Revisiting: My First Restaurant Review

For my last restaurant post (and my penultimate post of all), I went back to Tapas Teatro.  I used to go here often but sadly have not gotten around to this place lately.  It hasn't changed: still bustling, still ready with the delicious sangría, still with a dizzying array of tapas for the hungry theater-goer (or the guy who stumbles in off the street).

I re-read my first Tapas Teatro post from way back in September of '06 before heading there, and I have to admit: I like how my writing style has evolved (specifically away from the style I used to write in).  I don't know.  It does seem like I'm being extra-descriptive, something I really don't bother to do anymore.  An example from that post:

When the waiterss came back, I ordered a Guiness [sic] (a favorite beer of mine) and one of my favorite dishes, their battered fried vegetables. A little bit about these veggies: the chefs take onions, eggplant and asparagus and fry it in what seems like a tempura-like batter. The chefs at Tapas Teatro then serve it up hot with a spicy, smooth mango-jalapeño salsa (actually, it's more like a jelly), with pieces of red pepper on the sides. The presentation on a square white plate is also gorgeous.

After another wait, in which I was brought some Italian bread with olive oil mixed with softened baked garlic (mmmmm, garlic), the waitress brought out the veggies and my beer. I bit into the onion first. It was a little soggier than usual, but still tasty. Everything else was nice and crispy, not soggy at all (well, as not soggy as fried eggplant can be). And the sweet and spicy salsa was a perfect complement.

I can't explain why but I want to smack the guy who's writing this.  But then again, I've always been self-critical.

Well, my tastes have definitely evolved since then.  I've switched form Guinness in a bottle to the much hoppier craft beers (mmmmm, hops).  But I admit that I was a little bit disappointed when I didn't see that same tempura veggie dish on the menu.  I was looking forward to that.  Not a big problem, mind you, since what I ordered along with my friend Eric (sadly the hubby is out of town) was still very good.

So what did we eat during this visit?

True to form, we ordered a variety of things.  We started with the fritura de mariscos plate, a bevy of tender and wonderfully crunchy fried calamari, bass and shrimp.  Normally I might just order this one thing and that would be enough for me.  But no, there was more.

For a little bit of red meat, I ordered the bistec a la brasa, a small but juicy piece of Angus beef with a "piquillo pepper sauce" and a parsley aioli.  I don't eat too much in the way of steak, so this was an indulgence for me.

Believe it or not, my favorite part of the meal was something I don't particularly enjoy: fennel.  I have nothing against it, but I just don't usually find very inspired versions of it.  However, this fried fennel with garlic aioli was a nice surprise: crispy and even a little juicy with a flavorful crunchy breading.  The aioli was a delicious sauce to go with it.  Alongside this dish was the remolachas dish, made of beets and arugula on top of chêvre.  Again, delicious.

Not pictured was our final dish, the plato de España: an arrangement of different Spanish cheese, sausage and ham: Manchego, Cantimpalo and jamón serrano.  This was a nice way to end our dinner - no dessert for us, as we were just too full.  And this was also a lovely way to end this blog: one final post about a restaurant I haven't gotten to in ages, and am reminded why I need to get there again.

There we go, my last normal post.  There is just one left, and it's going up tomorrow!

World Cup Buffet: Gazpacho (ESP - Spain)

Spain is closer than it's been to the World Cup than at any time since 1950, when they came in fourth. Saturday's game against also-never-been Paraguay was surprising in that Spain just didn't find their footing against a team everybody said would certainly lose. Both teams missed opportunities to score, but Spain finally did in the last ten minutes, with no help from what some said was an incompetent Guatemalan referee (that's one story of this World Cup: incompetent referees).

Country: Spain (IOC/FIFA Abbreviation: ESP)
Nickname of National team: La Furia Roja (Spanish, "The Red Fury")
Number of World Cups they have appeared in: 13
Highest finish: fourth place (1950)
Common foods: seafood (showcased in paella), ham, beans, migas, flan, eggs/omelettes, gazpacho
Number of Spanish restaurants in the Baltimore area: There are several tapas restaurants in and around Baltimore, so Spanish food isn't hard to find.
Number of Spanish restaurants in the Washington area: Same as with Baltimore.

