour tortilla with green onions cooked in the tortilla.  But it actually went pretty well with the other stuff that we were ordering, dumplings, duhh

Of course we MUST have Xiaolong Bao (Shanghai Soup Dumpling)

They were not bad, and they looked fresh and homemade. 

Good flavor, held the soup inside well, no blow-outs.  Quite nice.

We also had what seemed like Low Mein with beef, but they called it pan fried noodle blah blah blah, which is the same thing I guess, once again.  Great flavor, cooked well, nicely done. 

No complaints so far  :-/

And then we had pot-stickers.  This was a suggestion by the waitress,  And when we said "whoa lady, we've had pot-stickers before, there's nothing new or awesome there, kinda plain and boring"  She retorted with  "Ohhhhhhhh, round eye, theeeese are special, you must try and you will see". 

So we tried. 

If you could eat with your eyes I'd say "tastes great!

You're probably going, what the frick?!?!?!?!?!?  That's not pot-stickers!!!

But ohhh, it is, quite

Their style is to fry the dumpling on a very thin crepe which holds all of the dumplings together and when cooking is complete they are then turned out, upside down, or is it down side down???   onto the plate as one.  Very unique presentation.  Flavor wise, not much new or amazing.  But we both liked the experience.

Lastly, they offer a Sauce Bar near the rear of the restaurant.  Chilis and sauces in which to dip your dumplings, what?!?!?! 

There is also a small tray on each table containing different sauces and vinegars, spicy stuff, to dip and try.

Overall I'd say SUCCESS!! I'd definitaly come back for more. Not sure if I'd make the trek all the way from home for dinner, especially with the Dumpling Inn right down the street, but lunch? sure.

Dump-ling

Nom Nom Nom

DVA

Yeah, a tootsie roll for desert, not a fortune cookie....  another last wierd thing