Jerry Y.'s Profile

Long Island Mike's is in Clairemont Mesa, right off the 15, tucked away on Murphy Canyon where Mr. Chick used to be.

Wasn't expecting a whole lot, as New York-style pizza in San Diego these days is a dime a dozen. But I was pleasantly surprised. Not as good as Bronx, but I would put it up against the best of the second tier NY pizza spots (Luigi's, Ciro's, etc). The house pizza was especially good, consisting of pepporoni, spinach, feta, and bacon.

Long Island Mike's is a little out of the way, but well worth it.

This place gets by on location, with a high school next store. I just had one of the worst California burritos I've ever had. Grey, unseasoned meat, bland potatoes. Just completely half-assed. I've been there three times now, and each visit is worse than the last. Not going back. On my do-not-fly list. They are on cruise control, just going through the motions. Not like high school kids know any better.

Went to Mario's cuz Wifey likes it and I'm a good husband. I ordered the pork mole. Looked kinda gross. Was kinda gross. Pork was tough. Mole tasted like gravy, just no sweetness to it at all, and the presence of mushrooms didn't help. Only redeeming aspect of the meal was the "secret" salsa, which was pretty good. People (including my wife) love this place, and I have no idea why. But I'll be back, because I'm a good husband. Have I mentioned I'm a good husband? Cuz I'm a good husband.

Maria Maria is a new place that opened in San Diego. It's a chain. It's themed. It's a chain themed around Carlos freaking Santana. That's a triple fail. Would never go to a place like that. What's that? There's a Groupon? Oh, I'm there.

So obviously, I'm not expecting much. I have thoughts of the atrocious Hard Rock Cafe in my head. But...it's really kind of nice inside. The salsa the brought out with the chips was on hit.

One is your basic, gringo salsa. But Maria Maria leaves very large chunks of really good tomatoes in the salsa. Wifey, who is not a fan of tomatoes in the first place, did not dig that. I, who loves tomatoes, did. The salsa verde, which at most places is the mildest salsa, packed a lot of heat. Hottest green sauce I've had outside the Mission District taquerias in San Francisco. There's also what is basically a watery version of Rubio's smoked chipotle salsa.

Looking over the menu, there was one dish that stood out. Chicken and Mole Tortilla Casserole. I had to order it. And I'm very glad I did. Best mole I've had in San Diego. Lots of cheese. Awesome tortillas, and lots of chicken. It's pricey, but I thought it was worth it. But if someone want's to argue that the prices are too high, I'm not gonna argue. But I will be going back to Maria Maria, and this casserole is the reason why.

I should note that we ate in the bar and our service was atrocious. The table next to us had a different server, and she rocked. We had server envy. Oh, and did not dig guitar playing guy. Tears In Heaven? Really? Nothing like hearing  a song about Eric Clapton's dead child to make a festive evening!

I told a co-worker about Maria Maria, and she said that she had heard nothing but awful things about it. That's kind of weird. I had such low expectations, and was pleasantly surprised. Maybe other people's expectations were just way higher than mine?

Chris's? Is that correct? Oh well... Kinda sketchy looking BBQ joint in Spring Valley (like anything in Spring Valley isn't sketchy looking), but run by some really nice folks. They make you feel like you know them, and that you are a guest at their house, if that makes any sense. I ordered the rib tips, which I liked, but I wish I would have just ordered the actual ribs. A place can not be judged on rib tips alone. That being said, they were good. Only complaint - too much sauce. The fries were excellent, with some grilled onions mixed in. Order was delayed because the cook/owner had to peel the potatoes first - always good sign. Down with Sysco!

New wings place on El Cajon Blvd. I guess they have other locations around the county. Very similar to Wings 'N' Things, just wihenth a few more flavor options for your wings/strips. Oh, and you can get ribs.

In the past few weeks, I've tried both the strips and the ribs.

The boneless strips were really good. Moist, spicy, and a good portion size. No big drop-off from Wings 'N' Things. Unlike Wings 'N' Things, they give you a choice of fries or breadsticks when you order a combo. It's Nice to have a wings option located a little closer to me.

The ribs were pretty meh. Not horrible, but I'll probably never order them again. I don't know why I keep ordering ribs all around town expecting someone, anyone, to be able to compete with Phil's. So far, no one has come close.

Stop in if you find yourself on the La Mesa portion of ECB. The chicken is good. Just don't spend too much time reading the signs. I counted about ten spelling and grammatical errors without even trying. And these were professionally made signs, not handwritten ones.