Paella can be a time-consuming and expensive dish to prepare, and with the all the meat from the other buffet dishes - bobotie, German sausages and Uruguayan asado - something cold, refreshing and vegetarian would be a nice change. The solution is kind of obvious: gazpacho.

I have made gazpacho a few times before, whenever I am faced with a glut of tomatoes in the summer. The basic recipe for this cold soup is not difficult. Blend together in your food processor or blender the following: bread crumbs, fresh diced tomatoes with diced cucumbers, peppers (bell and/or hot depending on your taste), diced onion & garlic with tomato juice, red wine vinegar and olive oil, herbs such as basil and parsley, and salt, pepper and (again to taste) Tabasco sauce. Serve with a dash of olive oil and chopped onions and/or cucumbers. The amounts of ingredients will usually vary greatly depending on the recipe. Even the Food Network has dozens of gazpacho recipes, some that are very tomato heavy and others where the other vegetables overpower the tomato (yes, tomato is technically a fruit). Some people like a chunky gazpacho but I prefer mine extremely smooth.

Some recipes omit the bread crumbs altogether, which is not a big problem for me since I don't like the grainy texture the bread crumbs sometimes give. Still it seems there should be some crumbs in a traditional gazpacho recipe. So when I finally did make my own, using a recipe from Anne "with the random Cookie Monster voice" Burrell, I had to put in the requisite bread crumbs, from bread I made myself no less. Burrell mandates 8 slices of bread for 2 pounds of tomatoes. Burrell's recipe is good, but I actually cut back on some of the bread the second time I made this.


Most people probably would recommend against freezing gazpacho for a whole year, but I did just that. The texture is a little grainy but the tomato tang is still very strong and the freshly-thawed gazpacho feels quite good on a 104° day. Cilantro, cucumber, red onion and olive oil are all good garnishes for your gazpacho.

That is it for our World Cup Buffet. We have our semifinalist teams in place for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa: the Netherlands take on Uruguay and Germany take on Spain. The losers of each match face off for the title of third place finish, while the winners go on to the big finish on Sunday! And while I won't be preparing a buffet or anything, if you feel the need, you now have a menu.

Tapas Teatro for Restaurant Week

I went with a friend last night to Tapas Teatro. I thought they might be taking part in Baltimore Restaurant Week, and they indeed are! Not that Tapas Teatro needs any more customers, as our half hour wait for a table made painfully clear. The dimly lit restaurant that shares a building (and a door) with the Charles Theater still somehow manages to be cozy, bright and lively all at once. And that is even as you try in vain to find some way to move around the place! It is constantly packed and for good reason - Tapas Teatro is one of those few places that not only lives up to the hype, but somehow seems underhyped! I have not eaten at all of the tapas places in town (I will get to Pazo, I promise!), but this one is a fave for good reason.

Eric and I waited a good half hour for our table while we nursed our alcohol - his choice was wine, mine a bottle of Bass Ale. We spent the half hour trying to choose between the $35 Restaurant Week menu and the regular one. At most area restaurants, the $35 prix fixe menu is a steal (less so than in August when it was only $30, but still). But at Tapas Teatro the Restaurant Week menu consists of three plates: one small tapa, one large tapa, and one dessert tapa. For a grand total of $35. I rarely spend more than $15 here, but Tapas Teatro is a place where you could easily spend $30, $40 or $50 on tapas, but not on just three of them, unless you stick with the pricier options. As indecisive as I am, it took me a good while longer to choose. Eric seemed to settle rather quickly on the regular menu, and after another 10 minutes of hemming and hawing, I did too.

We ordered a total of seven different tapas - I chose three, and Eric chose the rest. He said that this was that rare occasion where every dish he ordered was really good. He had some sort of unsatisfying flatbread plate the night before while eating there with another friend of ours (shout out, Jim!) but this night was different.

