Papa John's Spicy Pulled Pork Pizza

The Steelers are on and it's time for a beer and the game.  

Well, maybe more than A beer, maybe alotta beers! 

What goes best with football and beer?

YES

PIZZA

And I've had way too much of them damn Papa John's fricken commercials lately.  So much so that I need to put that pie in mouth!  And this is the night!

We have no expanded cable but we do have the interweb and a tv in the garage that connects to blah blah blah

enough about that

Beer, smokes, Steelers, let's get that pie on the way!

Dos Equis Amber, por favor

The snackable offered tonight is our honey mustard pretzels

A decent treat while waiting for the hot pork pie

If you didn't get it from the title of this post, this is all about the spicy pulled pork pizza.  I know I know I KNOW, it can't be good, but for $12 it's TOTALLY worth a try.  The absolute worst thing that could happen is a case of the mud-butt in the morning, well worth the risk I'd say.

Here's the dude, Happy Pappy John!

ORDER UP!

 The box....

The pie....  Feels dirty to even call it that

WDSS?

HG also wanted a salad, so why not

Looks pretty lame, and over processed, but it's under $5!!!

Pretty bad from what I heard, I didn't try it though.  Why waste the space?

And here we go....

I do very much love the pepperoncinis, no matter how wilted they are from sweating their asses off in the box with the hot pie.  I still like'em

Closer

CLOSER

YES!!!!!!

Verdict?

I say YUMMM!!!!

The pork is real pork, chunks of it, in a tangy BBQ sauce that contains the perfect level of spice.  Yes, perfect.  Very gently it creeps up on you, caressing your mouth, surrounding your buds, easing it's way down your throat, and then???

it stops           right where it should

Not a punch in the face level spice, nor like a hammer on the head, neither a fist to the gut

More like if Rhett Butler was pissed at you, and slapped you in the face with a pair of gloves held in one hand.  Oh, you'd know that you were slapped, but no mark is left, no sign of the crime.  But you'd feel it, you'd know who delt it as well, and just as fast, the perp is gone.  Like a thief in the night.  Nice.

Don't get me wrong, there will be no Papa John's pizza party at the casa.  But for $12 will I consider shoving my face in this pie??  Hell to the yes!

Eat it!

DVA

Spike Africa's, Gaslamp, San Diego, Fresh Fish & Bar

Spike Africa's Gaslamp San Diego 

 

Jury duty is the reason for my presence in the Gaslamp area, otherwise, as those of you who know me well, I would be nowhere near this place.

 

The previous day I had a lovely meal with a co-worker of mine and two great ladies whom we do business with from time to time, and who also work in the downtown area, and who highly recommended this place.  Whence I came upon it the next day during my two hour lunch break I simply had to try it.

 

The folowing is my summation...

 

OK, so, fresh fish and bar.  Let's start with the location.  4th and Broadway, south east corner, prime spot.  Looks fairly new, very comfirtable interior, open and inviting exterior.  A couple of TV's were on and I enjoyed watching the LLWS during my visit.

 

Here's part of the lunch menu

 

 

I realized that I would likely only have this one chance to try this place, based on my eversion to Gaslamp, so I thought I should order a couple of things.

 

I also realized that I was on jury duty and it was possible that I could be sent to a courtroom later in the day, so I enjoyed an iced tea...   which was standard, nothing special, but refreshing in the heat of days.

 

Let's have the sriracha shrimp and garlic noodles...

 

 

and the blackened mahi fish tacos

 

 



Let's break up the decriptions so that it doesn't get too muddled

 

 When the waiter placed the bowl in front of me he said "be VERY careful, this is VERY hot"

 

I thanked him for the caution and gently eased my way in.  Looked great, smelled pretty good too.  I moved some of the veggies around and spooned up some broth, and......

 it was warm.  Not hot, warm.

 

The first dissapointment of the meal.  It should have been piping hot, just like the waiter suspected it would be.  There were even wisps of steam coming from the bowl, no idea where they came from, honestly, but there they were.  I think the problem is, and many amateur soup purveyors have, is that all of the "fixin's" are kept in the fridge and placed in the bowl after the broth has been poured over the noodles, thus significantly lowering the temperature of the soup.  If you want it to be hot, everything needs to be HOT!

