Half and Half Tea House - Interrupt

Date of Dining: 4/1/2012
Price: $2.85-$3.85 + $0.50 extras
Locations:

• 141 N. Atlantic Blvd #112, 91754  (reviewed)
• 3007 E. Huntington Dr. #104, 91107
• 17575 Colima Rd. #C, 91748
• 18558 Gale Ave. Unit #152, 91748

The Quick Bit

+ great boba drinks

+ drinks are made to order

Δ waiting times can be shorter

Δ phone in orders could be finished upon arrival

When I was in high school and in the prime of my geekiness, a certain Chinese food trend swept through Southern California; boba. As a young man with knowledge of the food trend, I suddenly found myself being asked about food from my culture for the first time in my life. I also found that others seemed to enjoy my explanations.

Embracing the role of the avid boba junkie, I tried all the various boba shops that popped up around town and recommended certain ones which I thought were better than others; it was perhaps gastrobits R&d only I didn't know it at the time.

When I went to college, the boba craze was still strong and I even joined a club with the slogan "bobalicious." I found myself with like minded individuals who all loved boba. I was even told of a story where one of the club members was playing basketball at the gym wearing the shirt and he was playfully given the nickname bobalicious for the session. Ever since that time, I've tried to curtain my boba consumption - it more or less lined up with my metabolism slowing down as I aged. 

It was with some trepidation that I was thrown back into the boba world during a recent visit to LA. While certain fields seem to never advance, boba drinks have continued to evolve over the years. The current lead innovater is Half and Half Tea House. With four locations in the Los Angeles area, they serve the widely accepted best boba drinks.

Half and Half's innovation is that instead of sweetening the tea itself, the tapioca pearls (boba) are dipped into honey before being added to the cup. This form of sweetening gives a more natural and rich flavor to the entire drink.

milk tea with coffee jelly, and honey boba

For my experience at Half and Half, I went with the most popular drink - milk tea with coffee jelly and honey boba. From the first sip, I knew that this drink was extremely special. The flavors were purer than any other boba drink I had previously savored. I felt like I have a flavor explosion and complete re-discovery of the boba drink when I enjoyed this cup. The inclusion of the coffee jelly was key as it added a nice smoky depth to the drink. The tapiocas were prepared perfectly and I didn't feel that the drink was too sweet (the previous three boba drinks I've had I always felt were too sweet, even with less sugar).

Conclusion

Half and Half's boba teas are truly eye-opening and set the bar for all other boba drinks. Despite having plenty of boba in my time, Half and Half's tea was a flavor epiphany; it's like someone teaching you a completely new way to cook chicken better than anything you knew previously.

For the truly awesome product, Half and Half gets the bit award.

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Cocteleria La Playita - Flash

Date of Dining: 12/7/2011
Price: $2.50-3 tacos, $5 tostadas, $10-16 ceviches
Location: 5185 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, San Diego, CA 92117

The Quick Bit

+ great authentic Mexican seafood

+ dishes cooked to order

Δ atmosphere may be lacking

Cocteleria La Playita is one of those neighborhood hole in the wall dives that specializes in great tasting fresh mexican seafood cocktails. All the seafood is surprisingly fresh and the seafood cocktails are most reminiscent of a ceviche.

Due to the nature of these raw seafood dishes, all the food is made to order, which enhances the taste and flavor to a large extent.

gubernador taco

The taco was not as good as from a mariscos truck, but it was well flavored for a taco. The tortilla was warmed and the slice of avocado was a nice touch.

super crazy tostada

The ceviches are ordered as "tostadas" and are accompanied by some tostada shells. Seeing the super crazy tostada, I knew I had no choice but to order that. This was a great decision as the ceviche was made up of octopus, shrimp, fish, scallops, and clams. The bits of cucumber, avocado, and tomato mixed in made the entire tostada extremely refreshing. For lovers of seafood, this cocktail is an absolute must try.

Conclusion

Cocteleria La Playita offers some Mexican seafood cocktails with amazing flavor and freshness. The food is made to order so it tastes the absolute best. Perspective diners should be warned that they accept cash only and seating is extremely limited.

