4th of July Foodie Weekend

It's Tuesday and we're recovering from a great holiday weekend. On Saturday we drove down to San Diego and planned on some beach time before grabbing dinner. Unfortunately the drive from LA to SD took 3.5 hours and cut out all our beach time. We did drive by the beach because we're stubborn like that.

After our failed beach attempt, we were hungry so we headed over India Street in San Diego with our friends Marie and Dan from Meandering Eats. Make sure to head over to her blog and read/subscribe/obsess over it, you'll be happy you did.  Anyway, Marie and Dan made reservations at one of their favorite places called Wine Vault & Bistro.

This place was AMAZING! It has a set 5 course menu at $30 so everyone eats the same food and they have an optional $20 wine pairing for each course.  Carly and I decided to share the wine pairings.  Below are pictures and descriptions of the food:

English Pea Tabouleh | Cous Cous | Mint | Caramelized Yogurt | Zucchini Pesto
Wine: 2009 Saddleback Cellars Pinot Grigio

Seared Yellowtail | Brûléed Watermelon + Pickled Rind | Corn Purée | Compressed Corn | Fines Herbes
Wine: 2009 Hendry Albariño

Braised Bacon Raviolo | Date Purée | Compressed + Roasted Carrots | Carrot Top Gremolata
Wine: 2008 Sextant "Wheelhouse" Zinfandel

NY Strip Loin | Carrot Purée | Tempura Pea Vines | Crushed Peas | Marinated Spring Onions | Smoked Garlic
Wine: 2006 William Harrison Cabernet Sauvignon

Spiced Chocolate Ganache | Sour Cherry Compote | Mascarpone Sorbet | Kola Nut | Milles Feuille Tuile
Wine: 2008 La Mision "May Harvest" Sauvignon Blanc

Yes, everything was as delicious as it looks.  My favorite was the bacon raviolo which had bacon inside the raviolo and bacon foam on the dish...BACON FOAM!!!

The next day we visited Stone Brewing Co. in Carly's home town of Escondido for a brewery tour and lunch. We were accompanied by Stone beer expert, Jesse and moderate Stone beer enthusiast, Elaine (aka Carly's parents). We started off with a 40 minute tour of the brewery that ended with a tasting of 4 of Stone's finest beers. The tours there are free and the tour guide was fairly knowledgable but we could have gone for a few more beer making facts.

After the tour we headed over to the restaurant side of the building to the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens. Lunch here was good but the stand outs for us were the desserts.  Here is what we had with descriptions borrowed from Stone's website:

Arrogant Bastard Chocolate Cake
A wonderfully rich and decadent chocolate concoction. Just when you thought chocolate couldn't get any better, For the Love of Cake of Escondido added Stone's Arrogant Bastard Ale … need we say more?

Blueberry Blue Cheese Jalapeno Cheesecake
A savory, luscious cheese cake (not your standard sweet kind) with just a touch of Rogue Smoky Blue Cheese and a whisper of jalapeno – enough to hint at warmth but not destroy the smooth goodness of this marvelous dessert. On top is a blueberry compote.

My choice was the Blueberry Blue Cheese Jalapeno Cheesecake and it was sooooo good. I haven't had too many savory desserts but this one spoke to me.  Make sure to head over to Stone if you're ever in the San Diego area.  It is worth the visit.

Well, I think this blog is starting to get too long so I'm going to quit while I'm ahead. I promise we're still running and keeping to our half marathon training schedule. We'll have a running post coming up later this week.  Adios!!

- Clayton