Miami Trip Part 2 - A Taste of Cuba at Playa Cafe

Playa Cafe

1515 Washington Ave.

Miami Beach, FL 33139

When heading to Miami, you have to make a stop for some Cuban food. We had about two hours to kill in South Beach before we had to be at our ship for our Caribbean cruise. So we had to find a good Cuban sandwich quick. Luckily, we spotted one the night before, and we wanted to give it a shot, so we headed to Playa Cafe.

Playa Cafe is located on the main drag of South Beach, Washington Avenue. It is a tiny little place, that is real easy to miss. Inside the no frills restaurant you will find a lunch counter, with about eight stools filled with regulars, and three ladies working behind the counter prepping the food. We knew what we came here for, Cuban sandwiches, so lets see how they turned out.

This is what it is all about, the traditional Cuban Sandwich. The Cuban sandwich consists of the following; roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, mustard and mayo. Served on Cuban bread and then it is pressed until the bread gets a slight toast to it, and the cheese gets melted. For $4.95 you can not beat this sandwich. A generous amount of meat, and the flavors meld so well together. I was very happy with this.

Next up is the Medianoche Sandwich, a close cousin to the Cuban sandwich. This has all of the same items in it, but instead of Cuban bread, they use a softer, yellow, egg bread. This bread is sweeter, and blew me away. The sweetness of the bread, with the saltiness of the meats, made a nice contrast. If I had my choice, I would have chosen this sandwich over the traditional Cuban, but just by a little bit.

The other traditional Cuban items on the menu looked great as well. Talking to the locals, they all loved this place. They loved the food, as well as the prices. It brought them back day after day. Wish we lived close enough to sample their menu.

Out of five baseball players, (because when I think Cuba, I think about baseball, and also these sandwiches really hit it out of the park), five being best to zero being worst, Playa Cafe gets 3 baseball players.

Playa Cafe does not have a website, but you can find information about them here: http://www.yelp.com/biz/playa-cafe-miami-beach-2

Miami Trip Part 1 - Staying On Track at 11th Street Diner?

11th Street Diner

1065 Washington Avenue

Miami Beach, FL 33139

We are on the road, this time to Miami, and then off to the Caribbean for a ten day cruise. First things first though, we need to see what Miami has to offer. We were staying in South Beach before we took off the next afternoon, so we checked out the 11th Street Diner.

We had seen this place on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. It is open twenty-four hours, and it was only four blocks away from our hotel, so how could we not head over? We got to our hotel around midnight, but because we were still running on west coast time, it felt more like nine, so it was the perfect time for dinner.

11th Street Diner is housed in an 1948 art deco dining car. Moved from Pennsylvania in pieces, it has been a fixture in Miami since 1992, won numerous awards, and been featured on television shows. When Guy Fieri was here he had the roasted turkey dinner, pork chops, and the Argentinian skirt steak. We could not try any of these because they were only serving their late night menu, but let's see what they got cooking up anyways.

Katie ordered up the Turkey Club. I learned from Triple D that they make two turkey's a day, so this sandwich was made with fresh turkey, no pressed sandwich meat here. Katie liked that it was fresh turkey, but she thought the pieces she had were a little dry. She also felt that the sandwich was cut into too small of pieces, and kept falling apart. This was served with your basic potato chips.

I know, big surprise that I would order a burger, well here it is, the Everything Burger. What comes on an everything burger you ask? Cheese, bacon, mushrooms, grilled onions and peppers. I liked this burger, and woofed it down pretty quick. I think they were a little skimpy with the mushrooms and peppers, and it was a tad over-priced, ($11.95). It was juicy and flavorful though.

It is hard to rate 11th Street Diner on this visit though. It was nice having somewhere close that was open 24 hours. The food was not bad, but it was not, knock your socks off great either. I am sure that if we would have had their full menu to choose from it would have been better. It is difficult going to places that you see on TV, because the expectations are so high that the food is going to blow your mind, and those are unrealistic expectations to have.

Out of five models, (no, not because models eat hamburgers, but because when I think South Beach, I think models), five being best to zero being worst, 11th Street Diner gets 2.5 models.

