What was San Diego like in the late 90's-early 2000's? (Santa Cruz: bill, to eat)

[joosoon]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

True, and the East Coast doesn't know what a Carne Asada burrito is supposed to taste like. Or hot sauce.

It wasn't that long ago that they were stuck with nothing but canned tortillas (yeah, they really did that once) so I cut them a lot of slack.

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by joosoon

What would you consider "really good"?

The way I judge so-called Italian food is mainly on two dishes: Ravioli and manicotti, plus the tomato sauce should be cooked down and lean slightly bitter, not sweet. Ravioli that isn't handmade is going to be garbage so that's part is non-negotiable. As for manicotti, most places skip it and very few do it right. The premade stuff is easy to spot because the ricotta will always be practically liquid and gross. Real manicotti should have a fluffy filling and the shell should be al dente. Sauce should be simple and at least as good as mine.


And again, I insist pizza is in a different league.

I grew up in an ethnic Italian-American family in a heavily Italian-American part of NYC area. The red sauce type of stuff, we make ourselves and I never order it at a restaurant. I make my own red sauce weekly, and eggplant parm, lasagne, mannicotti all from scratch and was taught to do so by my grandmother.

The Italian restaurant dishes we enjoy are the southern Italian, med style with emphasis on fresh fish, light pastas and sauces and red sauce mostly to be found on the kids menu. Solare is very good. So is Buona Forchetta.

For pizza, not interested in anything other than NY style (we like Long Island Mike's, but there are many good ones now) or Neopolitan brick oven (i.e place on Park / El Cajon that has an oven they imported from italy.).

At least where I grew up, those 1970s red sauce and spaghetti places were not popular because no one wanted to "pay $7 for a plate of noodles" as my dear Mom would say. Filippis is just like Sbarro...

[Axxlrod]

Originally Posted by NYSD1995

I grew up in an ethnic Italian-American family in a heavily Italian-American part of NYC area. The red sauce type of stuff, we make ourselves and I never order it at a restaurant. I make my own red sauce weekly, and eggplant parm, lasagne, mannicotti all from scratch and was taught to do so by my grandmother.

The Italian restaurant dishes we enjoy are the southern Italian, med style with emphasis on fresh fish, light pastas and sauces and red sauce mostly to be found on the kids menu. Solare is very good. So is Buona Forchetta.

For pizza, not interested in anything other than NY style (we like Long Island Mike's, but there are many good ones now) or Neopolitan brick oven (i.e place on Park / El Cajon that has an oven they imported from italy.).

At least where I grew up, those 1970s red sauce and spaghetti places were not popular because no one wanted to "pay $7 for a plate of noodles" as my dear Mom would say. Filippis is just like Sbarro...

Do you not like the pizza at Buona Forchetta? I love Neapolitan style pizza and think it's the best in SD.

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by Axxlrod

Do you not like the pizza at Buona Forchetta? I love Neapolitan style pizza and think it's the best in SD.

Yes its good

[Losfrisco]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

True, and the East Coast doesn't know what a Carne Asada burrito is supposed to taste like. Or hot sauce.

To be fair, most of Mexico wouldn't either, as burritos are only popular in a few northern states and would look nothing like a burrito served in San Diego.

[joosoon]

Originally Posted by Losfrisco

To be fair, most of Mexico wouldn't either, as burritos are only popular in a few northern states and would look nothing like a burrito served in San Diego.

This goes right back to what I was saying about a demand for authenticity. I didn't mean earlier to suggest anyone was a snob about this either, it's just terminology I use.


To me it doesn't matter if my "Mexican" burrito this side of the border looks like one you might get in interior Mexico. If it's good, it's good. I think most would agree, no? The same goes for any food. There's that Afghan restaurant that's been in Hillcrest forever. Are those lamb kabobs really something you'd eat along the Khyber Pass? Probably not. But I'm not going to try to find out otherwise for a variety of reasons.

[Bubble99]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

OB has plenty of hippies still.

Yep that what I hear San Diego had lot more hippies before and now they are mostly in OB.

[Bubble99]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

OB has plenty of hippies still.

On side note I wonder if guys in long hair or dreadlocks is thing in San Diego or that is mostly in OB?

I know long hair use to be 80s and 90s thing. Now it seems to be none clean shaven trend.

[Losfrisco]

Originally Posted by joosoon

This goes right back to what I was saying about a demand for authenticity. I didn't mean earlier to suggest anyone was a snob about this either, it's just terminology I use.


To me it doesn't matter if my "Mexican" burrito this side of the border looks like one you might get in interior Mexico. If it's good, it's good. I think most would agree, no? The same goes for any food. There's that Afghan restaurant that's been in Hillcrest forever. Are those lamb kabobs really something you'd eat along the Khyber Pass? Probably not. But I'm not going to try to find out otherwise for a variety of reasons.

San Diego is part of a binational metro area with one of the largest cities in Mexico.

Afghanistan is in another hemisphere.

Maybe not the greatest analogy.

[bloom]

Burgundy era