Costco?

Costco?  Weird...I know, but Costco has the best bang for your buck around.  In addition to being probably the best grocer on the planet with endless samples throughout the store, Costco has a solid choice of food outside for a quick meal at a great price.  They have hotdogs, pizza, turkey wraps, churros, and even a ceasar salad.  I was a little hungry today after fighting through the clueless crowd and the mile-long lines to pick up the 6 items that I needed.  You would think there would be an express lane but that would just be too easy.  Anyway, I stopped outside for a solid deal...Polish sausage and a drink for $1.50 and a Churro for an additional buck?  Surprisingly, Costco has better hot dogs and sausage outside than they do inside.  The sausage was perfectly boiled, good flavor, and for $1.50!! Seriously, I felt like I was stealing it from them!  After consuming the sausage in about 12 seconds, I made my way to the churro which was just as good.  Hearty portion of cinnamon and spice and arguably better than the highly recognizable and highly priced churro at Disneyland!  I have to say it was a solid food choice!

Savory Cafe- Downtown Ventura, CA

Savory Cafe & Bakery in Downtown Ventura has been touted for its French breakfasts and amazing pastries and baked goods.  With these accolades, I was hard pressed not to give it a run.  Most places start off simple with a glass of water and I have to say that most good restaurant's water today tastes the same.  Savory started off on the wrong foot.  Their simple glass of water tasted seriously like lipstip..and not the delicious fruity kind you get when you make out with Freda Feltcher in the sixth grade (you all know my reference).  Anyway, it was horrible and the second glass wasn't any better so I ordered a hot chocolate.  Maybe I have been going to Starbucks for way too long now but when I order a hot chocolate, I expect it to taste kind of like chocolate hence "hot chocolate."  Well, Savory missed that day of class and served me a delicious glass of warm steamed milk with a milk frappe on top.  I thought maybe the chocolate was on the bottom so I tried to spoon it out.  Sadly enough, the Harvard Graduate barista somehow forgot the chocolate.  Two strikes Savory...two strikes!
After the early meltdown, I went with everyone's go-to...the omelette.  My omelette was a spinach, caramelized onion, and ham omelette with jack cheese melted inside accompanied by pomme frites and wheat toast.  Simple right?  Well, I went down the beaten path yet again.  The omelette was conceptually well prepared.  The eggs were on the outside and the meat and vegetables were on the inside.  The gaping hole was the 3-1 onion to everything else ratio.  The onions completely overpowered every aspect of the meal, even the garlic dipping sauce for the pomme frites. The spinach was a little soggy and there was a pile of cheese on one side of the omelette and not the other.
For those of you that don't know what pomme frites are, they are Belgian fries that are supposed to be crisp on the outside, and soft and tender on the inside.  Savory did a great job with the crispy outside, however it carried into the middle of the fries and they were crisp throughout completely destroying them.  The best part of the breakfast was the one thing that I had little interest in...the wheat toast.  At this point, it wasn't even worth trying the pastries for fear they would ruin what was left of my day!  That's three strikes...or is that four?  In any case, Savory Cafe and Bakery was not a solid food choice!

The Cave- Ventura, CA

Ventura Wine Co. & Wine Bar is home of The Cave Restaurant in Ventura, CA.  Not only is Ventura Wine Co. a great place to buy local California wines, but its brainchild restaurant, The Cave is also a solid food choice.  Executive Chef Gary Daniel prepares exquisite meals in small portions to accompany his 16 bottle automatic California red wine serving system.  The menu is very diverse with everything from BBQ pork tenderloin with Southern slaw and cornbread, to Penne with mussels, clams, and roasted corn all of which is served at a reasonable price.  Personally, I couldn't make up my mind and being the food lover that I am decided to try a few...you know, just to make sure all the dishes got a fair shot!  I started with the Filet of beef in a demi glaze with basil mashed potatoes and green beans.  The dish looked like a Warhol painting with vibrant colors from the rich purple demi glaze to the green tinted potatoes.  When I took a bite of the filet, I literally almost fell out of my chair!!  Ya...it was that good!  I have had a lot of steak in my life and this filet was absolutely amazing to put it lightly.  It had just the right amount of flavor with the demi glaze not overshadowing the seasoning of the beef.  The potatoes got a similar reaction...perfectly cooked with a hearty but not overindulgent amount of basil.  If I were judging food...and I am, this dish was a 9.5 out of 10, especially when accompanied by a 2007 California Cabernet.  I would recommend that even the vegetarians out there take a swing at this masterpiece.

After I licked my plate clean...seriously, I ordered the BBQ pork tenderloin with Southern slaw and cornbread.  My expectation of this was very different than what I got but equally as delicious.  When I think of BBQ pork and slaw, I think of Texas BBQ with a sweet BBQ sauce and a watery mayonnaise slaw.  This dish was quite the opposite!  The pork was rich and tender with a little kick sitting on top of the crunchy slaw and soft, warm cornbread.  I took my fork and gathered all three troops for a taste that was remarkable.  All of the flavors blended exceptionally with the sweet and spicy pork enlightening the homemade butter enriched cornbread.  Every bite had the right amount of all three and the taste never changed.  I would have licked that plate too if the server hadn't taken it away from me when I got up to serve myself and my lady some more wine.

I did run into a small hurdle later into the meal.  Being that these were both small plates, I managed to save some room for dessert and the two mini chocolate brules with a port nut clusters.  This was the game changer!  The two mini brules were exactly as advertised "mini" but two small bites to me is microscopic.  They had a light, candy surface with a rich, decadent chocolate creme center and a strawberry topping.  Had it not been for the puny dessert portion, The Cave would have been pretty close to perfect but it is still a solid food choice and I can assure you that I will be returning many times over!

