Maui: Part 1

We're back from our week-long Maui vacation!

First of all, Maui is stunning. The ocean seems to go on forever, and you can pretty much pull your car over anywhere and jump into the clear, beautiful water. The skies are blue and the trees are green and blowing in the tropical breeze- basically, it's everything you've heard Hawaii is supposed to be.



We stayed at the Ritz Carlton Kapalua and were warmly greeted upon our arrival. We didn't get "lei'd" but we got black kukui nut necklace'd, ha. The Ritz greets guests with a necklace made from these nuts and I actually thought it was better than a regular flower lei since we could take them home as keepsakes, which we did. The hotel itself was gorgeous………beautiful golf course, three large swimming pools and an inviting lobby area which had a massive view of the ocean. Our room had dark wooden floors and was decorated with an understated Hawaiian vibe - a nice mix of bright whites and light green touches here and there.


The service at the Rtiz was impeccable but the only thing lacking was the food. And you know this here is a food blog, so I have to say we were both really disappointed with all of the food we had at this hotel. I mean, it's the Ritz right? I wasn't expecting haute cuisine but more like a display of fresh, local ingredients prepared skillfully. I don't want to turn this into a complaint-fest but I'll tell you that I was presented with the ugliest, messiest sushi roll I've ever seen, and that capped off about three previous mediocre meals we'd had at the various dining establishments at the Ritz Carlton Kapalua. I didn't have my camera but HAD to document this Insult To Japanese Cuisine, so I snapped a photo with my cell phone. I know the image is dark, but do you see what I mean? This was untouched- I took the photo after it was set down in front of me. I looked behind the sushi bar to see which 6 year-old rolled this and then cut it with their Hello Kitty scissors but I only saw two, grown sushi chefs. For shame! Sorry folks, but sushi and sashimi HAVE to be appetizing since it's raw fish. Look, I can live with some not-so-well-presented fried chicken, but messy sushi? Nope.

The offending sushi.........I mean, c'mon.

Oy…….I hadn't meant for this first Maui post to go in such a negative direction but I have to continue with our first night's meal at the much-lauded Plantation House. Maybe we'll get all of the bad out of the way in this post and focus on the good in the upcoming posts- deal? Deal! We were thrilled to find out that the entire little "town" of Kapalua has a free public shuttle which we jumped aboard for the short ride to this restaurant. I had reserved a table weeks earlier and we were seated at one of the best tables in the house- one on the balcony overlooking a golf course and the ocean behind it. It was incredibly gorgeous and we felt so excited to be there, looking at the sun go down, hungry and eager to try some local seafood and produce:

View from our table at Plantation House

We ordered a half bottle of our favorite champagne which the waitress tried in vain for about 4 minutes to open; finally J offered and, after a lot of struggling, managed to pop open. The minute I sniffed the bubbly I knew it wasn't going to be good- the wine had gone bad so we had to send it back. Our waitress was totally cool about it and said she'd suspected something was wrong when she couldn't open the bottle. We switched to an albarino (our favorite white of late) and ordered our supper.

Our appetizer of Bacon Wrapped Scallops arrived and we dug in since we were starving, but I realized that inside the layers of soft bacon (never good, bacon must be crispy!) were small, bay scallops. I mean, they tasted fine (sans the soggy pig) but is it wrong of me to assume that bacon wrapped scallops means one, giant scallop wrapped in bacon?



Our second appetizer looked gorgeous- tuna sashimi drizzled with hot peanut oil and finished off with a bit of soy sauce a la Nobu Matushisa's technique of sprinkling raw fish with blazing hot oil which I normally love……unfortunately the "drizzle" was more like a "wave" and a wave of peanut oil is never good. The poor tuna was swimming around in an ocean of grease and it just left my mouth coated with oil. Bah.



J's Maui onion mustard-encrusted rack of lamb was quite good, and my Maui onion mustard encrusted mahi mahi was overcooked, although the sautéed Maui onions underneath the fish were sweet and delicious. Come to think of it, Maui onions saved the culinary part of this entire trip…..those, plus pineapple. But more on that later.





