Little Italy
aka Bencotto/Salt & Straw

So at about 8:30 pm we headed to Bencotto in Little Italy. Little Italy was pretty close to our hotel room, but it was raining so we called a Lyft. This would turn out to be a bad decision because if you can see from the picture below the streets were all blocked. It turns out they had a farmer's market that morning down several streets and the people hadn't arrived yet to take down all the stalls so our driver could only drop us off like 2 streets away.


There were so many restaurants in Little Italy and I wanted to pick a good one. Bencotto had a lot of different pasta options and had gluten free pasta on the menu so that's the one we picked.
Online it seemed like it was kind of a nice place so I was worried our clothes weren’t dressy enough because it was pretty chilly, and not the right temp for the dressier shirt and sweater I had brought. However I guess I was wrong about it being a dressy place because it seemed pretty casual and everyone there was wearing jeans/tshirts etc.

I don't see my meal on the menu so I think it was a special, but I got:

Spinach and ricotta ravioli
with summer sauce
sun-dried tomatoes,EVOO, basil, garlic


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It was good, and I did like the summer sauce a lot (I wasn't sure if it would go with whatever I picked because you could pick from a lot of different pastas). I've only ever had frozen spinach and ricotta ravioli and never handmade ones (I think all the pastas were made there), but It was alright, but not very memorable.

Josh got the:

BOLOGNESE
traditional meat tomato sauce (GF pasta) & he added chicken


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He liked this, but he always does like Bolognese. He did say however that it in no way compared to the Bolognese he had at Bice (which he now compares all Italian food to :rotfl:).

Overall I was disappointed in our choice because the meal and service weren't fantastic (we saw our waiter so little I can't even remember any details about him). There's so many restaurants in Little Italy, and I felt like we could've gone to a much better one. Josh said his meal was fine, and I guess I agree with that because it wasn't bad, it just wasn't anything special. I know I mentioned Bice above, and I definitely didn't think this meal would be on par with that when I was picking a place, but I kind of hoped I'd find a restaurant that could come close or even be as good as a more casual Italian chain like Vivo.


On the way back we decided to stop at Salt & Straw for dessert.
I got:


Roasted Strawberry Coconut
Roasting strawberries does something truly magical. While our favorite Hood strawberries are already amazing in their natural state, roasting them caramelizes their sugars and makes them irresistible. We simply blend the roasted berries with coconut cream and churn in our ice cream makers.

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I also read that flavor is vegan too so that's pretty cool. I thought it tasted like a Starbucks Pink Drink (which I already think tastes a bit like ice cream) and that makes sense because they both have similar components.

I did like this, and would go to a Salt & Straw again in the future. However I'm a little more basic about my ice cream flavors (chocolate or cake batter ones are usually what I go for) so I for that I prefer places like Cold Stone or Ample Hills.





 
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:rotfl: Also our reactions to reading about your breakfast! I LOVE me a good burrito :thumbsup2

On the way out of the zoo was a Tollhouse store
Oooh, I would have probably bought up the entire remaining inventory of the day - cookies are my favorite thing ever! :laughing:

Sounds like your Italian dinner left a little something to be desired. And how strange about the smell :confused3 Your dessert looked amazing though!
 
That's disappointing that the Italian food didn't really wow you. I feel like thats the hard part about little areas like that because you just don't know which one to try.

I'm also impressed by your budgets haha I need to do a better job of keeping track what I expect to spend versus what we spent!
 
I'm always flummoxed when I eat Mexican food anywhere other than where I live.
I do know our food is different from food from Mexico and quite famous. But Mexican in Arizona or California? Just Odd. Tex-Mex is okay I suppose, Santa Fe is our weird Mexican food here. The rest...if people like Mexican food American style it's considered to be the probably the best there is.
 


Oooh, I would have probably bought up the entire remaining inventory of the day - cookies are my favorite thing ever! :laughing:

I love cookies too :rotfl:

That's disappointing that the Italian food didn't really wow you. I feel like thats the hard part about little areas like that because you just don't know which one to try.

Yeah that's the thing about choosing places based on reviews and menus it can be hard to judge.

