Monterey Trip: Part II Passionfish

701 Lighthouse Ave
Pacific Grove, CA 93950
(831) 655-3311
www.passionfish.net

This was one of the worst meals I have had in the last five years. The one word that would describe my experience is: "under seasoned" or more appropriately the lack of salt. These are the dishes we had:

Dungeness Crab Cake: A standard breaded crab cake that lacked the proper amount of salt. I was not too happy with the consistency. There were no big chunks of crab in it, mainly lots of the fine shreds of crab meat.

Alaskan Halibut: This was my dad's entree, I had a bite and it was bland and flat.

Sturgeon with corn and bacon: This was my dish. Again, like everything else it was bland and flat. The bacon provided a little saltiness that made it better, but the bacon was cooked by a moist heat method so the fat and the meat was chewy. That with everything else turned me off to the whole dish.

Scallops: These were seasoned correctly and were sweet.

I could have asked for some salt. The thought is that if I have to add the salt, it does not correct the problem. Why did I not send the food back? The food took quite a bit longer than I was used to and at that point did not feel the wait would have been worth it. With so many other restaurants in the Monterey area, I will not be returning to Passionfish.

My rating 2/20 = Very Poor. I would not eat here if you paid me.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory
Monterey Cannery Row
647 Cannery Row
CA 93940
831-372-1065
http://www.rmcf.com/

After that experience, let's end on sweet note.

I had white chocolate covered toffee and a couple of milk chocolate cover nut pieces. I also bought a mini-truffle collection. Here is a description from the website:Each truffle shell surrounds a soft chocolate filling made from the finest coveture chocolate, designed to liquify the moment it touches your tongue. Our truffles are flavored just right with a hint of liqueur (non-alcoholic) or fruit juice so as not to overpower the rich milk, dark or white chocolate for a truly exotic flavor experience.These are some of the prettiest truffles I have ever seen (See picture above). The chocolate was good and there was a nice balance between the chocolate and the added flavor. They are also mini truffles, so you do not feel so guilty eating them!

I guess I never noticed them in Old Sacramento, I will have to make sure I stop by there next time I am in that area.

Monterey Trip Part I: Hula's

We started off the day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Here are some pics:

Then we headed over to Hula's for lunch.

Hula's

622 Lighthouse Ave

Monterey, CA 93940 (831) 655-4852
www.hulastiki.com

I had been to Hawaii and was hoping to catch some of the island flavors here. We had:

Island Style Poke: Fresh Island Catch Marinated In Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil, Seaweed And Onions.The lunch portion was huge about 14 oz of fish cut up in one-inch cubes. I ordered this raw and it had pretty good flavor.

Abalone-Style Calamari Sandwhich: This was another huge portion of seafood that was OK. There was not enough flavor to cover the large pieces of calamari.


The Hula Burger: With Maui Onions, Hula Sauce, Lettuce And TomatoYour standard burger not too memorable.

Fresh Catch Of The Day: Mahi-Mahi with a sauce.

I would give Hula's a 10/20 = Average. I would or would not eat here again. It would depend on my company.

La Fiesta Taqueria

La Fiesta Taqueria
1105 Alhambra Boulevard
Sacramento, CA 95816
(916) 454-5616


I had the chorizo tacos and the BBQ pork tacos. The chorizo tacos were good, but the BBQ pork ones were a little tough and dry. My friend had the beef burrito and she said it was one of the best burritos that she has ever eaten. Their avocado sauce was fresh because it was a nice bright green, which you do not see everyday.They have some of the classics like linguica and cabeza tacos. I really need to go back and check those out.

Avocado sauce

Beef burrito

Chorizo and BBQ pork tacos