Here's what we ordered. I would recommend each one:

ensalada del teatro ($7) - A peppery arugula salad with very thinly sliced red onion and an almost chocolaty balsamic vinaigrette

batter fried vegetables ($6) - This is one of my tried and true favorites. I have ordered this so many times (it was, in fact, the very first dish I wrote about on this blog). I still love the tempura asparagus, eggplant and thickly-cut onion, and that jalapeño-mango jelly goes with anything batter-fried. But I think after tonight I have a new favorite dish.

asiago cheese with tomato on Ciabatta ($5) - This wasn't the new favorite I meant. That one is below. But I still found myself going back to this garlicky cheese-covered ciabatta for one bite here and one bite there. I almost didn't have room for anything else after that.

asparagus with serrano ham ($8) - I only had a little bite of this. Tasty.

baby potatoes ($5) - I rarely find potatoes that I really like when I eat out, particularly those of the whole-roasted variety. But the flavor of the potatoes was a pleasant surprise, especially combined with the garlic aioli.

fried calamari ($9) - This is my new favorite. On the menu, it's listed as grilled calamari, but you can get it fried instead. And it will be one of the best fried calamari dishes you will eat. The calamari is quite tender, more so than any I have eaten. In addition, the coating is crunchy, light and not too greasy. Sadly, there are no long, stringy tentacles (I like those, okay?), but what you get is very satisfying.

skewered lamb with lentils - Eric ordered these, so I'm not sure how much these were. I can't find these on the menu. So I will have to ask about it next time I am there. What it was, was tender skewered lamb laying on a bed of lentils. This is a simple sounding dish that packs a lot of wonderful flavor. You don't have to win me over to lamb - I am a lamb-lovin' person as it is. Perhaps it's less lamb than I am used to, but I still liked the dish.

Minus Eric's glasses of sparkling rosé and coffee and our pre-dinner drinks, the total food bill was about $50 to $52 (making that lamb dish about $11 or $12). That's seven tapas for about $50, minus the six tapas we could've gotten from the Restaurant Week menu for $75. I have to say that ordering off the menu was by far the better deal for my skimpy bank account (what I ordered cost about $20). But if you can find a seat for Restaurant Week, peruse the prix fixe menu and decide for yourself what you'll get next.

La Tasca (Baltimore Restaurant Week)

I went with my sister and some friends to La Tasca to sample their tapas menu for Restaurant Week last night. La Tasca is a gorgeous, two-story restaurant in Harborplace with a beautiful view of the Harbor and the USS Constellation. It's right there - I mean right there - at the other end of the Skywalk from the Gallery on the other side of Pratt Street. Very conveniently located. Also near La Tasca: the above-average Irish restaurant Tir na nÓg, and Edo Sushi. I've never been to Edo Sushi, but it's constantly mentioned as one of the Best Restaurants in the area. I have to go sometime.

La Tasca has an arrangement where if you want the Restaurant Week prices, then everyone at the table must order from the Restaurant Week menu. This was great, because we were all there for Restaurant Week. Their menu included one salad, four tapas of our choice (from a selection of about twenty), and one dessert. We started out with glasses of sangría (which were extra). I got their rebujito, which had sherry in it. At least they said it did. It didn't seem so obvious as I drank it, but I figured all the sherry had settled to the bottom. Oh well, it would kick in soon, I thought. My salad was pretty good, fresh greens with chopped bell peppers and fresh tuna, and topped with balsamic vinegar. Everyone else seemed to like her salad. One of us got a salad with lots of prosciutto, and wanted something a little sweet in it to cut that.

Continuing to sip my sangría, waiting to feel the kick or, for that matter, taste the sherry, we waited patiently for our tapas. My favorite tapa was the calamares (calamari - note the cognate?), battered and served with mayonnaise (not so much a mayo-based sauce but, it seemed, just plain old mayo). It was a little salty (in a good way) and very crunchy without being tough or dried out. I really liked the calamares and would get it again. That is, if I was going back. You see the rest of the tapas were, well, lacking.

