What This Blog Needs Is Some Food - Part 1

Since I haven't given a lot of details of the meals we've eaten (girl needs to keep her strength up, you know), I thought I'd give a brief run-down of some of the food highlights of the trip so far.

There are lots of places to eat in Boulder, but the two of note that we visited this time were The Sink and Arugula.  Two very different eateries.  The Sink is a "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" find as well as an "Obama Ate Here" place (he signed the wall).  A college dive, the food was pretty good.  I had the grass-raised burger, which was still juicy and flavourful despite coming medium instead of medium-rare (as I'd ordered it).  (No, I could not send it back; I mean c'mon, it's a college hang-out.  Plus, our waitress didn't charge me for my first beer because she'd recommended a beer they didn't have that night).  Artery clogging, sure, but a good version of that when you're in the mood for it.

Arugula is in a strip mall (which seems to be a trend...) but serves well-crafted food.  I had the special pasta - housemade fettucine with braised rabbit in a light cream-based sauce featuring a local cheese.  My only suggestion would be to use pappadelle, which stands up better to a substantial sauce.

Our next stop was Vegas (after our delayed flight).  RM Seafood in the Mandalay Bay was good, but I don't know that the menu sustained the price point.  Yes, the seafood is sustainable and super fresh, but I also found that there wasn't a lot that excited me on the menu.  In fact, I think I made the best choice by ordering the sashimi, which best showcased the quality.  The restaurant choice was a calculated risk, and while it didn't totally pay off for me, it was worth a try.

Dinner at Lotus of Siam, however, exceeded (high) expectations.  Another Triple D tip, this restaurant is, yes, in a strip mall (see the trend?).  Our favourite dish was the duck curry.  We would definitely return to this place.

On a suggestion from a staffer at Zappo's (yes, we got a tour of the shoe-lovers' online mecca), the ladyfriend and I had lunch at eat. in downtown Las Vegas.  A breakfast and lunch joint, the food is super fresh (remember when that was a given rather than a special feature?).  Their tomato-basil soup kind of blew my mind because it was so good.  I also had the roast beef sandwich, which also deserved my attention.

What can I say about San Diego?  We ate a lot of Mexican food (I was trying to make the ladyfriend eat a fish taco a day - wait, that sounds dirty, and I totally didn't mean it that way...will stop now).  The late night carne asada taco we had at La Posta was amazing.  And who doesn't want a 24-hour taco joint in their town?!

We also went to Blue Water Seafood Market & Grill, yet another Triple D find, which served some of the freshest seafood around.  I had a soft shell crab sandwich (yum) and the ladyfriend had two different kinds of fish tacos (I'm serious).  Great food, great service, and great prices.  It will be a regular stop any time we're in San Diego.

Finally, if you're into cupcakes, check out Babycakes.  The cupcakes were intense but not in that "oh-my-god-where's-the-actual-cupcake?" kind of way.  There was plenty of frosting, but the cake held its own and was plenty moist.

Stay tuned for the Palm Springs and Bay Area report.