Since this has now turned into the whiny post I hadn't meant for, let's continue down that path. We went snorkeling with the Pacific Whale Foundation. Oh- the trip and the guys working for this awesome non-profit were amazing. We saw dolphins swimming along the boat and a bunch of large turtles paddling in the sea- they were so cute! Unfortunately it was while we were on the boat returning from a fun-filled snorkel at Molokini that my sister called from Los Angeles and informed us that someone had broken into our house. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. We were lucky in that the perps didn't take much, but it's still strange and icky to think of some stranger cruising around your house. Anyway, if you are in Maui and want to take any sort of snorkeling trip, I highly recommend the Pacific Whale Foundation, plus all of the proceeds go to a good cause.

Our awesome guide, Blake, on the right!

Inside the boat...........

More Maui posts to come………..and I promise, they'll be more positive!

Aloha!

Maui Bound..............

J and I are doing something we've never done: take a domestic vacation for a whole week and hunker down in the same spot for the entirety of the trip. We've taken lots of trips before, but they usually involve a 10+ hour flight, bouts of jetlag, currency exchange and weak attempts to speak a language we are not very good at all while hopping from city to city. So we decided to do what millions before us have done- go lay on a beach in Hawaii and fahgettaboutit! We're off to Maui tomorrow, so hopefully I will return with many tales of delicious meals, blue waters and snorkeling adventures. Since we plan to hit Plantation House, Lahaina Grill and the Hali'imaile General Store, I'm pretty sure the delicious meals part is covered.

If you have any recommedations, I'd love to hear them!



Aloha!

Bar Celona, Pasadena

I basically grew up in Pasadena. My family lives in Temple City and my sister and I spent many, MANY teenage/twentysomething nights in Pasadena, usually at the old E Bar or eating at many of the good restaurants the town had to offer. I remember my parents took us to a place called Julianne (not the one in San Marino) where I had my very first duck l'orange and I thought it was the best thing I'd ever eaten. Pasadena always had a festive, special-occasion quality about it and I spent much of my time there while growing up.

Cut to now. Pasadena, especially Old Town, has seemingly turned into a chain restaurant mecca, wait, the "high-end chain restaurant mecca" is more like it. Cheesecake Factory? Check. Il Fornaio? Check. Louise's? Check. Houston's? Check. Toss in a few strange fusion places like Thaitalian (wait, they went out of biz) and sushi-for-the-masses like Afloat Sushi (still in biz) and you have the odd, uninspiring food scene in Pasadena, save for a few gems like Vertical Wine Bistro, Parkway Grill (which has had it's share of ups and downs) and Arroyo Chop House. Then Bar Celona came along………well, more like Chef Josef Centeno came to Bar Celona.

NOT Chef Centeno, but a patron of the restaurant that looked straight out of Spain, thus the photo!

Chef Centeno gained popularity while at Opus Restaurant and has brought new life to Bar Celona. I'd been there before his arrival and it was good, but now it is really special- I mean it's food that hasn't been available in Pasadena before, in my opnion. It's SO NICE to go to my beloved neighborhood and sit down for plate after plate of inventive, fresh, creative and well prepared food such as the offerings of Chef Centeno and Bar Celona.

Last week I was invited to dine at Bar Celona to celebrate their five year anniversary and their annual "Running of the Bulls" celebration. I'd been to Bar Celona a few times in the past and had mostly good experiences there, so I was excited to go. In the interest of full disclosure, I will say that my meal was comp'd, but since I'd had many of these dishes before I can tell you that the freeness of the food didn't change the flavor, ha. Now, onto the food, and there was a lot of it, my friends:

An amuse of crisp fried sardines with honey water. Sounds strange, tastes salty and sweet and then, it's gone cos you popped it in your mouth.



Oyster & cremini mushrooms- I'm a big fan of mushrooms, garlic and wine, and this was all three with a dash of cream. What's not to like?



Wild arugula with baby tomatoes, hazelnuts, roasted garlic vinaigrette- again, a combination of a few of my favorite things- peppery arugula with crunchy roasted nuts:



Chard and goat cheese croquetas: My favorite of the evening, but as you know from many previous posts, croquetas (korokke in Japanese) are in my "Top Five" of favorite foods. These were perfect- golden, hot and crisp on the outside, tender with a slight tang from the goat cheese on the inside. I mean, just look at them. They're nuggets of golden goodness and a great match for the albariño I was drinking



4 oz pork shoulder conserva: potted meats/fishes seem to be everywhere these days, from Barbrix (except they don't serve it in a pot…boo!) and Palate (the potted lamb is truly outstanding) and this one was rich, meaty and again, perfect for wine. We barely made a dent in it so they offered to let me take it home…..then I promptly forgot it at the restaurant. Imagine all of the fantastic sandwiches (the conserva on rye bread w/ pickled red onions, cornichons, and dijon mustard!!!) missing from my life now that I left that pork conserva behind……I pay for my mistakes. Damn me!



