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Restaurant Files: Davanti Enoteca, Rama Thai and Sushi Ota in San Diego
In my previous San Diego post, I gave you my version of a perfect day in San Diego, where of course the food was a very important part of the experience. Today, I want to add a few more of the restaurant suggestions, just to expand your cuisine selection.
Let’s start with Davanti Enoteca in the Little Italy neighborhood. The restaurant is appropriately Italian for the Little Italy area – but if the word “Italian” brings up an image of mozzarella sticks or a pasta with meatballs, shoo those images away, as they have nothing to do with modern, exquisite, creative Italian dishes served at Davanti Enoteca.
When you look at the Davanti Enoteca restaurant on outside, it is hard to tell what to expect. Inside, the restaurant is nice and welcoming, and offers a number of sitting options including [unexpectedly large] completely enclosed patio, which creates a great dining atmosphere.
So you are situated inside, and it is the time to eat. How about some Focaccia di Recco (Ligurian style baked focaccia, fresh soft cow cheese…must add honeycomb) for the starter? Very different from what you might expect, this one comes with the layer of soft cheese baked into a paper- thin crust. Addition of honeycomb on top increases “deliciousness” ten-fold. When you take a bite of that focaccia, the foodie’s climactic moan can be easily heard at the table. To keep the excitement level high, how about some Mascarpone Polenta with pork ragout – every morsel as delicious as the Focaccia. And then how about some Bruschetta? No, not the traditional tomato and onion, but may be a Creamy Avocado Mousse Bruschetta will do? Very unique and different again. Keep in mind that both Bruschetta and Mascarpone Polenta might have different toppings on different nights – but I’m sure they will be every bit as tasty as the ones we had.
When you look at the list of entrees, one thing becomes clear – it will not be easy to make a choice. You definitely got options. For instance, a Polpo con Rafano (seared octopus, warm fingerling potato salad, marcona almonds, finocchiona, fresh horseradish aioli) – perfectly cooked octopus (not an easy task in itself), absolutely delicious with all the little condiments there on the plate – every bite makes you happy. Spada Davanti (grilled swordfish, toasted bread crumbs, calabrian chili, brussel sprouts, calabrian chilies, mint) – another home run.
Craving meat? Davanti Burger (special blend beef burger, bacon jam, roasted tomato, cheese curd, arugula, roasted garlic mayo, shoestring fries) – it is just a wow on the plate. I had a pleasure to experience the famous Boulud Foie Gras Burger – this Davanti Burger will give it a good run for the money, it is so juicy and delicious (and those shoestring fries are addictive!). And if you are in a mood for a steak – Bistecca con Cippolini e Funghi (grilled hanger steak, cippolini onion, grilled oyster mushroom, saba, salsa verde) is just what doctor ordered – succulent meat and great combination of flavors.
You know I have to talk about wine, right? Wine list at Davanti Enoteca is not large, but it has a good amount of interesting selections at reasonable prices. Focus is mostly on the Italian wines as one would expect. We had two wines that evening. 2012 Attems Sauvignon Blanc Venezia Giulia had an excellent herbaceous profile, both on the nose and the palate, with some notes of fresh cut grass and hint of grapefruit skin, only a delicate hint, and perfect acidity. Definitely very nice wine. Our choice of red, 2012 La Fiera Montepulciano d’Abruzzo was fresh and lovely, with the very pronounced, but soft tart cherry profile and a hint, a whiff rather, of a cherry pit – light and simple, and very versatile food wise.
When it came to the dessert, I honestly stopped paying attention to what exactly did we order – I know that I tried a few different desserts and they all were very tasty.
Let’s continue. So far, considering both San Diego restaurant posts, I offered to your attention mostly restaurants with European cuisine. I think it is time to change the direction and go towards Asia.
Rama Thai Restaurant is located in the Gas Lamp Quarters, a primary dining destination for people living in San Diego and visiting from afar. From the moment you set your foot inside the restaurant, you are transported – you know I like to use this term a lot when I talk about wines, and it simply means that your experience affects your emotional state, the way you feel at the moment. This is definitely the case with Rama Restaurant. The ambiance, lighting, decor, the music, pictures on the walls, muted sound of creek-running water, statues of Buddha – all of it puts you in a different mood.
