Restaurant Review: 333 Pacific

My wife and I have had the privilege to enjoy dinner at a restaurant in San Diego named Blue Point Coastal Cuisine. Thus far, we have never been disappointed. The restaurant is part of a group known as the Cohn group. About 1 1/2-2 years ago they opened a new restaurant in Oceanside, 333 Pacific. We had wanted to dine here for a while, but just never did.

Put those thoughts on hold for a moment. Every year, San Diego County has a "Restaurant Week." During this week (which turns into two weeks every time) restaurants throughout the county have a Prix Fixe menu. Prices are $20, $30 or $40 depending on the restaurant.

Back to 333 Pacific... My in-laws came to visit for the day. They wanted to enjoy a nice meal in the evening. We made a reservation and were off to 333. (Coincidentally, my mother-in-law always says she sees three 3's everywhere. What a perfect name for her.)

The Prix Fixe menu was really nice.

For an appetizer, I had the Sweet Chili Calamari tossed in spicy-sweet chili sauce. It was really good and had a nice kick to it.

 My wife shared with her mom. For a starter they had the House Salad. Though that may sound boring, it was anything but. It had baby roma tomatoes, hearts of palm, sweet pecans, roasted peppers, parmesan and pomegranate vinaigrette.

My father-in law had the Clam Chowder which he enjoyed. (No picture.)

My entree selection was a 16oz Bone In Ribeye with a peppercorn demi glace and mashed potatoes. I had it cooked Medium rare and it turned out great. Father-in-law got the same thing, but ordered it Medium well. He enjoyed it also.

 My wife and her mom split the Alaskan Crab Encrusted Salmon with
grilled artichokes, potato & fennel confit and a béarnaise sauce. They also added a side of King Crab leg. The crab was their favorite piece of the meal. It was cooked to perfection. It didn't need any butter, lemon etc.

 For our third and final course, I ordered the Strawberry & Blueberry Sour Cream Pie. My mom-in-law and I really loved it. It was our favorite.

 My wife and her mom ordered the Cinnamon Raisin Pecan Bread Pudding. My wife really liked this one. It was very tasty too, in my opinion.

Father-in-law ordered the Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake. It was definitely enjoyable. If you didn't realize it by now, everything that we had was really enjoyable. Sure I had a favorite dessert, but it was a favorite among favorites.





For the beverage portion of the meal, I decided to go with the wine pairing. All I remember is that the wine was very tasty and appropriate for each course (White for the starter, Red for the entree.) But, I was introduced to a new favorite. For the dessert pairing, I chose the Orange Muscat. WOW! It was so smooth. Not too sweet. Just perfect. It almost tasted like sweet water.

Out of 5 stars, I definitely rate this a 5. Service was great. Water glass was never less than half full. Food was delicious and cooked perfectly. We definitely enjoyed our time at 333.

Zaytinya

During a trip to Barnes and Noble, I noticed 4 chefs from Top Chef on a cover of a magazine. Spike was on there, but I couldn't make his restaurant. Bryan Voltaggio was on there, but his restaurant Volt, was a 45 minute drive; couldn't do that one. Carla was on there as well, but she just does catering. The one left, was Mike Isabella. He is the chef at Zaytinya, a Mediterranean restaurant just two blocks from where I was staying.


I decided that I wanted to eat there on Monday night. It turns out that my clients wanted to do dinner with my company on Monday, so my colleague and I took the 4 of them to Zaytinya. We were seated quickly, as we had reservations. The waitress then explained that the restaurant served in a Tapa style, i.e. the plates were very small and the group could share them. For a drink, my colleague took my recommendation and we both ordered the Greek Sidecar (Metaxa, cointreau, luxardo maraschino liquor lemon juice, candied citrus rim.)

Starter:
We were brought the complimentary Pita Bread with Olive Oil, along with the 3 Spreads we had picked out: Hommus, Baba Ghannouge and Htipiti which were shared amongst the 6 of us.






For the rest of the meal, my colleague and I had agreed to order 3 dishes each for both of us to share. (We should have done only 2 each.)

Course 1: Crispy Brussel Afelia (brussel sprouts, coriander seed, barberries, garlic yogurt)

Mom; can you believe I ate brussel sprouts? They were delicious!!!








Course 2: Knisa Lamb Chops (grilled lamb chops, smoked yogurt, caper-dill saltsa)


These lamb chops were so delicate and tender; perfectly charred!







Course 3: Seasonal Mushrooms (sautéed mushrooms, dates, toasted almonds)

I love me my mushrooms!








Course 4: Ottoman Pilaf (saffron rice, dates, pistachios)


What a splendid dish of rice. Sure, it sounds easy, but this was some really good rice. Quoting Remy from Ratatouille, "You know what would make this dish? Saffron!!!"







Course 5: Shish Taouk (grilled chicken, sumac, onions, grilled tomatoes, garlic tuom)

Wow! The chicken combined with the limey yogurt was wonderful!








Course 6: Garides Me Anitho (sautéed shrimp, dill, shallots, mustard, lemon juice)

This was the dish I had read about online. It was simple, but so flavorful. You literally don't want to waste the juice, so you soak it up with your Pita bread. Yummy!






We didn't have anymore room in our stomach to eat dessert. Next time, I'll know how much food to order per person. This ends my culinary adventure through Washington DC. Thank you to my company for footing the bill.