Warm octopus salad, white nectarine, herbs, smoked paprika- normally I don't really love savory food with fruit in it, but this worked out so well- it also had hearts of palm in it which added a nice contrast in texture to the tender octopus. I wonder what cooking method Chef Centeno uses to get his octopus so tender? I've heard Italians put wine corks in their poaching liquid, Japanese put dried adzuki beans in it but beat the raw octopus with a daikon radish before poaching………what’s your method?



Quail stuffed with tart cherries, apricots, chorizo, roasted figs: you're like, "uh, aren't you the girl who said she doesn't like savory food with fruit in it?" Yeah, that's me, so what's this dish containing - count 'em- THREE different fruits in it doing on my table? Well, to be honest, it was recommended, and I'm glad it was- there's nothing like spicy Spanish chorizo to offset the sweetness of fruit, and quail is one of my favorite birds. S declared this dish his favorite of the night.



And, finally……..drum roll please…………Crispy pork belly, brussels sprouts, fried egg, salbixtada (a sauce made from almonds, tomatoes, garlic). This is a dish that would have Anthony Bourdain rolling his eyes into the back of his head in ecstacy. Several slices of crisp, fatty pork belly on a bed of fragrant, tender lentils drowned in the runny yolk of a soft poached egg. It reminded me of my friend D who is a fan of all things pork fat and drippy egg.



After we were done eating, we rolled ourselves into the other rooms of the expansive restaurant to check out the "Running of the Bulls" party, complete with mechanical bull set up for daring patrons! S and I didn't think it was a great idea to participate after gorging ourselves on 60% of the menu and hey- I watch "Wipeout" and know what happens to people who partake in those kinds of activites….it ain't purty. Bar Celona was also promoting their "all you can eat paella" which happens every Sunday this summer and had a paella station set up on the back patio, along with tables of different sample cocktails for people to try. It was kind of like wine tasting- you sip a little here, you sip a little there, then a little while later you realize, oops, I'm sorta drunk! Although the two bar areas and back patio were fun, the main restaurant dining room is much more my speed, with exposed brick walls and an open kitchen.



I'm happy that Bar Celona has become a true food lover's destination with the Centeno menu and hope it continues to showcase fresh, local ingredients prepared in such creative ways. In a land of chain restaurants, it's nice to know that there is a place to get some really well prepared dishes and have a reason to revisit my old stomping grounds often.

Bar Celona
46 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA
(626) 405-1000

Father's Day Meal

Oy……..man I can't get back on the blogging train for some reason. I guess I don't have much of an excuse for the last month or so but the last week has been absolute hell at work. The passing of MJ has rocked the world, and the entertainment news world has been in a frenzy. Since I live in both universes, it's been bananas. And in this case, bananas is bad.

So even though Father's Day was awhile ago, I am finally getting around to posting pics! My dad taught me to cook and instilled in me a love of good food and wine, so the only appropriate present is, well, food and wine of course! I invited my family over for a Mexican fiesta of sorts, and after much consulting with Homesick Texan, got to work on all of the dishes.


Two days before Father's Day, I made a big ol' pot of black beans. Actually I made two pots. Why? Well, I didn't follow my instincts and decided to toss in the epazote (a Mexican herb I've never worked with) into the pot, despite its twiggy woodiness. I stopped and thought to myself, "maybe I should put it in some cheesecloth or whiz it in my spice grinder" but then talked myself out of it, thinking that the hours of slow cooking beans require would break down the fibers. I think you can probably figure out that the little twigs retained their twigginess after hours of simmering, and vain attempts to pick it all out were……uh, all in vain. So I packed it into a Tupperware and tossed it into the freezer (hey- I may come home from work starving one day and really want some homemade black beans, at which time little twigs won't bother me) and promptly made another, this time putting the epazote into some cheesecloth. Crisis averted.





On the same day I made a paste out of guajillo and ancho chiles, cinnamon, coffee and other spices for a barbacoa- which is traditionally made with cow's head but I went with a pork shoulder instead, slathering the marinade onto large chunks of meat and packing it all into a ziploc bag. After sitting in the fridge overnight, they went into a roasting pan lined with onions and carrots, covered tightly and placed into a low oven for several hours. The house smelled so good I think even my cat noticed!



