2 parts Beefeater 24
1 part Black and Brown Syrup*
½ part Orange juice
1 Black Mission Fig
2 Sprigs of Thyme

Muddle 2 sprigs worth of thyme leaves and 1 black mission fig. Shake ingredients heavily and double strain over ice in an old fashioned glass. Garnish with a smacked thyme sprig stuck in half a fig set on the rim of the glass.

*To make syrup: Combine 2 cups water and 5 crushed cinnamon sticks and bring to boil for 10 min. Let steep for 10 more min and strain off cinnamon. Add ¾ cup of white sugar and stir until dissolved. Then steep 12 black tea bags for 20 minutes. Cool and use.

Pear Margarita
Courtesy of Little Dom’s

1 ½ oz. D'Anjou Pear Puree
1 ½ oz. El Jimador Blanco
½ oz. Lemon
¾ oz. Simple Syrup

Shake together all ingredients with ice. Pour into a nine ounce bucket and garnish with a thin slice of pear on top.

Mulled Gin / Hot Gin Punch
Created by London mixologist Nick Strangeway

1 part Beefeater 24TM
2 parts full bodied red wine
1 teaspoon honey
Orange slice
Lemon slice
Orange peel stuck with cloves
1 cinnamon stick
Heat all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer till honey has dissolved. Pour into a toddy glass and drink whilst still warm.

*The above recipe serves 1. For greater numbers just multiply the ingredients by the number of people you wish to serve.

Sweet Dream

1 oz OCEAN Vodka
1oz Baileys
1oz Tuaca
2oz heavy cream

Place all ingredients in a shaker with ice, bruise and pour into a martini glass rimmed with caramel syrup

Season's Greetings

1 ½ oz OCEAN Vodka
1 oz pear nectar
Splash of fresh orange juice

Place all ingredients into a shaker with ice, bruise and garnish with an orange twist

Photo of Cinnamon Rise courtesy of Zacapa Rum/Used with permission

Comment Below!

The crowd is mostly Hispanic and young Koreans, and there is indoor/outdoor dining (fancy!). If you want to buy your pirated DVD's, he's usually around at night. There is another location in Azusa, and one opening in Pomona on Arrow Highway on December 3rd. For more information about store hours and directions, click here. How much will it cost you? 5.50 (tax included). My friend and I had two plates plus two sodas for 13.60. I should also mention that my dining companion took half of her plate and finished it later in the day. It travels pretty well so feel free to pick up a few and take some home for the family. Before you go back to your car, be sure to drop off some change to the homeless guy. It's still cheaper than eating anywhere else.

Dino's Chicken and Burgers
2575 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles 90006

Two chefs working Gobi's sizzling griddle

Check it out if you are a fan of the cuisine and of the 'hood. It seems to be one of the only non-chain restaurants billing itself as serving the "Mongolian" style of barbecue this side of Burbank.

Gobi Mongolian BBQ
2827 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles (corner of Silver Lake Blvd.)

1 Cup Mayonnaise
1 Tsp. Grated Lemon Peel
2 Tsp. Fresh Lemon Juice
2 Tsp. Finely Minced Onion
1/2 Tsp. Salt
2-3 Cooked, Diced Chicken Breasts (Confession: We used pre-cooked chicken from Trader Joe's and it worked just fine.)
1 Cup Chopped Celery
1 Cup Sliced, Toasted Almonds
3/4 Cup Grated Sharp Cheddar
1 Cup Crushed Potato Chips

Blend mayonnaise, lemon peel, onion, salt and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl. Mix in chicken, celery, almonds, and 1/3 of the cheddar cheese. Transplant mixture into a 6-cup or 1.5 Liter casserole dish. Sprinkle remaining cheese and potato chips on top. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until piping hot.

Serves 4 if paired with sides, 2 if you load up your plates and get after it.

When asked about what exactly made fries "Greek" our server obliged by telling us they were "really good" and had "spices" on them. When tasted, unfortunately, in addition to confirming the "spices" as oregano, it seems "Greek" stands for undercooked. The fries were overly firm and clammy on the inside with a wan, meek, and floppy consistency. The onion rings were nicely cooked, however, and were probably the best of the trio, as the Sweet Potato Chips were good lookin' but just a bit flaccid and mealy--no snap whatsoever in these chips.