For more information on 11th Street Diner, click here: http://www.eleventhstreetdiner.com/

Hitting the Mark at Watermarc? - CLOSED

Watermarc

448 S. Coast Hwy.

Laguna Beach, CA 92651

Katie's Mom has been talking about Watermarc for some time now. She recently went with her niece and told us that we had to give it a try. We were headed out of town and wanted to see Katie's parents before we left, so we made plans to meet up there on a recent Thursday night.

Watermarc is run by chef/owner Marc Cohen. Cohen is the man behind successful places, 230 Forest Avenue, and Opah Restaurant.  The vibe at Watermarc is simple and sleek. A little uppity, but not in too arrogant of a way. Customers are made to feel comfortable, but they are also aware that they are eating at a nice restaurant. On their website, they define their restaurant as, a "dining experience at its greatest height".  Let's see if this is a true definition, or should they go back to the dictionary?

At Watermarc they have a very diverse, "Grazing Plates",  menu. Over twenty-five different small plates to choose from, all in the $6 to $12 range. There were four of us, so we each got to choose one small plate. This was my choice, the Clams Casino. Littleneck clams and herb crumbs, topped with a slice of bacon. I personally would have liked a little less breading on this, but Katie was trying this and was not too sure about clams. She felt that this was salty, but since this was her first encounter with clams, she felt it was a good learning experience.

Here was Dennis's choice for a small plate, the House Flatbread. This flatbread combined Cipollini onions, kalamata olives, roasted peppers, garlic, and fontina cheese. I am not much of an olive guy, but they did not get in the way of this flatbread. The taste of this was spot on, maybe a touch greasy, but that could have added to the flavor. Not a bad flatbread, and a good size for the $7 price tag.

The Warm Blue Cheese Pear Tarts served with red wine syrup, were an unusual choice for Katie. Blue cheese and fruits have been paired on a lot of menus that I have seen lately, (I had blue cheese ice cream paired with an apple tart at Haven Gastropub recently). Anyways, back to this item, I liked the pairing here. The blue cheese did not overpower the dish like you would expect. The pear was sweet, and the tart was moist. Katie felt that this was the best appetizer of the night.

Lynn went the salad route for her choice of a grazing plate. The Farmed Greens featured dried cranberries, goat cheese, almonds, and sherry vinaigrette. She felt that this all melded together well, and the sherry vinaigrette put this salad over the top. I only had a few bites of this and was pleasantly pleased with this salad.

Now on to the main entrees. Pictured above is the Smoked Paprika Day Boat Scallops and Shrimp served over saffron orange couscous and apricot butter. I liked this dish and thought that the citrus theme here with the orange couscous and apricot butter went well with the seafood. Katie felt this plate was, "to die for."  I will not go that far, but it was a very satisfying plate.

This pleasant-looking dish was the choice of Lynn, the Filet Mignon, served Oscar-style, (steak served with lump crab, asparagus, and Bearnaise sauce over it. Very rich, and one of my favorite ways to eat steak. I liked this but did not love it. The steak was very tender, but the crab and the Bearnaise sauce were a bit off for me. The crab was more of a crab cake than actual crab meat. Lynn, a real fan of Watermarc, called this steak, "delicious and flavorful, and one of the most tender steaks she has had."

The burgers at Watermarc are a blend of Angus chuck, sirloin, and short rib. Dennis added Gorgonzola cheese to this burger. I did not get a chance to try this burger, but Dennis said it was, "very good, I liked the bun, but the fries were just average".

Now we get to my meal, the Roasted Chilean Sea Bass. This was wrapped in bacon and served with lentils. Everything is well wrapped in bacon right? Yes, this was no exception. Sea bass can sometimes be greasy, but this was not. Very flavorful, and the bacon did not overpower the fish, and the fish did not overpower the bacon. They worked together like Milli and Vanilli, okay maybe that is not a good example, but you get what I mean. Also, this was a good-sized chunk of fish. I was not too keen on the lentils though.  They were very dry and added little to this plate.

Now on to dessert, here we have the Carrot Cake. I love carrot cake, but this did not satisfy my carrot cake hunger. The cake was dry, and not very flavorful. I did enjoy the presentation with this though. and the ice cream, when mixed with the cake, helped cure the dryness of the cake.

As disappointed as we were with the carrot cake, we were surprised by the White Chocolate Macadamia Bread Pudding. I am not too much of a bread pudding fan, but this was moist and served with pineapple ice cream. This was the big winner of all the desserts that we tried.