Me Gusta...Tamales!!

Me Gusta is located on Van Nuys Blvd. in the small city of Pacoima and has been bringing their culinary talents to the Ventura Farmers Market in Downtown Ventura for the past several years. Owner Roberto Ortega Sr. wanting a better life for his family has brought his award winning recipes right from Jalisco, Mexico. Me Gusta's specialty is Tamales and man do they make a killer tamale! Tamales are typically thought of as a lunch or dinner food however when the Farmer's Market opens 8:00am, the line to try these sought after treats is a mile long. Their tent with two windows services the nearly 500 people that visit the stand in the 4 hours it is open on Saturday mornings. They have a wide variety of tamales available from pork, chicken, shredded beef, veggie, cheese, and even a sweet pineapple accompanied by a spicy red sauce or a milder green sauce.

After waiting in line for some time, I decided to try the shredded beef in red sauce as my first choice. I watched as the server went to get my still in husk tamale out of the massive steamer.  The tamale feel out of the husk and then was covered by a healthy serving of the red sauce made up of Anaheim chilis, soranos, and jalapeños, and a few other spices.  My first bite into the tamale was wonderful.  The fork cut right through the thick corn shell right down to the tender shredded beef.  The tamale offered such a vibrant array of flavors from the sweet corn shell, to the tender juicy beef filling, all brought together with the chilis and encompassing spirited red sauce.  Every bite of the tamale was exactly as the first...tender, sweet, and a little kick at the end.  Me Gusta tamales left me wanting more...so I ordered a dozen!!  At $3 a piece, you can't beat it.  I recommend you do the same.

www.megustagourmettamales.com

Pappy's Smokehouse-St. Louis, MO

When the average food lover thinks about BBQ food, they think of Texas. Texas is known for their big steaks covered in butter and loaded with flavorful fat and their beef ribs. Large, meaty and smoked out back for hours. After my experience sampling BBQ in St. Louis, MO, it is safe to safe that Texas is taking a backseat in the BBQ kingdom. Pappy's Smokehouse sits near St. Louis University just outside downtown St. Louis. It has been Visited by the Travel Channel food fanatic Adam Richman and absolutely lives up to it's expectation. Pappy's Smokehouse takes pride in their meat. They spend 5 hours smoking their ribs to get the scintillating pink smoke ring that captures the surface of their ribs. And these aren't ordinary BBQ ribs, these are NO SAUCE PORK ribs with a phenomenal dry rub. They are the meatiest ribs on the planet and the meat just falls off the bone. A half rack at Pappy's can feed a family consisting of 7 delicious ribs!
Then there's the pulled pork. When meat spends 20 hours in the smoker...holy shit, it is an absolute tender masterpiece flavored by the hickory smoke and succulent juices from the meat. It is truely the most outstanding BBQ and puts Texas to shame. Both of these entrees are served with two sides...sweet potato fries and applesauce. I don't know about you but I haven't had homemade applesauce since I was a kid and it immediately brought me back to playing on the swing set after school coming home and opening up a jar. It was sweet and accompanied by little chunks of apples. The sweet potato fries had a little twist as well. They were deep fried and then soaked in their original juices to give them a sweet, sticky deep fried deliciousness!
In short, Pappy's Smokehouse has reinvented and is dominating the ever important man meal BBQ!

Saticoy Donut

Typically when you think of donuts, you think of two names...Yum Yum and Dunkin Donuts. These donuts are some of the best in the business. Well let me tell you, there is a new sheriff in town and his name is Saticoy Donuts. Saticoy Donuts is located on the far east end of Ventura,CA in the city of Saticoy. When you drive through Saticoy, you don't really see much. It is a poor town with old town shacks and new track homes that no one lives in. You also find a pass through industrialized part of Ventura. Then in the middle of no where next to a gas station and the freeway, you find a gem called Saticoy Donuts. Once inside the room is filled with the fresh aroma of cake and cinnamon gently surrounding the only two small cases of donuts. My personal preference is a cake donut but today however I decided to try a new type based on their recommendation. This taste of excellence was Saticoy Donut's version of a crumb donut. The average crumb donut is a cake donut dusted with a light glaze and a cinnamon sugar sprinkle. This donut was a little bit different. This donut was light and fluffy, with not only a cinnamon sprinkle but a brown sugar sprinkle that was absolutely palette pleasing. It melted as is grazed my lips and absolutely was the talk of breakfast for the remainder of the day. This is a place that must be tried and will give you a new appreciation for an old breakfast treat!

KD Donuts

National Donut Day is supposed to be a momentous occasion in the donut consuming world. With this expectation in mind, I decided to try a new donut shop in the middle of Ventura called KD Donuts. As I walked up to the beaten and graffiti struck building, my expectations were not significantly high. There were approximately two racks of donuts, none of which were cake, an absolute staple in the donut community. The two raves consisted of glaze and chocolate bars, two sprinkles (unacceptable), and two rows of sugar donuts. There were no other patrons in the shop and the electricity was completely off. I went for a mixed dozen beginning with a fluffy white donut with a light glaze and rainbow sprinkle. The donut was under glazed and lacked any sort of melt in my mouth. After sharing the mixed donuts with a couple of colleagues, they disappointment met mine. Both of them became slightly ill and National Donut Day was nothing short of a bust! KD Donuts...one star!