Jason and I drove down to San Diego for a 2-day trip this week. I'm sure this would be my last trip of this year.
On our way down, we made a quick stop in Encinitas for lunch snack. We went to El Nopalito, which is a popular Mexican hole-in-the-wall place in the area. I had a chicken tamale (with mole sauce...it was a good saue) and a carnitas taco. Jason had a nopalitos & huevos (cactus and egg) plate. I wasn't sure why Jason picked the dish...
Shortly after, we were in San Diego. We hung out at Balboa Park. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon. We saw a cute rabbit...I thought it was a lucky sign for us to see the rabbit just before the year of the rabbit!
Our dinner was at Robataya Oton in Kerny Mesa. The restaurant was absolutely packed and there were also people waiting outside. I was happy to be back here for another authentic izakaya treat. We got a private room and did our own "bonen-kai" (year-end dinner). The dinner was great.
The next morning was a rainstorm in San Diego. So, we had to change our plan and decided to leave town in the morning. By the time we were in Orange County, the weather was a little better. So, we took a detour and decided to have lunch in Little Saigon (Westminster). It was actually my first time to come to area, and I was so surprised to see all the Vietnamese restaurants/ shops/ businesses over many blocks. We checked out Quan Hy Restaurant, which is one of the most popular places in Little Saigon. We started with Banh Beo (rice cakes, topped with fried onions and crab meat), then Jason had the Bun Bo Hue (spicy soup noodle with meat...it's a thick noodle), and I had a vermicelli dish with BBQ pork and shrimp egg rolls.
We got very full.
We came back to LA safely in the afternoon.
