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Gorilla Barbeque in Pacifica, CA

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http://www.gorillabbq.com/Gorilla_Barbeque.html

I guess we’re in the BBQ mode since we’ve been eating it for the last few days. Ron remembered seeing this place called Gorilla Barbeque in Pacifica that was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network.

So we made the drive out to Pacifica around 1pm and came across a line of about 15 people from the old railroad car that Gorilla Barbeque is housed in. Currently they are only doing take-out and catering but they do have two picnic tables above their parking lot and the beach is only a few blocks down the road. We decided to wait since we had driven all the way down there and some people slowly started get out of line and leave. At one point, they ran out of ribs but we still continued to wait.

Their menu is on their website but the types of meats they have include pork ribs, beef brisket, chicken, hot links, and for 2010 (according to their website): beef ribs on Thursday nights.

We ordered a 3 meat combo, a 1 meat combo, and a Philly cheese steak sandwich. We did it this way because the 3 meat combo includes an extra sauce (2 containers instead of 1). Included with the combos are 2 sides of your choice, rice & beans, cornbread, and 1 container of BBQ sauce. After we picked up our order, we drove down the road and parked near the beach and had our lunch on a bench on the beach which watching the surfers catch some waves.

This is the 3 meat combo of hot links, chicken, and brisket. Everything had a delicious smokey flavor and everything was surprisingly still very moist. The chicken skin was nice and crispy. The brisket was tender, not tough at all. The hot links delicious. The sauce made it even better.

Some of our sides: corn bread muffin, cole slaw, rice & beans. In the canisters, one had mac and cheese and the other two are BBQ sauces. The corn bread was the best thing, it even had fresh corn but the others were only so-so.

Our 1 meat combo was pulled pork with corn on the cob and potato salad.

We also ordered a Philly Cheese Steak which is also served with 1 BBQ sauce and 1 side (grilled eggplant in this case). This was very yummy, actually probably my favorite thing of our lunch.

We have plenty of leftovers and I think we’ll have to go back to try their ribs. Some of the customers were pretty disappointed when they ran out of ribs so they must be really good.

Oh, and to note, they use Tater Ware, biodegradable food containers and utensils, made from potatoes. I like them better than plastic utensils, they are much sturdier.

Gorilla Barbeque
2145 Coast Highway
Pacifica, CA 94044

Daffodil Restaurant – Dine About Town 2010

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http://www.thedaffodilrestaurant.com/

Dine About Town starts today Jan 15th, so we kicked it off with dinner at Daffodil Restaurant, which is less than 2 blocks from where we live.

There were three of us for dinner and we ordered the DAT menu and the regular menu as well. To start off with, we had these cheese topped biscuits. So delicious with the butter.

The DAT menu includes an amuse bouche, this is a potato croquette with a creamy sauce that had a bit of a spicy kick.

From the regular menu, we tried the French Fried Green Beans with a Horseradish Honey Mustard Dip ($6). Nice and crispy but also a bit oily. The green beans were also a bit stuck together so a bit hard to eat because you had to figure out separate them.

For the First Course of the DAT menu, I chose the spinach salad with fennel and pomegranate seeds. Refreshing.

From the regular menu, the pulled pork with cole slaw and onion rings. Nothing amazing but not bad either.

For the main course of the DAT menu, V chose the short ribs braised in red wine and served with mashed potatoes and broccolini. The meat was tender and you could really taste the red wine.

For my main course of the DAT menu, I chose the Artic Char served with squash and quinoa. The skin of the fish was super crispy and delicious. I’ve never had Artic Char before but it was yummy, nice and light.

Dessert for the DAT menu was an apple galette served with some berries and vanilla ice cream. I haven’t had a dessert like this in the last 2 months, so perhaps my taste buds don’t know any better anymore, but it was yummy.

Not sure if we’ll be back as it wasn’t amazing but DAT gives us the opportunity to try all these different restaurants for an affordable price.


Daffodil Restaurant
665 Bush Street

Bo’s Barbeque and Captain Vineyards Wine Tasting

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted but I’ve been a bit more tired easily and not motivated but am trying to make up for lost time…

Tonight we were invited to Captain Vineyards in Moraga for a wine tasting. We participated in harvesting their grapes last October so now it was time to have our first taste of the wine.

