Sending out an SMS {Santa Monica Seafood}

Last night, Jeremy and I ventured to one of our favorite restaurants - Santa Monica Seafood.

It was a special occasion, as we had Jeremy's mom, his aunt, and her boyfriend with us. So we went all out - of course!

Santa Monica Seafood is a place we love, mostly for its fresh seafood, casual atmosphere, and the staff is super friendly and nice (especially Stefani!). Plus they have all kinds of things we love - a great cioppino and a delicious mushroom ravioli with scallops, shrimp and spinach.

Santa Monica Seafood, currently and before it was a restaurant, is a seafood purveyor for many Santa Monica restaurants (and restaurants in Southern California). That basically means they have the best of everything. Don't get oysters anywhere else in Santa Monica!

Our meal started, as per usual at SMS, with wine (a Cabernet) and oysters. We had Fanny Bay, Malpeque, Kumomoto and Kusshi (my favs), and a new one - Carlsbad. For entrees, we had (at the table) the mushroom ravioli (2 of them), a lobster roll, a cioppino, and a swordfish with peaches and veggies.Dessert was over the top with us ordering all 3 - the lemon cheesecake, chocolate molten cake (with extra whipped cream) and cannolis.

Overall, Santa Monica Seafood is a great place to eat if you don't mind splurging a bit on the best of the best seafood and wine.

Ray, Jeremy's aunt Randelle, Jeremy and I

The Counter - Re-Encountered

Jeremy and I decided to go to The Counter last night - which was weird, because he's staunchly refused to go there for over a year, and I admit - there are much better, cheaper burger options.

But we were doing laundry at our usual laundromat, and The Counter is in the same 'hood.

If you don't know what The Counter is - it's a fairly overpriced burger place where you create your own burger. You choose the burger size, meat, bun, sauce and toppings. Usually the burgers are a little dry and the toppings leave something to be desired (but they do let you get it on an English muffin, which is awesome).

Jeremy decided on a 4 beer / 4 mini burger pairing. Seemed to be pretty good, but he didn't drink all the beer in the flight. A trip to the Daily Pint during the wash cycle eliminated his need to drink any more.


We both split the dill pickle chips, which Jeremy rightly declared, "Good, but not as good as your dad's." Amen.

My burger was delicious:
1/3 lb beef patty - cooked medium
On an English Muffin *
With pickles
Carrot strings
Lettuce
Green Onions
and Spicy Sour Cream **

I don't know if we'll be back anytime soon (see comment about better and cheaper burger options), but it's good to know that they're more on their game than they used to be.

* I love English Muffins
** And Sour Cream

Taco Asylum in Costa Mesa

Today Jeremy and I went to visit his mom in Irvine, CA. While down in Orange County, we took the opportunity to get a second taste at Taco Asylum. We first ate there a few months ago with one of Jeremy’s coworkers – and it’s so delicious.

The tacos are gourmet and seem to be inspired by any culture/food tradition that is not Mexican. The tacos are so good that it’s probably better for us to have to go to Costa Mesa to eat there – otherwise, we’d probably eat there so often we’d get sick of it.
I think the pictures speak for themselves:

The menu @ Taco Asylum

Mushroom Taco

Duck Taco (w/Camembert and Dijon creme fraiche) my favorite!

Short Rib and Pork Belly Tacos

Jeremy and his mama!