Kirbie's Cravings

Phil's BBQ

Phil's BBQ
3750 Sports Arena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110
(619) 226-6333
www.philsbbq.net

I had a serious craving for bbq ribs after watching something on a tv show where they were going on and on about bbq.  So I decided to make a late dinner stop at Phil's.  Despite the late hour, the place was still busy. Luckily, we had phoned in our order for take out so we didn't have to wait too long.

I was in a hurry to eat, so the pictures don't look that great. BF and I ordered a full rib dinner to share, along with our favorite sides: potato salad and macaroni salad.  The ribs were as good as always. The sweet, tangy, spicy bbq sauce smothering the cooked pork that easily falls off the bone.

Btw, if you didn't already know, Phil's now sells their famous bbq sauce at Costco.

Not too long ago, I read a post about Phil's where the blogger raved about the beef ribs. In all the times I've been to Phil's, I've never tried the beef ribs. I've seen them- they are gigantic compared to the pork ribs but that is because the beef bones are so much bigger. So we decided to place a half order, which is 3 bones.

I thought the beef ribs were just as tender as the pork, but both BF and I preferred the pork. I thought the beef ones had a bit more fat pieces.

Not too long ago, we also tried the onion rings, which are humongous. Some of the biggest onion rings I've had. I took a picture, but accidentally deleted them. You can read my previous post on Phil's here.

Bluefin Fusion Sushi Restaurant

4305 La Jolla Village Dr
San Diego, CA 92122
(858) 677-0558

Bluefin Fusion is located in the UTC mall area, next to Cozymel's. It replaced the former Peking Palace. I noticed it a while back, but never had the desire to check it out, given the lack of good sushi places in the area.

Thanks to twitter, I took notice of it, and saw a lot of positive reviews on yelp. I was so surprised by the positive reviews that I decided to check it out.

We went on a Saturday night and were told there would be a wait. Since it was Saturday night, I wasn't surprised. After we waited for a while, we were shown a table. To my surprise, the restaurant was practically empty, so I don't know why we had to wait so long.

The restaurant had a bar-like atmosphere, with lights that changed colors periodically.

The menu had a variety of rolls and sushi. The prices were about average of other sushi spots in the area.

After we ordered, we waited quite a long time for the food to arrive.  It got to the point where my brother was thinking we should have just left.

Both my brother and I ordered a chirashi bowl.

The chirashi bowl was served on a huge plate. I guess this is part of the "fusion."

The fish cuts were pretty generous, but there wasn't too much variety. The sashimi was served with a huge mound of rice.

BF ordered two rolls. A rainbow roll and a wasabi roll.

Wasabi roll:

Rainbow roll:

 The food was decent, but the service was so slow.  It's probably not a place I'll revisit.

Smashburger Mission Valley

7610 Hazard Center
San Diego, California 92108
619-684-1550

After a good experience at the sneak peek of Smashburger in Del Mar, I was excited to see another location opening in Mission Valley, which is closer to where I live.

Since Smashburger is a chain, I thought the food at the Mission Valley location would be similar to the food at the Del Mar location. But my experience ended up being vastly different.

I ordered a mushroom and swiss burger.

One of the things I had loved during my Del Mar experience was that the bun stayed dry. The bottom bun for this burger was soggy and oily. Also it seemed like the patty was too wide for the bun. Most of the meat was outside the bun area.  The worst part was that the meat was extremely oily.  At first, I thought it was a result of the melted swiss cheese, but when I tried BF's burger, it was also super oily. It ended up being too oily for me to even finish.

I also got a side of vegetable frites, which I had heard good things about.  Carrots, beans and asparagus are flash fried without any batter and seasoned.  Because they are flash fried, the vegetables retained their crunchiness. The seasoning made the vegetables pretty tasty and I guess it's a healthier alternative to fries.

BF got the bacon cheeseburger.  He got a side of the smashfries we had enjoyed last time and he also got a side of chili. He thought the burger was too oily as well, and his bun was soggy.

He liked the chili though. I thought the chili was alright, but nothing special.

My favorite thing of the night were the fries.  I like rosemary and olive oil they are cooked in.

I probably won't be back at this location. I haven't yet tried the La Jolla location. Perhaps I'll try it next to see if it matches my Del Mar experience.