Has nobody mentioned Las Brisas? They have some of the best carnitas you can find in San Diego county, if you're in to mexican food. It's not a fancy place by any means (paper plates and plastic silverware) but most everyone I've taken there has been impressed.

My wife and I were walking around the Del Mar Highlands shopping center and found a new store called "Leaf and Kettle" which sells some decent loose leaf teas. My wife picked up an oolong that has really good flavor.

Usually we wait until we take a trip up to LA to stock up on our green teas-- there is a store out in San Gabriel called Wing Hop Fung that has hundreds of varieties...

We usually hit up Tamales Betty whenever my wife is craving tamales. I won't say they're the best in SD, but I haven't found any better ones so far. They used to be located in Barrio Logan but moved to Chula Vista a couple of years ago.

Tamales Betty
226 Broadway
Chula Vista, CA 91910
(619) 565-2244

I know I may get shot down for this, since it's not actually referred to as a burrito on their menu, but...

SPECIAL QUESADILLA at La Posta #8

They essentially make a huge quesadilla and then throw carne asada, guacamole, and pico de gallo on it-- then wrap it like a standard CAB. It's like a stuffed crust burrito-- and the greatest drunk food I've ever found between 12:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m.

PROTIP: If you go to La Posta #8, be sure to ask for the GREEN SAUCE, not the crappy red sauce they hand out to everybody. I don't know what the hell they put in that green sauce, but it is fabulous.

Peterson's Doughnut Corner in Escondido has the best cake doughnuts in San Diego IMHO. They're open 24 hours, which is also a plus.

Cupcakes Squared off of Voltaire in Pt. Loma is another one of our favorites. Those are a great treat every once in a while. My wife likes the carrot cake and I'm partial to the lilikoi, although they're all great.

The double fudge brownie sundae at Eclipse Chocolat is insanely good.

The brioche cinnamon rolls at Con Pane are pretty awesome, too.

I'll throw in an obligatory mention of Dudley's Bakery in Santa Ysabel since you like good jalapeno cheese bread. Not sure who's is the best, but we always pick some up when we're driving by.

You can hit Dudley's on the way up to Julian for a slice of pie (Julian Pie Co, Mom's), which should also get an obligatory mention here...

My wife is going to be very sad about Sam's Place closing... she LOVED their broasted chicken.
Does anybody have good tips on restaurants that serve good broasted chicken in SD county?

Having had the two, I think I actually preferred the taste of the free drink at Fixtures than the one I had at Portola last night. Maybe they were having an off night, because it was the put a lot of work into something that I thought was just above corporate-chain quality (it was about as good as Influx-Little Italy, which I never bother with for good reason).

That truck changed ownership like a year ago, part of the agreement was that the new owners could continue to use the Mariscos German name for the first year. I haven't been there recently since I've been hitting the MG truck in the IGA parking lot in South Park. (By the way, fish tacos at the MG truck in South Park are $1.50 each.)

Just tried the pizza at Calabria last night. Interestingly enough, my wife and I both thought that the pizza crust didn't have the same woody flavor that we would get from a Bruno pie. Their pizza seemed a lot less substantial, both in the crust as well as the toppings. (For instance, we got the "four seasons" pie, which had four toppings on it. Except they only put one topping on each quarter of the pizza, so you missed any combination of topping flavors. Made it a little bland.) My wife thought that the pizza toppings were not as hot out of the oven as a Bruno pie. The pizza also seemed to come out of the oven really fast. I'm guessing that Calabria might be running their oven at a higher temperature than they do at Bruno, which would account for the many of the differences. We both still prefer Bruno's neapolitan pizzas, but to each his own.

While we were eating, I noticed a delivery from "Specialty Produce" which you are probably familiar with. I know you're a big on restaurant sourcing, so I figured I'd give you the heads up.

