Deric C.'s Profile

I play in the local pop band The Modlins. our last two albums were recorded here under the watchful eye of Deborah Reeves, an easy going sound engineer and great friend.  We've had many a sessions at Signature and have never been disappointed by Deborah's commitment to the projects. Thanks to her (and a few other people along the way) our last album, With Friends Like These (and first recorded at Signature) won Best Pop Album at the 2008 San Diego Music Awards. and our most recent album, Where Does It End? received a 2009 nomination nod, also for Best Pop Album.

We couldn't have done it without you Deb! (and without Tecate and Bagels!)

i think i was a bit too harsh in my last review. i still think there are better mexican places out there though, but honestly, we do really like those potato flautas and we're making a concious decision to go to El Indio today for lunch (only for the flautas) so really, gotta bump them up.

still not a fan of most other menu items, they're all just average, but the potato flautas keep us coming back. just when i thought i was out ....

last night, the crew and I made a trek out to Tony's Pasta Shop and Trattoria. We all had a hankering for some pasta and Tony's did not disappoint.

first off we got there and it's in a very nice little neighborhood. and the atmosphere inside is very upscale, but also simple and homey. it's like visiting your aunt's house who keeps the place clean and upscale but you still feel comfortable at (your aunt on your dad's side, cause the aunt on your mom's side is a little different). anyway, their menu is pretty straight forward, pastas, pizzas, salads, beer/wine. but presentation and taste are very quality, and the prices are more than reasonable.

I started with an appetizer green salad w/ Roasted Tomato tarragon dressing (~$5) which was very good, and for the main course had a veggie lasgana ($9.99) that had eggplant, portobello mushrooms, yellow squash, zucchini, onions, ricotta. The lasagna was made perfect, lots of ingredients, but small enough that it wasn't falling apart, and large enough that you could taste each individual element. the ricotta really held the dish together well (i always hate lasagnas that slide apart from itself). other dishes that people got, meat lasagna, the carbonara and lobster ravioli. everyone was pleased.

i kind of want to take away part of a star for having a lackluster beer selection (was bummed they didn't have any beers on draft, and no micro brews) but they had a decent wine selection and on tuesdays they do $5/glass and $20/bottle. so if you're craving beer, just have some prior.

if you're really on the cheap, they have pizzas that start at $5.50. no one had one, and doesn't seem like a pizza type place, but a place like that back in san diego (or most anywhere in the country) could easily get away with charging a minimum of $8 for a entree sized pizza.

Eh.

i'm allergic to peanuts so i was pretty disappointed to find out that they use peanut oil exclusively. on nearly everything. even down to the "wood-fire green beans" ... somehow peanut oil found it's way in. i tried to order the veggie panini but apparently the stuff they put in it is pre-mixed (do mushrooms really need peanut oil on them? really.) you would think after asking for a few different items the waitress would've attemped to find me something besides a salad to order, but perhaps the kitchen is just that contaminated.  so food wise, my review is based on two things. the 3 beers i had and a wedge salad (well three things, the third being a nice buzz at the end of the meal).

the 3 beers were Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale (bottle, not draft). they really should remove the Extra from it, it wasn't that extra. but it was pretty decent (better then the Big River IPA i had the night before). nice that they had a full bar, but i'd have appreciated a better "on tap" selection.

the wedge salad was my only food item and was definitely below par. I'm glad that the bleu cheese had crumbled bleu cheese chunks in it, but the lettuce hadn't been dried very well, so it made it very watery.

the buzz however was very excellent. 3 beers go a long way if you only have half a salad.

if you aren't allergic to peanuts though, this place is probably pretty good.  everyone in my group raved about their food, the atmosphere is rather nice (+1 for the ice shooting from the ceiling down into the bar area) and i'm sure the view was pretty good (though at night it was hard to see and they had to close the outside patio due to the storm coming in).

Wow! this was a pleasant surprise. just went for lunch and had to comment immediately:

- Beer! -
it was lunchtime, so i didn't have a beer, but their selection was very impressive. 5 taps (including Red Hook ESB, Guinness,  Sweetwater 420) and a great lineup of micro and imports. Stone Arrogant Bastard and IPA, Samuel Smith, Rogue, some belgians (or at least belgian style, Old Rasputin, etc). they also had wines (i saw some Toasted Head). just on the beers alone, i was excited.

- Pizza! -
we got by the slice ($1.90/slice + $.40 per topping). i got one cheese and one w/ Roasted bell Pepper (red and yellow, nice) and roasted garlic. big chunks of garlic, perfectly roasted so as not to be too harsh. excellent thin crust. i hate places that think they should load up on toppings so you feel you get your money's worth. this places gave a very good amount without overdoing it.

- Ambiance! -
this place just had a great vibe, had a very San Franciscan feel. a sorta playful Tim Burton meets the Grateful Dead, purple decor with fake trees, cut-out clouds overhead. and to watch them toss the pizza, i was very impressed. music playing (as Ian K. state) was great. and all members of the staff were very friendly and attentive.