One of the things Watermarc has going for it is its menu. It has a little bit of everything and depending on what you are in the mood for, you will find it here. The service was good, but not overbearing. The value was what you would expect for beach dining in Laguna. Entrees range between $20 to $40.

One other thing this place has going for it is chef Marc Cohen. I liked the playfulness of his plates. They were presented well, and the different themes with each plate showed how he can make each plate his own. It really shows that he takes great pride in his craft.

Out of five postage stamps, (because they used to have watermarks on them), five being best to zero being worst, Watermarc gets 3.5 postage stamps.

For more information on Watermarc, click here: http://watermarcrestaurant.com/

Searching For the Best Breakfast Burrito!

Lucky Boy Drive-In Restaurant

640 S. Arroyo Pkwy

Pasadena, CA 91105

Breakfast burritos. I dream about them every morning. I know I should be working, but I can not get the thought of them out of my head. It has occurred to me that I live in an area devoid of great breakfast burritos. I have found passable ones, decent ones, and ones that I would not consider ever eating again. I just have not found one that has that WOW factor. That is until now.

I present to you Lucky Boy in Pasadena. I had heard about this place from my friend, Mike at work. He definitely knows food, and we have similar tastes when it comes to it. I had heard him mention this place before with such conviction that this was the best burrito he has ever had, so I put this on my list of places to try.

The perfect opportunity to swing by Lucky Boy was a night Katie and I were headed up to Burbank for an engagement party. We put the engagement party on hold, got off the freeway, and thanks to our GPS hopefully found our breakfast burrito bliss. Lucky Boy is a burger stand that appears to serve a little bit of everything you would expect, pastrami sandwiches, fish and chips, burgers, and chili fries. All of these sounded great, but we were here for one reason, and one reason only, breakfast burritos. They serve breakfast from 6 to 10:30 am, but the breakfast burrito is served all day long. Let's take a look at one.

Behold the power of the burrito. It looks heavy just sitting there. The burrito probably weighed in at about three quarters of a pound or more. I liked the grill marks on the tortilla. So what about the inside you ask, let's delve deeper into the burrito.

Yes, this burrito is definitely worth two pictures. Whole strips of bacon resting along side grated cheese, eggs, and very smooth potatoes. In fact it is very rare that bacon gets moved out of the spotlight, but these potatoes did that. They almost tasted like the inside of a twice baked potato. It had the right amount of potato to meat ratio, that many restaurants can get wrong. My only complaint about this was that there was not enough egg. Maybe with all of the other big flavors going on here it got lost in the shuffle. The green sauce that was served with this, added just enough flavor to remind you that you were eating a burrito.

So now I ask any of you out there, where can I find a great breakfast burrito in the OC? I know there has to be a place that I have missed, or at least I am hoping that I have just missed it because, I do not want to move up the 210 freeway to Pasadena.

Out of five leprechaun's, (because they are definitely lucky), five being best to zero being worst, Lucky Boy Drive-In receives 3.5 leprechaun's.

For more information on Lucky Boy, click here: http://www.luckyboyburgers.com/

Will Genghis Khan Win the War Over Other Mongolian Places? - CLOSED

Genghis Khan

23615 El Toro Road

Lake Forest, CA 92630

Kevin and Sara suggested that we all go out to dinner before they left for London. We were so happy they were leaving that we let them pick where we should go. They opted for Genghis Khan in Lake Forest. I have been told that Genghis Khan has been around for over twenty years, like a record in South OC. It can be hard to find; it is behind Fuddrucker's and tucked in the corner of the shopping center.

I visited another Mongolian barbecue restaurant, Big Grill, in Mission Viejo. You can read that review here. The basic premise of Mongolian barbecue is that you stuff frozen curls of meat, vegetables, and noodles into a bowl, then add oil and sauces to adjust the flavor and spiciness. It's a simple concept. Let's see if all Mongolian barbecue is the same.

Here are two quick pictures of raw food. This restaurant was more careful when refiling the ingredients that would become your entree. Meat choices included beef, pork, chicken, and lamb. The veggies were fresh, even with noodles that could be added to your bowl.

The sign above gives you the amounts of oil and sauce to add to your bowl. I had three helpings of this and tried all the different sauces, but I could not tell the difference between them. The only thing that made my bowls of meat spicy was the hot pepper sauce you put on after cooking.