And then, to our delight, the food perfectly matched the overall atmosphere. We started with the few appetizers. Satay Skewers (chicken and beef with peanut sauce and cucumber salad) was perfectly done, with peanut sauce being simply delicious. Same goes for Fresh Spring Rolls, which were super fresh and crunchy, also served with similar peanut sauce, with just enough heat to make it very tasty. The Pot Stickers (pork, ginger soy sauce) were not necessarily unique, but cooked just right.
For the entrees we went with a very nice selection of the dishes. While Pad Thai is generally considered “The Dish” in the Thai restaurants, my personal favorite is Drunken Noodle (flat rice noodles, thai basil, tomato, chili garlic, kai lan) – for me, it has some homey delicious feeling, this is my ultimate Thai comfort food, which I’m ready to eat any day. The next wow dish was called Garlic and Pepper (crusted chicken, beef or shrimp, sweet and spicy reduction) – we had the chicken version, and every bite was perfectly crunchy and just right spicy – I can highly recommend this dish. Salmon Panang curry (ka‑r lime leaves, green beans, cherry tomatoes) was very well balanced dish, with Panang curry flavors being present, but mild enough. Last, but not least were Pan Seared Sea Scallops (with sautéed spinach, chili sauce) – you know, when the scallop is seared and done just right, it needs no explanation to any scallops aficionado, so this was our case. All in all, great meal, and I can’t recommend this restaurant high enough as a whole experience, with ambiance being a big part of it (and great service). Sorry, have no pictures for you – to get the pictures, I would have to use the flash, and I really didn’t want to disrupt the atmosphere…
Last but absolutely not least for today is the Japanese restaurant called Sushi Ota (yes, we are continuing to explore the Asian cuisine of San Diego). Sushi Ota is considered to be one of the very best sushi restaurants in San Diego (4.5 stars based on 1676 reviews on Yelp, very impressive), so one would probably expect to find such a restaurant again in the Gas Lamp district or may be somewhere in downtown, surrounded by many other restaurants. When you drive to Sushi Ota, you take the highway exit, and the very next thing you do is start thinking if you had the right address written down, as you clearly see that you are in the area of car dealerships and small business offices, far away from the perceived “hot dining setting” by all means. But then GPS tells you that you have arrived, and you barely notice the name “Sushi Ota” on the sign of the tiny strip mall. Yep, you actually arrived to the one of the very best sushi joints in San Diego. I also hope you actually made a reservation at least few days in advance, because otherwise, you will need tremendous amount of luck to score even single sit by the bar.
At 5;30 pm, when the restaurant opens for dinner, it instantly gets at least half full, and it is a full house at 6 pm. What matter is that you got your table, so it is time to eat.
As a starter, we took a Tuna Tartar dish. This is not your average Tuna tartar – it is presented on top of tempura eggplant, and each one of the 4 pieces has different topping. This dish was done more of a single bite style (a big bite, I have to say), and really delicious.
Next up – Clam Miso Soup. It is a “kicked up” Miso soup as it contains a few clams in the traditional aromatic broth – definitely a nice touch.
Our next selection (highly recommended) was the Spanish Mackerel sashimi. What you get is essentially the whole fish, with all the meat cut up in the small sashimi pieces. I like Mackerel sashimi in general, but it never tastes like the one we got at Sushi Ota. Typical mackerel sashimi is rather on the dry side, and can be even chewy. The one we had at Sushi Ota was succulent, sweet, soft and was literally melting in the mouth. Take a look at how it is served:
As you can see, you do get literally the whole fish. Wonder why you are get served the bones too? Well, once you done with the sashimi, the plate is taken away from you, only to be brought back in about 20 minutes after that fish skeleton was deep fried to the point that you can literally eat it like the potato chips! It is so tasty you literally can’t leave anything on the plate! Here you are:
And then, of course, we had sushi. We got a few different rolls and Uni (uni, a.k.a., sea urchin, you can eat only when it is super-fresh, and that’s the way it is at Sushi Ota). For the rolls we got Double Double Tuna, which is a combination of spicy tuna and regular tuna on top, as well as Eel Roll – fresh and delicious. And to finish the meal, of course, the mochi ice cream – green tea and mango. All in all, an outstanding meal, which makes you to leave the restaurant with the promise to self to come back as soon as possible.