I'm also impressed by your budgets haha I need to do a better job of keeping track what I expect to spend versus what we spent!

Thank you! I started doing it a couple trips in. The first trip everything was an absolute surprise :rotfl: And when it was all a surprise and I was just guessing at what I thought we should spend instead of being realistic about what things cost we almost always went way over. After I started doing this we haven't gone over a single time. I do always try to overestimate food because usually we'll end up canceling a few on a trip or skipping certain things when we're full, but it can be hard to tell which meals that will be and food was definitely where we'd lose track of things the most when it came to budget.

I try before we go to calculate what I think the cost of the meal would be based on what I think we'd order and a tax/tip estimate, and I'm usually pretty close. But I can see where doing that kind of prep work wouldn't be for everyone. I just like looking over the menus beforehand. Although I don't like math in just about any other circumstance :rotfl:

I'm always flummoxed when I eat Mexican food anywhere other than where I live.
I do know our food is different from food from Mexico and quite famous. But Mexican in Arizona or California? Just Odd. Tex-Mex is okay I suppose, Santa Fe is our weird Mexican food here. The rest...if people like Mexican food American style it's considered to be the probably the best there is.

Mexican food isn't the best where we live, but I will openly admit it's not authentic Mexican food I like it's more Tex Mex because I'm not big on spicy foods.
 
I usually do kind of the same thing beforehand but never pay close enough attention to what we actually spend haha I'm going to try taking pictures of receipts this time since that always tends to be my downfall! I usually think I'll remember where I put them and then I either throw them out or lose them lol
 
but it needed a little more cheese

I have learned that that's a big difference between Tex-Mex and Cali-Mex. Cali-Mex does not rely on cheese the way tex-mex does!! So if you ever find yourself in the mission district in san francisco, you won't be getting a ton of cheese :sad:

I've never actually had street corn

I make it in the summer on the grill. YUM

Tollhouse store

so I decided to get a chocolate chip cookie.

Of course. You must get a choc chip cookie at the tollhouse store!

But of course they were out of those.

WHAT? Tollhouse is known for choc chip cookies, so you'd think that would not be something that happens. Like, shouldn't they be more prepared?? Or make them continuously throughout the day??

Spinach and ricotta ravioli
with summer sauce
sun-dried tomatoes,EVOO, basil, garlic

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This sounds delicious

Overall I was disappointed in our choice because the meal and service weren't fantastic

Aw, that's disappointing! Not up to par pasta is really disappointing to me
 


I usually do kind of the same thing beforehand but never pay close enough attention to what we actually spend haha I'm going to try taking pictures of receipts this time since that always tends to be my downfall! I usually think I'll remember where I put them and then I either throw them out or lose them lol

Yeah, it can be a bit of a pain. I usually jot it down in my notes app as we make any purchases.

I have learned that that's a big difference between Tex-Mex and Cali-Mex. Cali-Mex does not rely on cheese the way tex-mex does!! So if you ever find yourself in the mission district in san francisco, you won't be getting a ton of cheese :sad:

I think that's the reason I like Tex Mex so much, I need all the cheese!

Of course. You must get a choc chip cookie at the tollhouse store!

Yes! :thumbsup2

WHAT? Tollhouse is known for choc chip cookies, so you'd think that would not be something that happens. Like, shouldn't they be more prepared?? Or make them continuously throughout the day??

Exactly! That's what I was thinking!

Aw, that's disappointing! Not up to par pasta is really disappointing to me

It's so disappointing :sad2:
 
I Can't Eat That Much!
Aka Farmer's Table

This morning we were walking back to Little Italy for some brunch before we set off for our fox encounter. We had picked a place called Farmer's Table.