• Meaty, perhaps once-frozen albóndigas in a generic tomato sauce with some peas thrown in. My sister and I shared the three that we got, and we still left some behind. It wasn't due to their size.

• The blandest mussels I have ever eaten in my life. At least one of mine was closed. I've never left so many behind before. Trust me: you will find better ones in one of the street fairs in Little Italy. Another great plate of mussels: Nasu Blanca. And wait: doesn't Tapas Teatro serve some, too?

• I got a flank steak and potatoes dish. The potatoes were tasty and flavorful. I found the steak to be on the tough side. My sister liked it better. That was good, because she got some memorably forgettable tapas as well.

• One thing she ordered was a salmon steak with chopped up tomatoes or something (they were pretty flavorless, so it was difficult to tell what they had once been). She didn't care for it. I thought it was better than anything I had eaten save for the calamares.

• She also got a typical tapas restaurant dish, a tapa-sized bowl of paella a la Valenciana. It included some pretty dry pieces of some kind of meat that tasted like chicken. The rice pilaf itself was not bad.

• Believe it or not, our friends fared worse. One dish that one of them got sounded like it would be delicious garden vegetables served Spanish-style. What she actually got was mixed frozen vegetables from a bag. So classy! She was quite annoyed about it but remained gracious - it wasn't the fault of the waiters' after all. But it did become the running joke of the evening.

• One of them also got some shrimp simmering in a butter sauce, which I tasted. I think it was a butter sauce, but it really could have been wine, or something else. A throwaway, sadly: again, I have had better. At least they were tender.

The desserts were much better. My sister got this truffle and chocolate dish which was tasty (I tried it), while one of our friends got a bowl of strawberry ice cream, which she also liked. Our other friend and I each ordered the crème Catalana: basically a large custard in a shallow dish with crème brulée caramalized sugar in the middle and strawberry slices on top. It was good, but still not as good as similar dishes I have eaten elsewhere. It seemed almost like a lazy crème brulée with that crispy topping just in the middle. But it was good enough that I would recommend it if you went to La Tasca. I mean much of the stuff is pretty bland, so at least order something tasty.

And by this time the sangría had truly not kicked in. I now suspect they just gave me some fruit juice with an anemic splash of sherry in it that I couldn't even taste, if there was any sherry in it at all. I could have easily gotten behind the wheel with the drink in my hand and still have had a ridiculously legal blood alcohol content.

Long story short: for $30 plus about $5 per drink, this was a pretty forgettable place to eat. Truly, the meal was uneven - even the alcohol was weak - and even though the service was not bad, you go for the food, which became the butt of many of the night's jokes. Note to the folks at La Tasca: you don't want your guests making derogatory jokes about your dishes, especially when they are giving you their business. That's when "patronize" with a long /ā/ - to give your business to someone - and "patronize" with a short /ă/ - to make fun of - mean one and the same thing. Folks, that's not a good thing. Plus, I can find jokes online for free - why should I pay $30 plus tax for new ones?

Anniversary Trip: Tapas Teatro

My very first restaurant review was for the hip and always-crowded Tapas Teatro, next to the Charles Theatre. During that review, I raved about tempura veggies:

A little bit about these veggies: the chefs take onions, eggplant and asparagus and fry it in what seems like a tempura-like batter. The chefs at Tapas Teatro then serve it up hot with a spicy, smooth mango-jalapeño salsa (actually, it's more like a jelly), with pieces of red pepper on the sides. The presentation on a square white plate is also gorgeous.

I'm gettin' all sweaty just thinkin' about it.

Since then I've been a few times, but I haven't been lately. So I decided to go this past weekend. There were some seats outside, but even more people waiting to be seated, so I figured I wasn't going to sit outside. I eventually ponied up to the bar and looked at the menu.

