iPhood: Chef Rich Sweeney's R Gang Eatery

A few months ago at the San Diego Influence Awards, a few of us from the San Diego "Momfia" totally accosted the cutest guy in the room and tried to talk him into letting us adopt him and make him an honorary Mommy Blogger. Theresa from Rock on Mommies and I then spent the next few months internet stalking Aaron Hier (or @AHizz as he's known by his adoring fans), like a bunch of 12 year old's would stalk Justin Bieber. Yes. It was kind of pathetic. But our efforts paid off in the end... and a few weeks ago we got the invitation we were waiting for.

One of Aaron's best friend's is Chef Rich Sweeney (of Top Chef Season 5 fame), and just last month Chef Rich opened his new restaurant, R Gang Eatery, in Hillcrest. Being the Top Chef uber-fan that I am, I was THRILLED when Aaron invited us to dinner at San Diego's hot new restaurant and got downright giddy over the propect of meeting Chef Rich in person. 

Drinks and Apps

We began the evening with R Gang's signature cocktail, the "Prickly Pear Margarita". With habanero-infused vodka and pear lemonade, this drink was definitely "prickly" - and that chili flavor hits you in the back of the mouth as you swallow. Of course, it didn't stop me from DOWNING mine. For the appetizer, Aaron ordered us the portabello fries. Now, I'm not a huge mushroom fan, but I am a huge fan of fries, so I gave them a whirl. And politely had to stop myself from scarfing up the rest of the plate and leaving none for my dinner-mates. 

Dinner

While both Theresa and Aaron had the fab looking burger with TATER TOTS on the side (yes, TOTs, which almost swayed my decision) I decided to go with something a little different. I had a hard time deciding between the Mac n' Cheese and the Chicken Curry Pot Pie, but thanks to the suggestion from our totally a-dorable waiter Terence, I went with the Chicken Curry Pot Pie. And I was SO HAPPY I did! While apparently the burgers at R Gang are good enough to turn a vegetarian into a meat-loving sinner, the pot pie was more unique in its flavors and was very well seasoned. Oy, how Tom Colicchio of me to say...

Dessert

Now, if you are as obsessive about Top Chef as we are around here, you may remember Chef Rich's shining moment - when he was asked to pack his knives and go for making S'Mores for the Foo Fighters. And as a nod to his last night with Padma, you better believe that there are delish S'Mores for dessert at R Gang... along with banana pudding with homemade Nilla wafers covered in chocolate, and strawberry rhubarb cobbler. And yes, we did order all three. NOMNOMNOM.

The DISH.

The food, the drinks, the adorable waiters all put this restaurant high on my list. But really, I was a bit star-struck and could not get over how amazingly gracious Chef Rich was. When things slowed down a bit, he took the time to hang out with us and talk to us about his Top Chef experience. Being the TV whore that I am, I was practically squirming with excitement. 

First thing, the thing I know you all want to know. Yes, it's not just your television: Padma is smoking hot. Rich said there was something about her...she is fabulous in every way. He also said that Gail has the most amazing palate he's ever met. He said you could put a pinch of something in your dish and she would catch it. Tom was hilarious and had a great personality, and Toby Young, who can come across as the harshest of the Top Chef judges, was actually a really great guy. Chef Rich also had nothing by praise for his fellow contestants, and told us that they are kinda like a fraternity; only people that have been on Top Chef can truly understand the experience.

Rich answered our questions about where they went after they packed their knives ("Elimination Island", a secret location where the eliminated chefs are sequestered until the regular season wraps up shooting) and talked about how hard it was not to be able to tell your friends and family where you went off to for 5-6 weeks - even after coming home. 

Chef Rich was honestly one of the nicest people I've met in a long time. He was open, sincere and the type of guy you would want to sit back and have a few drinks with. We talked about his love of bacon, and I tried to impress him with my Bacon Cupcake/Bacon Toffee achievement, which he immediately topped by hinting at the BACON MADNESS that he's perfecting for his new brunch menu, along with chicken n' waffles and his build your own Bloody Mary/Maria option. Drool.