Oddly enough, though, we ate pretty much all of our sides as appetizers. Why? Because at some point our server decided to never come back for our meal order. Long after our third guest had been seated (before apps arrived), ordered and served a beer, and all sides consumed, we finally flagged down our server. We'd had a long time to peruse the menu's offerings, which has a decent variety of burger options, although they've been given vaguely racist names--the "Goombah" is the Italian-inspired burger, and "Charlie" the Asian-inspired veggie burger. For one of us, the toppings on the Greek-inspired chicken burger had the most appeal, but the request to have the same preparation made to a beef burger was totally shot down. Shades of Father's Office? The server explained that Stout's philosophy was that there would be no substitutions or additions to their offerings; you can take off an item, but nothing else. This is to ensure you eat the burgers the way the Chef wants, and so that you're encouraged to do the beer pairing the menu suggests.

So we went with three items as-is ($10 each, a la carte): The Six Weeker (Brie, fig jam, arugula and caramelized onions), the Bollywood (Veggie burger with chutney mayo, roasted tomato, cheddar, and arugula), and the Imperialist (cheddar, ketchup, relish, mustard, and roasted tomato). Our server actually asked us if we'd like sides with our burgers, obviously forgetting we'd just consumed three of them. Off she went. And then we waited. And waited. And waited*. Finally we spotted what appeared to be our order in the hands of someone who'd emerged from the kitchen.

Just a stone's throw away from our table he consulted our server, who was gesturing in the direction of another table. "Those are ours!" we cried out, waving him over. After all that time, it seemed they couldn't even match up the order to the table! They also need some work in learning how to carry two of their melamine plates at the same time; I had the man delivering my Six Weeker (named for how long it takes to get a burger?) stop to wipe off a giant unappetizing gloop of the Bollywood that was hanging off the bottom of my plate. He complied, and then asked "Ma'am, did you want me to bring you a new one?" I'm not going to lie, I said the first thing that came to mind: "No thanks, I don't have another two hours."

So how did the burgers taste? Decent, but not crave or rave worthy. The burger was a decent size--not 25 Degrees giant or Umami small--made to look a little smaller because of its isolation on the beige, nursing home-styled plate. We'd been given zero choice as to how we wanted the meat cooked, so the Imperialist's intended medium was accurate in one half, but more well-done in the other half. The buns were buttery, but seemed to stick to the roof of my mouth and, in fact, fill my mouth with an overwhelming presence in each bite. The toppings on the Six Weeker were well-matched and pleasing, although I did pull some onion pieces out that were the more papery skin kind. The Bollywood, a quinoa and black bean vegetarian patty, was reported as being good, with a shrug by its owner. The Imperialist was like a gourmet version of a basic kid's cheeseburger, oozing with supermarket condiments.

By the time all was said and done, we'd clocked in over 2 hours at Stout. Had we been beer-soaked bar-hopping wee hours diners, it might not have been such an issue. Instead, we were weekday, lunch hour, meter-feeding diners for whom timing is more of a sticking point. Considering Stout is brand-spanking new, maybe this little spanking will help them tighten up and get to where they need to be in order to compete with the many other nearby (and farther-flung) restaurants for whom great beer selection and burger offerings is their calling card. In the meantime, Stout, for crying out loud--at least get a working phone and a website!

Stout
1544 N Cahuenga Blvd, Hollywood

*We were in good company; the meat delivery man arrived with his dolly loaded with boxes (yup, right through the center of the restaurant during lunch hour) and waited, and waited, and waited outside. We passed him when we went out to re-feed the parking meter.

While the menu is resplendent in small plates of charcuterie ideal for sharing, we opted to just get one item apiece: Their rich, beefy, filling French Onion Soup ($8) which satisfied as a meal in itself, and the delightful and seasonal Endive, Goat Cheese and Persimmon salad ($10) punctuated with the sweet crunch of candied pecans and had sumptuous bites of some of the most spectacular goat cheese we've been served.