Maybe it's been a while, but some of the prices seem to have risen since the last time I went! Only by about a dollar or two, but it caught me by surprise. So I ordered the requisite Guinness (about $4) and decided on a meal. I got a little more than I usually do:

• lamb albóndigas (meatballs) in a tangy tomato sauce with cilantro (about $8)
  
• dried tomato on hearty bread slices, with a little tomato sauce underneath (about $4)
  

These were good tapas, with the beer coming to about $17 after tax. I left $20 and headed out for the next part of my night. I didn't go far. In fact, I went to the other side of the Charles. Sofi's Crepes offers crepes - just crepes, dinner crepes, dessert crepes, fancy veggie, cheese and meat crepes and simple crepes with butterscotch or chocolate. And they always serve them up hot. The best part is that you can create your own. Instead I took a pre-existing one and added to it. I wanted dessert and I wanted cheap. So I went for the simplest and cheapest dessert crepe I could find, their homemade butterscotch crepe. The kicker is that it's the butterscotch that's homemade. To this decadent crepe I added nutella for an extra buck. Total cost: $5, for a hot, steaming, fattening, wonderful crepe. I also got an iced tea. It wasn't remarkable - just your standard iced tea. I doubt people go to Sofi's for the tea anyway.

All in all, I'd say this was an extremely satisfying anniversary meal. I don't know why I had never gone into Sofi's Crepes after the Charles. Glad I did this time.

Vacation Over

Sadly, my vacation is done. **SIGH** The next time I post anything I'll be back in the comfort of my home in Bawlmer. But I have one or two things left to write about:

Papaya Bay of Yucaipa

Jim took me to this Thai restaurant, Papaya Bay, in this remote, dusty little Yucaipa strip mall. Note that this city isn't very big to begin with, but hey, it's the desert, so 40,000 people can live on a patch of land much bigger than they need anyway. My jaw dropped when I walked in; the place is gorgeous, with all this beautiful woodwork and even a fancy table and chairs when you walk in, all ornate Thai woodworking.

The food was just as good, and as usual we ordered too much of it. For starters we ordered some egg rolls - crispy and with a sweet and sour sauce - and some puff pastry sort of thing that looked like a tiny empanada, but with curry and potatoes in it - still done up in Thai style. This latter one came with a sweet vinegary sauce with little chopped-up red onions and cucumbers in it.

Then our soup came out - tom kha gai, which I have never received as a complimentary part of my meal before (and so good). Next was the mains course. Mine was panang curry chicken, which I've never had before. Smooth and coconutty (coconut milk, not coconut bits), a little hot. It looked more like a stew than anything else, and came with a large mound of white rice. It also came with a little salad that I didn't bother with.

Total price for two: about $38.

Café Sevilla of Riverside

It seems to have become a tradition, our going to Café Sevilla once during every trip out here. We went in April and we did it again. Just a note of advice (heads up, Danielle, if you make it out this far; you'll be in LA by the time you read this): if you are out in Riverside, go there on a Wednesday night. They have tapas platters, and they are all half price. We got $50 worth of tapas for $25 easily, not even that. Plus, try their sangarita. It's their claim of "Spain meets Mexico!" It's just a margarita mixed with sangría, and put in a standard short glass with sugar instead of salt around the rim. Tasty. Total was about $60.

And that's it. I'm off to the local Vons (a Safeway subsidiary - note how alike their websites look) or Stater Bros for something to eat on the plane. I could just get something between connections in Phoenix, but I won't have enough time and it probably won't be any good anyway.

Nasu Blanca (Baltimore Restaurant Week)

Yes guys, I am writing about it just like you said I would :)

Nasu Blanca has to be one of the best places I have eaten in a long time. Two friends and I went last night and found that out. It's a little - okay, more than a little - out of my price range for me to become a regular customer, but they are hoping to make it more often. Hell, so am I. I just might have to wait for the next Restaurant Week, though.

The place was packed last night, and our server, in kistchy pearls and a fun black dress, noted that it has been like this all week. And they all had three entrées and three appetizers from which to choose (and the same dessert; see the menu for yourself). Because there were three of us, we were in the unique position of being able to sample everything, by each of us ordering a different appetizer and entrée. They also had a special outside of the BRW menu: tempura-battered squash blossoms. Sounds scrumptious, but I'll try it next time.

