The last time Melanie and I were in Carmel was back in about 2009. We'd flown into San Francisco a few days ahead of a deposition she was to take in San Luis Obispo. On the way back to San Francisco after the deposition, we drove Highway 1 for a while, took in the beautiful coast and stopped for dinner in Carmel. 

While I don't remember the name of the restaurant at which we ate, I do remember dinner was good and we found the town to our liking.

This time around we were in Carmel to boondock on our friends' land in the Carmel Valley. When we arrived in Carmel, we went grocery shopping and, since it was lunchtime, we made our way to Carmel and La Bicyclette.

We were there just as things got very real and businesses began to close. It would be the last meal we shared in a restaurant during the current COVID-19 outbreak. Melanie had a lunch special of braised rabbit, I had a mushroom pizza with truffle oil. Both were delish. 

Since dining out and trying local Cusine has always been one our great pleasures both on the road and before we started, we can only hope our nation can flatten the curve so all the wonderful local eating establishments can once again begin to bring us together over a table. I hope David Chang isn't right about the current state of affairs.

It's Sunday and Melanie is worshiping at Saint Andrew's in Irvine, California. Sunday sometimes means we're on the lookout for a Chinese restaurant for lunch. While she's in church, I find Sam Woo Restaurant. 

Great Dim Sum. Check it out.

We'd talked about it at least a month before we arrived in Los Angeles, having previously watched Ugly Delicious and Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner on Netflix, having a meal at David Chang's newest restaurant, Majordōmo, was on our radar.

And he's a James Beard award winner. And he stayed high all day with Seth Rogan for a segment of Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. They laughed. A lot. And ate good food. And talked about eating good food.  And laughed. Role models for alternative ways of being productive. 
​
Majordōmo is located in what appears in early-evening-I'm-not-familiar-with-Los Angeles light to be a warehouse area of LA. I seem to remember it's located near a park (Uber). The build out of the restaurant both belies and doesn't the interior. There's more than ample wait staff who are knowledgeable, including waiter assistants. It was warm on the patio where we ate.

All items on the menu are meant to be shared. Our waiter suggested ordering from 3-5 items for a meal for two. Wines by the glass are nice.  We ordered three items from the menu, all of them nicely prepared. We liked sharing too. 

Melanie and I were in San Diego for a few days again this weekend past. As we were parked near Balboa Park, we spend a fair amount of time walking around the park and the areas of San Diego adjacent to the park, Cambridge Square, Park Laurel and Bankers Hill.

Wet Stone is located in the Bankers Hill area of town. We walked there intending to fetch a glass of wine after our visit to the Japanese Friendship Garden kinda on our way back to Miranda. After a few glasses sitting in Wet Stone's front window, screened and open to the outside on a fine Southern California winter's day, we decided dinner was in order. 

We'd had a big lunch so we choose Wet Stone's Chorizo Bilbao & Achiote Chicken Flatbread. It was more than enough for us to share. I had the remaining piece today for lunch. 😎

Wet Stone is an intimate setting. Chef and owner, Christian Gomez, personally made sure we were well taken care of. It was a great experience. We'll be back.

I found Maestro listed in one of those "Essentials" lists for Pasadena. I've used Eater before with good success, this time being no different.

From the opening cocktails to our shared desert, the meal we enjoyed was a treat. Melanie and I shared two appetizers, Shrimp and Octopus Ceviche and then Calamari; she then had the Free Range Chicken Mole and I had the Braised Short Ribs Burritos; we finished with a nice Tequilla and Cheese Cake.
​
Great service and food, nice selection of Tequilas, Maestro.

Miranda is currently parked in the All Saints Episcopal Church parking lot in Pasadena, California. We're here for a few days and the location is perfect for exploring Old Pasadena where any number of restaurants, bars and shops are located.

Last evening we had dinner at Ramen Tatsunoya. Best Ramen either of us has experienced to date. Service is great, food was superb. 

We arrived at 6:00 p.m. as Tatsunoya was opening and got two of the last few seats available in this smallish 45+/- seat restaurant. It wasn't too long before a line formed outside. It's that good.

Let me say this about the Wrench and Rodent Seabasstropub, we enjoyed our meal and no, it was not the best sushi, but it was by far not the worst. Faint praise you may say. Okay. 

The restaurant itself was within walking distance of our RV park and seemed to be a magnet for local folks. The place has a nice feel to it, service is good and, when our order was taking a bit too long, the sushi chef sent out a very nice nibble to hold us. 

I read a review about Wrench and Rodent from a person called Hateful Harriet during our meal. I can't say it's perfectly accurate of our experience, but Harriet has her points. Nevertheless, I recommend it to you.

Melanie and I ate here back in March of this year at their old location. After our visit to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum yesterday, Melanie mentioned a late lunch at Cafe Santa Rosa. Yes was my immediate response.

You eat at Santa Rosa for the Indian Fry Bread. What they top the Fry Bread with is also something to anticipate, but the Fry Bread, it's the stuff of luncheon or dinner dreams. 

Very basic restaurant setting now in an eclectic neighborhood containing industry and housing. Service is good. Eat here.

Melanie and I spent a couple of days roaming around New Orleans' French Quarter earlier this month. The weather was cool and a bit rainy, but we've always enjoyed the occasional visit regardless. 

We choose Bayona for dinner one evening mainly because we were familiar with the quality of the cusine and because we were camped/parked only a few blocks away in the French Quarter Public Parking. 

The last time we ate at Bayona was years back when I accompanied Melanie to New Orleans for a deposition. A good friend had just eaten there and highly recommended it to us. She was kind enough to call ahead for us, spoke with owner and James Beard Best Chef winner, Susan Spicer, made our reservation, and Bayona made sure the evening was memorable. 

I'm pleased to say our latest visit was equally delightful. I enjoyed a special prefix menu featuring pork osso buco, Melanie enjoyed the Rabbit. Great food and wine, great service. Highly recommended.