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The Knotty Barrel Gastropub - Flash

Date of Dining: 6/14/2012
Price: $9-15 per person lunch
Location: 844 Market St, San Diego, CA
website

The Quick Bit

+ great beer selection

+ great tasting gastropub menu

Δ appetizers could be more original

Yes, the Batmobile was parked in front of the restaurant when I was eating. How cool is that?

The Knotty Barrel is one of the newest and few gastropubs in San Diego. My take on what they are trying to achieve that is different is to cater more towards an actual bar while having good food.

Serving as a consulting chef of the Knotty Barrel is Chef Ted Witte. Witte was the former owner and chef of Cafe Lavande in La Jolla and also the former executive chef of Kensington Grill. Most of the Knotty Barrel's menu is inspired by Witte.

While the Knotty Barrel wasn't advertising to Comic Con attendees with any sorts of specials, there were plenty of customers who were visiting the convention. Simultaneously, throughout July, the Knotty Barrel is trying some new menu items that will ultimately get on the final menu.

knotty wings - spicy sweet chili

We started with the knotty wings. The wings were fried really nicely and the sauce was surprisingly balanced. Usually on a wing you get too much sauce or way too little and lost the taste of either the sauce or the chicken. However, these wings were prepared perfectly. The sauce had a good balance of sweet, spicy, and tangy.

alaskan cod sandwich - truffle fries, black garlic

The biggest surprise was the Alaskan Cod sandwich. The fish was fried really well and without a strong batter - which I was fearing. However, the black garlic spread that came with the sandwich was really the perfect spread in relation to the fish. The flavor of the fish and the garlic had a great interplay and they really complemented each other.

Conclusion

Comic Con presented me a great opportunity to try out the Knotty Barrel. After visiting, I know that I will be back to sample more of the menu in the future.

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Gaijin Noodle + Sake House - Flash

Normally, this is the place for The Quick Bit, but since this post is going to be short, there's really no need.
As I mentioned last week, Comic Con occurred this past week. This is good as I was able to sample cuisine from a number of gaslamp establishments, and I will be making several short posts this week to talk about all of them.
Gaijin Noodle+Sake House is Chef Antonion Friscia's new venture. When I spoke to Chef Friscia previously, he said that it was his take on a Japanese+Italian fusion with cocktails.
We were led to Gaijin on the premise that there was a Comic Con Lunch Special where we could order a 1/2 bowl of noodles with some other appetizers for a discounted priced. Unfortunately, we were informed that the appetizer of our choice (carnitas bao bao) was unavailable despite being the lunch special.
Normally, this might be a place where I go Bane and rage like crazy, but in the spirit of keeping positive spirit, I think I can just let the pictures do the talking

kimchee "noodles"

spicy miso chasu hakata ramen

Conclusion

Since I want avoid a transformation into a big green hulk, I'll end on a positive note - at least I didn't get sick!

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Wich Addiction Breakfast - Flash

Date of Dining: 6/15/2012 

Price: $6-9 per dish

Location: 6625 Flanders Dr Suite B, San Diego, CA 92126

website

The Quick Bit:

+ now serving breakfast (all day)

+ free delivery

+ sausages made in house

Δ breakfast service could be faster

Since the last time I covered Wich Addiction, they have gone through a number of menu changes. The most noticeable menu addition has to be an entire breakfast menu available all day.

The primary menu attractions seem to be a number of hashes and a number of benedicts based around different proteins. While all the breakfast options were available with free delivery, I decided to stop by to check out the new menu.

The Food:

charred jalapeno and pepper jack benedict with house sausage

The eggs were poached perfectly, but the real surprise was how well composed the dish was. The sausage was made in house and contained some caramelized maple flavor to give it a nice sweet finish. To contrast that sweetness, the grilled jalapeno I received contained a real kick in spice. The combination of sweet and spicy with the homemade hollandaise to tie the entire dish together was a huge winner.

The side of potatoes was a good breakfast potato side as well. The potatoes were well-seasoned and well cooked. The perfect complement to the hearty proteins.