That’s all I got for you for today – more choices for your possible San Diego trip. If you have already or will visit any of these place, I would love to know what do you think. And until the next time – cheers!
A Perfect Day In San Diego
When I travel on the plane, I often skim through the airline magazine, such as Hemispheres on United, before I get to my beloved sudoku page. One of the articles I often pay attention to is “Three perfect days in a particular town”, which describes how you can potentially spend three days at some town, starting from the lodging, talking about attractions and dining options. Over the past 3 month, I was in San Diego in California twice, and came across a few places which I found worth talking about, thus I decided to come up with the similar post to those I mentioned before. Writing about 3 perfect days might get a bit too intense, so let me compose for you just one, potentially perfect, day. Here we go.
Let’s start with the place to stay. San Diego has no shortage of the hotels, of course. The reason for me to recommend the two hotels below is because I personally stayed in both and liked them very much. First option is the Residence Inn San Diego Downtown, located at 1747 Pacific Highway. Yes, it is the part of the chain of Marriott hotels, and while it is not unique, it nevertheless offers a great convenience of stay for the family, with all rooms being suites with kitchenettes. It is also located within walking distance from Little Italy area (lots of great restaurants!) and the number of attractions right by the water, like USS Midway Museum. This hotel is within 20-25 minutes walking distance to the Gas Lamp Quarters (lots of restaurants and great night life), and it is easy to get to and from the highway.
The second hotel I can recommend is called Kona Kai Resort and it is located on on 1551 Shelter Island Road. Even taking into account that hotel was undergoing renovation during my stay there, the location and the views were absolutely spectacular. Yes, I stayed at many beach-front hotels before, however, in case of Kona Kai, the combination of marina with numerous boats and the hill covered with the houses was one of the most tranquil settings I ever experienced in the hotel. Just sit in the chair and be transported away in the dreams… Small private beach, lots of different water sport activities, bonfires – the hotel definitely offers a lot for the very enjoyable stay.
Kona kai Marina View at Kona Kai Resort
Now, let’s talk about few things you can do. Of course San Diego Zoo, as well as Seaworld need no introduction, so I will not be talking about them. Also, if you are traveling with kids, don’t forget that Legoland is only about 40 minutes away from San Diego. However, I would like to bring to your attention a few of probably lesser known places. After breakfast (please see below for recommendation), head out to the Cabrillo National Monument. While you can think basedon the name that this is only a single structure, Cabrillo National Monument is actually a park, which offers stunning views of San Diego and San Diego harbor, the Lighthouse, a small military history museum and the number of hiking trails – you can easily spend a few hours there.
Depending on how much time you will spend at the Cabrillo National Monument, you might or might not be ready for lunch – in any case, you will find my suggestion below. After lunch, I have few more places for you to visit. First, the Balboa Park, which is a very interesting collection of botanical gardens, beautiful grounds and lots of different museums. Depending on how much time you will have available, there will be no problems to spend not only half day, but pretty much the whole day in the Balboa Park. One of the most stunning images for me was the Towering Moreton Bay Fig tree, with the root more resembling a dinosaur’s foot and towering crown disappearing high in the sky:
Towering Moreton Bay Fig Tree at Balboa Park
One feels really humbled walking around these magnificent trees.
Once you are done with the Balboa Park, I have the last attraction for you to see for the day – Sunset Cliffs. This is also a park, which offers stunning views of the ocean, as well as opportunity to surf and hike. To me, just sitting down and watching the waves, is enough of attraction on its own. And I would also guess from the name that the best time to visit the cliffs is during the sunset, but I didn’t have an opportunity to check this myself.
And now, let’s talk about food! As we are talking about the perfect day, I would like to share three recommendations with – yes, we are talking breakfast, lunch and dinner.