After the main components were done, I just whizzed together some roasted tomatoes, onions, serranos, garlic and bunches of fresh cilantro into the blender for a quick salsa and made a basic guacamole. An entire head of red cabbage, green onions, cilantro, vinegar, sugar and olive oil made up a simple Mexican slaw. Then I started on the part I was most excited about……..making flour tortillas from scratch! I had seen this post on the aforementioned Homesick Texan site awhile ago and had always hoped for an occasion to make them for.





The dough came together quickly and easily, then after a short rest, I tore off 1 ounce balls of dough which, after another quick rest, were easily rolled out w/ a rolling pin and a touch of flour. 30 seconds on each side in a dry pan was all it took to turn into real, chewy, flavorful and toothsome flour tortillas! Some came out a bit thicker than others, and now I definitely have a better gauge on how thin to roll them out (since they get thicker as they cook). They reminded me a bit of Trader Joe's Truly Handmade Tortillas since they were all slightly irregular in shape, but of course these were a lot better.





The meal turned out great- the meat was tender and flavorful, the beans rich and tasty….it was kind of nice to sit down to a make-your-own taco type of meal. Really casual, fun and interactive. We made a nice dent into it all but I packed my dad up with enough leftovers for one meal for him and my mom, plus I had lots of meat and beans for myself- I mean, this kind of food really does taste better the longer it sits.


A special thanks to Homesick Texan for helping and answering my incessant questions, and a shout-out to Papa, my dad, for being the best dad ever!

A Non-Food Post:

But I doubt I will ever get a chance to see J, my other half, dress like this again. Long story short- the airline lost his band's luggage and they had to scramble to buy clothes for a show; he picked up this snazzy suit while shopping and decided to cruise around the festival wearing it, as a joke. Now he's on Vogue's website.

Reminds me of the Laughing Cow cheese commercial.....

Anyway, enjoy!

Photo: Amy Dickerson/Style.com

Read about it here:

Cafe On Park- San Diego

On our way out of San Diego, we really wanted to hit a local spot for a good, filling breakfast. After some serious soul-searching (oops, I mean internet-searching) we decided on Cafe On Park after reading multiple rave reviews of their breakfasts. Although we arrived before 10:00 AM, there was already a wait:



Luckily it didn't take long for my sister and I to be seated. The space was so cute and homey with lots of character sprinkled in, and I immediately got a sense that we'd made the right choice. It just felt like a place where the locals go, and many of the wait staff knew most of the customers by name (cue Cheers theme song here). Something about the place reminded me of Austin, Texas..........maybe it was this fashionably Southwestern-themed couple sitting at the counter:


Or the cute arrangement on each table- flower, salt, pepper, Tapatio (essential item):



Although I am definitely a savory breakfast person, my cravings were put into sweet mode after spying their list of cornmeal griddlecakes. I'm not even sure why, but the thought of crunchy cornmeal griddlecakes just appealed to me sooo much that I had my mind made up in about 90 seconds. That fact wouldn't be such a big deal, but you don't know my menu-reading/ordering habits. Yes, I'm the one who reads the menu up and down and inside out for about, hmmm....15 minutes, then finally decides on what to order, has a change of heart/regret/guilt/confusion over my original choice and then chases down the waiter to change my order. After 5 minutes, I have a second wave of doubt about the changed order, bemoan the fact that it's too late to change back to my ORIGINAL order, all while driving my dining companions bonkers with my whining, then end up ultimately disappointed with my meal because it isn't as good as what I had initially ordered. Yup- I'm THAT girl. You're annoyed just reading about it, aren't you?

Luckily my choice of Honey & Cornmeal Griddlecake and a side of turkey sausage left me with no sense of doubt, and my sister's order of Savory Corn Pancake with Fresh Jalapenos, Onions & Cheddar Cheese with a side of bacon ensured that I could travel to the savory side of things if I needed to. We both found it odd that an order of griddlecake was just that- one griddlecake- but we just put our faith in Cafe on Park and waited for the goodies to arrive.