Although our evening provided us with just a taste of what Mercantile offers, it was enough to signal a wish to make many return visits to try not only other dinner menu items, but check out their lunchtime offerings and their marketplace take-out items as well. We're keeping our eyes on the next-door spot, too; District is a companion eatery of sorts and will offer up "seasonal bistro fare and inventive cocktails," we're looking forward to checking out.

Barbara Treves' Forever Favourite Apple Pie won 1st Place in Fruit & Nut and Best in Show! (Photo via KCRW's Good Food Blog)

Barbara Treves' Forever Favourite Apple Pie

Crust
1-1/2 C organic whole wheat pastry flour
1 C unbleached, organic all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1 T vanilla powder
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
3 T sugar
1-1/4 C sweet butter, unsalted (freshly made if possible)
1 T white vinegar, chilled
6 – 8 T ice water

Measure out all dry ingredients, combine and place in freezer, keep butter & liquid ingredients in refrigerator for at least one hour prior to preparation.

When ready, add dry ingredients to food processor and pulse to mix thoroughly. Add butter cubes and pulse until mixture resembles pea-sized meal. Add vinegar, pulse to mix then add ice water, 1 T at a time, until dough begins to stick together and when pinched by hand, holds together. Remove from processor and transfer to work surface. Divide the dough into two equal parts and gently form into balls, and wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Filling

4 T sweet butter
12 organic apples from local farmers market (mixture of Granny Smith, Fuji or other tart, crisp apples the best) – peeled, cored and sliced.
1 vanilla bean, split seeds scraped
1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves
1 C organic sugar
4 T organic, unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
¼ C apple cider vinegar
½ C dried, sour cherries, soaked in ¼ C Calvados for at least 2 hours

Filling Preparation

Mix all dry ingredients, including vanilla bean seeds together. Add 2 T of this dry mixture to roasting pan, along with peeled and sliced apples. Place under broiler and broil until apples are slightly browned but not cooked through. Once nicely browned, remove and add rest of the ingredients, except butter.
Adding Filling to Pie Dough

Chill pie plate while you roll out 1 of the dough discs on a lightly floured surface until you get a disc that measure slightly larger than your pie plate and about 1/8 “– ¼” thick. Pull out pie plate and gently place rolled out dough in plate.

Add broiled apples mixture, then dot with 4 T butter. Roll out 2nd disc into a circle about 1/8” – ¼” thick and place on top of apples. Pinch top and bottom dough edges together and form a decorative edge.

Final Topping
1 egg
1 T Cream
Turbinado Coarse Raw Sugar

Beat the egg and cream together in a small dish then brush top and edges of pie with mixture, sprinkle with sugar.

Bake

400 degrees for 45 mins. Cover edges of pie with aluminum foil if starting to brown too quickly. Turn pie in oven and cook an additional 15 mins. or until done.

Cool for at least two hours prior to serving.

Shortly after the show ended, they approached Saad with the concept of him doing a web series about spices for the home cook. So who's been--or should be--tuning in online? "I want it to be everybody," admits Saad. "Anybody from 20-60 who just wants to be inspired through food," he suggests. The webisodes really allow the viewer to experience food through spices, he explains. For those who find spices to be overwhelming, Saad hopes he can help people use spices to transcend borders in cooking. By learning how to use a few spices you can "taste the world without having to learn 100 cuisines."

Unlocking the mystery of spices is the concept of a book Saad is working on, aimed at giving home cooks insight into single or combined spices that will relieve the pressure many people feel hit with in the kitchen when it comes to spices. "You don't need to know everything," Saad assures, "A few combinations can make it easier." He hopes to be able to provide readers with charts that break down "the holy [spice] trios of every cuisine" and a "cheat sheet to basic flavor profiles" so that making an Indian or Chinese-inspired meal at home can be less of a struggle. [Check out this Spice Smuggler Food Network video to learn how to make a 5 Spice Stir Fry with Chicken]

Of course, just the word "spice" conjures up for many a trek through mysterious aisles and shop walls lined with jars filled with the exotic and the unknown. Sure, there are indeed a plethora of global flavors to sample, but Saad's aim is slightly more realistic. "I want to create recipes for the ten most common spices that you walk by the grocery store," he explains. "If you’re willing to buy these ten spices, I'll have for you 3-5 recipes per spice."