And now, it is time for lunch. I hope you are craving seafood, as the place I want to send you to is a fresh seafood heaven, very much resembling the New England, or rather even Cape Cod seafood joints, the hallmarks of the fresh seafood restaurants. With its unassuming and non-pretentious simplicity, Point Loma Seafoods reminds you of many of the Guy Fiery’s triple-D worthy establishments – inexpensive, always filled with people, offering great variety of seafood which is as fresh as it can be, with different styles of preparation. In the mood for sashimi? You got it. A plate of fried oysters or clams? No problems. A whole clam sandwich (this is what I had)? Here you go. Fresh fish, salads, soups, oysters, crab cakes – definitely there is a variety to chose from. Make sure you will allocate time, both to find parking and to wait in the line – but the wait is very manageable, the service is quite quick and efficient. I highly recommend you will include Point Loma Seafoods into your travel itinerary.
After all the walking, climbing, and may be swimming, kayaking and sun bathing, you probably feeling tired and reading for an exciting dinner. Your wish is my command. Let me suggest that you will take a short trip to Coronado Island, and find the place called Chez Loma (yep, we are going French again – how about that!).
Again, an interesting parallel with New England, as Chez Loma restaurant is located in the regular house-looking structure. Simple ambiance and chanson music definitely add to your mood. And the food… Well, before we talk about food, few words about the wine. The wine list has reasonable size and very reasonable prices, with most of the selections coming from California, France and New Zealand. For no particular reason, we started with NV Scharffenberger Mendocino County, California – simple wine, with nice touch of toasted apple on the nose, and good weight on the palate. This wine had a bigger body than typical NV Champagne would have, with the same toasted apple being a main theme. Overall, easy to drink and refreshing. Our second wine was delicious 2012 Matua Pinot Noir Marlboro New Zealand (13% ABV) – smokey nose, vibrant acidity, tart cherries on the palate, excellent balance – the wine was perfectly complementing the variety of dishes we had for dinner.
And then, there was food. For the appetizers, we went with the few different options. Ceviche “Verde” (rockfish, tomatillo sauce, avocado) was somewhat “off the beaten path”, very refreshing, with the avocado and tomatillo sauce adding an interesting touch. Escargot (mushroom, sweetbread, asparagus, garlic butter) was probably the best I ever had – somehow, all the elements worked together creating literally a sublime experience. Tartare of Beef (hand cut beef, shallots, horseradish, parsley, pomme frites) was another great appetizer. I fell in love with this dish in Paris, and ever since, when it is on the menu in the restaurant which I would trust to serve me a raw beef, I would go for it. This version was very nicely done, with the perfect flavor profile. And lastly, the Three Beets (yellow, striped and red, thyme vinaigrette, Bucheron goat cheese) was simply a music for the eyes – bright, colorful, and most importantly, very tasty! Perfect texture on the beets – not too hard and not mushy, just right, and an excellent pairing with very gentle goat cheese.
Couple of entrees I want to bring to your attention. Peppered Filet Mignon (tenderloin, black pepper crust, brandy sauce, potato puree, haricot vert) was perfectly cooked, with very fresh cracked black pepper, simply a perfection on the plate. And the Sea Scallops (vanilla infusion, cauliflower puree, bacon crisp, orange sauce) were perfectly done, with the right texture and delicious textural enhancement of cauliflower puree and bacon bits. Again, one of the best Sea Scallops dishes ever, and I have to tell you that 3 times out of 4, if the menu has Sea Scallops on it, this would be the dish I would take. For dessert, we shared Gingerbread (orange-caramel sauce), which was mostly a nicely done bread pudding. All in all, a great dining experience and I can’t recommend this restaurant high enough.
After leaving the restaurant, see if you will be able to get a quick tour of the historical Hotel del Coronado – it definitely worth a few moments of your time – seeing all the wooden paneling and lavishly appointed hallways. Note – you might have to look for the way to sneak in as a registered guest. Upon return to the hotel you are staying at, spend a few moments admiring San Diego and marina nightlights. It was a long day, but I hope it was a good one.
Here you have it, my friends – my version of the perfect day in San Diego. Whether you visited any pf the places I mentioned or not, I would love to know what you all think. Cheers!
Just For Fun, A Little Photo Quiz
I just came back home after a long business trip to San Diego, so I really don’t have time to come up with a good wine quiz for today. Instead, as I know that many of my readers love not just wine, but photography as well, I have a simple photo quiz for you. Take a look at the picture below, and let me know what do you think this is. The answer will come out on Wednesday, as usual.
