25 Degrees - Hollywood

7000 Hollywood Blvd

323.785.7244

http://www.blogger.com/www.25degreesrestaurant.com

25 Degrees is located inside the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. It's open 24 hours and serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The name of the restaurant refers to the temperature difference between a medium rare and well done burger.

The decor of the restaurant has walls that are adorned in black and chrome mirrored tile, surrounded by rich textured fuchsia wallpaper. Lush and comfy leather booths wrap around wooden tables and flat screen televisions line the wall behind the bar of this Moulin Rouge style diner.

The menu consists of customizable burgers, starting at $9 with each topping/option ranging from $1 to $1.50 or you can choose their already created burgers known as #1, #2, and #3 for $12 with sides. They also have a few salads, sandwiches, and soups. 25 Degrees also has a nice selection of drinks ranging from beers, wines, cocktails, and shakes.

We decided to try out all of their 3 creations. The sides come with your choice of french fries, sweet potato fries, onion rings, half and half, or a half a salad. Each of these options are $12, which I feel is well priced considering you get a quality burger and some nice sides.

#1 - prelibato gorgonzola, crescenza, bacon, caramelized onions, arugula, thousand island

This was our favorite burger of the night. All the components of this burger melded together nicely to make this one tasty burger!! I especially enjoyed the arugula, the cheeses, and of course the BACON!

#2 - burrata cheese, crispy proscuitto, roasted tomatoes, pesto
This was our second favorite. When I saw the crispy prosciutto on the menu, I was immediately intrigued by this burger. Unfortunately, the crispy prosciutto isn't even close to the flavor level of bacon. It was a still a solid and good burger, but not as good as the #1.

#3 - mezzo secco jack, green chili, avocado, chipotle
Our least favorite burger of the night. The flavor of the mezzo secco jack, green chili and chipotle added a spiciness to the burger, and the avocado added a bit of richness but not much flavor overall. If you enjoy green chili, chipotle, and jack cheese, then I suppose you might enjoy this burger. But it wasn't for us.

heirloom tomato salad - fromage blanc, watermelon, tomato vinaigrette

We decided to go with a half order of the heirloom tomato salad and we were glad that we did. This salad was excellent. The heirloom tomatoes, watermelon, and formage blanc tasted excellent together. The sweetness of the watermelon and the saltiness of the cheese really elevated the flavor of this dish. It was also very refreshing!
sweet potato fries, onion rings, and french fries

The accompaniments to the burger were all good and fairly standard. None were out-of-this-world good, but all good nonetheless. Plus, you can't order a burger without fries..
Overall, we enjoyed ourselves at 25 degrees. Very laid back and casual restaurant with some gourmet style burgers. If we are in the area and craving a burger, this is going to be our place!

Pizza Port - Carlsbad

571 Carlsbad Village
Carlsbad, CA 92008
760.720.7007
http://www.pizzaport.com/

Pizza Port is an awesome place if you want to relax and have fun eating pizzas and drinking beer. The restaurant is big, crowded, and parking is limited. The restaurant has a surf theme throughout the place and most of the seating is picnic table style. Pizza Port has many different beers on tap and they even brew their own beer. This is one of our favorite pizza joints for pizza packed with hearty toppings. What I love about their pizzas are the toppings and the flavor of the crust.

Portzel- giant handmade pretzel made from their wholegrain beer crust with sundried tomatoes, feta, garlic, basil & oregano.

We have been to Pizza Port many times but never tried the portzel until our recent visit. It pretty much tasted like the pizza dough served with marinara sauce & mustard on the side. I would bypass this and go straight for the pizzas!!

Pizza Roma - Canadian style bacon, pepperoni, sausage, salami, onions, olives, bell pepers & mushrooms.

One of the other cool things about Pizza Port is that they allow you to order pizzas half and half style. Pictured below on the top half of the pizza is the Pizza Roma. I would have to say that this is one of our favorite pizzas there. What's not to love about the various meats and vegetables.