The evening was a blast, and while in the beginning Theresa and I may have wanted to adopt Aaron, now we are just hoping he and Rich will adopt us!

 R Gang Eatery

3683 Fifth Avenue - Hillcrest

Dinner Tues-Sat 5-11PM & Brunch Fri-Sun 9A-3PM

Delicious Dish - Pasta Heaven

I think we can all say that we are looking a little closer at the things we eat these days. Not just from a dieting calorie counting stand-point, but from a healthy lifestyle view. Movies like Food, Inc and shows like Jaime Oliver's food revolution have really brought to the forefront the idea behind trying to eat simpler, healthier and not so processed food. 

I struggle with this daily. I love food and love to eat good food. I'm not happy replacing items that I love with things that are just over-processed and lower in fat/calories. Earlier this year, I started seeing a naturopathic doctor regarding some recurring issues. Since I've been seeing her, I've learned a lot about treating the underlying issue, and not just treating the symptom. An idea so simple that I'm working on approaching my diet the same way.

Over the past week I was introduced to two similar fresh and easy pasta recipes from two very cool bloggers - ModChick's Lindsey and PureMama's Juli. Both were simple, fresh, easy and OH SO DELISH. 

Over at ModChick, Lindsay made her family a summer pappardelle with tomatoes and arugula. Go check out her pictures and tell me your mouth is not watering. I dare you! While I'm not not a fan of tomatoes (that's actually putting it nicely), I know that Jason loves them and that he would so dig this dish. And arugula ON your pasta?! I had never thought of that, but lemme tell you.. I may never eat pasta without it again. 

Then last Saturday night my friend Juli from Pure Mama's had us over for dinner. She told me she was just whipping up some simple pasta, but I will say that nothing about this pasta was simple tasting. Juli sautéed some green beans, asparagus and garlic and in a separate pan mushrooms. She made some Angel Hair noodles, tossed in some olive oil - then served the pasta, the veggies with fresh parsley, toasted pine nuts, some parmesan cheese and a squeeze of lemon. Simple, easy, fresh and heavenly!

With these thoughts in mind as I ran to Trader Joe's at 5:00 yesterday (obviously, I'm insane), I did a bit of a mash-up between the two pastas. Jason's had the tomatoes, while the rest of us had the peas and asparagus mix. 

The arugula, cheese and lemon made the dish for me, with the added hint of bacon crumbs rounding out the flavor with that touch of salt. 

The kids liked it, Jason liked it - and I actually COOKED something which made everyone happy...  we were in Pasta Heaven. 

iPhood; The Fish Tacos and Chevys Experience

When Chef Jason Neroni was interviewed recently about why he chose to leave San Diego and the restaurant Blanca in Solana Beach, he was quoted as saying "The running joke other chefs told me was that all San Diegans want is fish tacos. It was funny for a moment, and then it got annoying because it was true."

Ouch. But... well... true?

Down in San Diego, we are known for a few things: perfect weather, obscenely high housing costs, and fish tacos. So when I was offered the change to test out 4 of the best Fish Taco spots in San Diego with the Chevrolet Best Of Tours - I jumped at the chance. A beautiful sunny day, 8 different fish tacos and the chance to drive a Camaro?! Who wouldn't?

Stop #1 - South Beach Bar and Grill in Ocean Beach

When we all first met up, we were encouraged to drive or drive in each of the 5 different Chevys lined up to take us to our 4 stops. I immediately leaned over to La Jolla Mom Katie and said "That's all you, I get nervous test driving cars..." {note: foreshadowing} With that she hoped into the front seat of the Malibu and drove us to our first stop. 