Have fun, enjoy your weekend, and if you are in US – enjoy your long Memorial Day weekend, and say “thank you” and think of all the people who fought for our freedom. And if you have a chance, raise your glass as well. Cheers!
Pinot Noir On The Go – At Vino Volo in Newark Airport
This is not the first tine I write about Vino Volo wine bar (you can find previous posts here). Just in case you are not familiar with Vino Volo, it is a great chain of the wine bars, offering all the wine lovers a refuge, alleviating dreadful and tiresome airport travel experience. Vino Volo is the place where you can sit down and enjoy a glass of good wine, or a tasting flight, at the reasonable price, accompanied by a tasty bite of food – a sandwich, olives, a little cheese platter and more.
Actually, this was my first time at Vino Volo wine bar at Newark airport. Generally, I’m flying in the morning, way before Vino Volo would be open, so I walked past the restaurant many times, only promising myself to hopefully come back at some point. This time, on the way to California, I had an early afternoon flight, so Vino Volo sounded like a perfect late lunch option.
As Vino Volo wine bars located in the different airports throughout the country, the wine offerings very often include local wines. You can expect to have an opportunity taste Texas wines while in Austin, and Virginia wines while in Washington, and Oregon wines in Portland. Typical selection on the Vino Volo wine menu would include 6-8 different wine flights, white, rose and reds. While Vino Volo in Newark didn’t offer any New Jersey wines (not sure I’m courageous enough even if they would), it was not easy to make a decision. Somehow, I settled on the Pinot Noir flight, which consisted three wines from Germany, Oregon and California. While I’m well familiar with Oregon and California Pinot Noirs, I have very limited (and until now, unsuccessful) exposure to the German Pinot Noirs – however, so many bloggers had being raving lately about German Pinot Noir wines, that I simply had to try it.
Here are my notes:
2012 Borell-Diehl Pinot Noir Estate, Germany
Color: Garnet
Nose: Blackberries, red fruit, clean, hint of minerality
Palate: Fresh, clean, bright acidity, very good balance, herbs, nice red fruit.
Verdict: Perfectly worked with my warm Tuscan chicken sandwich, great pairing. Overall very nice, food friendly wine. Drinkability: 7+
2009 Maysara Pinot Noir, McMinniville AVA, Oregon
Color: Ruby
Nose: Mocha, herbs, lavender, hint of root beer (I can’t believe I would say it, but Kirsten The Armchair Sommelier was right!)
Palate: Complex, delicious, nice acidity, good structure and backbone
Verdict: Also worked perfectly with the warm Tuscan chicken sandwich, very good wine overall. Drinkability: 8-
2011 Stephen Ross Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands, California
Color: Ruby
Nose: Concentrated, dark chocolate, pencil shavings, smoke, roasted plums
Palate: open fruit, bright, perfect balance, medium-long finish.
Verdict: didn’t work with the sandwich, but was delicious by itself. Drinkability: 8
There you have it – three excellent Pinot Noir wines on the go. Next time you are in the airport – remember, you have options. Vino Volo is continuing expanding, so there is a good chance that your airport experience will not be that dreadful after all. Cheers!
Vino Volo
Newark Airport
Terminal C, Gate 74
Phone: (973) 565-9250
Hours:
Monday – Saturday: 9 am – 9 pm, Sunday: 12 pm – 9 pm
Beautiful Snow and Beautiful Wine
There was a lot of snow here in CT over the last week. Most of the snow is still here, and considering the forecast, will be lingering around for a while. Yes, the snow is nuisance and inconvenience, it is tough to shovel, and a lot of it became ice at this point. But when sun comes out, it really becomes a thing of beauty. This snow had also a very interesting characteristic – well, may be it is me who didn’t see it before, but this snow is really glowing blue, especially as you dig in and look at it. So for what it worth, here are some pictures, snapped literally just around the house. Plus, I also included a few pictures which my daughter made with her iPhone – it is pretty amazing what that little device can do. And if you will scroll all the way down, I will also talk a bit about the wine. Here we go:
This is one of my favorites
That snow and that sky…
What makes snow so beautiful?
iPhone picture by Rina – the leaf
The same, only black and white
And a bit of perspective
More perspective
A frozen beauty
Yes, the snow was beautiful, but it got in the way. The snow on Wednesday was bad enough to affect the trains, so I had to miss the Basilicata winemakers dinner in the city, which I was really looking for. So I decided to compensate for that by opening the bottle of new vintage of one of my favorite wines – Fiction by Field Recordings. I’m sure some of you know at this point that I’m very particular to the Field Recordings wines in general, but Fiction is so unique, it is one of my all times most memorable wines ( and it was my Wine of the Year in 2011) – here is the blog post about my first experience with 2010 Fiction.