It was a cute little place:

There were so many things on the menu that looked good that I didn't know how I would choose. I thought maybe I'd get the Huevos Rancheros (I love Huevos Rancheros and I try to order them whenever I can), but I also really love bananas foster so I ultimately went with the:

BANANA FOSTER FRENCH TOAST
banana + brown sugar + rum


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I don't know if you can tell but this was another HUGE portion. The waitress mentioned that usually there seems to be less bananas on this dish so this particular one looked really good. It also tasted delicious! It didn't even need any syrup. The only thing was I couldn't even eat half of it before I got full :rotfl: So when the waitress came back she asked if everything was okay, and I was like yes I just can't eat that much :lmao:

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With a side of:

TRUFFLE ARUGULA PARMESAN POTATOES


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Not realizing how big the entree would be I had also ordered a side too. I hadn't expected the argula part to be more like a salad so I probably should've gone with the fries but the potatoes were still good. I love truffle on like anything but especially potatoes and mac and cheese :rotfl: These potatoes were truffle-y goodness, and I finished them all.



Josh got the:

CALI OMELET
fontina + local avocado + bacon + potatoes


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Josh loves omelets, and he thought this one was particularly good. He said the avocado on top was the freshest he had ever had. I tried a little of it too, and it was really good. I think I've got Josh hooked on avocado now :rotfl: when I first started eating it he didn't want to try it at all, but now he loves it. The dish also came with regular potatoes, and some fruit.

Overall this was a really good brunch. There were so many brunch places to choose from in San Diego, and I wish we had time to try more of them; but both of the ones we tried were delicious. I'd maybe give this one the overall edge because we both loved our meals, but the other place did have those magnificent churros so it's a hard choice :scratchin


 
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Holy cow that thing is humungous!!!

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This ended up being the only place I got churros (spoiler alert) so I'm glad I ended up getting them here. I was getting full, but I ate all of them. These were incredibly delicious. The only ones I've had that even come close are the ones at the Nomad Lounge. They were so good with the creme anglaise. :lovestruc
I cannot believe you went all the way to California and didn't get a churro at Disneyland. Glad these were good and all though. :-)

Overall I was disappointed in our choice because the meal and service weren't fantastic (we saw our waiter so little I can't even remember any details about him). There's so many restaurants in Little Italy, and I felt like we could've gone to a much better one. Josh said his meal was fine, and I guess I agree with that because it wasn't bad, it just wasn't anything special. I know I mentioned Bice above, and I definitely didn't think this meal would be on par with that when I was picking a place, but I kind of hoped I'd find a restaurant that could come close or even be as good as a more casual Italian chain like Vivo.
Sorry your meal was a bit of a bust. I'm actually surprised that San Diego even has a Little Italy. I guess they are everywhere but in my very naive brain the Italians never migrated past the mid-west :P


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I don't know if you can tell but this was another HUGE portion. The waitress mentioned that usually there seems to be less bananas on this dish so this particular one looked really good. It also tasted delicious! It didn't even need any syrup. The only thing was I couldn't even eat half of it before I got full :rotfl: So when the waitress came back she asked if everything was okay, and I was like yes I just can't eat that much :lmao:
Oh yum this looks and sounds amazing!

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Not realizing how big the entree would be I had also ordered a side too. I hadn't expected the argula part to be more like a salad so I probably should've gone with the fries but the potatoes were still good. I love truffle on like anything but especially potatoes and mac and cheese :rotfl: These potatoes were truffle-y goodness, and I finished them all.
But this is what I would totally order. I'm going to have to see if I can make something like that. Never miss an opportunity for truffle or arugula
 
I cannot believe you went all the way to California and didn't get a churro at Disneyland. Glad these were good and all though. :-)

I know! I wanted to get one, but ended up trying some other snacks. But I’m pretty sure these were better than any I’d get in the park so I don’t feel too bad that I didn’t get one.

Sorry your meal was a bit of a bust. I'm actually surprised that San Diego even has a Little Italy. I guess they are everywhere but in my very naive brain the Italians never migrated past the mid-west :P

I feel like everywhere seems to have one :rotfl: I live in a mostly Italian area, and we have kind of an unofficial one in our town so it’s always weird to me too.

Oh yum this looks and sounds amazing!

It was :P

The atmosphere looked so cute, indeed! And the food looked amazing! I'd have been all over that french toast ::yes::

It was! Everything sounded so good!
 
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Burger Heaven
Stacked: Food Well Built

So no one else will probably notice this, but from here on out the font is going to be a bit lighter :rotfl: I couldn't find an exact match for the color I had before since the update. Although now I can basically choose any color for future ones which is pretty cool. I really love the update though, everything looks awesome!