Since we were heading out to the East Bay, we decided to stop by Bo’s Barbeque for dinner. We had eaten there one other time and remembered that their BBQ was pretty good and they have a delicious selection of beer.

We ordered the 3 item combo which includes ribs, brisket, and links. Everything had a good smokey flavor except that the brisket was a bit dry. I think they gave us the end pieces so they were a bit tough like jerky but still tasty.

The meal includes 2 plates of salad with some fruity vinaigrette, sweet potato, bread, potato salad, and BBQ sauce.

After our dinner, we headed to The Captains for their wine tasting. I had a few sips and the wines seem well on their way to become delicious. Right now they seem still very fruity and haven’t taken much of the flavor from the oak barrels yet but they were still lovely. The barrels themselves were beautiful, see how red they are in the middle.

We also got a preview of their new wine label.

The Captains are a great couple. They’ve taught us a lot about making wine and allowed us to have these unique experiences which we otherwise wouldn’t have an opportunity to experience. It’s amazing how much they’ve accomplished in a short period of time and I hope we can continue to support them in whatever way we can.


Captain Vineyards
1969 Joseph Drive
Moraga, CA 94556

Bo’s Barbeque
3422 Mt. Diablo Blvd
Lafayette, CA 94549
(925) 283-7133

Southern Flax Seed Cookies

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From my favorite cookie cookbook (Big, Soft, Chewy Cookies by Jill Van Cleave), I altered the recipe for Southern Sesame Seed Cookies to make it healthier and to be able to use ingredients I had readily available at home.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sesame seeds (substituted toasted flax seeds – available at Trader Joe’s)
6 Tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar (cut this to 1/2 cup)
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (used whole wheat flour)
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 F
2. If using sesame seeds toast them in dry skillet over medium-low heat, stirring until golden brown, about 5 minutes, set aside to cool.
3. In mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and blend.
4. In separate bowl, mix flour, toasted sesame seeds (or readily available toasted flax seeds), baking powder, and salt. Add to creamed mixture.
5. Scoop 1 rounded tablespoon of dough and drop onto lightly greased or nonstick cookie sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.
6. Bake until cookies are browned on the edges and feel firm to the touch, about 10 minutes (mine took about 15-20 minutes to reach this stage). Using a spatula, transfer cookies to a rack and let cool.

Makes about 20 cookies.

Store cookies in an airtight jar or tin at room temperature for up to three days.

Instead of being a chewy cookie, mine turned out more like “crisps”. They did have some “chew” to them, probably due to the brown sugar but I liked the crispy edges and the flavor of the toasted flax seeds. I haven’t done a blood glucose test after eating these yet since I’ve only allowed myself to munch on a crumb or two as a snack but the sugar and flour split between 20 cookies seems a small amount.

Healthy Banana Bread … An Attempt

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Original recipe was for Sour Cream Banana Bread

I altered the recipe to make it more diabetic friendly but I first must say, my husband didn’t like it at all. I find it edible but not delicious so will have to make some tweaks to it to see if I can make it better. It has a very nutty flavor because I used almond flour (available at Trader Joe’s) and quite a bit of walnuts.

It barely alters my blood glucose but is quite filling so works well for one of my daily snacks.

Wet Ingredients (mix first):
1/4 cup Splenda
1/2 cup applesauce
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 large ripe bananas)
1/2 cup lowfat yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Dry ingredients (mix in a separate bowl):
1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup toasted, chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 F. Use non-stick spray on mini muffin pan or large loaf pan. Mix together wet ingredients until well blended. Mix dry ingredients together in separate bowl then add to wet ingredients. Mix just until dry ingredients are incorporated, do not over mix. If using a muffin pan or mini loaf pan, bake about 15 to 20 minutes (until cake tester comes out clean). If baking large loaf, probably will be 35 to 40 minutes (use a cake tester).

I made some with or without nuts and I made muffins as well. Beware, bread will stick to muffin liners, so not advisable to bake this way. Next attempt will include more bananas for flavor and probably more oil (instead of mostly applesauce). I was surprised I could taste the Splenda aftertaste so I may need to try a different sweetener.