The 2012 Fiction by Field Recordings Red Wine Paso Robles (14.9% ABV, 40% Zinfandel, 13% Tempranillo, 12% Petite Sirah, 11% Touriga Nacional, 10% Mourvedre, 8% Grenache, 6% Cinsault) didn’t disappoint. The spectacular nose of fresh meadows – this is the wine which you can’t put down – one smell requires another, and another, and another. The aromatics of this wine absolutely spectacular – I don’t know how that works, but I can’t put the glass down. The palate is very playful, with lots of fresh fruit, raspberries, blueberries, cherries – everything is in one beautiful medley, supported by clean acidity and perfectly balanced. The 14.9% ABV are absolutely unnoticeable – this is the wine of the pure harmony. Drinkability: 8+
That is all I have for you for my report on snow and the wine. Stay warm and drink good wine. Cheers!
Fall Colors – Stamford, 2013
This fall was so dry and warm – you can’t even think of comparing it with the fury of 2012. It is only now, over the last couple of weeks, the colors became amazing ( and it is November!). Don’t know what is the reason, but prevailing colors this fall are yellow and gold. Of course we have our fair share of red, but gold is the theme.
You can consider this a sequel to the post I did last year – and for no other reason, but for your viewing enjoyment, here are the Fall colors of 2013 – just by walking around my neighborhood. Enjoy and cheers!
Leaving Cape Cod
All the good things come to an end. So was our stay on Cape Cod. I don’t know exactly what makes me feel differently when I’m visiting Cape Cod. I love vacations (who doesn’t!), but I typically want to avoid going to the same places over and over again. However, not when it comes to Cape Cod.
There is a genuine tranquility in that Cape Cod lifestyle. Little shops which are made out of the old houses. Little bakeries, which make cookies to die for. Little motels and inns, none of them more then two stories high. Lighthouses and water towers being the tallest structures around. The low tide on the beach, which allows you to walk and walk for hours. The beach which is never crowded. The waves in the sand which water leaves behind when it descends. The abundant flowers and greens of all kind. The special smell which is constantly in the air. There is something magical in the Cape Cod air, which lures you back…
We are back home now, so here are a few (okay, a lot) of the pictures I want to share with you. There will be more posts coming – we visited local Cape Cod winery, called Truro Vineyards, so I will talk about this experience, but for now, I just want to leave you with these little impressions of Cape Cod. Enjoy and cheers!
Quintessential Cape Cod
Dream on…
Cape Cod freedom
imagine the air…
busy bee
more flowers
flower!
Alpaca from Marta’s Vineyard
Curious Alpaca
Baby Alpaca
JT’s – Excellent seafood in Brewster, right across from our resort
JT’s entrance
Warm lobster roll at JT’s
And Lobster Roll zoom in
Whole fried clams at JT’s – Yum!
Fish and chips at JT’s – delicious!
Lucky Hank’s in Edgartown. Don’t know about Hank, but we enjoyed the food
Local Marta’s Vineyards beer – excellent amber ale, light, touch bitter and sweet, very refreshing
Black Dog Tavern in Vineyard Heaven. Unfortunately, only fish and chips were tasty…
Butterfly on the sand…
One of the few operational Lighthouses on Cape Cod. This one is located in Chatham
lighthouse in Edgartown – picture perfect
I just can’t get enough of this lighthouse…
Roses zoom in
and more zoom in
Yes again picture perfect lighthouse on Marta’s Vineyard
I always wanted to take picture of these waves in the sand…
and again quintessential Cape Cod (for me, at least)
What are you waiting for?
Cape Cod Chips and Cape Cod Beer
What goes better together than potato chips and beer? This is definitely a winning combination, especially if it is a rainy day on Cape Cod, or you had too much sun and you just need to do something else.
