LAST STOP!!! Cold Water Tavern...

monks: last post! this place was hidden in the mountains, thanks cat cora!!! a cool, funky bar of bikers and live music and the actual pit master runnin' the grill!

long line of cars for this 'hidden' secret! that's lizoe...

only open for outdoor eats certain days of the week and year, but we came on the perfect day! what a great last stop on our way home!

all fresh homemade sauces- pico de gallo, horseradish with huge mustard seeds!, and a bbq sauce! you could also pour on some au jus!!!

a fresh, grill toasted roll, DELICIOUS tri-tip perfectly cooked... with all the fix-ins!!! sooooooooooooooo good, if i had 3 thumbs they'd all be up, what a perfect ending to a great trip!

Porto's! Bakery Goodness...even for the savory lover in you...

monks: porto's is basically a food stop for sweet, savory, all of the above times ten! it's crowded but efficient and so yummy and fresh! they just pump that food out like a little factory!

favorite items include: (cuban style) potato balls- potato balls filled with their seasoned ground beef mixture, breaded and deep-fried! lots of sweet and savory empanadas, lots of cakes, cookies, cheese rolls- these salty and yummy cream cheese pastry rolls, hmmm what else?!? their guava rolls are good too but i like my savory!

Mambos! Headin' to Cuba!

monks: Another stellar triple d spot! Lots of good eats here...once kinda, coming in after having just eaten, but we brought some folks with us =) Robyn and Pam...here we go...

this cute little spot was on the corner of this one intersection and had beauitful red and black colors and paintings on the inside and out...

Pitcher of Sangria before the long drive home?! Don't mind if we do! Better make it a large!!!

Yummmmmy...so fresh that the fruit had a good amount of wine soaked in and still had lots of fruit juice!

This was the well kinda appetizer sampler...a bunch of Cuban favorites...I know none of the names =( I know the flat yellow things on the bottom right corner are tostones I think-deep fried, smashed plantains! The other items are as follows...I think the far top left was potato and veggies? or seasoning, breaded and deep fried...to the right, potato balls with meat filled potato balls also breaded and fried up!, next to that meat empanadas, at the bottom left corner we have spicy chorizo! and the tostones to the right of that...all were delicious! I'm always a fan of the potato balls (which we were about to get more of at the next spot!) but the start of the show for me was the garlic mojo? basically garlic sauce...pretty much fresh ground garlic and lots of citrus/acid from lemon and limes? and spices...super strong, super tasty! Good on everything! Filipinos would prolly fight over it!

This was by far the coolest thing they had and one of the coolest things on the trip overall...shrimp ceviche...but the cool part was that it was served in tostone cups! The thick cut ceviche with big pieces of tomato, onion, lots of lemon and herbs....placed in deep fried plantain cups!!!! You just can't go wrong!!!

And the main event featured on triple d as well is their several hour roasted pork! Cooked, with marinade or rub of lots of spices, seasoning and that garlic mojo stuff!!! SO tender and juicy on the inside and nice and crispy, salty and yummmmy on the oustide! Great with rice and beans or on bread! Add more lemon and onions and you have yourself a party!!!

My mouth is watering...good idea or bad idea before we take a little trafficky car ride to the next spot?! OF course too good of a spot to pass up!!!!

Brodard! and Tastea!

monks: Another one of my personal socal Asian favs! Brodard! It's Asian name is Nem Nuoc I think...sorry I'm being totally ignorant...I've only eaten the spring rolls here, but I can't ever get past it!

Kinda hidden in this Asian plaza this place is ALWAYS packed...so we usually just get the spring rolls to go...They're kinda like your typical Vietnamese spring rolls...but with these other components...

1. instead of the typical pork and shrimp slices you can have this pork sausage or this 'shrimp paste' (like a shrimp sausage)...I looooooove the shrimp paste...sooooo good...

2. inside are the crispy veggies you find in a spring roll, but I swear better! They even put a whole strand of green onion, but I usually pull out the part sticking out...

3. They take what tastes like deep fried lumpia/egg roll wrapper and make a little ditch of it so you have this extra layer of warm, crispy, fried stuff in there! This is the primary reason why having these even a few minutes less fresh takes away from it's awesomness!

4. THE SAUCE!!! It's orange colored, thick but thin, taste meaty, kinda seafoody, kinda like there's hoisin...egg...I can't quite explain it, but it's amazing...

Afterwards we took our rolls to go and got a delicious cool bev for the hot day at Tastea...some yummy frosty boba drinks =)

I love the shaved ice here too, but c'mon now...there was work to be done on the rolls!

You can get pork, shrimp or combo =) see the green onion sticking out?!

