Soda & Swine

I haven't been in San Diego for very long, but I already have my go-to places (obviously). I also already have a list of restaurants that I want to try out (suggestions always welcome!) One of my go-to places, specially to take visitors to, is Soda & Swine.
This first time I went to Soda & Swine I was craving chicken. That is something that never, EVER, happens to me, so I was feeling very weird about myself, but also - craving the chicken. It was the day after our three-day car ride, where we ate a lot of... shit. I don't know how else to put it. We had VERY limited options, some days consisting of only McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell. We ate at McDonald's (which was horrible - except for the Oreo McFlurry which was awesome!) once, a bad mistake. Deciding not to do it again, the next day we went to Carl's Jr and I swear to God, Carl's Jr. turkey burger tasted like heaven compared to the quarterpound I got at McDonald's. Ew.

Menu

So, the next day I am craving chicken. As I got to Soda & Swine, I looked at their super-cool menu written on a black chalkboard. And I saw a chicken meatball option! And, AND, it was served with mushroom sauce and provolone cheese! I could not have been happier.
The deal over there is: you can choose one (or more, I guess. I'd never thought about that... hum) out of four options: get your meatballs on a sub (2 meatballs), over pasta (3 meatballs), on sliders (1 meatball per slider) or just the meatballs and the sauce (3 meatballs). Considering the fact that I had just completed a trip where every single meal I had consisted of bread or pasta of some sort, I chose the "a la carte" option, as they put it. Just the largest amount of meatballs, no carbs.

There is also another chalkboard next to the one in the picture with a list of their sides, which must be like 15. So many sides to choose from! You don't HAVE to pick a side. But why not? Why would you not do it? It makes no sense. Anyway, I chose the bacon brussels sprouts because I am smart. Also, because my family decided we should each pick one side so everyone can try everyone's side (we do that a lot.) So, in reality, I had brussels sprout, asparagus and polenta as sides. Hum, where should I begin?

Meatballs to the left and asparagus to the right

So, the meatballs come in this mini iron cast, swimming in the mushroom sauce, with the provolone cheese melted over on top. It's beautiful. And you look at it and you think: "is this going to be enough food?" but what you don't know is that the meatballs are HUGE. They are. They are so filling. But most importantly, they are made of chicken and they blend perfectly - just perfectly - with the thick, creamy mushroom sauce they come with. Seriously. It's so good, I was moaning the whole meal. If you've never experienced chicken meatballs, that is the way to do it. I cannot imagine anyway that chicken meatballs could taste any better. On marinara sauce they would be RUINED. Ruined. Ok, maybe not ruined, but definitely not as good.

Brussels sprouts

The brussels sprouts come with bacon, so there's that. It's not like it's going to taste bad, ever. It's made with bacon. No, but really, they were cooked to perfection and tasted incredible. For realz. The asparagus comes with a little bit of cheese on top and it's also cooked to perfection and delicious in the subtle but unique way that only asparagus can be. The polenta, unfortunately, for my unending sadness, was meh. But just order something else, like, for example, they mac-and-cheese! Or, or, the goat cheese mashed potatoes (yum!). Better yet: order the crispy chick peas. They are divine! They are crispy and salty, and crunchy and delicious. I never knew chick peas could be so... crispy? It's super well-seasoned too, so it's really tasty, and you can't eat just one. It's like popcorn... you eat it and eat it until there's no more to eat.

#crispyanddelicious

After my very pleasant experience, I have made a point of taking everyone that comes visit me there. And it's been approved across the board. Because it's delicious!


Restaurant: Soda & Swine
City: San Diego, CA
Service: Great
Food: Delicious
Price: $

Kiko's Place

One month ago I dropped everything in Houston and moved to San Diego, California. The beaches, the sunsets, the palm trees, the weather... everything about San Diego is beautiful. That includes the food.

In San Diego, the amount of Mexican restaurants is incredible. And I thought Texas had Mexican food. Here, with the border only a couple of miles away, you can really feel the Mexican influence in the restaurant scene. It's more than just "fusion" Mexican (like Tex-Mex), here you can actually get original Mexican food, and it's everywhere. More importantly, it's always delicious.

Appetizer

I haven't been here for long, but I already have favorites. Kiko's Place, a food truck on Texas St, is one of them. My boyfriend took me there once, so that I could try the mixed seafood taco. He told me I would only need one, to which I agreed to, very suspiciously. Tacos are usually small. I am used to having two to three tacos in order to feel satisfied. How could I have a meal consisting of one taco?

We ordered our mixed seafood tacos, which are $4 each. We were offered a cup of soup while we waited. The soup is a seafood, tomato-based broth with pieces of green bell pepper, celery, onion and tomatoes. If you're lucky, it could have a shrimp or piece of fish in it (I have never been lucky :( ) It's always super hot, which means I may or may not have burnt my tongue a couple of times. It's a nice little appetizer, and I would even go as far to say it's a palate opener (yes, I went there. Deal with it.)

Biggest taco EVER

Then, the tacos arrived. And it was the biggest taco I have ever seen in my life. I don't even think that could be called a taco. It's huge. So, I did the only thing I could do: I picked up a fork and dug in. And it was so. Good. There were shrimp, scallops, a mussel on the shell, octopus, marlin... all of the seafood inside of two corn tortillas, stacked on top of each other. The seasoning is similar to the broth, but more concentrated. Very concentrated. It's super well-seasoned, to the point where there is no need to add any salsas, or lime, or anything. It's ready to eat. And so delicious. The seafood is cooked to perfection, the shrimp is crunchy and tasty, the baby scallops are all over the place, the octopus... YUM. I may or may not go there today... hum...

The only bad thing about this taco is the celery. I am not a big fan of celery - I will eat it, but it bothers me when there's too much of it. In the taco, the amount of seafood easily overwhelmed the amount of celery, but I still took most of it out. 

I loved it so much, I went back two days later to try the other options they had. I found out that the spicy mixed seafood taco is better than the normal mixed seafood taco. The amount of "kick" is perfect! It complements the rest of the seasoning so well. Amazing, amazing, even more amazing.

Then, a couple weeks later, I tried their fish taco. One breaded fish filet with pico de gallo on top and some kind of white sauce. Delicious! But smaller - consider yourself warned.

Kiko's Place

Fish tacos - YUM

A couple of fish tacos will suffice if you're not THAT hungry, but if you are, I would order more. It's $1.75. It's so cheap! And so worth it! Every bite.

"Restaurant": Kiko's Place

Food: Great

Service: Great

Price: $