Tag: restaurants

Midweek Fun- Johnny Cardinale at Mad House Comedy Club

I went to a new place tonight, just for a laugh (Ha, get it? Comedy club? Just for a laugh? I crack myself up). The last time I went to a comedy club was when we lived in the Midwest, and before that was more than 20 years ago when I took a roommate to a show at The Groundlings in L.A.

It’s been awhile! We got to The Mad House Comedy Club in San Diego’s Horton Plaza in time for a late dinner, and for The Husband to say hi to an old friend… he went to school with the headliner back in the day. The entertainment was fab- man, I wish I were that witty! If Johnny is playing in your area, go catch him. His take on pop music chords really shows off his overall talent and comic ability. If you can judge a comic’s ability by how hoarse their audience is at the end of the set, well then, my voice was shot by the time we got back to the car. Lots o’ laughs.

T’was a ball, highly recommend the venue and the comic- Johnny Cardinale is a great and funny guy!

http://www.johnnycardinale.com/Website/Home.html
Funny guy Johnny Cardinale has appeared on Chelsea Lately, Jimmy Kimmel Live, the Game Show Network and TV Guide Channel. Click his pic to get to his official website, the place from which I swiped this photo…
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Mad House Comedy in San Diego’s Horton Plaza http://madhousecomedyclub.com/index.cfm

Downtown Sushi…

We had a few hours to kill while waiting to pick up the son from an event downtown and tried a new-to-us sushi spot-

Sushi Deli 2 http://www.sushideliusa.net/

Those were some great prices on noodles, appetizers and sushi, and the winner was the Yakisoba. Lots of vegetables cooked just right, great flavor to the sauce and good chicken, too. I’d pass on the Udon soup there, the tempura was good with it, as was the broth, but I think the noodles were prepared ahead of time and just reheated in the broth… that might explain the low price. Good overall, but for the noodles. Sushi Deli seems to be known for its specialty rolls, and they did look great as the servers brought them to other tables.

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Sushi Stop 2 Potstickers; Assorted Nigiri; Chicken Yakisoba and Tempura Udon

I wouldn’t go again, but neither would I discourage someone from going there. You sure can’t beat the price, and the atmosphere was pumped.

Pho for Me

On our quest to try some new eats! This time we tried a restaurant that many people have been telling us to try, a chain called Pho Ca Dao. According to one of my kid’s teachers, if you aren’t swearing, you aren’t pronouncing it correctly… I hope she wasn’t pulling my leg.

The daughter’s boyfriend helped us order and he picked some winners. We loved the soups, the pork with rice noodles were meh. Egg rolls- fabulous, spring rolls- less so. I think I am spoiled by having friends make home made spring rolls on many occasions, though.

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Yum! Beef with rice, pork with rice noodles and egg rolls, spring rolls, beef pho and chicken pho with all the condiments- love the sprouts, basil and cilantro!

I’m really glad I finally tried some of the dishes from Pho Ca Dao, and am sure that we will hit it again- great dishes at a surprisingly low price. Here’s the menu, via allmenus.com:

http://www.allmenus.com/ca/san-diego/32447-ca-dao/menu/

In Which I Drink My Husband’s Beer…

I always thought I didn’t like beer, turns out I just don’t like hops. I love an oatmeal stout, imperial stout and various porters. I let the local barflies pick my beer tonight at O’Brien’s Pub, and then the bartender wouldn’t let me get it. She loves IPAs and the Ripcurrent One 20th Anniversary Quad (an IIIIPA!) was too much for her. Always trust your bartender! She suggested the Alpine Duet IPA instead and… well… I don’t hate it. I’d even get it again!

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Pancit, Paneer, and Ponzu- Dining Diversity, YEAH!

We returned to our home state about five years ago after twenty years and three states. One of the best things about being back, besides returning to family, is that we are back in the land of diverse dining options!

Central Pennsylvania and Indiana had great restaurants, (Facia Luna and Three Sisters come to mind, respectively) but when you go into a grocery store intending to make salsa, ask in produce where the cilantro is, and get a puzzled look in return… you know you are in for some bleak years. Penn State students celebrated when Taco Bell arrived in town.

Back in The Southland, it seemed that we patronized strictly the little taquerias, with an occasional In-N-Out stop. I could have eaten tacos every day… and at times we did! After about a year the kids were fed up with our limited dining-out diet and we moved on to more variety, but we really didn’t branch out too far. Japanese, mainly (yum!).

We live smack in the middle of a huge Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean and Indian neighborhood. Half of our church is Filipino, with a monthly pancit and lumpia sale- it doesn’t get any better than this!

Wednesday nights are a good fast-food night for us, and tonight we are branching out to Indian Food! Sitar, buried in a little Sorrento Valley food court, was highly recommended. Check them out here:  http://www.sitarsandiego.com/menu.htm Vetted by my Indian neighbors, it should be great (no pressure on you, Raja, har).

This is what we tried, and here’s our thoughts:

Lamb Vindaloo, Chicken Biryani, Samosas, Coconut Curry Soup, and more...
From Sitar- Lamb Vindaloo, Chicken Biryani, Samosas, Coconut Curry Soup, and more…
Yum. Dinner for me, and it was great! I liked the Lamb Vindaloo best.
Yum. Dinner for me, and it was great! I liked the Lamb Vindaloo best, and the Samosas were delicious.

Is this how Samosas are supposed to taste? Wow! Crispy, fried, savory, spicy pockets of veggies and meat. The dal was tasty, too, and we all liked the lamb vindaloo better than the chicken biryani. I think my kids enjoyed making naan jokes the best- “Dal? I’ll have naan of that, thankyouverymuch! Naan for me!”