About once or twice a month, our apartment complex has a local food truck show up to the leasing office for an evening and serve a smaller, just as delicious menu for the residents of our complex. Tonight's truck was Tamarindo and I had never even heard of them before I received the flyer on my door earlier today. At the top of my flier: "The Tamarindo Truck is out and about serving up fresh and authentic Mexican food across Orange County. Our concept is simple; bring the best that traditional Mexican food has to offer to the streets of Southern California". Sounds good to me! I had to go check it out!

The menu tonight had about ten items on it, and they were all completely different and a great variety of meat, fish, and veggie items. I decided to try two items tonight, the "Drunkin' Torta" and the "Tacos Dorados". The Drunkin' Torta sounded awesome: Skirt steak marinated in Bohemia cerveza, black bean and garlic spread, Oaxaca cheese, arbol chile salsa, Bohemia cerveza grilled onions, micro greens, and tomato on a fresh baked mexican bolillo roll. It was decent... the flavor of the steak was excellent, except there was hardly any of it in the torta. It was mostly beans, which is great, but then call it a black bean torta. I was also surprised out how under-flavored everything else was. This was not something that I would order again if I ever end up at this truck. It was alright, but not great. Everything was fresh like they advertised, which is nice.

Now, onto the Tacos Dorados: Potato tacos mixed with panela cheese, Oaxaca cheese and epazote. Topped with lime infused cabbage salad, pickled red onions and carrot-habanero salsa. Garnished with fresh chopped epazote and cilantro. Daaaaaamn these were GOOD!!! The tortillas were hand rolled corn tortillas,fried up nice and crispy and the flavor of the potato mixed with the panela cheese was just amazingly good. I also seemed to forget that habaneros are hot as hell, so when I went for this thing, I maybe should have asked for the salsa on the side, but it was also fabulous. Really, really, REALLY spicy hot, but very good. These were worth the walk out to the truck with the splitting headache that I have.

All in all, Tamarindo has some good food, at fair prices, and is worth the trip, in my opinion. I think the next time I will try their ceviche... stay tuned! :)

Slater's 50/50

Pork shivers. I have pork shivers. You know? When you eat a ridiculous amount of good food, then you sit back, kind of in a trance, and your whole body does this wierd "shiver". Yep. That's a pork shiver (derived from a hilarious encounter with an obscene amount of bbq pork, but that's a whole other story)...
Tonight we joined our friends Alex & Valerie, Jason & Julia, and Tiffany, Dave, & Quentin for a dinner at Slater's 50/50, in Huntington Beach, CA. None of us had ever been to one (they have 3 locations), but we had all certainly heard of it. If you watch the Travel Channel or Food Network you probably have seen it featured at some point. A few years ago, this guy named Scott Slater came up with this idea to have a "build your own burger" joint, but with a little twist... the burgers are made up of half ground beast, I mean, beef and half ground bacon. Oh yeah. You read that correctly. Ground bacon. On top of all of that, the list of items that you can put on your burger is just insane. You choose the bread, the sauce, the cheese, the toppings, & the "over the top" toppings, which include the likes of pastrami and fried pickle chips. Okay, you get the point. Or, if you are like me and just can't make up your mind, otherwise you'll either be there for another hour deciding or you'll end up with every topping they offer on your plate, they have a list of burgers already designed for you. They also have six appetizers to choose from, all with their own special sauce to dip them in. It's important that I now list those items because when the waitress asked us if we wanted any appetizers we all just blankly stared at her and shook our heads "yes"...can we have them all? Oh wait! Yes! We can have them all - on one plate! With a side plate of all the dipping sauces?! Where do we sign?

Please stare intently at the following picture: it is a mound of fries, sweet potato fries, fried pickle chips, beer battered onion strings, fried artichoke hearts, & panko fried mac & cheese. The plate of sauces in the background included pumpkin sauce, mustard sauce, bbq sauce, sage mayo, tapatio ranch, & bacon infused ketchup (which tasted like God himself was making it in the kitchen).


Here's a fabulous photo of Julia's napkins and the sauces up close & personal (after we polished off that appetizer plate). Please note the fairly dessimated bacon infused ketchup... it didn't stand a chance with this group...


Now, let the food porn begin!! I was just able to reach across the table to get pictures of a few burgers before my friends started eating my hands, but the ones I were able to get photos of are goodies!

Jason's burger: Jason created his own burger, which, let me tell you, looked just as sinister as the "already designed" burgers that showed up at the table. If I remember correctly, he had lettuce, tomato?, cheddar cheese, & bbq sauce on it. He also chose ciabatta bread for his bun. I believe his statement was this after taking a bite: "If I wasn't already married to Julia, I would marry this"....


Julia's burger: You know, I don't remember exactly what she had on this joyful piece of art, but all you gotta do is appreciate the volcano of 1000 island dressing pouring from the side of it, to know it was bad ass.