Pizza Carlsbad - Pesto, mesquite grilled chicken, sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, & feta The other half of the pizza is the Pizza Carlsbad. By looking at the items on this pizza, it sounds like it should be a delicious pizza pie. In my opinion, the Pizza Carlsbad is not as good as the many others that Pizza Port has to offer. I think the feta and pesto on this pizza does not make the pizza as moist and saucy as the other one.

Here is a close up of the Pizza Carlsbad. Look at the chunks of artichokes and chicken...

Pizza Lahaina - Canadian style bacon, pineapple, bell peppers & onions
If you are a Hawaiian pizza lover, then this is the pizza for you! Whenever we are craving pizza and are down in the south OC area, this is our go-to place. There's a Pizza Port located in Carlsbad and San Clemente, but I think the Carlsbad location makes a better pizza.

Ferry Market Building - San Francisco, CA

We love visiting the Farmer's Market to sample all the fresh organic fruits, breathe in the fresh SF bay air, immerse ourselves with the locals, and satisfy our food cravings. You can find everything from salami, artisan breads, cheeses, homemade jams, special olive oils, caviar, chocolates, and much more! Open on Tuesdays and Saturdays. I believe that there are more vendors though on Saturdays. Inside the Ferry Market Building... So much going on... So many things to see.. So little time..

Blue Bottle Coffee Company. Coffee here is organic. They brew each cup of coffee individually at the side of this cart. Always a long line here...but definitely worth the wait.

Roli Roti Gourmet Rotisserie
The chickens are spiced and then spit-roasted at low heat for about 90 minutes on rotisseries in the specially built trucks. Its like a portable rotisserie chicken truck. I have had the chicken and potatoes on various occasions, which is good but not out of the world good. The chicken can be a bit dry at times. On my most recent trip, I tried the much-talked about porchetta sandwich, which was better than ordering the chicken in my opinion.Porchetta Sandwich - a juicy piece of porchetta to with rosemary salt, peppercress, and a special sauce.

Hog Island Oyster Co. http://www.hogislandoysters.com/
The oysters are raised in Tomales Bay, rich in nutrient fresh waters. The estuary is 10 acres and raises Pacific Oysters (Crassostrea gigas), Kumamoto Oysters (Crassostrea sikamea) and Atlantic Oysters (Crassostrea virginica) as well as Manila clams and mussels. If you are a lover of oysters this is the place for you. They have a permanent location inside the Ferry Market Building and also have a booth on Saturdays. Oysters don't get much fresher than these.
Boccalone Salumeria "Tasty Salted Pig Parts" http://www.boccalone.com/
Boccalone Salumeria is the first retail location of the artisanal salumi venture from Chris Cosentino and Mark Pastore of Incanto Restaurant. The Salumeria features more than 20 varieties of Boccalone’s handmade cured meats which are handcrafted in small batches uses sustainably raised pork and the highest quality spices and salts. We bought the "Mixed Salumi Cone" which included 3 types of Boccalone's salami:
1. Mortadella (original bologna, a delicate balance of fat, meat and spice, with a hint of pistachios and black peppercorns)
2. Brown Sugar & Fennel Salame (A coarsely ground salame that is slightly sweet and scented with fennel seeds, then slow-aged to develop the flavors)
3. House Pate (Paté di Campagna-a traditional paté made of coarsely ground pork meat plus tongue, liver, kidney, blood and herb spicing)

We stopped by Boriana's Corner to try their bombolonis but they only had the Custard and Raspberry ones left.
This is the Raspberry filled pastry...The filling was good but there wasn't enough of it and the pastry wasn't as moist as I thought it would be.
Miette

http://www.miettecakes.com/
They have a selection of Miette ("little crumb" in French) is a little pastry shop inside the Ferry Market Building, inspired by the pâtisseries of Paris. Many of the ingredients are organic and are from local producers. They have a selection of cakes, cupcakes, tarts, cookies, confections, and vintage dessertwares. Their macarons are the best selling product. Their macaron version does not use food coloring and is baked with only freshly ground organic almonds.
The macarons here are good but a bit more "almondy" than the ones I've tried at Boule and Paulette. The Ferry Market Building is definitely a foodie destination that is not to be missed. Every time we visit San Francisco, this is always one of our stops!