Both Cape Cod Chips factory and Cape Cod Beer are located in a very close proximity from each other, in the area of Hyannis. We decided to start with the Cape Cod Chips factory tour, just to keep the kids happy (besides, they are open earlier in the morning than the Cape Cod Beer).
Cape Cod Chips factory tour is self-guided, where you walk along the glass wall and can see the whole process of potato chip making, starting from inspection of the potatoes, slicing, frying in the huge kettles and then packaging and sorting the packages. There is a lot of fun facts which you can read during the tour, but – photography is prohibited, and my son became super upset when I said that I will ignore it and still take pictures, so here is the only informational picture I was able to get:
cape code potato chips info
It is a pity that the Cape Cod Chips web site doesn’t list any of the fun facts (for instance, they can only use the potatoes which have the least water content for making of the chips), and they only provide minimal general information (sigh). Anyway, if you are on Cape Cod, especially with the kids, this is a highly recommended attraction. At the end of the tour you visit the shop where you get two small bags of chips for free (few different flavors are available), but you can also buy a few different kinds of chips in the big bags.
Once you done with the potato chips, a short 5 minutes car ride will take you to Cape Cod Beer brewery:
There is a once a day tour of the brewery, which takes place at 11 AM. But even if you will miss the tour, you can still do the best part – taste the beer! This is what was on the tasting list ( sorry for the picture quality : ( ):
Beer tasting list at Cape Cod Beer
Cape Cod Beach Blond was very good – light, citrusy and refreshing – this is the beer you can (or you think you can) consume by the gallon – perfect beer for the hot summer day. Cape Cod Red didn’t leave any lasting impressions, and Cape Cod Porter was… well, just another Porter. Porter is one of my favorite styles of beer in general, but again this particular Porter was not worse, but also not better than any others. Cape Cod IPA was good, with nice sweet undertones and not as bitter as many IPAs can get. My favorite beer was Cape Cod Summer – while it was retaining all the lightness and freshness of the Cape Cod Beach Blond, it also had substance and and very unique taste – you could clearly taste a fresh barley in this beer, almost like you are standing in the middle of barley field. Definitely a great beer.
I also enjoyed an opportunity to experience (read: smell) different types of hops and malts. I wish one day we will have an ability to record and then share tastes and smells – using words and images is clearly deficient for this purpose. Why am I saying that? Here is the Chocolate malt, which one actually have to smell to believe it (the smell of chocolate was unbelievable to me!):
picture doesn’t do the justice. Just imagine how pure chocolate smells…
And here is the chart which shows you how different kids of malts and hops are used in the different beers:
Hops, malts and beers chart
Here are few pictures just to complete the experience:
Beers and hops
There will be beer!
Kegs are ready!
Oh yes, and I fully endorse the message underneath (note that we can use “beer” interchangeably with “wine”, “scotch”, and other tasty concoctions):
Yes!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and stay cool! Cheers!
Happy 4th of July!
Happy 4th to all! Enjoy the great American BBQ day and raise a glass of Madeira for our Founding Fathers and your friends and families, of course. And if you don’t have Madeira handy, any beer and wine will work perfectly well too. Here are few pictures from Cape Cod, just for your viewing pleasure. Cheers!
Happy 4th!
Very appropriate painting on display in art gallery in Chatham
Cape Cod welcome!
Butterfly on the beach…
Whoop Ass as a flavor of United States – nice!
Had to look up “impudent” on internet… Appears to be highly ranked search word on Google
Beauty on the beach
Feel it…
Hello From Cape Cod
Yep, I’m actually on vacation. Cape Cod is one of my favorite destinations, as first of all it is reasonable driving distance from Stamford, Connecticut where I live (under 5 hours typically). And when you enter this small stretch of land, extending into the Atlantic ocean, something magical happens. There is something in the air, there is something there which switches whatever the mood you had into the “it is vacation, and it is good” kind of feeling.
No, I don’t plan to take a break from blogging. I will still post over the next two weeks – as you can imagine, the wine will continue to be a part of the routine. As you might expect, I will be also sharing my impressions – and as I had done it a number of times in the past, I will start with simple pictures. It is somewhat cloudy and grayish out here – but it is a vacation nevertheless. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Cheers!
Last Bottle Sign Up ($10 credit)
Talk-A-Vino 