Andy's burger: Andy went with one of the "already designed" burgers on the menu. This particular masterpiece is called the Peanut Butter and Jellousy. It is the 50/50 burger, topped with bacon, creamy peanut butter and strawberry jelly, all served on a honey wheat bun. Now, we like to think we are a bit snobby when it comes to this particular burger combo. There is an L.A. food truck called Grill 'Em All, that pretty much reigns supreme with this burger (they call it a Dee Snyder). Look, Slater's has a decent burger, no doubt. But, after final consideration, Grill 'Em All ended up taking top honors with the PB&J burger combo. The factor that puts them at the top? They happen to put tapatio on their concoction, which really cuts the sweetness of the other toppings. And, for me, I also like the crunchy peanut butter that G.E.A. uses, but that's just me. Hey, Slater's, good on ya for putting it together and serving a yummy burger, but we said we would maybe try something different next time... or not... :)


My burger: Meet the Pizza Burger. It is Slater's Burger of the Month, which obviously changes month to month. So, if you have any love for mankind, you will get your ass in the car and take yourself down to this dining establishment, and order. this. hamburger. You have four days left. I'm not even kidding when I tell you that it rocks and it rocks hard. The burger is half beast, half ground sausage, topped with marinara sauce, mozzarella sticks, and pepperoni (you can choose from pepperoni, hawaiian, or combination pizza styles). It also normally comes with garlic aioli, but I opted out of that spread. Not to worry, though, because it was served on a ciabatta bun which happened to be made into ciabatta garlic toast. Do you wonder if I ate it all? Keep scrolling, my friends. Keep scrolling. (I'm almost embarrased to post the "empty plate" photo. Almost.... Okay, not really.)



As if all of that wasn't enough to satisfy us, we went for dessert. Hell, we knew exactly what we were ordering for dessert well before we even ordered the appetizers. They have a list of about 15 or so milkshakes you can choose from, everything from vanilla to Guinness mint chocolate. Tiffany tried to order a nutella milkshake, but they were out of nutella (which, let me say: how the hell do you run out of nutella?! Don't they sell that shit in Costco sized containers??) I guess that must mean the nutella milkshakes are amazing... It's okay because she ended up getting a maple bacon milkshake instead, which was quite awesome all in its own right. We all agreed that it tasted "like breakfast". Very sweet, very delicious. Then we went completely overboard and ordered their bacon brownie. Yep, you read correctly: bacon. brownie. This thing came to the table and you should have seen the look on our faces. It's a Ghiradelli chocolate brownie, with crumbled bacon pieces both on the top and in the middle of the thing. Plus the chocolate ganache layer all around the egde of it. And, as if that wasn't good enough, they added vanilla ice cream all around the outside of the bowl. For those of you who know me well, the answer to your question is: Yes. I did have some. And, no, so far I do not feel like I will be in the hospital later with the migraine of the year. Did I mention that we ordered two? One each for four people? Here is mine, Andy, Jason & Julia's trough, I mean, bowl.

Here's the end of the end. And, to be honest, I believe this is Tiffany, Dave, Valerie and Alex's finished product. The server had long before taken away our demolished plate...:


Just looking at those photos gives brings back the "shivers"...

So, there you have it! Slater's 50/50! It's delicious, it's amazing, they have a good beer selection, crazy awesome burgers, and fabulous desserts.
I heard they also have salads on the menu....
Yeah. Right.

Wierd Day Scallops

I was having a wierd day today. Long story, but rest assured, it was weird. It called for a really yummy dinner. I know "yummy" is pretty objective, but I love seafood, and especially shellfish. My number one, all-time favorite are scallops, so I made a delicious scallop dinner with some orzo pasta. In case you also happen to love scallops, and had a weird day (or hopefully not), here's the recipe for you.

Here's to no more wierd days and a love of little rubbery mollusks. :)


Seared Scallops with greens and orzo
olive oil, 2 tablespoons
onion, 1/2, finely chopped
orzo, 1 cup (I used tri-color, but the multi-grain is also good)
low-sodium chicken broth, 3 cups
greens, 1 cup, chopped (I used red chard, but you can also use black kale or escarole)
Italian parsley, 3 tablespoons, minced
fresh thyme, 3 1/2 teaspoons, minced (I think I would use half of that next time)
grated lemon zest, 1 teaspoon
salt and pepper
butter, 2 tablespoons
large sea scallops, 3/4 pound
sherry vinegar, 3 tablespoons

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, warm 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the orzo and stir until it begins to brown, about 4 minutes. Add the 3 cups broth and bring to a boil, stirring up the brown bits. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the orzo is almost tender, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes. Add the chard and stir until the orzo is tender, the greens have wilted, and the mixture is creamy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the parsley, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the thyme, and the lemon zest. Season the orzo to taste with salt and pepper. Mix in 1 tablespoon of the butter. Remove from the heat, cover and keep warm.

Season the scallops on both sides with salt, pepper, and 1 teaspoon of the thyme. In a large frying pan over medium high heat, warm the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. Add the scallops and saute until almost springy to the touch, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer the scallops to a warm plate. Pour off the oil from the frying pan. Add the vinegar and remaining 3 tablespoons of broth to the pan and boil until syrupy, stirring up the browned bits, about 30 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat. Add any scallop juices to the plate. Swirl in the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Divide the orzo between two plates. Top with the scallops, drizzle the sauce over the top, and then sprinkle with the remaining 1 teaspoon thyme. Serve right away.