Fish Taco Talk: I would have been happy staying there all day. The sun was shining and the ocean was right there, and the tacos were light, crispy and perfectly cooked. There was a little hint of spice to them and the white sauce was enough to give you the flavor but not enough to drown your food. I wanted to devour them, but being this was only stop one, I ate one and politely pushed the other away {sob}.The only thing missing was a beer. But since we were encouraged to drive, we were asked not to drink. That's fine - I needed to be smart and professional anyway. HA. 

Stop #2 The Brigantine, Shelter Island.

We step out from the loud bar buzz of South Beach Bar and Grill to a line of Chevys waiting for us. The one that I was actually very interested in was the Traverse, Chevy's 3 row "crossover". Somehow the keys ended up in my hand and I hopped into the front seat to drive 7 of us to "The Brig" in Shelter Island. 

Last year Jason and I thought it may be time to start looking at a new car to replace my Audi A4 (which i love love love, but alas is a tad small these days). We were getting to the mindset of carpools, lugging crap, 2 kids + dog, etc, and while there is NOWAYINHELL I will drive a mini-van (sorry MiniV moms. While the sliding doors are enticing, I. Just. Can't. Do. It.), we still need something with some size. Enter in the "crossovers" - the SUV/MiniVan mix - for the mom that wants the minivan perks without the mini-van. The selling point - many of them have 2nd row captain seats! GENIUS! Last year when I went to test drive the 3rd row Pathfinder, my first question was "How does Grandma get to the 3rd row with 2 carseats in the 2nd row?" Car seats pretty much render 3rd rows useless, because if you have ever had to install a car seat you KNOW you can't be doing that at every stop you make. Okay. Rant over.

As we learned as I carefully drove through the narrow streets of OB, the Traverse was actually designed by female engineers and many of the ideas for features came directly from mothers. So THATS why the 2nd row is captain seats - because a MOM had some say! In quick 10 minutes I drove it, I liked it. It seemed huge on the inside but didn't look that big on the outside. It's definitely a car I will revisit. 

Fish Taco Talk: The fish taco part of this story - well, it was The Brig. Been there, done that. Good, but nothing special. Moving on...

#3 Blue Water Sea Food, lower Mission Hills area.

Feeling a bit more confident, once again I hopped in the drivers seat - this time in a HUGE Hybrid Silverado. This thing was ginormous. When I first got in, my feet didn't even touch the ground. I felt little driving this thing - like I was a kid driving in my parents car. If you need a big truck, this is a good option. Although I did get a little nervous when it slid back a little on a step hill - something that happens in the slight lag it takes the hybrid to click in. 

Fish Taco Talk: This place was packed. So crowded there was no place to sit down, so we picniced in outside on the back of the Silverado. Maybe it was the hot sun, maybe it was stop #3, but this one really didn't do it for me. But the last stop...

 #4 The Green Flash in Pacific Beach.

Having driven two other cars, I got cocky and decided to go for the win and drive the Camaro. With thoughts of Lucas screaming "BUMBLEBEE" and Jason singing "Bitchin' Camaro, Bitchin' Camaro..." in my head, I happily took this set of keys. 

This car is hawt. I kept trying to think of a way I can justify it.. hey, the backseat isn't that small...with memories of days I used to have my Hoopty (1984 Nissan 300Z), I actually got to pick up a little speed on our short freeway jaunt. When we got out of the car in Pacific Beach, I think there were actually cat calls. Strangers stopped on the street to admire the utter coolness of the new Camaro. HipMamaB lived up to her name. 

Fish Taco Talk: I knew that the Green Flash tacos would be good. An old favorite from "back in the day", the shrimp taco was delish and just what was expected. Too bad I was already so stuffed from the previous 3 stops!

All in all, it was a fun day. Fish tacos, sunshine, cool cars and new friends is a great way to spend a day in San Diego. 

iPhood

The other day I was going through the photos on my iPhone to show someone a picture of how big the kids have gotten. Scrolling through the stream of images I noticed that I had a bunch of blurry, out-of-focus shots of the kids, but nestled in between these soon-to-be-deleted memory wasters were tons of pictures of, well... food.