Conclusion:

With coffee from Cafe Virtuoso, pastries from Bread and Cie, and their own selection of house-made breakfast, Wich Addiction is a great stop for breakfast on weekdays or brunch on weekends.

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Coffee Tomo - Flash

Date of Dining: 3/31/2012 
Price: < $3 per cup
Location: 11309 Mississippi Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90025
website

The Quick Bit:

+ high quality single origin coffee
+ japanese slow brewing methods
+ coffee roasted in house
Δ parking can be difficult

While waiting for Tsujita, we arrived a little early on a cold and overcast morning. We decide to spend some of the time by getting some coffee from the shop next door.

When I walked into Coffee Tomo, I wasn't expecting much, but I ended up getting something much more in line with Bird Rock. The coffees were roasted on the premises and of single origin. To top it off, they had a slow brew method like Bird Rock's V60, except it was a new model.

Seeing that they had the slow brew method, I new I would be ordering one of the single origin coffees. As they were lacking the Southeast Asian variety, I settled for Ethiopian.

After weighing the coffee, the water, and making sure the temperature was the desired brewing temperature, the barrista settled on making my coffee. First, the grounds are just wet slightly before the more complex brewing takes place.

After the grounds are wet, the coffee is brewed at a slightly faster pace

The coffee drips down into a waiting canister below.

Meanwhile, we ordered a more traditional vanilla latte as well.

latte (left), slow brewed ethiopian (right)

The final product was delivered surprisingly almost at the same time.

The latte was a well done latte; the flavor of the espresso was nice and strong and I preferred this one over Starbucks.

The single origin slow brewed Ethiopian was really nice. The slow brew system really allows the caramel, mocha, and floral notes of the coffee to come through. I did find that I liked the chemex better as the metal filter allowed more oils of the coffee to come through. While the head of this coffee was nice, it was lacking in finish due to the lack of oils.

Conclusion

Overall, I was really surprised and happy to find Coffee Tomo readily available next to Tsujita. It was a great one-two punch. The availability of slow brewed single origin coffee is always nice. On the other hand, I prefer a slow brew system that does not rely on paper filters as I enjoy the oils in the coffee.

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Ba Ren - Closing Day - Flash

Date of Dining: 2/29/2012
Price: ~$10-15 per dish
Location: 4957 Diane Ave, San Diego, CA 92117


The Quick Bit:
+ Decent Chinese food in San Diego
+ Authentic Szechwan food
Δ Service could be speedier
Δ Service could be more attentive

Note: Shortly after posting this story I guess I got a scoop on the real issues with the restaurant.

I'm not good at goodbyes.
Hearing that Ba Ren was closing, I decided that I would try to visit one last time. For me, Ba Ren was the one (pre-Liang's Kitchen) Chinese Restaurant in San Diego worth a visit. I can thank Kirk at mmm-yoso for getting Ba Ren on my radar, but I enjoyed the cuisine there on several occasions.
Unfortunately, for anyone who visited Ba Ren in about the previous 6+ months, it was easy to tell that something had changed. According to some other customers of the restaurant, the chef had lost his passion and was no longer producing the food that made Ba Ren a cult foodie favorite. Therefore, I guess it wasn't a huge surprise to those in the know that the chef would be retiring at the end of February. The story goes that the main chef had a really advanced case of diabetes. He tried to stay cooking as long as he could, but was not able to cook on a daily basis. He started by first cutting back to cooking on the weekends only before he couldn't cook at all. Without the main chef, the assistant chef also lost his passion at maintaining the restaurant.
Since I wasn't a frequent visitor to the restaurant, the news of the closing came as a big surprise to me. After ordering, I was able to converse with the waitress a little to get some more information. It turns out that Ba Ren isn't closing, but the restaurant was sold to a new group of owners. They also plan to serve Szechwan cuisine (and perhaps keep the Ba Ren name).
While I didn't visit the restaurant enough times to develop a bunch of personal favorites to get a last taste of, I decided to adopt a different tactic. I named a protein and asked the waitress for a recommended preparation of that protein, figuring she would know which preparations were the best.
Ordering was a little interesting because I was asked if I wanted "small spicy or medium spicy" to which I responded "spiciest."

