I took my site down for a while but now I am officially back! I'm headed out to Utah today to spend the week exploring, "The Best Snow on Earth!". See you guys when I get back.

I was one of the lucky people privy to attend Jade Theater's Soft Opening. My first impressions were quite good. The staff did an excellent job of catering to my every need, want, and desire. On top of this, good music and an atmosphere that obviously had some thought put into it top off this restaurant, bar, and lounge and make it creme de la creme. The kitchen staff is VERY professional and the food was palatable.

One of the owners took us on a tour of the basement which is currently being renovated into a club. Having seen the impressive work as well as a layout of the expected results I'd expect this to become a pretty popular place when it fully opens next month.

A nice heated lap pool
Proximity to Work
Proximity to the Gym
Proximity to decent restaurants
Proximity to the Beach
Proximity to a park
Space for full sized washer / dyer
Garaged parking
Well Lit Neighborhood
Hardwood Floors
Good interior lighting
Good sound insulation
Holds its value well

Things I don't care so much about:
Weight Room
Dishwasher

Lately I've all but abandoned my poor blog. In the spirit of sprucing things up I've decided to add just another entry today.

Last week I attended a miniature MBA program through the UCLA Anderson School of Management and it was quite inspiring. The
program is called Management Development for Entrepreneurs and it involves about 30 hours of reading / homework, 40-50 hours of
classroom time, and a Business Improvement Project or BIP. Anyway, i have to say that it was quite inspiring and I've decided
to use the lessons learned from the class to help me achieve my lifelong goals and objectives.

They say that writing things down is essential to getting things done. So here it goes.. for everyone that wants to know just
a little bit more about me:

My lifelong goal and passion is to solve the problems of the world while appealing to the needs, wants, and desires of each and
every individual.

http://www.stingsandiego.com/

Price: $40 for a bunch of appetizers and two mojitos during happy hour
Value: 5/10 for a place to eat, 8/10 for happy hour, 9/10 for a date or to impress someone
Experience: 8.5/10 (Everything was great except the hostess. The atmosphere was a 9.5, the bartender was a 9.5, the food was a 9)
Atmosphere: 9.5/10
Food: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

I admit that I can sometimes be quite a picky person. But that only bodes well for the reader because what you get here is an honest and open opinion. Last night at Stingaree left me somewhat disappointed. Why? On all accounts this is a great place. But the Hostess needs a little bit of training to polish off her act. No, I am not being overly critical. I entered the restaurant with my friend sometime around 6:30 PM... the restaurant was DEAD... we were just about the only people there. We asked if we could sit anywhere we wanted and she suggested we sit at the bar. Well, we went a step further and hinted that we wanted a table... at which point she rudely informed us that if we weren't going to order entrees we probably shouldn't sit at a table. First off, we understand they want to maintain their immaculate image... but come on.. we never said we weren't going to order appetizers.

Price: $14 for a dinner buffet
Value: 8/10
Experience: 7/10
Atmosphere: 6.5/10
Food: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

To my knowledge this is one of the more authentic Indian Restaurants in San Diego. And what can I say.. I've consistently gone back to this restaurant time and time again. Looking at my "ratings" one would think its not that great of a place, but in their defense I would say the food is quite good. No, its not the best Indian food I've ever had... that would be a home cooked meal selflessly prepared by friends... but this is San Diego.. an admittedly lame place for food unless you know where you are going. And given all of these factors, I still rank it the BEST in San Diego. It is by far my favorite Indian restaurant here but I wouldn't compare it to the cuisine in India.

Ashoka the Great Cuisine of India
9474 Black Mountain Road
San Diego, CA 92126

http://www.extraordinarydesserts.com/

Price: $13 for a slice of flan tart and a slice of Au Chocolate cake
Value: 6/10
Experience: 6/10 (Lines are too long and some desserts are too sweet)
Atmosphere: 8.5/10 (fairly nice, the tables weren't that clean and the back corner is too close to the resrtoom... hence funny smells).
Tea list: 9/10 (this is my favorite part)
Overall: 8/10 (A cozy and quaint date place (the one on 5th ave) with a great atmosphere with the exception of my above comments.

Review
On almost every occasion I would rather go the Parkhouse Eatery (parkhouseeatery.com) for their desserts. However, on the rare occasion that I do venture into the real of extraordinary desserts I usually find the food to be a bit too sweet and overpowering. This was true last night of the Au Chocolate.

However, I must admit that I was quite impressed with the flan torte. It was just the right consistency, not too sweet, not overpowering. The crust was the BEST part of the cake.. and the fruit puree that they used to flavor / decorate was just about perfect.

http://thelinkery.com/

Price: $32 for wine, appetizers, and sharing a few entrees (varies with order)
Value: 8/10 (Food quality is excellent for the price)
Experience: 8/10 (Exceptional- I love the relaxed bay area atmosphere urban atmosphere)
Atmosphere: 7/10
Wine list: 8/10
Overall: 9/10 (Not to pricey and quite an experience!)

Review

The Linkery is definitely my type of restaurant with a near perfect blend of price, quality, and atmosphere. The restaurants selling point is that they sell "hand made food" and that they care so much about the quality of the intredients that they claim to know all of the farmers who supply their stock.

I ordered the "Lamb duo" which is described as:

braised shoulder and roasted leg over pearl barley, fava beans, roasterd summer squash, eggplant, and zucchini, finished with natural jus

I love lamb and this one was very good. I enjoyed the unique combination of pearl barley (a nice welcome change from rice) with the spices and natural lamb juices. It was interesting to have been served two different cuts of lamb on the same plate. I describe it as: delicious lamb morsels complimented with a shredded variety on a bed of intense flavor...

I received a text message this morning informing me that a good friend of mine was having a birthday dinner at the Market Restaurant and Bar in Del Mar California (http://www.marketdelmar.com/). Being the self-proclaimed foodie that I am of course I could not resist the opportunity to try something new. Of course, this restaurant is not my cup of tea. I really enjoy cozy food oriented atmospheres similar to Parkhouse Eatery (http://www.parkhouseeatery.com/). To me, Market seemed like an overpriced stuffy joint. And it was....Despite my disdain I still found myself liking this "establishment"

Price: $85 for wine, appetizers, and sharing a few entrees (varies with order)
Value: 4/10 (its a bit pricey but the food is excellent)
Experience: 8/10 (Exceptional waiter named Jesse, very professional etc)
Atmosphere: 9/10
Wine list: 8/10
Overall: 7.5/10 (If you can afford it - go for it... the food and service are excellent!)

Notes: Our waiter Jessie claims that the menu changes daily or at least quite often so it is nearly impossible to order from the online menu. I have to admit that I forgot to write down all of what we ordered but I will give it my best shot.

At the suggestion of some of my close friends I've decided to re-ignite my food blog. What I'm going to be doing is writing about all of the food "experiences" my friends and I have around San Diego, the Bay Area, Washington DC, New York, etc... basically wherever we go. I've decided that I'll write my reviews to focus on the overall eating experience... not just the atmosphere, decor, etc... I mean the whole shebang: food quality, timeliness, how we are treated, etc. This should provide the reader with a fairly unique perspective as I am a young Asian American.. just your average Joe trying to get my Zagat experience on a budget. What you get: real raw probably biased reviews... but hey.. thats useful right? This is part Zagat, part Chowhound, part Yelp, and all me!