Food from various restaurants. Delicious food. Beautiful food. Food I tweeted about. Food I posted pictures of on FB. Interesting, lovely dishes and pieces of items I've consumed. I think I may have a problem. Or, at the very least, a new blog feature.

Join me - as I give you a tour of my iPhood.

 YU ME YA Sake House

The first stop on HipMamaB's iPhood Fest (HMBiPF) is Yu Me Ya Sake House. A local Leucadia GEM of a restaurant, this is a tiny little place right on HWY 101 which boasts one of the LARGEST Sake collections I've ever seen. 

Did you know in Japan, sake is served cold? And did you know that much like wine variations, all sakes have a distinct taste to them based on region and water? All things you will learn at this amazing little place.

And little it is. Unless you make a reservation (which they only take Tues-Thursday) or get there as they open at 5:30, there is a good chance you wont get in. I think they can seat about 40 people at a time, and with the tapas style menu, people tend to hang out, savor the food and sip sake and take their sweet time. No matter how hard you glare at them from the waiting bench. 

If you are one of the lucky ones to get in - you MUST MUST MUST order the spicy tuna tartare (pictured to the left), the BBQ Beef salad and fried yams. And just a warning, while the serving of the Spicy Tuna tartare includes 2 wantons filled with YUM, order one serving per person...or you will just get mad and want to throw your chopstick at your partner. 

Ono Sushi at Eat.Drink.Read

A few months ago Jason was tapped to help out the San Diego Council on Literacy for its annual fund raiser, this year called Eat.Drink.Read. This culinary event for literacy was a perfect fit for us as it involved 3 of our favorite things - good food, good wine/beer, and raising money for Literacy (if you've ever seen our bookshelves, you are nodding your head in agreement). 

Many of San Diego's top restaurants were in attendance, offering up some mouth watering bites. One that particularly impressed me were these yellowtail sushi rolls on a stick from Ono Sushi. 

Honestly, I have no idea what it was. But it was crunchy in the middle and had a hint of truffle/truffle oil and I ate about 10 of them. 

Another winner from the night was Urban Solace's watermelon mint salad and duck on a cracker amuse bouche (yes, I learned that from Top Chef). 

The event was a great success and lots of money, and awareness of what the council does for San Diego, was raised. 

Counter Burger, Carlsbad

A few weeks ago Jason and I managed to escape for lunch on a day when Zoe is at her sitter and Lucas is at school. Wanting a GOOD BURGER, we headed up to Counter Burger.. or "The Counter. Custom Built Burgers" our new fave burger joint. I pull out my iPhone and "checked-in" on Foursquare and up pops a message:

"CONGRATS! You are the new mayor of Counter Burger, Carlsbad!"

I duck under the table horrified while cursing the stupid app that really has no good reason to exist. Other than, of course, the competition between a few of us trying to oust Rock on Mommy as mayor of Target Encinitas. Alas, my reign was short lived (THANK THE GOD OF Embarrassment and me having to admit that I eat wayyy too many hamburgers) and now I solely rule over Paper-Source. 

Since we know the menu at Counter Burger like the back of our hands, we kinda just order the same thing each time - and on the side the 50/50 fries and sweet potato fries. We really don't deviate much. Then something caught our eye: "Parmesan French Fries".. do we break tradition? We went for it and OHMALORD were they divine.

Needless to say, I really need to stay away from that place. 

Flippin' Pizza 

When Jason and I went to NYC a few months ago, we were prepared to be blown away by the pizza. I mean really, IT'S NEW YORK CITY! Unfortunately for the Big Apple, but lucky for us, we did not think anything we had there was as good as our local NYC-style pizza place up the street - Flippin' Pizza. 