Our waitress/sommelieuse noted that, for an extra $15, we could get wine pairings for each course, in the form of red/white wine or sake. The guys opted for the wine pairings. I stuck with with cheaper option, so I have no clue what wines were drunk or how they paired with the food. Instead, I just stuck with a tall, cool glass of Sapporo for $5. Nice, crisp and clean beer that Sapporo is.

We each tried every appetizer. They went as follows:

• Japanese eggplant in den miso sauce - Out of all the appetizers, this is the one I liked the most. Very sweet and dense. And I hate eggplant. Hate it. So this was something.
  
• Prince Edward mussels in a sofrito-sherry broth - This was my appetizer. We all loved these. It's difficult to do mussels poorly. Good thing they didn't! And they came with crusty toasted bread to sop the broth up with.
  
• Mixed greens with katafi and ginger dressing - It was good, though I am usually not wow'd by salads. Not this one either. But I liked the addition of the katafi (or kataifi - shredded phyllo, or the rich Greek dessert of the same name that's made of the stuff). In this salad, however, the katafi was not at all sweetened. Instead, it added a nice crunch.

As good as all that was, the entrées were in a different league altogether:

• Paella valenciana with chorizo, chicken, mussels and saffron rice - Tasty if at first mushy paella. But my friends liked the texture. I don't know why it seemed a little mushy to me. Not to them. I got over that quickly. It was some tasty rice, to be honest, and not that mushy as I got into it. I guess that sounds a little confused. Let me rephrase: Yes, I would indeed recommend it to you if you went there.
• Panko-crusted walu with sweet potato slices and butter ponzu sauce - I have never eaten walu, which is a firm and flavorful fish. Very tasty. It looked small but was very filling. The sauce and sweet potatoes were also wonderful. Even the throw-away greens on top and underneath were delicious. Normally, this dish costs $28! So this was an excellent deal. This was my entrée, by the way, though we all had our ways with each.
  
• Strip steak with pimenton dusted fingerling potatoes, cabrales butter and tempranillo wine reduction - This was my favorite entrée - in fact, my favorite of everything I ate during Restaurant Week, even the steak at Petit Louis (which is a close second). My friend ordered it medium rare. He says you can tell a great deal about the quality of a restaurant by how they prepare your steak. If you ask for it medium rare, it needs to come out medium rare. It did here. Blissful steak.

We all had the same dessert, a white chocolate banana bread pudding with caramel and toasted walnuts strewn artfully across our gleaming white, square dishes, and all with a small dollop of cream on top. Tasty dessert, very rich, though it runs a close second to Petit Louis' mousse. It's still delicious. I could eat it all day.

All throughout this dinner we had such attentive service. The entrées came out immediately after the appetizers were done. And the waitress, wanting to make sure that my friends had their respective wines before each dish came out, hurried out their wines before each course came out. That is some good service.

The grand total before tip came to $145. This included our three prix fixe menus ($30 each), the wine pairings ($15 each), the Sapporo ($5) and two basil julep cocktails (you do the math). They included basil and shiso, the Japanese leafy herb which you usually find on any plate of sashimi. It tastes sort of peppery.

Nasu Blanca, in short, was the perfect way to end my Restaurant Week (yes, it's over for me; I have a trip to save for, y'know). It also has to be one of the best dining experiences I have had in a long time. Do go if you have the money. Save up first, but go, at some point go!

Update on SoCal visit 2: Back to Bawlmer, hon, er, dude

Oh my God, did I hit the Publish button instead of the Draft button? Now I feel so embarrassed! Oopsie! My heartfelt apologies for the very embryonic post there (I was wondering how Fairfax could've known I was back in town already). My only excuse is that I had to act fast because we were boarding. Anyway...