I know I got the green tea blended drink, I dunno what the other one is, they have cool smoothie combos there too...perfect joining of two tasty forces =)

I know what you're wondering...why such a 'small' snack...especially for 'breakfast' which we usually go BIG on...well, Brodard's and Tastea's were just little snacks before the lunch we were about to have, followed up by a bakery and BBQ haha...keep reading!!!

Late night ending with some Albatross!!!

It was our last night I think...and we were staying the night in Irvine...So we went out to a few bars, kinda in the area...and shared some drinks with these kind fellas...

yup that's a volleyball on his head...these folks came from some costume party...

The bar was really an excuse to stay up later and work up our apetite so we could get some late night Mexican food at Albatross'!

Above you have the carne asada nachos (self explanatory) and the socal famous, Carne Asada fries...this plays does it best because the fries are so well done! Crispy and crunchy and full of delicious things! I like the fries the best, but Lizoe loved the nachos! Mitch typically likes the fries but passed out in the car when we were ordering and went straight to bed when we got home...Yummmmmmmmy! Goodnight!

Mochilato!!!!

monks: Not a foodnetwork pick---yet...but a foodie pick. Z introduced me to this place and I love it so much...especially considering I don't like dessert that much...It's in Irvine I think so we stopped on our way from San Diego to Z's...she wasn't home yet...and we needed to get fiber supplements from a pharmacy, we weren't feelin' too hot!

This this dessert place has teas, Boba drinks, tons of gelato flavors, shaved ice with flavorings and such and of course tons of Mochi-both filled with ice-cream and with other mochi thangs...

Look at all the pretty designs and colors...on the left are little birdies!

We didn't try and of the solo mochis, but the prints and pictures on em' were so cute, too pretty to eat...well maybe...

Take your pick...lots of gelato to choose from...
Italian and Asian flavors of course!

Same goes for the ice-cream mochi, lots of different flavors, colors, influences, all fresh, all freakin' delicious! They have the little egg crate packs for you to pick, choose and take home...so cute! Tree would love it! And especially Daddy!!!

This one's for you pops! A shaved ice creation...Of course I got it Japanese style! Red beans (so sweat and salty), mochi pieces (so soft and chewy), soft shaved ice, I think vanilla bean gelato or green tea gelato or both, green tea flavorings for the ice and a whole lot of love! This is the jr. or single size...soooo huge! You can get a huge family tub size to share! They give you these cute frostly, flower-shaped plastic bowls and spoons...

Other shaved ice creations include Italian I think, which has vanilla bean or coffee gelato, I forget, different ice flavorings, I think strawberry...but the big difference is that it comes with LOTS of fresh cut fruit, strawberries, mangos and other things...You can even get infusion which is half Japanese, half Italian, I got this on a later visit, but I think the Japanese is still my favorite! I love this shit!

Daddy would love it...perfect cross between Asian dessert (halo-halo, sagot, shaved ice) and ice-cream desserts...yummmmmmy...I'm drooling...

Mama Testa!

monks: I think this was our one and only "Throwdown" spot! And yes, Bobby lost! I think it was for fish tacos...this place has a huuuuuuuge menu of all different kinds of salsa, meats, items prepared crunch, soft, double fried, on steroids, corn, flour, you name it! So we ventured over since we were still in the San Diego area. Sadly we were filled to the brim from the diner, (we literally went right after)...but we decided to share a small order. IT WAS AMAZING! and if I didn't feel so full that I would die I would have loved to ordered more from this great place!

Really cute, funky, colorful decor inside, mostly the Lucha Libre theme going on...their bathroom was like a paint bomb exploded and a bunch of their newspaper stories were posted up. Such a cool place =)

There they are, so delicious. Deep fried fish, delicious slaw, and fresh, crispy fried tortillas...I wish I had more details, but it's been so long, all I remember is that it was freakin' delicious! Oh yea, the rice was good too but the beans were extra tasty!!! There was also a huge salsa bar with the main staples-pico de gallo, verde, I think an avocado one, a roasted chili one...but the interesting ones were the ones with fruit...Lizoe and Mitch handled that, not my thing...but I think one had mango and maybe one had papaya...both were good they said...

And despite the full belly, Lizoe got rice pudding I think...with cinnamon and raisins on top =) Yummy, but I would have opted for another taco instead =)

These were sooo cool...I wanted to take one! The napkin, salt, pepper holders were little wrestling rings made from wood, string and screws! The shakers were like little barrels, and each table had different colored ones! The sticker is their little logo sticker and saying which goes, "Put some Mexican in you!" Great place! Need I say more?!