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So we had some choices for dinner tonight since we had skipped a few places when our flight was delayed. It was kind of rainy, and I decided I wanted to look around at the mall so we decided we'd do dinner at Stacked. It did sound like pretty average food, but we both like burgers and they had A LOT of GF options.

You have a waiter at Stacked, but you create your orders on a tablet. Since we could share basically everything get ready for a food overload!

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For apps we got:

A create your own Stacked mac

Bacon, GF pasta, extra cheese
Josh LOVED the mac and cheese. I don't know if we've ever been to a place recently where mac and cheese was an option for him (plain or otherwise). I thought it was pretty good too, the cheese was more of a cheesy sauce texture vs like a baked in thicker cheese, but as always I enjoy extra cheese. But whereas usually I don't think you can tell when pasta is gluten free, I did think you could tell with the noodles in this since they weren't as soft as I'd expect them to be but that might just be because of their shape.

& Fries
with Garlic Aioli and Ketchup

I feel like these were some pretty normal fries, but I enjoyed them a lot. They had a lot of fun choices for dipping sauces, and I got 2 that sounded good (the other coming up, it wasn't GF so it didn't come on this plate). I think the dipping sauces were what really made them delicious.

I got a:

Create your own Burger
Pretzel bun, smashed avocado, American cheese, bacon, fried egg
with a side of Shallot Mayo for the fries



This burger was delicious! (But sooo messy). I just think fried eggs are delicious on burgers, but when have you ever ordered a burger with a fried egg on it, and been able to eat it neatly? :rotfl:

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The only disappointment was the pretzel bun, it didn't really taste like pretzel bread or anything really. But I just want to emphasize what a small disappointment that was because everything else was perfect.

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I got the Shallot Mayo for the fries because I'd had a Shallot Mayo at the Crew Cup Lounge with the truffle fries and I remembered it being very good, but I hadn't seen it on a menu anywhere since. The menu says it has hints of mustard and sweet onion which doesn't sound like something I would like but somehow it worked together.

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This is the dipping sauce I mostly used for the fries.

Josh also got a:

Create your own Burger
GF bun, bacon, fried egg, Pepperjack cheese, srichia mayo, 2 patties
with (I'm guessing that's a side of ranch because he usually dips fries in ranch)



Josh also loved his burger, and his was also messy :rotfl: but I actually think his GF bun stayed together better than mine.


Overall we loved our meal at Stacked, and would definitely go back in the future if we were near one.

And next up we'll get to the Disneyland dining! :hyper:


 
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As I may have mentioned in the past I'm not a huge ice cream eater, but I did like this, and would go to a Salt & Straw again in the future. However I'm a little more basic about my ice cream flavors (chocolate or cake batter ones are usually what I go for) so I for that I prefer places like Cold Stone or Ample Hills.
I just tried the Salt & Straw at downtown Disney. Their chocolate brownie ice cream was delicious! Such awesome chunks of brownie! And a nice fresh waffle cone!
Overall we loved our meal at Stacked, and would definitely go back in the future if we were near one.
Glad you liked it too! The pizza was always my favorite!
 
Yum! I love a good burger and yours looked amazing. Is Stacked a chain in Cali only? I've never heard of it.

Yay! Excited to hear about your Disneyland food adventures!
 
Although now I can basically choose any color for future ones which is pretty cool. I really love the update though, everything looks awesome!
I love the updates as well. It took a little to get used it. But Def worth the down time.

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Josh LOVED the mac and cheese. I don't know if we've ever been to a place recently where mac and cheese was an option for him (plain or otherwise). I thought it was pretty good too, the cheese was more of a cheesy sauce texture vs like a baked in thicker cheese, but as always I enjoy extra cheese. But whereas usually I don't think you can tell when pasta is gluten free, I did think you could tell with the noodles in this since they weren't as soft as I'd expect them to be but that might just be because of their shape.
This does look amazing! And I am sure a treat for Josh!

Create your own Burger
Pretzel bun, smashed avocado, American cheese, bacon, fried egg
with a side of Shallot Mayo for the fries

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This looks AMAZING!!!!!

