Eatin’ the North County Way Part 5

Many of the places I’ve been mentioning would be a great choice to get off the highway for – say, you might be stuck in traffic on “THE 15” on the way to that weekend getaway to Vegas (or maybe Hemet) and can’t take it anymore.

La Bastide Bistro
It’s the newish Scripps Ranch French restaurant – well, not that new, they will be celebrating their one-year anniversary in May with some special menus. I'd say it gets mentioned more than any other in the immediate area. Looking at their website, the first time we had been there for dinner I had a very good Sautéed Sea Bass, Red Bell Pepper, Chorizo, Garlic Confit with Italian Parsley Sauce (copied straight from the online menu – it’s also featured prominently on the webpage). We had also been there for lunch – my wife had a great Smoked Salmon Crepe with a delicious dill and lemon sauce. She also loves that chocolate mousse. I read that the chef came here from El Bizcocho – a little more about that in this newspaper article. You could probably just eat light and have dessert. I believe they may do half-priced appetizers in the bar area. Service is always friendly - and the owner usually is there to greet.

Takhrai Thai
We’ve probably hit this place more than any other in the last year – it’s just a comfortable place to end the workweek. In a previous incarnation this spot had been a pizza restaurant. They closed down, the place was remodeled and ta-da!!! I know little about Thai food, but I’ve been pretty pleased with what we’ve eaten here. Like Indian food, I don’t know Thai food from shinola – hey, I grew up on midwestern meat and potatoes! They have all the normal stuff - sizzling shrimp that, green curry this, pad see-lw, yum nuah and so on . I imagine it is your typical suburban Thai restaurant. I was a little disappointed in a recent takeout order – the shrimp were smaller than expected – otherwise we’ve been pretty pleased here, and lots more menu to try. I cannot find a website for them – but the first thing that comes up in a web search is a great little defunct blog called Table for Two which has a great report (and scroll to see more - included the farmers market report.)

Etc.
I’ll get around to continuing this multi-part series once I hit a few more restaurants (I haven’t mentioned any of the sushi restaurants yet) but for now I’ll put North County Inland Quick Ones™ on hiatus. So, there you have it the top 10 restaurants that I might recommend though I don’t really know about Jose O’Rielly’s so skip that one – and my wife reports that Miami Grill was just sorta ehh. That takes us to 8. Or maybe 5 eats.

I’ll be back with other reports and probably a doggie picture. Rorie had a great comment which I think applies to us – we either eat locally, within a short drive from our house, or we go downtown or to the coast. She also has a collection of Rancho Bernardo restaurants on her list – I hadn’t been including RB and Escondido even though they should be on a full San Diego North Inland report (maybe soon!) Here is her list:

Bernardo's
French Market Grill
Pearl
Passage to India
Spices Thai
Kabob House
Fortune Cookie

We’ve been to Pearl once for dim sum and I do want to go back – it was filling and plus dirt cheap. I've been meaning to hit Bernardo's or French Market.