Going to "Canada" for a gyro was a good idea

Canada Steak Burger
Needed to get a bite to eat and didn't want to spend a lot of money or make it a three act play trying to figure out where to go.

I started out by searching for hot dogs in San Diego; they don't exist.  This led to my least two favorite sites: urbanspoon and yelp.  And like with any focused search, I ended up looking for places to eat hamburgers.

I came across the site for a hamburger joint with a funny name:  Canada Steak Burger and they sell burgers and Greek food....ya got that from the name, right?

We decided to take a chance and go on a little adventure.  As we drove through the neighborhood, I noticed there were more "adult stores" than cars on the highway during rush hour.  We slowly drove by, craning our necks to check it out before we made a committment.  Oh boy, only two guys in there and it looks a bit scary. 

We saw it through, parked the car, and heading inside.  I couldn't resist #8:  the gyro/spanakopita combo meal.  It came with a Greek salad and fries and yes, it's like they know me, the tzatziki and dressing were on the side!!!!

We really enjoyed it...and the fact that we ate for under $20 curtailed buyer's remorse.  My only disaapointment came fronm the spanakopita.  It had really large chunks of onions and red peppers.  In all the years and all the spinach pies, I've never encountered on with peppers in it. It was also packed by the time with left....craziness!!  As one of my coworkers says "for the money" it was worth eating there.  Thanks for the adventure San Diego!!

Late night "URBN" eating

I know I've complained about the high/drunk food critic giving their disillusioned opinion about food, but if you can't be a hypocrite...then what's the point of having an opinion?

Yesterday was our work party where I ate little all day and then pounded four beers in a hour.  Yes, I've still got it, but today I have drinker's remorse.  We moved the party to a coworker's house and while commuting to the new party location, Steve commented," maybe drink water for the rest of the night?"  I, of course, agreed, but couldn't resist keeping the drunkenness going and indulged in one more beer.  Miss Lightweight did a number on herself and then decided some late night dining was in order.

We stopped at URBN Coal Fired Pizza; owned by a fellow New Havener.  He has several places; one which used to be our favorite...duh...but slowly got bit by the San Diego critics' need for a thicker crust, more cheese, and less burnt bottom.  Whatever!

So I sat my drunk ass down and waited to get my glutton on.

We were so tickled to see they had Foxon Park sodas. We weren't so tickled when we realized we paid $3.50 for that pint size soda.

The salad was delish....capresse meets panzanella...nothing wrong with that!!

The Gassosa soda was gassy and lemony and thirst quenchingly sweet!

The pizza....remember....for San Diego...hit the spot.  My only complaint:  not charred enough and a bit too salty.  Someone went a little crazy with the Romano cheese.

It does sort of break my heart and makes me happy all at the same time.  Let's face it..it's a New Haven eatery, not a unique San Diegan restaurant, but it was definitely worth eating there.

I don't think I'll have the "Urge" to eat there again

URGE American Gastropub

We have a couple that we go out with that love and know a lot about beer.  We wanted to go with them to Ritual Tavern and check it out, but given time restraints and location, they asked if we'd be willing to go to URGE. 

A gastropub; um, I want to be impressed when I go to a gastropub.  Why?... because you've taken the time to call yourself a gastropub, you should be more than a place with lots of booze that has some food on the menu.

Our server, well, he didn't really help much. I want confidence and knowledge to exude from my server.  I can read a menu, I'm looking to you for more.  I've decided from this experience that I might start off with "if I was a New York Times food critic, what would suggest I order?". Who am I kidding, they still won't get it.  Maybe my expectations are too high; maybe I am too serious and intense.  Oh, I don't know, maybe since I work my ass off in a kitchen that I earn three dollars an hour after taxes, I would like to spend my hard earned cash on something worth while. Just saying; that's all.

I ordered one of the specials.  Supposedly it was a hotdog wrapped in wild boar bacon with some fancy beer infused mustard, sauerkraut, and "sport pepper relish".  Given my disdain for peppers, I opted not to have the relish and to play it safe, got the mustard on the side.

I will start off by saying I am grateful for the high alcohol content beer I was swigging cause the dog was depressing. The bacon was just thrown on there, the mustard was yellow mustard with little bumps in it, and the hot dog, was well a basic dog, and honestly, there was this weird sour after taste. All this was dumped into a very clumsy, stale bun.  Yes, a stale bun.  The sauerkraut was good.  It came with "house made chips".  They were good, in a Lays sour cream and onion chips way.

I decided to drown my sorrows in another beer. Since they took forever to bring out our order, we were offered free dessert.  That was edible and ended the night on a decent note. But the frown on my face said it all: it wasn't worth eating there.

Frequenting this place will not become a "Ritual"

Ritual Tavern

We've been meaning to try this place for a while.  The advertisements allude to a cozy pub type atmosphere with comforting food and a good beer list.

Well, the beer list was extensive and had choices for all.  The menu was limited, but they seemed to put some effort into choosing wisely for the type of food one may like to eat while pounding some beers.

We had a beer and started with the Parmesan garlic fries with "house made ketchup".  They had good flavor, but were sort of limp and chewy.  Not the terms I like to use for fries, or anything else for that matter.

I got the what the menu described as "Lamb Osso Bucco with fingerling potatoes, market root vegetables, and jus".

The lamb shank was dry.  Braised at one point, removed from it's liquid and left on a sheet pan warming somewhere no doubt.  The jus was flavorful, a bit much a the bottom of the shallow bowl, and no fingerling potatoes at all.

Thank God for the heirloom carrots, cause I don't like baby turnips; especially undercooked ones! 

So I ate the edible parts of my meal; disappointed and frowning that I got gypped the potatoes and spent the rest of the time watching Steve eat his less than satisfying shepherd's pie.

I guess if you ask the person with whom you're dining where they'd like to go for dinner while eating dinner, you probably didn't enjoy your meal.

So I came home after stopping by a very disappointing bakery...won't even go into that one and ate a 100 calorie pack of fudge stripe cookies to try and make myself feel better.

All I can say, is this place only cost us fifty bucks, but it definitely wasn't worth eating there.