And now we know why it's ONE griddlecake:



This behemoth griddlecake was bigger than my husband's Oaxacan head, and we were so happy that we fought off the instinct to order more than one each. My sister's had visible squares of cheddar and giant, thick-cut slices of raw jalapeno seared to the top of her griddlecake, while mine was golden brown and pleasantly sweet-smelling. I drizzled some maple syrup over it and the crunchy-yet-tender bite was exactly what I'd been hoping for. YUM! Sis, on the other hand, had to pull out the massive amounts of jalapeno - we both figured the "fresh jalapeno" and cheese would be diced/grated and mixed into the batter which would have made the distribution a bit more even, but that wasn't the case here. I think it was too much of a good thing in bad proportions and made the cake almost indelibly spicy. Too bad- good concept, bad execution. Our bacon and turkey sausages were good, but we were too full of cornmeal griddlecake (we could both only finish half) that we left most of those too.



We agreed that we loved the menu and that we'd give it another go if we ever found ourselves in San Diego. I think if you're a pepperhead, you'd love that savory griddlecake, but almost anyone would love the sweet version.


Cafe on Park
3138 Park Blvd
San Diego, CA
619 293 7275

Pizzeria Luigi, San Diego, CA

My name is Tuna Toast and I'm a DDD addict.

No, DDD isn't some new drug or booze- it's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, AKA "Triple D" on the Food Network. I guess I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it, but damn if there isn't a more prime example of a mouthwatering show on television today. If Foodgawker and Tastespotting are food porn, then DDD is the Debbie Does Dallas of food. The fact that both have the same acronym isn't a coincidence, me thinks.

"That's just like jumbotron-mega-cheesy-oozy-woozy-delciousness that would taste good on my slipper!"

I'll admit that host Guy Fieri's "Guy-isms" (that's my word, not theirs) get a little grating at times. His favorites include, "This ain't my first rodeo," and "I've tasted plenty of (fill in the blank) and this rates as some of the best I've had. Seriously." However, the annoying ones are nicely balanced by ones that actually do make me laugh, like "Love, peace and taco grease" and, let's face it, Mr. Fieri is hardly the star of the show. Beautiful close-ups of thick bbq'd ribs, cheeseburgers oozing thousand island dressing and fried belly clams dipped in tartar sauce are the reason why people like me watch it every week. Talk about drool-inducing. Wowza.

The 'if-you-take-a-picture-of-me-I'll-kill-you' look. Luckily, I survived.



Part of the reason I'm so enamored of the show is because it focuses on foods that only rarely make it into my repertoire. In an alternate universe I could eat piles of onion rings, fried oyster po' boys and duck confit egg rolls on a daily basis and not have a care in the world, but alas, I currently reside in THIS universe and no amount of treadmilling would allow me to eat that way and not gain a few hundred pounds. So I watch, far away from the lovely smells undoubtedly wafting up from the well-seasoned grills and vats of gravy that appear on the show each week, and only dream of actually going to one of the places featured......until now!



Yes, my sister and I, after many, MANY conversations of one day hitting one of our favorite DDD places, finally had the chance last weekend when we took a short trip to San Diego. We'd seen Pizzeria Luigi on one episode and knew we wanted to try the New York-style, thin-crust pizzas. The fact that Luigi looks like an Italian movie star didn't hurt, either. After spending over three hours on the road, the last hour of it being stuck in traffic, we drove straight there to nosh before checking into our hotel.



The little shop looked exactly as it did on TV, but alas, Italian Stallion Luigi must have had the day off....*le sigh.* We looked over the pizzas displayed in the window and decided to share three slices- one plain cheese, an artichoke/marinara and an all-meat containing both sausage and pepperoni. The guy behind the counter quickly slid the three slices onto a pan, stuck it in the oven for what seemed like 30 seconds and handed us each slice on a separate plate. We were ready for our first, real-life DDD experience!







The verdict? To be totally honest, we felt we would have gotten a better representation of the famous pizza had we ordered a whole pie, made to order. Of course that's common sense, but since there were only two of us and we were in town for just two days, it didn't seem very practical. That said, the plain cheese was our hands-down favorite, and the tomato sauce on both that and the artichoke pizza was delicious. The meat slice was just ok- the bottom was warmed but they didn't keep it in the oven long enough to properly heat through the toppings. The crust on all three was crisp in the right places, with a nice chewy texture in the middle and a wonderful, yeasty flavor. Excellent dough, for sure.



I'm not sure when we'll be back in San Diego, but next time we'll definitely order an entire pizza. We were happy to finally fulfill one DDD dream, and although the list of DDD eateries is a long and storied one, I'm happy to have checked at least one location off my list. On to the next!



Pizzeria Luigi
1137 25th St
San Diego, CA.
(619)233-3309