Yeah, I hear ya-- We just head to Siesel's meats in Bay Park after we grab all of our produce. They have some of the best meats in town, probably better than anything they'd be selling at People's if they were so inclined.

They have tremendous bacon.

I'd second Regents Pizza-- even though I tend to enjoy their Chicago slices better than their NY style slices.

I don't know if you have ever checked out the Ocean Beach People's Co-op but it's similar to what you are describing, in that it features mostly locally grown produce and it has regular operating hours. All the produce is labelled with the location it was grown, and in some instances, the name of the farm or farmer who grew it. They do carry produce from outside california, for instance tropical or out-of-season crops, but they are clearly labelled as such. I find it a good compromise since it isn't as limiting. I know my blood oranges come from fallbrook, my carrots are grown in escondido, and my apples are grown in santa barbara county.

They don't carry any meat products, and I can't recall seeing local cheeses-- they carry quite a few local products, but most of their grocery stock are the same brands you'll see elsewhere. The prices seem to be cheaper than other stores for the same organic products (being organic they aren't cheap). The produce prices are actually cheaper than the farmer's market, for the most part, even though the quality is just as good.

And I assume you meant "Los Angeles" when you said "Long Beach area". The Original Tommy's Shack is on the corner of Beverly and Rampart just west of downtown LA.

Actually got out to use my groupon last night, and I have to say I was relatively impressed with the food I had last night. The quality of the ingredients and the execution seemed at least a notch above most of the Italian restaurants nearby (Arrevederci, Il Postino), the Busalacchi restaurants that I've tried, and Jack and Gulio's in Old Town.

For Josh, the menu claims "hormone-free" meat, and I actually asked the host about what sort of meats they use in the food. He claimed that a lot of it was free range and that they "try to use as much free-range and organic as they can." I will say that the sausage I had was pretty decent, but at the price points they are using, I doubt they are sourcing from the same places as the linkery. (We only buy meat from Iowa Meat Farms, so we have a idea of what good meat should taste like.) My wife had the pasta dish with the seafood ragu, and she thought it was good as well.

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Iowa Meat Farms
6041 Mission Gorge Rd, San Diego, CA 92120

I think in general, if a restaurant isn't bragging about free range / organic meat, it's safe to assume they are using neither.

If you're near Vista, you should definitely drop by this place some time, if only to see it. They have entire sections of the nursery for mints, thymes, basils, and just about every herb you can think of. My wife and I were up in Vista exploring nurseries for ideas and this place blew us away-- we probably spent an hour wondering around the place trying and comparing the different varieties of herbs. (We're planning on adding a sub-irrigated garden in front and planting Longan, Wax Jambu, Avocado, Dragonfruit, and Citrus trees from California Tropical Fruit Trees in the back, some day...)

You should definitely check out Pearson's Gardens in Vista. They have the greatest selection of vegetables and herbs I've ever seen, way, way better than Walter Anderson or any other chain nursery.

For instance, here is their selection of heirloom tomatoes, they are currently stocking 83 varieties in 4" size (not just packets of seed).

http://pearsonsgardens.com/store/page...

Cathy, has La Playita been good recently? My wife and I were fans of this place, and we used to go semi-regularly 2-3 years ago, but the quality slipped so much the last few times we visited that we stopped going altogether. Just wondering if it is a place we should put back on our list...

I will say that before we felt the place slip they had excellent mariscos, better than what you could expect from one of the trucks. My wife would order the whole fish with tortillas, rice, and beans, and I would order fish and shrimp tacos, etc.

On another note, Mariscos German has an actual restaurant in Spring Valley. While I've never actually eaten there, I did frequent their restaurant when it was down in Logan Heights (it moved), and the food was at least as good as from the truck. So if truck-style food will do, there is a sit-down option available.

Mariscos German
1000 Grand Ave
Spring Valley, CA 91977

Good catch. I live less than a mile or two from there, so my wife and I might head over there if we want something close. I think we're heading up to Little Saigon tomorrow for Vietnamese food, so I'll probably try it out in a week or two.

