Cafe Del Rey (Marina del Rey, CA)

Seems like I've been making my way to Marina del Rey more and more now. Cafe del Rey is a favorite of MDR locals and I have recently heard great things about it from friends, so I welcomed the invitation to a blogger tasting there.

Ahi tuna crudo

From the dining room you get a view of the boats in the marina.

Their cocktail list is fairly small but interesting enough. One of them features "hum botanical" which is rum infused with hibiscus, ginger, green cardamom and kaffir lime. This was the first time I've seen it in a cocktail menu and the herbal taste was quite strong (may not be for everyone).
I started the night with a spiced apple bourbon (woodford reserve, spiced apple cider, simple syrup, ginger ale) -$12

Executive Chef Daniel Roberts grew up in New York City and started his career in Queens. Upon moving to California he worked as executive sous chef at Mondrian Hotel and Asia de Cuba, where he was promoted to executive chef after one year. He then moved on to work at Portofino Hotel and Yacht Club before finally landing at Cafe del Rey.

We started with a trio of raw appetizers, including the ahi tuna crudo pictured above, beef carpaccio, and scottish salmon.
Beef carpaccio, unexpectedly complemented with golden beets, arugula salad, lemon caper vinaigrette.

Housecured Scottish salmon with crisp artichoke, crème fraiche, tiny greens. This dish comes with a shot of basil vodka limoncello, which I thought paired quite well with it.

Chef Roberts also exhibited some Mediterranean slant in his menu, like his fun Kafta cigar (lamb kafta wrapped in dough and deep fried, sitting on an "ashtray" of tzatziki sauce) and falafel.

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Stone Brewery (Escondido): Lunch, Tour, and Tasting

There are two reasons to visit Stone Brewery: their great beers and the fact that their tour (with beer tastings) is FREE!
(What is NOT a reason to visit, on the other hand, is the food at their bistro)

Actually, perhaps there are three reasons to visit. The grounds around the brewery is lush and beautiful, perfect for a walk or a picnic.

We decided to eat here because we had to wait for the brewery tour (it's free but you do need to get passes for specific times early on, since they fill up quickly). Admittedly, I loved the restaurant's space itself. It is spacious and bright thanks to the large windows.

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Voodoo Doughnut (Portland, OR)

Voodoo Doughnut is one of Portland’s most popular food/tourist destinations because of their wacky donut offerings, especially since it showed up in Bourdain's show (and was apparently mentioned in Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club).

Maple Bacon Bar

The line at the original location seems to always be long and we waited 45 minutes to get our pink box, you know the one good things come in!)

 

It's small and dinky, but we found it fun and kitschy. This is not some fancy gourmet doughnut shop, mind you.

One of Voodoo Doughnut’s claims to fame is their maple bacon bar, which is literally topped with two slices of crisped bacon. I thought it may be all hype because of its weirdness but it was actually really good! Nickel Diner’s maple bacon donut has nothing against this. I like the texture of voodoo’s donut and the maple icing was sweet but not sticky like Nickel’s. The bacon? Worked surprisingly well. Wandering Chopsticks and I were glad we each got one but regretted that we didn’t each get two.

The Voodoo Doll doughnut is just a chocolate dipped, raspberry-filled bar, but you should order it anyway because it’s shaped like a voodoo doll with a pretzel stake through its heart!

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