Well I am sitting here at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport waiting to board my connection between Ontario and BWI (or at least I was when I started typing; I'll probably be back in Maryland by the time I publish this), and my meal here was a bit less appetizing, just a slightly tough little Nathan's hot dog (again, the Fresh Connections sandwiches I found at Las Vegas are here, but the hot dog was cheaper). This after I polished off a Del Taco bacon and egg breakfast quesadilla and three and a half hash brown sticks (hey, I won't be eating that for a while anyway, so why not). But I have had much better food over the last day or so. A recap (again, photos are forthcoming, because I am too tired to deal with them right now):

VISIT TO THE VILLAGE AT CLAREMONT

Think Mt. Washington Village, but with more smog and palm trees. And wind - man, those Santa Anas were kicking up yesterday! I almost got hit by a very heavy palm frond. But the Village at Claremont is in Claremont, CA. This city is on the westernmost cusp of the Inland Empire, and the easternmost part of LA County, and it's a very cool, happenin' place. The Village at Claremont has a Rhino Records, a music store where I bought this really cool device where you turn a knob on a string and it makes these wooden chickens "peck" the platform above the knob. And I almost bought a VHS tape on how to play the didgeridoo (yes, I have one, and yes, I know that is weird).

A. Kline Chocolatier - My friend Jim and I went to Claremont's A. Kline Chocolatier. Okay, I did, and dragged Jim in with me. They have some absolutely wonderful candies in there, and some Easter candies on sale for $3 for a small, Mary Sue-sized egg (the one that's about the size of a very large normal egg). It's as good as a non-Mary Sue can be (God, am I a typical Bawlamoron or what, comparing all such candy Easter eggs to Mary Sue). Bought some wonderful butter creams, too, about $18 a pound, but each was worth about 50 to 60¢, and I only got 10 of them.

Kinya Japanese Restaurant - Every hip, happenin', semi-pretentious place like the Village at Claremont (or Mt. Washington) almost always has a Japanese restaurant with sushi. So on a hunch I did a search of the restaurants there, and lo and behold, Kinya popped up. This place had some very good (though occasionally stringy) sushi and sashimi, at comparable prices (we ended up paying about $50 before taxes for drinks, appetizer, mains and dessert). I liked the presentation of the sashimi in a bowl of rice and radish shreds, their Chirashi Zushi. However, I was particularly bowled over by their deep-fried (though not tempura) soft-shell (Mmmmm. Soft shell). Even better, they had the first tempura ice cream I have ever had outside of Baltimore that actually tasted good at all. And unlike the ones here, which serve it in a dish, Kinya cut their tempura ice cream into quarters, making it ridiculously easy to eat. What a great idea! They even put a nice dollop of whipped cream and a cherry in the middle. Jim got the green tea flavor (which is odd, considering he's no great fan of green tea ice cream), and I got the vanilla, but we each tried the other's.

I hope I see tempura green tea ice cream in Baltimore soon.

BACK IN RIVERSIDE

Café Sevilla - We finished off the evening, and my trip, at a favorite tapas bar and dance place, the Café Sevilla. This place is in a fashionable part of downtown Riverside. And though we don't dance, we do like those tapas. We started with drinks - Jim got the sangría, which was so strong he almost asked me to drive home as soon as it first hit his lips! I had a Spanish beer, whose name I forget, but it was good enough for me!

For tapas, Jim got a good, hearty gazpacho and this quartet of marinated vegetables and seafood, including some "firm" octopus, very sharp and tangy artichokes, mellow red pepper (and garlic that actually took on the flavor of the pepper, not the other way around), and almost bland mushrooms (all for $11). I got a tangy ceviche for $9 and some very smooth meatballs (that is indeed the best way to describe them - smooth) al Jérez (in Sherry) for $6. Then we shared a crèpe filled with chocolate mousse and covered in white chocolate and Grand Marnier - which was better in theory than execution. Altogether, another $50 for the two of us, before tip.

And so that's it. After some more junk food on the plane and in Phoenix, here I am, ready to go to bed and off to work tomorrow morning, and ready to hunker down into this horribly cold weekend. Well, at least I can look forward to my next trip out there, whenever it is (I'm shooting for Christmas break - I plan these things well in advance).

Man I wish I was back in California!