Our friends from NYC turned us onto this place when the La Costa branch opened last year. It's a small place, but super kid-friendly, serves beer and wine and you can order pizza by the slice. This means we no longer have to fight with Lucas over his wanting "cheese, no sauce". Also, for the past 6 or so months they have $1 slices on Tuesday nights. Since it's across the street from where Lucas and Jason do karate on Tuesday nights - it's become a no-brainer dinner option. Until word got out. See, while I love to see my local faves be successful, the line OUT THE DOOR the other night forced us to have to chose another option. And now things are really going to get bad...

Last week Jason and I went to an event where they officially introduced their new item - the Pinwheel - to the public. With a choice of a meat pinwheel or a veggie one packed with spinach, these are pretty much rolled-up pizzas minus the sauce. Wanna know how good they were? Lucas, age 6, ate FOUR of them. He wanted a 5th, but the rest of us had finished eating 30 minutes prior so we put the kabosh on that request. These Pinwheels are ridiculously delish. And that's a good thing because they are going to be replacing the $1 slice night with $1 pinwheel nights...but it may also be a bad thing since now we may NEVER get in again. 

***

And yes, there are more to come...This weekend I took part in Chevy's Best of Tours where we roamed the streets of San Diego looking for the BEST fish taco (and driving snazzy cars!). And since proclaiming myself a "wanna-be foodie" I think I'm going to have to make this a regular blog feature.

Although, maybe I should really start thinking about reviewing various work-outs around town to counteract all this yumminess.

Delicious Dish

Jason and I are self proclaimed "foodie wanna-bes". We love food. We love to eat and we love to go out and enjoy a good meal. I guess the wanna-be part is due to the fact that we are not snobby about it as I think "foodies" are. Sometimes we are just as happy with a $5 burrito from Roberto's as we are with a $100 meal from a "top restaurant". 

Each week we watch Top Chef or Top Chef masters in awe of what's going down in those kitchens. Amazed by the transformation that food can take under the right hands. And each week when they list the restaurants and locations in Southern California we think "Why haven't we been there?!"

I grew up in LA and my parents still live there. While family togetherness is nice, let's be honest, my parents just want to see the kids. And do things like feed them cookies before dinner and let them stay up until 10 watching TV. While I may curse this the next morning when my over tired, oversugarded kidlet is throwing his/her fifth tantrum of the morning, it's a special bond that my parents have created with my kids..and one that we appreciate greatly. It also allows Jason and I to have a very valuable "free night out". See? A win-win situation for everyone involved. This past weekend we were up in LALALand to see an old friend and Jason and I decided that one-by-one, we are going to hit all of the Top Chef Master's restaurants. First on the list was Mark Peele - and we had two choices Capanile or his new place, the Tar Pit Bar.

I think the Tar Pit Bar won out mainly for the animal characters on it's menu.

I kid. Actually the term "supper club" and "bar cum restaurant" was the interest peaking points for us. And it was a delicious choice. The Art-Deco inspired atmosphere was perfectly put together and the signiture cocktail list was interesting and mouth-watering at the same time. I opted for a champagne cocktail and seriously may have squealed out loud when it was delivered to the table in a vintage saucer glass. 

I'm a tapas kinda girl - and when socially acceptable always choose multiple apps over a main course, which is encouraged at this eatery. Everything I read talked about the duck sliders, which were nothing like I imagined them to be. They were actually sweet and melted in your mouth. I could have had 3 orders of them to myself. We also shared steak tartare and fried artichoke that were equally amazing. As a "main course" Jason ordered the streak and kidney pie and I ordered the Lobster bisque.. oh, and an order of that huge plate of French Fries that kept passing our table. Every item was delicious, unique and flavorful in it's own way.

We felt as if we ate like kings and were actually surprised at the bill in the end - mentally thinking it was going to be a good $30 more than it was. For the past two days all I can think about are those duck sliders... and how I want to yell "GIT IN MA BELLY" to them as I caress them ever so gently.

I guess we need to go back soon.