I tried The Counter last week, and it was pretty much what I expected, after hearing about it on KCRW's Good Food podcast a few weeks ago. Definitely not a destination eatery, but a decent place to go considering the surrounding competition. The Counter seems very similar to Burger Lounge, with the overpriced menu and the way they are able to make their "natural" beef taste so bland. At least they will cook their burgers with about the right amount of pink inside. Meh.

My mistake. I've only been there once or twice and I guess I just missed the oven. The bread from the Rolando location seemed so much fresher that I assumed they were trucking it in.

The best we've found so far is Cali Baguette Express in Rolando (near 51st and El Cajon) --
which is far superior to the second store in Mira Mesa. I think the baguettes are baked in
the Rolando store and then delivered to the MIra Mesa-- the bread is fresher and the fillings seem to be higher quality and worth the longer drive.

Cali Baguette Express
5125 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

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Cali Baguette Express
5125 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92115

I'm no expert in Carne Asada Fries, but I've heard Rigoberto's on Miramar Road is pretty decent. I've tried them, and they were good, but I don't have a lot to compare with (not what I normally order). There are a ton of reviews on yelp if you want to check them out.

Rigoberto's Taco Shop
7094 Miramar Rd
San Diego, CA 92121

Yeah, I've been there-- to the "Scripps Ranch" location (Mira Mesa, really). My wife and I thought it was just another fast food joint-- nothing to get excited about at all, that's for sure.

The flats we had were pretty bland, really-- I could easily make better ones at home if I cared to. It's probably a little healthier than hitting the In-n-Out or the Daphne's down the street-- so I suppose there's that. Really I'd probably go for a bowl at Pho Lucky instead.

There are definitely better options near Liberty Station.

I concur -- I went to the happy hour at Crab Catcher only once -- it was absolutely horrid.

Try Tropical Star near Balboa Ave / Mt Altifan in Clairemont. My wife has eaten the whole grilled fish from them many times.

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Tropical Star
6163 Balboa Ave, San Diego, CA 92111

The best pho I've had in San Diego is at Pho King down on El Cajon and Menlo. No MSG and you can really taste the vietnamese cinnamon in the broth. After that, it's kind of a toss up-- I like Pho Lucky in Mira Mesa and Pho Hoa Hiep on Linda Vista road.

If you're ever up in Orange County, you should check out this place called Pho Thanh Lich in Westminster. They have the best pho I've eaten-- great broth, really fresh noodles, and filet mignon.

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Pho Hoa Hiep Restaurant
6947 Linda Vista Rd Ste H, San Diego, CA 92111

Pho King
4658 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92115

I actually had some of that cheese they are pulling off of the shelves-- I've eaten more than a pound of it-- actually finished it off right before this story hit the news. A coworker of mine (who knew someone else who had gotten sick) heard that the infections may be linked to the people handing out the cheese samples. Anyway, that cheese was OK, not much better than anything I've gotten from Trader Joe's. If you want a raw milk Gouda you should go for Winchester Gouda, it is local and it tastes better than Bravo. Plus it can't kill you.

The only major difference between bread flour and regular flour is the gluten content.
What I usually do is get whatever flour I want, and then add a small amount of vital wheat gluten to the flour mixture. The amount you will need to add will be based upon the % gluten in the vital wheat gluten. Regular flour is around 9% gluten while bread flour is around 13%. You need to do a little math to figure out just how much to add, but no big deal.

Bay Park's are OK, but you have to deal with service, which is very slow due to the inattentive waitstaff. Even when the place is empty it seems like we have to wait 5-10 minutes just to get a table, or worse yet, when we're buying fish from the counter to cook at home. I can run into Siesel's meats, pick up 2-3 different meats from the butcher counter, wait in the checking line, and when I get back to the restaurant my wife is still waiting for some service.