Meet the new blog, same as the old blog!

I thought I might wait until the blog (yes, My Very Own Blog, the very one you are reading now) was a year old (it’s coming up, believe it or not!) before I rolled-out a makeover but I decided that the old colors must go now.

So tada, welcome one and all to My Very Own Blog 2.0. Well, maybe version 1.1, it’s just a simple selection of a new template. Refreshing and new to me. Yay. But still vaguely familiar – I may be duplicating another blog I read? I might have to change it again. I had given some slight thought to introducing a photo banner but that will have to wait. I really liked doing my April Fools post so I think I’ll try to do a few of those this year yet – you’ll never really know if I’m being serious or not, but I’ll try to drop some subtle hints.

Upcoming eats
This blog seems quite incomplete since I haven’t been to some very well-loved San Diego restaurants. What am I missing out on? Bronx Pizza? Phil’s? Ba Ren? (sorry, or is it Ben Ra – I know it is Kirk’s absolute fav – I’m going to get there soon!). Also on the list to try just because are The Linkery (can you roll out the red carpet for me, Jay?), Spread (just because), Porkyland and maybe one more I can’t think of right now.

A recent eat
I didn’t bring my camera again, but I wrote about Miami Grille in Poway a few months back – I remembered liking enough so I’d suggest it every once in a while – so a recent extremely warm Saturday seemed like a good time to go back. It was nearing 10:00 p.m. before we decided we were hungry and didn’t feel like making anything at home… Enter the Miami Grille! Open until midnight on weekends!

Last time we went on a fairly cool evening (a Southern CA winter evening) and they were quite busy – to the point that there was a half hour wait. This time, at a later hour, they were mostly empty with just a few tables of people (some finishing up and a few more showed up while we were there.) And as a special bonus, in order to fully emulate the Miami experience they shut off the air conditioning for the weekend and set up fans. Or maybe the chiller broke down. Otherwise the space is real comfortable and inviting plus overlooks lovely Poway Road.

They have a variety of rum based drinks that looked tempting (and pretty attractively priced) but I got a Red Stripe beer. Delicious enough. We started off with a shrimp cake appetizer – it was served up with a couple of dipping sauces (wasabi mayonnaise and a soy/citrus sauce.)

The menu is really affordable (I think anyhow – maybe my price tolerance is out of whack – but I don’t think so) with most items around 10 bucks. They did have an extra menu of specials that had a couple of $18 salmon entrees – I saw one served to another table and it looked pants poopage inducingly huge. (You might be sensing on ongoing theme – and you are right!) I got a Cuban sandwich (under $8) which came with a mix of regular fries and sweet potato fries while Mrs. Firefly (ugh, I shouldn’t refer to her as that, huh?) got the Katsu Chicken ($10). I really liked the sandwich, the fries were fresh from the fryer and the chicken was a nice portion (but nothing like Da Kitchen serves up) and tasty.

They have UTC location opening soon or maybe it just opened so you don’t have to drive halfway to Ramona to eat there.