Been There, Ate That. . . too

JiRaffe--Probably the first place we had an amuse bouche. Ahh, INK's foot-themed meal: trout with peeky toe crab and black foot chanterelles. Why don't we go back?

Hungry Cat--Decadent lobster roll, heart-breaking chocolate souffle/creme brulee/bread pudding, few tables. Gotta try the creative cocktails.

!Loteria!--Because you can't always go to San Diego when you get a hankering for potato tacos.

Apple Pan--Burger, fries and apple pie ala mode. Or banana cream. Wonder which of the four veteran servers will be working our side of the counter. No nonsense, cash only.

My Secret Recipe--When you want oodles of spicy little octopi cooked in front of you in Koreatown. Believe them when they say medium is spicy. Wish the rice came at the beginning; like we said, it's spicy. Enjoyed the pa jun, fried pancake with more octopus and lots of green onion.

Bread Bar--Of course, that first visit during its early days was the best because they gave INK a free bag full of brioche and croissants.

Caprice--Don't really remember the French mini pastries too well. It's the experience of ringing the doorbell and either a tall, skinny guy with an accent lets you into the kitchen with large metal tray upon tray of delights. Or its a young woman or Caprice, himself, who will regale you about his youth in Provence. Sometimes its one on one. Other times there is a row of cooks with pastry bags in the background. They're all in their chef whites and they all offer free samples!

Tia Juana's--Soft tacos, so-good-must-be-bad refried beans and rice, handmade tortillas.

side dish: Good-pie!

We pride ourselves on being able to enjoy both the finer and, uh, coarser foods in life. When $5.99 pie month rolls around at Marie Callendar's, Delicacheena is there with the pie tin deposit. And we're a sucker for the "limited time" flavors. Who are we kidding? "Limited time" induces us to purchase many of the un-necessities of life.

On March 4th, the planets were aligned just right and the end of the $5.99 deal coincided with the start of the Lemon Cream Surpreme's limited appearance. (The specialty pie was not on-sale.) We bought two pies to take advantage of the six bucks deal and to get the Surpreme--UE is not big on lemon and it was a stressful weekend.

The Lemon Cream Surpreme is described as Boston cream pie with a touch of lemon, but that is not accurate. It's more of a "Cake or pie? Why not both?" In the traditional pie crust, there are layers of yellow cake, pudding/cream and lemon filling. Why not?

The coconut cream pie and its too-sweet-and-creamy goodness is just like mom never made.