How delicious is this place?!
100% vegetarian cuisine, not that I really know their ingredient list or anything, being an avowed carnivore myself. That is just what everyone claims about the place. Doesn't matter to me one bit, all that matters is that everything I put in my mouth tasted great.
We had a small meal that was, none the less, very filling. It consisted of 3 orders and drinks.
Chole Samosa, consisting of 2 vegetable filled puff styled pasties in a mix of spiced chick peas. There was a little sweet and little heat in this. One black roasted Thai like chili and what I suspect was a tamarind sauce that lay waiting in the bottom of the bowl.
Masala Dosa, consisting of a large bread like crepe that was rolled and stuffed with lightly curried potatoes. This was served with a vegetable based spiced soup and some mint and coconut chutney.
Dahi Sev Puri, was purchased at the suggestion of the wait staff. This is a small deep fried whole wheat puff pasty shell stuffed with chick peas, potatoes and a green piquant sauce that I suspected was cilantro based. They were topped off with yogurt. Incredible!!
To drink, Maureen had a Mango Lassi and I had a Falooda. The Falooda consisted of rose infused milk with vanilla ice cream and some passion fruit.
Highly recommended!!
Mona Lisa’s is located right across the street from Assenti’s Pasta. What a great duo! They have a number of things that we love to buy. First off, they have some great home made sausage. They are wrapped continuously so you can buy a sausage that is a couple of feet long. For a nice presentation, we like to coil them into long coils and pan sear them until done. The plain mild Italian sausage is the bomb, we love it. They also have some awesome Provolone balls, rich and authentic stuff, like you won’t find almost anywhere else in town. Pick up a can of the tuna belly if you like canned tuna. It will ruin all other canned tuna for you. Amazingly great. Salted capers and salted anchovies are always on hand. I had an espresso soda that was actually delicious. There sandwiches are quite good and they have a solid selection of Italian wines that are not your typical brands. Looks like someone there knows a thing or two about Italian wine.
O’Brien’s Pub is kind of a classic, old school, pub. Seems like it is usually full of thirsty guys. My wife always comments that there are over 90% men there. There are places that have a fancier decor, no doubt but NOBODY pours better brew on a regular basis than these guys do. Their tasting events are legendary. You can sign up for their email list at their website. I read every one!
A couple of my favorite events this past year have been the Russian River “Tion” tasting and the Alesmith Stout tasting.
For the Russian River "Tion" tasting, they feature all 17 of the RR brews whose name end with “tion”. For example, Damnation, Supplication, etc. Most of these are sours. I’ve attended this even for about 3 years now and it took two times before I became addicted to this style. Now I am seeking them out everywhere I go.
One other thing they had at one of these events was a cask version of their Porter. That was totally awesome. Imperial styled, this was the best Porter I have ever tasted. Wish I could get it more often!
First off, let me say that I shop at the store located off of 43rd Street in National City. It’s hard to do this place justice without just going there. This is an awesome store! I found it when I was on a search for fresh Chilauca Chili’s. They ALWAYS have them in stock. I love to add these in strips to my homemade chili, especially when they are ripe. They are hard to find ripened, even here, but I get them here and am happy to find any at all.
The butcher shop and deli areas are massive and they wrap around the whole shop. This is a big store, as big as a Super Ralphs, if that helps you scale it. They have so many good things here. Their prepared meats, especially the carnitas, are incredible and relatively cheap compared to many places. Fresh salsas, soups and tons of prepared dishes are available to eat there or take home.
They have a tortilla station and are more than happy to let you have a bag of freshly cooked ones if you ask. They have some unusual versions as well. Pretty cool.
If you like to cook Mexican styled cuisine, you owe yourself a visit. It’s one of our favorite places to shop in all San Diego.