This is what happens when you marry an English teacher.

One of my biggest pet peeves with San Diegans is their obsession with crappy sit-down Mexican restaurants. You live in San Diego! There's awesome Mexican food everywhere! So why do you keep telling out-of-towners to go to Old Town Mexican Cafe, Cafe Coyote, etc (btw, if you're from out of town, dining-wise, stay away from Old Town). Casa De Pico is one of those restaurants. It actually used to be in Old Town, but now it's in La Mesa. So why would I go there? Well, it's close to where I live, and, more importantly, they have Entertainment coupons. It's also slightly better than OTMC and its ilk.

I got the Chicken Mole Enchiladas. Nothing mind-blowing, but they were pretty good. Rice and beans were pretty blah. Oh, here's something I did. For reasons I can't quite comprehend, I thought that the pepper on top of the enchilada was a pepperocini? Why would I think a Mexican place would have a pepperocini on their food? Anyways, I ate it, and lo and behold, it was not a pepperocini. I do not know what exact type of chile it was, but it took about three glasses of water to balance out my mistake.

If you do find yourself at a tourist trap Mexican restaurant, here's some advice. Never go with the salsa they bring out. It's meant for the gringo-iest of gringos. No heat at all, and very watery. I'm sure someone from Iowa (no offense) would be thrilled, but it's really not good. You have to ask if they have any house salsa that is hotter. Then they'll bring out the real stuff. To Casa De Pico's credit, theirs is pretty darn hot and tasty. Very seedy!

I'd probably never go if I didn't have a coupon, but I did have a coupon, so I went. That's the M.O. of a cheap bastard.

It's not that it's not good food in and of itself, it's just that there are soooo many better options coughMamaTestacough.

Love me some shwerma (or as they call it, "Beef Tenderloin Kabob Wrap", so I had to cheggidout. Was it good? Yes. Was it great? No. In a town where Mama's Bakery actually exists, would I return? Maybe, if I didn't have the time to head to Mama's. Their menu looks pretty swell, though, so actually a return is likely, as I have an Ikea/Costco addiction.

So me and Wifey were watching some sandwich making contest on Food Network, and the winner was Ben Ford, who runs Ford's Filling Station in Culver City. All his sandwiches looked amazing, so since we would be passing through L.A. on the way to a high school reunion, we decided to check it out.

We both ordered the Tortilla Soup. It was okay, but in no way justified the 8 freaking dollars per bowl. In fact, what it reminded me of was Trader Joe's Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper soup, which you can pick up for a few bucks per box.

Being a sucker for anything with blue cheese and caramelized onions, I had to go with the Pub Burger. Again, it was okay, but not worth $15. The blue cheese/onion burger I had at Luc's Bistro in Poway was much, much better. Wifey disagreed. She liked this one way better than Luc's. She's wrong. Sorry, baby. The onion rings were spectacular, though. You could take a bite without pulling the entire onion out of its deep-fried-batter tube.  Wifey had the fries, which were very In-N-Out-ish (i.e. awesome).

Total bill for a couple burgers and soup was over $50, which is a little ridiculous. It wouldn't be ridiculous if the food was something special, but it wasn't. It was merely good.

I've probably heard more good things about Las Cuatro Milpas than any other taco shop in town, so it's kind of surprising that my first visit was Friday.

It's a real stripped down place. Just a counter, a really sparse menu, and sort of a Soup Nazi vibe. Like, I honestly didn't know where to order or what my choices were. I was scared of getting banned, come back one year, next!

So I ordered a pork burrito. Yes, the menu said pork. Not carnitas. The burrito was pretty straightforward. Pork, cotija cheese, and a little bit of lettuce. Normally lettuce in a burrito is a cardinal sin for me, but in this case, there was a minimal amount included just for a little texture, so I was fine. As a whole, the burrito was just okay. But the tortilla was really good.

And the hot sauce was excellent. I was a little scared of it, to tell you the truth. Lots of seeds, a sinister red color, and a little sheen of oil on top. It wasn't as hot as I was expecting, but it was hot, and very good.

I also heard a lot about their beans with chorizo, so I got some of that, too, because I am a disgusting pig. Also very good, but not as good as the beans with longaniza that my best friend's mother-in-law makes.

All in all, I liked Las Cuatros Milpas, and will most likely return. It'll take a few more visits before I can decide whether the hype is justified. So far I'm leaning towards "not really", but maybe the rolled tacos will change that.