Ask the concierge first

September 16, 2008 · Filed Under Ranting, mo30dc2008 · Comments 

I’m currently on a business trip in Santa Barbara. It’s my first time in Santa Barbara and finding a place to have a nice dinner was one of the first things I had to do once I arrived. I had spent some time walking around the pier and I found what looked to be a decent restaurant called Moby Dick Restaurant. After I was finished exploring, I returned to my hotel, changed clothes and headed back to the pier for dinner. The view from the restaurant was amazing. It overlooked the harbor, and at sunset, the it was absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, that’s the best thing I can say about my dinner. My meal was overpriced ($40 for a steak, 4 shrimp, chowder and a soda) and not very good.

Tonight I went out to dinner with my coworker and his family. Since they had their small child with them, I figured letting them choose the place to eat was the wise thing to do. As we drove up State Street, we passed a place called The Original Enterprise Fish Company. After a little navigational fun trying to find their parking lot, we went inside. I had a very good swordfish dinner that was under $30 including chowder, a salad and soda. As we were finishing up dinner, I was telling the waitress my meal was so much better than the previous night. She asked us if we had ever eaten at Brophy’s. We said we hadn’t and she went on to tell us that most people choose Brophy’s over Enterprise stating that their clam chowder is excellent.

As I returned to the hotel and walked through the lobby, I stopped by the concierge and without giving him any other details I simply asked, “If you are going out to dinner, would you rather go to Brophy’s or Enterprise?” He takes no time at all to explain, “Definitely Brophy’s.” Duly noted, I know where I’m eating tomorrow night.

Had I asked the concierge prior to dinner on the first night, I’d have skipped the tourist trap meal on the first night. Thankfully I wised up and asked before it’s too late. I expect my final dinner in Santa Barbara to be much better than my first. If it’s not, believe me, I’ll let you know.

I wrote a review of Moby Dick Restaurant on Yelp.com. You can read it here.

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Enjoying more family and some sillyness

December 24, 2007 · Filed Under Entertainment, Family · Comments 

Last night was to be our last night in California before heading back home to celebrate Christmas at our place. We, of course, had dinner at Captain Kidd’s again. That makes 3 meals at Kidd’s in about 25 hours. Did I mention I like that place?

At dinner we met up with my cousin, her boyfriend and her son. I haven’t seen them in quite some time. It’s either been 5 or 8 years. We aren’t sure exactly which. Since her son is currently 10, he’s grown QUITE a lot since we last saw him. Amazing how time flies. It was nice to hang out with them, even if it was only for an hour or two.

Let me share some photos with you from the weekend:

My sister the luchador 

This was my sister wearing a luchador sweatshirt. It zips all the way up the front over your face. It has mesh for eye holes so you can still see. It’s painted like a luchador mask. She works on the docks so she said it would keep her face nice and warm. Sadly, we weren’t able to talk her in to buying it. A shame.

Nice Outfit, Lady 

We passed this lady as we returned home this morning. I could not pass up taking a shot of her wearing sweats and a leopard print jacket. Apparently she doesn’t own a single mirror.

And finally, my personal favorite…

Ass gasket tucked in the back of her pants 

While at lunch yesterday, we saw a lady who had an ass gasket (the piece of paper you put down on the toilet seat to keep the germs off your bum) tucked in to the back of her pants. I walked over, snapped the photo and returned to our table.

We had a great time in California hanging out with family. I hope we can do it again soon.

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Family Dinner at Captain Kidd’s

December 22, 2007 · Filed Under Family · Comments 

If you know me even a little bit, you probably know that my family owns a fish market / restaurant in Redondo Beach, California named Captain Kidd’s and, despite the fact that I worked there for over 11 years, it is still my favorite place in the world to eat. Every time we head to California to see family, our first stop is always Captain Kidd’s.

We left Vegas about 2pm and arrived at Kidd’s around 6:30. My grandma was already there, and my sister showed up a few minutes later with her three kids. My mom and dad would show up a while later. We are in California pretty rarely, so it’s always nice to meet up at the restaurant with the family for dinner.

Dinner was awesome, as usual. My wife had a Pacific lobster and I had shark, scallops and shrimp. Oh, that’s after I had a bowl of clam chowder. Yum, it was so good.

After dinner we exchanged Christmas gifts and took a bunch of pictures. After a couple hours at the restaurant the kids were all getting pretty restless. We headed back to my sister’s place. With the 200 mile distance between us, my kids don’t get a lot of chances to play with their cousins, so it’s nice that they get to spend an evening playing games with them.

Tomorrow we’ll head back to Captain Kidd’s for lunch. The rest of the day is sorta up in the air right now. As for dinner plans, I’ll see what I can do about getting us back to Kidd’s one more time.

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