teppan yaki lamb

Although this dish was ordered at the highest spice level and there was a liberal use of jalapenos, the peppers did not seem to be fresh so the spice didn't really carry through. Still, the lamb was well seasoned and tender. The dish was an overall success even though it was probably missing something from its prime.

twice cooked fish

The twice cooked fish recipe is usually a preparation where the fish is first steamed and then a hot szechwan oil is poured on top to cook it a second time. This preparation featured fish fillets and didn't seem to revolve around the philosophy of pouring really hot oil over the fish. The fish was very flavorful, but again the vegetables seemed to lack some flavor.

chong qing hot pot

The hot pot featured slices of beef, fish, chicken, tofu, bean sprouts, glass noddles, napa cabbage, and other ingredients. This was easily the best dish of the meal. The soup was very flavorful and contained a depth of flavor for all the ingredients. While there looks to be an overload of peppers, the dish was not that spicy and was actually very edible.

frogs legs with pickled szechwan peppers

My dining companion insisted that we try a dish with frogs legs, and this was the preparation that was suggested. Of all the styles of cooking, the sauce for this style seemed to be the most flavorful. The sauce contained an additional element of both acidity and sourness (from the pickling liquid) that really elevated the flavors of the preparation. While I am normally a big fan of frog, the frog in has definitely seen its better days. Part of the pleasure in eating frog is the texture of the meat, but this preparation was missing that texture.

Conclusion:

While I didn't have an amazing goodbye sendoff meal at Ba Ren, I will still remember it for delivering great food in its prime. I remember a fish dish that was part of a special menu at one point which I thought was a one-star michelin dish. I wish the best of luck to the owners of Ba Ren and thank them for all the great meals I enjoyed. I will certainly miss the restaurant, and now am in need of a second Chinese restaurant in San Diego to eat at.

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Bird Rock Coffee - Flash

Date of Visit: 12/22/2011
Price: $2-7.50 per cup of coffee
Location: 5267 La Jolla Blvd, La Jolla, CA 92037
website


The Quick Bit:
+ High Quality single origin specialty coffee
+ Coffee Roasted In-House
+ Chemex brewing system
Δ Location could be more freeway accessible

Although Bird Rock Coffee was popularized by recently being named Roast Magazine's Micro-Roaster of the Year for 2012, one of my friend cgfan actually put Bird Rock on my radar prior to the award. Unfortunately, I never made the visit to the shop before Bird Rock received the accolade, so I'm not sure how much has changed in the intervening time.

What I do know about Bird Rock is that they source all their coffee beans directly from the farmers and pay above fair trade value to ensure they get the finest quality beans. The beans are also organic and are roasted on site fresh daily to ensure the highest quality cup of coffee.

Further, while Bird Rock does have high quality single-origin coffees, they also have a series of "reserve" coffees that are even higher in quality. These set of reserve coffees are sold at "market price" and brewed on one of two special brewing platforms: chemex or v60.

Having heard about chemex being the best coffee brewing system, I decided to see what it was all about.

Bird Rock Chemex System

weighing the beans

Everything about the Chemex brewing system is meticulously measured. The weight of the coffee beans, the amount and temperature of the water, and the exact brewing time are all crucial elements to crafting the perfect cup

barrista smooths out the beans in the filter prior to brewing

flow of water is carefully controlled

the entire brewing process is timed to take an exact amount of time

the end result

While the entire process does seem overly complicated, the resulting cup of coffee was phenomenal. It was easily among the best and most flavorful cups of coffee I have ever had. The taste of the coffee was decidedly more floral, and the oils and acidity in the beans meshed to create a much more complex taste.

While I recommend a visit to Bird Rock in general for their high quality coffees, I especially recommend trying the chemex system if you are a coffee connoisseur. While Bird Rock does sell a variety of espresso drinks, skip those and take the opportunity to try the high quality single origin brewed coffees.

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