Frisee salad with bacon and poached egg, croutons, sherry vinaigrette. $11
Le P’tit Laurent, San Francisco CA
This salad was very tasty! I loved the poached egg and the crunchy croutons. Perhaps some people would think this salad was a bit tart from the sherry vinaigrette but I enjoyed its brightness.
Pinot Noir, Tarrica, Monterrey, CA, 2011. Bottle $34
Mmm, nice and peppery!
Ocean Beach, Great Highway.
Ground beef, pinto beans, red chile, lettuce, pico de gallo, cheese and crema served in a Frito bag! $8
Chile Pies, San Francisco CA
This is an upscale version of the delicious white-trash staple, but I think it missed the mark. There was so much lettuce and pico de gallo on top that you couldn’t really get into the “meat” of the dish which is the Fritos, beef and beans. Perhaps some things are better left unaltered…
Red and yellow columbine flowers (Aquilegia sp., Ranunculaceae), West Field Road.
Chile relleno and tamal served with refried beans and rice. $12.75
El Mirasol Cocina Mexicana, Palm Springs CA
Basic but tasty combination plate. Too bad the shady service kinda ruined the meal.
Descending the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.
Apple, grapes, Temecula honey, crackers. $12
Escena Lounge & Grill, Palm Springs CA
Omg, they certainly gave us A LOT of cheese! We weren’t expecting such a large plate when we ordered it, but we’re not complaining, hehe. I’m not sure what all the cheeses were but there an herb-crusted goat cheese, bleu cheese, brie, gouda, some kind of cheddar, a soft sheep’s milk cheese, and a couple other kinds. I can never say no to cheese so I liked everything. And the honeycomb chunk was awesome!
Cholla Cactus Garden filled with Teddy Bear chollas (Cylindropuntia bigelovii, Cactaceae), Joshua Tree National Park.
Pilsner, Moonlight Brewing, Reality Czech, Santa Rosa. $6
Honey Saison, Almanac, San Leandro. $6
Contigo, San Francisco CA
I don’t usually drink beer with dinner, but thought I would switch it up this time around while eating tapas. It turned out being a great idea, and the Honey Saison was especially delicious!
Seagull takes flight, Ocean Beach, Great Highway.
Arugula salad with red beet and goat cheese, lemon mustard dressing. $8
Le P’tit Laurent, San Francisco CA
This is such a cute restaurant and the service was very friendly and attentive! Everything we had was very tasty, but I’ll admit that this salad was over-dressed. It tasted great, but there was way too much dressing so the greens were soggy.
Baguette and butter. Complimentary
Purple iris flowers (Iridaceae), West Field Road.
Flour tortilla, salsa verde, manchego, potato, scrambled eggs. $15
Purple Palm Restaurant, Palm Springs CA
This was not worth fifteen bucks! The scrambled egg filling with chorizo tasted fine, but it took SO long to get this to our table that it was cold and unappetizing when it arrived. The salsa verde sauce on the bottom of the plate was gross and congealed and would attach in chunks to the bottom of the breakfast burrito. Ew!
1800 Reposado tequila, orange liqueur, sweet and sour, fresh lime juice and a float of Grand Marnier. Grande $14
El Mirasol Cocina Mexicana, Palm Springs CA
I really don’t mind paying $14 for a large margarita, but I hate it when a server tries to up-sell you and purposefully keeps you in the dark regarding the price of the larger item. I think it’s tacky and irresponsible. The drink always tastes worse when this happens anyway. Boo!
Chips and salsa. Complimentary
Popcorn shrimp with cabbage slaw and salsa. $3
Escena Lounge & Grill, Palm Springs CA
These tacos were pretty tasty and at $3 a pop they made the perfect afternoon snack! I know it’s kinda ghetto for me to admit it, but the popcorn shrimp was probably my favorite. I don’t eat a lot of fried seafood so perhaps I just had a craving for it that day, hehe.
Chicken tinga with guacamole and salsa. $3
Carne asada with guacamole and salsa. $3
Mt. San Jacinto hike, looking back down into Coachella Valley.
Chicken, refried beans, pepper jack/cheddar shred and scallions on tri-colored tortilla chips with pico de gallo, sour cream and guacamole. $9.95
Bongo Johnny’s, Palm Springs CA
This was a huge plate of nachos, but they weren’t anything special. I guess the multi-colored chips were supposed to elevate it but that didn’t really happen. It was pretty standard nachos, and dare I say a little on the bland side.
Mountainside, Palm Spring Aerial Tramway.
Their food warmer was down, so I had to eat this cold. Definitely not as good. $4.25
La Boulange de Noe, San Francisco CA
Small coffee. $1.75
Yellow-orange African daisy flowers (Gazania sp., Asteraceae), Point Lobos Avenue.
Each $12
Purple Palm Restaurant, Palm Springs CA
So I’ve mentioned that the service here was HORRIBLE, but I forgot to mention that they also overcharged us for our mimosas. The menu stated $10, but we were charged $12. We were gonna order bloody marys, but they were out of it. What?! How is that possible? Sheesh, what a disappointment!
Coffee. $3
Mt. San Jacinto trail.
Vittle Monster 