 

The second dissapointment was the flavor of the broth.  I was expecting shitake ginger broth (just like the menu said) and I got a big mouthful of soy sauce.  It honestly tasted like they just opened a bottle and dumped it in.  Not so awesome.

 

I didn't stop there tho, one of the best things I ate was coming up, and something that a LOT of ramen shops, amateur ramen shops, in San Diego, just get flat our wrong.

 

The egg 

 

Just look at it!

 

This is how you prepare a soft boiled egg to go in a soup.  You have vats of hot broth, COOK YOUR EGG IN THAT!!!  not just hot water, there's no flavor in that. 

 

This was yummy, flavorful, cooked well.

 

 

It was actually cooked a little too well, well done that is. But I would much rather have it over done than under done.  I don't want egg yolk soup.  If I do, I 'll go get some chinese food.

 

It was also a bit cold in the center, obviously right from the fridge.  Flavor was nice though.

 

Good job Spike! 

 

 

I just couldn't eat any more

 

Not wanting to end with a criticism, I thought I'd offer my last main gripe here.

 

And it's really a shame too.  The black beans, of which I am a huge fan of, tasted terrific.  Big flavor, texture perfect.  The problem is the long soft onion things in the bowl.  WTF is that?!?!?  It felt and tasted, uhm,, well, just weird.  Blech.  Whoever came up with this idea is off the mark.  Not good.  Just do it normal.  There is no need to dress it up, at least not with limp onions strips. 

 

Gross

 

 

 

The tacos were good.  I would have liked to taste the fish a bit more, the mango and guac overpowered it a bit, but the flavor was nice and it all worked well. For $12.95 though, lemmie taste the fish.   WDHS?

 

What else can I say? 

 

Eat more in Gaslamp?  no, please don't. 

 

Try more new places to eat, something new?  Yes, great idea!  Thanks Claudia and Kelly!

 

DVA



Food, Fun, Fighting, Friends, Niigata, Japan

 

Admittedly this post is uber tardy

 

The beginning of June 2014 is the timeframe, almost 2 months ago, so no, I'm not still there.  This was, however, one of the best meals every enjoyed in Japan. 

 

There was food, fun, fighting and certainly friends at hand.

 

I'd say that the food was the centerpiece, but that would be untrue.  Friends enjoying a meal, having a drink and a conversation.  That's what this, and what life is all about. 

 

Communing with one anther

 

The human experience

 

 

 

Food

 

This is the entryway.  We are ushered off to our private dining room as soon as we arrive.

 

Barrels of sake

 

The table is set, I'll walk you through the courses

 

This is the first, an appetiser plate of sorts.  The one on the left is terrible

 

Blech

 

Salty little worm like things

Sashimi, of every sort

 

Half of this stuff is headed to the charcoal grill that sits in the middle of the table

 

Mega huge giant scallops, they were soooo good



 

Personal shabu shabu bowl

 

A new one for me, a sake serving bowl.  We must've had 6 of these

Wowzer

 

 

Crab, obviously

 

Whole grilled fish.  One of my favorite things

 

Yes, this is a before shot.  Alas there is no after, but it was good going down

Tamura-san!!!

 

Kazunari-san!!!

 

And peeking in on us is Masayuki-san

 

He's bringing his friend back so that she'll bring us more sake!

 

Rice cooked with clams.  It gets burned on the bottom and then you scrape that off and eat it as well.  Often there will be a broth that you add to the burnt stuff, in your own bowl, and then you enjoy it like soup.  It might sound not so great, but it is SO GREAT!

 

Fight break!

 

Pow pow pow!!!

 

Duck, and then POW!!!!!

 

Yes, this is after much sake

 

Naofumi-san's train came a little bit off the tracks....

 

He brushed my nose a few times but other than that there was no real contact (thank god)

 

So fun, so delicious, a great way to unwind after a long couple days of meetings

 

Cheers

 

I hope you enjoyed this

 

DVA