Old Town Mexican Cafe

Old Town in San Diego is widely known as the "Birth Place of California". It was the site of the first permanent Spanish settlement in California and where Father Junipero Serra established the very first mission in 1769. It was at one time, I believe the Capital, before it moved North to Sacramento. It also has some of the best Mexican food sit down restaurants in San Diego by my standards.

The other night I went there for dinner, to my favorite of the lot, Old Town Mexican Cafe.

OTMC, as it's so affectionately called by the patrons and staff, is one of those gems, nestled in the foothills of the Presidio of Old Town. They have women, in the windows making fresh tortillas out of Masa right there for you to watch.

That's one of my favorite things, fresh handmade tortillas, nothing is quite better. For that reason alone, OTMC has some of the BEST taco shells I've ever had. Crispy, soft, thick, warm, and for lack of a better word at the moment, moist. *shudders*


Inside on their indoor patio, colorful traditional Mexican decorations adorn the walls and ceiling. It makes me feel like I'm actually in Mexico enjoying authentic fare. The mariachi band rounds out the ambiance beautifully.

For dinner I chose the chicken taco, cheese enchilada combination plate. As promised by the sight of the women patting out corn masa nice and flat, the tortillas were amazing.

My friend, Jake, got the fish taco plate. I assume it was delicious because it was eaten, but I did not wish to try it because of my deep seeded hatred for eating my scaly aquatic friends, and also the fact that it makes me sick.


I think you can tell the quality of a Mexican restaurant by the beans, Jake thinks it's rice. I thought both were pretty dang good. Despite the patio chair poking me in the tuchis, the meal was delicious and filling, and the service was great. Our waitress was decently informed and recommended very good choices for us both.

Joxer Daly's

So this past weekend I was up in LA working, and hung out with my good friend, Ashley. She wanted to get some drinks and some pub food, and so she suggested we go somewhere I've never been, Joxer Daly's in Culver City.


Joxer Daly's is an Irish pub located on Washington Blvd in Culver City. For a bar, it has a nice, friendly atmosphere. Ash and I got a few beers and ordered burgers.

I started with a Guinness. I can never go to an Irish Pub without ordering one, it's like tradition for me.

For a burger in a pub, it was pretty standard, nothing exceptionally over the top, but just good. There have been so many times I've ordered a burger at a bar and gotten a charred mess of meat on a plain bun, but Joxer Daly's burger, by those standards, was a nice change. Their fries actually were my favorite part. I LOVE steak fries by all accounts, and here you can order them as such, or get the skinny ones instead. I always like a nice choice of fries, and even though I think most fries taste the same, steak fries are by far my favorite cut. They were nice and crispy on the outside with a soft powdery inside.

They even make their own housemade ranch, so we just had to try it out. It was pretty epic, I'm not gonna lie.


Ash and I finished up the night with some Bud Light and Corona, respectivly.

Johnnie's Pastrami

So I've been slacking lately. This isn't because I haven't been eating, because oh boy have I been eating! But my computer has been on the fritz and I just haven't been in the mood to deal with its insanity.

With that being said, there are going to be a lot of posts this weekend. And I mean a lot. So I hope you have nothing better to do than read this blog.

Last week when I was working in LA, I stopped into an institution for a quick "bite". The word "bite" doesn't even begin to describe what you get when you walk into the doors of Johnnie's Pastrami on Sepulveda in Culver City, but let me try.

The first time I tried Johnnie's was a few months ago. Up until my infamous trip to Vegas with my best Jewish friend Melissa, I hadn't even HAD pastrami. I'm not the HUGEST corned beef fan, so I had mostly steered clear of it, but once I had it, a love affair ensued.

I had heard over and over that Johnnie's had the best in LA, and although I haven't had time to have every pastrami sandwich in LA (challenge much?), I can say without a doubt, that they have some mighty fine meat. A quick google search of the joint brings up pages and pages of reviews to help ease your mind if you are still unsure.

The inside of Johnnie's looks like any typical road side diner. Long counters surrounding the grill station, perfect set ups of ketchup, mustard and napkins at 3 chair intervals, but I assure you this is no typical diner. Outside there is a covered patio, and picnic tables for those wishing for a bit more fresh air.

I ordered the basic sandwich that made them famous. Pastrami on a French roll, loaded with speecy spicy mustard. Careful! Their mustard bites back, and it not for the timid or faint of heart, but if you love wasabi, horseradish, pain, or clear sinuses, by all means, load it up. It comes with a heafty order of crinkle cut fries, so for people like Michelle, who are weird and think they taste DIFFERENT than plain or regular cut fries, it might be best to forfit them from the begining.

Inside the bread you are going to find layer upon layer of meat. It's probably best eaten with a knife and fork, but you are too scared to look like a big ol pansy, so you just dive in and hope for the best. It's not a good choice for road food, eating on the run, or takeout, unless you plan on going straight home. Vegetarians also need not apply.

This is the kind of sandwich that makes Greek Gods weep and puts that badass George Washington in his rightful place. I'm not even gonna lie.

Being Fab in West Hollywood

I will admit it right now. I have a soft spot in my heart for gay men. They could quite possibly be, some of my favorite people on earth, really. My favorite gay EVER is my bff Adam. You've seen him on the blog, he's made a few appearances, here, here and most recently here, among others.

So after the faboosh party for Lisa's 40th, he insisted I go out with him to West Hollywood cuz we looked too amazing to just go home.

We started off at O Bar, on Santa Monica Blvd, where we met up with the lovely Michael.