I'm not sure how the other locations are (though the guy behind the counter said the other two just got Fat Tire on tap, it's been hard to get it east of the Mississippi apparently) but Lupi's stands out as a great place. i'll definitely be back. might check out the calzone (which was enormous, it came out looking like the size of a thanksgiving turkey, easily enough for two) and the fact that you can pick from an excellent selection of toppings (40+ i believe, lots of veggie ones) seems like endless posibilities. We'll see you soon Lupi's .....

if you've been to a panera, you know the drill. it's a huge chain, they're consistent, and this place is no exception.

but i will say, the service was very good here. i told them i had allergies and they had a huge binder listing all of their ingredients and were able to tell me exactly what i could and couldn't eat.

man, that vegetarian black bean soup is tasty. french baguette is delicious. Mediterranean veggie sandwich is great. always a safe bet for lunch.

i was in rochester on business and was told of this place from the client we were visiting. i agree with all the reviews.

i had to take away 1 star, which i feel kinda bad about, but they have only one vegetarian option. and all it has is lettuce, tomato, onions and cheese. but seriously, it sounds like it shouldn't be good, but the bread and that olive-oil sauce make it still amazingly delicious and satisfying.

if i ate meat, it'd probably be a 5 star (everyone said the french dip was top notch). but i gotta give em something to shoot for.  it's a small chain so might be hard to implement new things, but if they could get a more solid veggie sandwich (maybe some grilled bell peppers and mushrooms) i'd give it the last star. really, it deserves 4 1/2 on the bread and sauce alone.

(i'm sure i'd have been chased out of town for being vegetarian in rochester, home of the garbage plate)

i was visiting from san diego, and always enjoy trying out local breweries. Though i will say, coming from San Diego, I may have become a bit of a microbrew snob (stone,greenflash). i like my beers hoppy and strong. first off, no beer cleared the 6% barrier (-1 star). they had the usual run of beers (pils, stout, IPA, pale ale). i had an IPA  (~5.9%) which for my taste was way too plain.  it had some vanilla/cream accents which were faint, but didn't add to it (and due to the lack of hops seem to take away from it a bit and make it more of a run-of-the-mill brown ale and not an IPA). the Stout was a bit more impressive (~5.8%), great color, good coffee notes. if you like a really strong stout it might not be your cup of tea, but i tend to like a midrange stout if i'm in it for the long haul and i think this one delivered pretty well.

as far as the food goes, i had one of their woodfire pizzas (the crust was made from one of their brown ales) and it was decent. nothing to write home about, a thicker doughier pizza. side salad was good.

service was good, a little slower than expected, but very friendly. seemed it was more the kitchen then the waitress.

i'd come back, but i'll probably try out a few places around town first. i did like that they had 4 pool tables though.

back before i was vegetarian, i use to go here for years back in college. every trip it was either a california burrito or carne asada fries. my roommates and i did a "california burrito tour" of san diego one day in mid summer years back, hitting many of the major burrito shops. Roberto's, Cotixan, Santana's, etc. we rated them all on quality, the potatos, the carne asada, tortilla, service, etc. hands down winner? Lolitas.

California burrito: Carne Asada, Shoestring Fries, Sour Cream, Cheese

it's a no frills burrito, no pico, no lettuce, no rice and beans. it cuts to the core which makes this the tastiest california burrito in town. and i believe his name is julio, but the guy that everyone talks about, with the perpetual smile on his face and great sense of humor, is reason enough alone. he's never in a bad mood, and always manages to rub his good mood off on everyone around him.

as for the food, noawadays, i still come in but instead of the cali burrito, I opt for the veggie burrito, add fries. it's beans (not refried), lettuce, pico, guacamole. the sauce is still tasty as ever (it's a straight liquidy hot sauce that i pour on every bite, ask for the bottles behind the counter and save yourself filling up a bunch of little sauce containers as the "salsa bar").

i give it 5 stars because, if i ever started eating meat again, this would be the first thing i'd eat.

let me first preface my one star review by saying, we have yet to have philly grill. we've tried 4 times to have it, and have been unsuccessful.

the first was a casual bike ride by on a sunday and saw that it was closed. we'd read the reviews and really wanted to try the veggie philly. we figured we could attempt later in the week to try them out.

the second, we drove down on a tuesday from kearny mesa. we didn't realize they were close sunday-tuesday. so a bit frustrated but understanding, we headed to el zarape that day (always a solid fallback) but kept in the back of our minds that we'd try it another day.

the third was on a friday. we went around 1pm and were greeted by a closed sign. the sign said "back at 11am". at this point my girlfriend was rather unhappy, we debated heading to El Zarape again, but she had her heart set on a Veggie Philly so we went to Voltero's (see my reviews). it's truly a great veggie philly (and from what i hear, a great standard philly cheese as well). always open, and never done us wrong.

the fourth and final attempt..... becuase we've really wanted to try this place, we tried on a thursday a few weeks later around 12:30pm. we knew they should be open at this time, but we figured we should call and verify they were. we called, they were open, and we inquired about the veggie philly. we were told they'd have to check on it and i should call back in 15 minutes. kind of a weird response, but they're a small shop and perhaps they were busy. i called back 15 minutes later and the lady said she didn't have the stuff to make the veggie philly but she'd try to bring it in tomorrow

at this point, i was at a loss. and well, i still want to try it someday and give it a proper review, but i don't think we'll be attempting anymore.