This burger was delicious! (But sooo messy). I just think fried eggs are delicious on burgers, but when have you ever ordered a burger with a fried egg on it, and been able to eat it neatly? :rotfl:
I actually don't think I have had a burger with egg on it. I think I need to try it sometime!
 
I just tried the Salt & Straw at downtown Disney. Their chocolate brownie ice cream was delicious! Such awesome chunks of brownie! And a nice fresh waffle cone!

Ooo that flavor sounds delicious. The one we went to had a lot of floral flavors, and I kind of wanted to get a more chocolate-y one.

Yum! I love a good burger and yours looked amazing. Is Stacked a chain in Cali only? I've never heard of it.

I had to google it, but yes! It looks like they have 5 locations and their only in Cali.

Yay! Excited to hear about your Disneyland food adventures!

Coming right up :thumbsup2

I actually don't think I have had a burger with egg on it. I think I need to try it sometime!

Yes try it! It's always so messy, but so worth it!
 
Overall I was disappointed in our choice because the meal and service weren't fantastic (we saw our waiter so little I can't even remember any details about him). There's so many restaurants in Little Italy, and I felt like we could've gone to a much better one. Josh said his meal was fine, and I guess I agree with that because it wasn't bad, it just wasn't anything special. I know I mentioned Bice above, and I definitely didn't think this meal would be on par with that when I was picking a place, but I kind of hoped I'd find a restaurant that could come close or even be as good as a more casual Italian chain like Vivo.
That's such a bummer, I feel like not special Italian is always a let down. We still want to try Bice or Vivo (or both! And also Il Mulino! Wait... just had a thought for when we could maybe work in Il Mulino in a few weeks...)
Roasting strawberries does something truly magical.
When I first started reading this I thought this was you, and was like wow she feels very strongly about roasting strawberries :rotfl:
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This has to be one of the creepiest gifs I've ever seen.
I don't know if you can tell but this was another HUGE portion. The waitress mentioned that usually there seems to be less bananas on this dish so this particular one looked really good. It also tasted delicious! It didn't even need any syrup. The only thing was I couldn't even eat half of it before I got full :rotfl:
But it looks soooo goooooddddd.
I couldn't find an exact match for the color I had before since the update.
This was bothering me a bit on one of my posts lol. I'm too OCD. But I think I like the updates overall - I'm a creature of habit and don't like change :P
Josh LOVED the mac and cheese.
YUM.

I will most definitely be referencing your dining report for our next Cali trip. Actually, I kind of want to book a weekend in San Diego just to eat at all of the places you've mentioned :rotfl:
 
That's such a bummer, I feel like not special Italian is always a let down. We still want to try Bice or Vivo (or both! And also Il Mulino! Wait... just had a thought for when we could maybe work in Il Mulino in a few weeks...)

Ooo yes both are so good! I actually think we’re doing both in Sep. I’ve been meaning to get to Il Mulino too, and so far Samantha and I are planning to go there on our trip in 2 weeks!

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This has to be one of the creepiest gifs I've ever seen.

I once found a super creepy gif of a laughing moon but this tops it.

Omg why was this made? Does this come up when you type in “haha” or “strawberry” somewhere? Why does this strawberry have human features and teeth? Where is it’s other eye? :rotfl:

I feel like it was being tortured by another humanoid strawberry, got his revenge, and has now been driven insane and is just laying there laughing. I have no idea why that’s what came to mind but it’s so creepy

This was bothering me a bit on one of my posts lol. I'm too OCD. But I think I like the updates overall - I'm a creature of habit and don't like change :P

Lol same. I overall like the update (it was so hard to use on my phone before), but I’m very specific about my post formatting.

I will most definitely be referencing your dining report for our next Cali trip. Actually, I kind of want to book a weekend in San Diego just to eat at all of the places you've mentioned :rotfl:

There were so many places that looked good that we didn’t get to go to that I would go back. I also have a list of more places we didn’t get to go to, and some places that seemed good but weren’t as gluten friendly if you want any ideas. They were basically all across San Diego and I looked at some in LA too although in Anaheim I stuck mostly with DL.
 

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