I started off with a Key Lime Pie Martini. Not the BEST ONE I've ever had, but decent. The problem I have with most Key Lime Pie Martinis is bartenders think they need to add copious amounts of pineapple juice, and it just makes them too acidic and too pineappley. When I think LIME, pineapple hardly EVER comes to mind.

Plus, no graham crack rim? Puh-leeeeze.

Next I got a Caipirinha. Also, not the best I've had, but decent.

First off, to make a perfect caipirinah, you need to use Brazilian rum or Cachaca, which not too many bars carry. They try to substitute it with vodka, or tequila, and even though they are decent substitutes, they just don't cut it as being the BEST.

We danced a bit, and took many....

...many...
...many pics.

Then packed up and headed down the street to Red, where we met up with our friend Mike, and none other than Perez Hilton. Lulz.

We grabbed a few drinks, I had a classic margarita, and the boys drank some sort of juice and vodka thing.


We weren't at Red long, and skipped down the street to Motherlode. (Great name right?)

I 'hagged it up and made lots of friends who called me faboosh and fabulous and fierce and ferosh and all those great words that only gay men will ever call you.

I danced, walked the room to RuPaul and hung off the end of the bar.

By 2:00 I was ready to call it a night. I'm just not made out for all this stuff. But it was a lot of fun!

Rush Street Part Deux

So, I wrote about Rush Street a month or so ago. For a quick refresher, it's this uber yummy Gastro Pub in Culver City with amazing food and awesome menu items. I follow them on Twitter, and they often have cool deals and prizes for us loyal customers. I received a $30 gift card from them, and so I headed down there with Melissa to right by them.

Of course, on a Friday night, with a Lakers Game (We WON BTW!) Rush Street was a big huge crowd of wait. Reservations could have helped in this instance. So, while we waited for our table, we went over to the Culver Hotel for drinks.

I had never been to the Culver Hotel, but I've walked past it at least 20 times. It's that weird triangle shaped hotel on the corner by the movie theater. You know the one.

They have a small hotel bar, with pretty ridiculously expensive drinks, but I figured one couldn't hurt. Melissa and I both got a Caipirinha, which were really delicious, despite the $12 price tag.

When we mozied on over back to Rush Street our table was ready and we got a nice spot outside under a heat lamp.

Last time I really enjoyed their hummus, so Melissa and I split it. I also learned something pretty cool. Rush Street changes their menu with the seasons, so the stuff they use is always in season, and ripe and fresh and tasting as best as possible. Last time the hummus was eggplant, and this time it was Sun-Dried tomato.

For dinner, I chose the nightly special of a Prime Strip Steak, with the most amazing mashed potatoes I've probably ever had, and broccolini, drizzled with an amazing peppercorn sauce.

The steak was cooked to a nice medium rare, a nice warm pink center, and tender beyond belief. Melissa, being probably the most indecisive person ever, couldn't pick between her safe standard Turkey Burger, or pretty much anything else, and went with the burger. I had a bite, it was insanely nummy, so I think her pick was warranted. BTW, their pickles are house made and marinated in GINGER! They are sweet and spicy, and unlike anything you have probably ever had. I also maybe tasted some cardamon but I wasn't sure. Be sure to try them if you go.

She also upgraded her shoestring fries to the uber amazing truffle fries with asiago cheese. Try these for sure if you're any kind of french fry connoisseur.

She was very happy with her choices.

As was I.


The night ended without dessert, although I'm sure both of us secretly wanted to devour everything on the menu.

So thank you Rush Street, AGAIN, for an amazingly awesome meal, and just all around foodie experience. I heart you!

Lisa turns 40, and feeds us all night!

So one of my clients, Lisa, turned 40 this past weekend. She had a fabulous party down in Venice Beach at Big Red Sun, a totally awesome and adorable landscaping and plant arrangement studio, with a big beautiful backyard perfect for a celebration.


The crowd was an awesomely amazing and eclectic mix of artists, foodies, hippies, and friends. The conversation was never dull, and the laughs were constant and hearty. I am amazed at how many people came to show Lisa how much she was loved, my hope is that, at 40, I'll have at least half the crowd she did.


Venice Wines provided an amazing wine bar, with everything you could imagine, including lemonade and sparkling cider for a non-alcoholic option. My favorite was the Argentinian Sparkling Chardonnay, and the sparkling rose.


Adam accompanied me as my date, and we just had the most fabulous of times.


Baby Blues BBQ took care of the grub, and boy was there a lot of grub.


Living in Atlanta for over a year, I got used to amazing BBQ. In fact, some of the best BBQ I've ever had was at Fat Matt's Rib Shack in downtown Atlanta. But I can tell all you Angelenos, that if you want some GOOD 'Q, Baby Blues is about as close as I've ever come in the West. When asking for sutible BBQ substitutes after I had moved back, a few people had mentioned, "I hear Baby Blues in Venice is pretty good." If I had known how close it came, I would have tried it YEARS ago.


Their Corn Cakes are, most simply put, the most amazing cornmeal based bread I've ever had in my life. Sweet, moist, with just the perfect amount of wow. Their ribs, come second to Fat Matt's, but are still fall right off the bone tender.


We had Baby Back and Kansas City ribs, as well as BBQ chicken, and all were just awesome. Their Mac and Cheese was also pretty much to die for. In fact, I don't really have much of anything bad to say about them. They even had collard greens with bacon, and sweet baked beans. I felt like I was back in the South.


My darling, very pregnant client Nina was also there, looking adorable with her newly trimmed bangs, so we had to have a photo op.


The cake, as amazing as I'm sure it was, I didn't get a chance to try. I was wayyyy too stuffed. BAD FOODIE! BAD BAD!


So thank you Lisa, for an amazing party, amazing wine, and amazing grub. Happy Birthday pretty lady!