Before you hand your bowl over to the cook, it should look like this, (I will admit that these were not mine. I usually only fill my bowl with meat and onions, but these pictures made me look like I was eating healthy!).

Now, the finished product. You can see by the absence of vegetables that these were my bowls. After getting your food from the cook, it is super-lava hot, so it is best to let it rest for a minute or two. Depending on your preference, you can eat this straight out of the bowl or stuff it in the pocket biscuits pictured below. Both ways were good, but I like eating it right out of the bowl.

These pocket biscuits were better here than they were at Big Grill. They were bigger and could hold all of the contents of your bowl.

The all-you-can-eat meal also includes soup or salad. These were just average and very forgettable.

Genghis Khan is not a place to go to impress anyone. The decor is no-frills, the wait staff is average, and the side items are just fair. You will get a very filling meal made with fresh ingredients at a fair price ($12.50 for the all-you-can-eat option). I don't know which Mongolian barbecue place is better. I would have to concede that all Mongolian barbecue is created equal.

So out of five Omar Sharifs (because he was in the 1965 movie Genghis Khan), five being best to zero being worst, Genghis Khan gets 3 Omar Sharifs.

For more information about Genghis Khan, head to their website here: https://www.gkmongolianbbqlakeforest.com/

Fair Food at Joe's? - CLOSED

Joe's

124 W. Commonwealth

Fullerton, CA 92832

We have been to downtown Fullerton a lot recently, visiting Roscoe's, Heroes, and Slidebar in the last few months. Now, we were headed to Joe's for a Food Frenzy event, Foodie Fest IV, and to wish Food Frenzy columnist Niyaz good luck in his future endeavors because he was leaving Food Frenzy after a three-year stint at the Register.

I had never been to Joe's before. Going in, I knew they had a very odd menu, and that will become evident to you in a bit. The vibe at Joe's is just like all the other joints in downtown Fullerton: kind of laid-back, with a kind of grunge feel to it. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Let's see about the food.

The menu at Joe's can be described as a county fair meets Cajun backwoods restaurant. Above is the appetizer Rocky Mountain Oysters. If you have no idea what this is, simply put, it is bull testicles. They are pounded flat, breaded, and then deep-fried. I had one of these, and they did not taste too bad. It was not as chewy as I thought, and the breading dominated the flavor. I was unsure I would get a whole order of these, but I was game since everyone was trying them.

Katie's pick for dinner was Lido's Goat-Cheese-Stuffed Italian Sausage, served with grilled peppers, onions, and marinara. She subbed out the zucchini squash for the fries. She felt the goat cheese was non-existent in this sausage. She liked the sweetness of the peppers and marinara and felt that it balanced the subtle spiciness of the sausage. I did not try her food because I had my hands full of my meal.

I had Joe's Picks, a sampling of three of the most popular sausages at Joe's. Rattlesnake, rabbit, duck, bacon, and chicken and jalapeno sausages served with condiments. The condiments were sauerkraut, chopped tomatoes, and a delicious kind of jalapeno pepper slaw. My favorite sausage of the night was the chicken and jalapeno sausage. It had a great spicy flavor and worked well with the jalapeno slaw. The flavor just burst out of its casing. The rattlesnake and rabbit were the second-best, with its smoky flavor. This worked well with the sauerkraut. The duck and bacon sausage was a little too salty and a little bland for my taste. If you want to try a variety of their sausages, this is the plate for you.

Joe's is known as a sausage place and for their deep-fried desserts. What we have above is the Fried PB&J. This could be one of the best desserts we have had in a long while. They serve this with ice cream, chocolate sauce, and berries on top. Alone, the sandwich was a little dry, but with the ice cream, it became magical. I will never look at a peanut butter and jelly sandwich the same way again. Definitely get this when you come here.

Joe's is a novelty restaurant that is definitely worth a visit. The menu features many items that are not available elsewhere (smoked ostrich sausage, frog legs, a whole turkey leg, fried Ho-Ho's, and cupcakes, to name a few). The prices at Joe's are steep; the entrees average around $11, and the desserts are more reasonable at $6.75. But the adventure of eating smoked alligator or fried pepperoni chips is worth it.

Out of five coffees (because another name for coffee is Joe, sorry, I know that is corny), five being best to zero being worst, Joe's gets 3 coffees.

Joe's does not have a website, but you can find reviews here: http://joesbarfullerton.com/