The Chart House, Dana Point

July 3, 2015July 3, 2015 / Sam / Leave a comment

Me and the boyfriend have been living in South Orange County for about 4 years now, and I must say we have been blessed being surrounded by so much great food! At first it was an adjustment not having all of our Applebee’s 2 for $20 deals around us. But we quickly got over that!

Last summer 2 of our best friends held their wedding reception at the Chart House, it was absolutely beautiful! I knew the view would be amazing but O.M.G. was the view Amazing!!! And the food was perf!! Every year on our Anniversary BF always goes out of his way to take us somewhere special. Usually somewhere fancy that we can dress up and eat amazing food. Last year was the Ritz (definitely recommend trying it) and this year since we loved the food we had at the wedding, he decided on the Chart House!

You know you’re in a nice place when they give you custom menu’s wishing you a happy anniversary! It was a nice touch!

We decided to start the night off with a bottle of wine. We got a cab called “Snap Dragon” it was very good and paired nicely with everything we had.

For an Appetizer we decided to try the soup sampler which had gazpacho, lobster bisque and clam chowder (Didn’t get a picture of it sorry). The gazpacho was good but if you have never had it, its served cold. It reminds us of salsa lol. So while it was good, we like our soup hot so it was our least favorite of the 3. The lobster bisque was probably my favorite, it was so buttery tasting and had soo much lobster! The clam chowder was also super delicious and they did not skimp on the clams either.

For our main dishes I got the slow roasted free range chicken which is fennel and thyme brined and came with Yukon gold mashed potatoes, asparagus and au jus. BF got the swordfish with lemon shallot butter and came with rice and veggies. We also decided to share a side of mushrooms. YUM!

Chicken

Swordfish

Side of Mushrooms

Let me just tell you, these pictures do not do justice to how amazing it all tasted! And those mushrooms…. wow! I am tempted to go back right now just writing about it! The chicken dish was paired so lovely. The sauce, the brine, the potatoes omg! And the mushrooms were so buttery and garlicy… are you drooling? you should be. Every flavor of each dish paired so nicely.

For dessert they only have 1 signature dessert which was the Hot Chocolate Lava Cake. “Rich, warm cake with molten center, made with Godiva® liqueur. Topped with chocolate sauce, Heath® bar crunch and vanilla ice cream.” That was taken straight from the menu. yeah, it was as good as it sounds..

This desert takes 30 mins to make, so we had to order it in advance. We were already pretty full by the time we got it but that did NOT stop us from devouring it all! (guilty face) haha.

And that was our meal at the Chart House in Dana Point. They have lots of locations all over the U.S. so if you have the opportunity to eat there near you I definitely recommend it! At the wedding we tried a bunch of their appetizers; the coconut crunchy shrimp, Chilled lobster and shrimp spring rolls, and the wicked tuna. All of them were absolutely delicious!!

Here is a little snap of us at the wedding with the amazing view of the Dana Point Harbor

Have you been to any of the Chart House locations before? What did you get? I would love to hear all about it!

Cheers! ♥

My Trip to Washington

May 21, 2015May 21, 2015 / Sam / 3 Comments

I’m not going to lie, I never thought Washington would be one of the states that would steal my heart… But it did. The fact 2 of my best friends live there definitely helped, but being born and raised in Southern California all I could think about was how GREEN and beautiful it was!

These pictures were taken at a place called Deception Pass, where we went hiking through all the beautiful trees.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE coffee. Coffee is the best, so of course when you’re in Washington you must try a coffee house! We went to a coffee house called Waterfront Coffee Company in a city called Edmonds. They had the coolest names for their sizes so I had to take a picture!

Of course no good coffee house comes without an awesome talented barista who makes your coffee look beautiful like this

Besides coffee, my other favorite thing is of course food. So I told my friends while I was there I wanted 2 things… a good food place and some good beer! They did NOT disappoint! In Seattle there is this small little place called Beth’s Café. OH MY GOODNESS, if you ever go to Seattle you HAVE to go there! Unfortunately I was so excited to try the food that I forgot to take a picture of it, but the place is so unique that I got a couple pictures of it to share with you all. When you walk into the café you are instantly surrounded by walls and walls of colorful pictures. And when you get sat at your table, your host gives you menu’s, a stack of plain white paper, and some crayons. I’m not creative but I did draw some fun Harry Potter references. As for the food I got what’s called a “Northsider” which was Cheddar, swiss, and american cheeses, Chili, and onions piled onto a large mound of hash browns, topped with tomatoes. Served with sour cream and salsa. If your a vegetarian or like the occasional “non meat dish” they offer a vegetarian chili that is AMAZING!

Seattle is also one of the homes to the Pyramid Brewery. A few years back me and my boyfriend visited the one in San Francisco and it was really good, so I thought I would see what Seattle’s location had to offer.

My favorite was the Blackberry Rye. It was one of their special only served in house beers so I bought a growler to take home with me!

Also in Seattle there is a bar that serves tons of craft beers, its called Uber Tavern. This place was also very unique because all of their tables had board games molded onto them! I went in the fall so they had this pumpkin spice ale from a brewery in New York. Really Delicious!

Drinking beer and playing scrabble, it was a fun night out! (even though I lost)

The last part of my trip was walking around and exploring downtown Seattle. We went to the fist Starbucks at Pike Place, and did the underground tour. Sam’s are very popular in Seattle.

And that was my trip to Washington! The green, the gloomy weather, the good food, coffee, beer, sites, friends…. it was all just amazing. And the people are so nice! I can’t wait to go back!

Have you visited Seattle or other cities in Washington? What places did you go to? What are some other must see/try places? Leave a comment I’d love to hear about your experiences!

The Riders Club Cafe – San Clemente, California

May 21, 2015May 21, 2015 / Sam / Leave a comment

What better way to start off this blog than to start off at one of my FAVORITE local spots! I moved to South Orange County 4 years ago and its never disappointed on great places to eat. But this spot is the top place I recommend people as it is home to the BEST Burger I have EVER HAD!

Yep, that’s right. BEST. BURGER. EVER!

The Riders Club Cafe is a small local spot in San Clemente, California. They use quality ingredients (which is proven in every bite) and is made fresh there. The Burgers are big, the buns are soft, the toppings are exquisite. Everything about this burger is just plain delicious. If you don’t eat beef they do offer other options such as chicken, veggie patty, and my other favorite… the Portobello mushroom burger. Each item comes with your choice of kettle chips or house pickled beets. For the Beer lovers… they keep a small collection of craft beers on tap that are always changing. Burgers and Beer for lunch? YES PLEASE!!