Take for example something we might see winking at us from the shelves of our neighborhood grocery story like 5 Spice. It just so happens that one blend will give you an "unbelievable depth of flavor" that's just like a "taste of China." 5 Spice is the flavor of a dish like Peking Duck, where chefs use it to create that sweet external coating. Saad, however, would ideally inspire you to give it a shot by tossing it with some shrimp, and serving it alongside some spicy cabbage slaw you can marinate quickly right on your countertop. Saad recently prepared these Shrimp Sliders, and shared the recipe on his blog. If you're brave enough to give something like 5 spice a shot, suddenly there's one less spice to be intimidated by, and you'll open up your meals to a whole new level of flavor. "If you buy 5 spice you’ll really feel like you’re cooking!"

For Angelenos, we're lucky to be able to encounter spices not just in the bright aisles of a Ralphs or Vons, but rather in ethnic neighborhood markets and specialty shops. Saad and his family have lived in Los Angeles for a few years now, and he is particularly loyal to Santa Monica's Penzeys for spices. "They have everything. Each jar you can open and smell, from the sample jar in front of the stack. It's so neat to be able to smell it, touch, it, experience it, and buy it. If you live in Los Angeles it can be your one stop."

Saad explains that his method isn't necessarily to "do anything authentic," however. He's not creating traditional recipes that would match what would be served at an ethnic restaurant, but rather he's creating world cuisine by simply blending spices like those he finds at the supermarket or spice shop and with ingredients he finds when he makes a regular visit to a farmers' market, like Santa Monica's Wednesday market.

Saad does a live demo as part of the celebration of farmers' markets in Los Angeles (Lindsay William-Ross/LAist)

We do have an abundance of remarkable produce available to us here in Los Angeles, particularly at the many weekly farmers' markets (Saad also took part in this summer's celebration of LA's farmers markets), but is Los Angeles a culinary city? Recently, on Saad's blog, he mentioned that on a recent rip to New York City he felt he could truly "eat without borders" there. "Los Angeles is tricky because it’s so big and there’s so much—yet because of that it’s really hard. You have to be a really dedicated foodie to track it all down, and people tend to stick to their own neighborhood," he observes. "There’s nothing you can’t get here, it just depends how much energy to you want to put into it."

When it comes to food, many believe L.A. suffers from an internal identity crisis, but is perceived by those on the outside as being all about flash and trend. This perspective can also influence how residents feel about the local dining scene. "I don’t know what LA wants to be known for," reflects Saad. "As a local I still feel like it’s a gem when I discover a little cool spot. You’re more likely to have people talking about a big name restaurant than a funky pho spot in Van Nuys."

But whether you follow trends, seek out food-ventures, or stick to your own zip code, one of the great things that seems to be happening now is a growing "culture" of food. Saad attributes this in part to the Food Network and the people there who are doing such a great job of making cooking and eating more exciting. When it comes to a show like The Next Food Network Star, Saad sees that momentum as emblematic of the food movement as a whole. "I think Season 6 is going to be even bigger," he predicts. "The tidal wave is still cresting."

For Saad, his personal momentum has been growing since he was little. He explains that he learned early on that "you need to eat to live," so he decided that it "better be a darn good journey." That journey right now in America seems to be about the curious crossroads of global and local. " I think the cool irony is that at the same time it’s about being being super local, palates and tastes are worldwide. We're increasingly knowing about world flavors but using local ingredients." As a result, Americans are achieving a pretty incredible food feat: "Global in flavor, local in sourcing."

Bringing the world closer to home is being more readily achieved thanks in part to technology, which Saad seems to be embracing. "I think we all live in a blessed world. Being in a big city--for me there’s no such thing as 'I can’t find an ingredient.' We can Google sources and have [items] delivered to your doorstep."

Promo shot from this summer's Season 5 of The Next Food Network Star

There is that level of interaction with our environment, but there's also the incredible connectivity afforded to us thanks to blogging and social networking. "Food information is the new fast food," declares Saad, who is a blogger, and is on both Facebook and Twitter. "The availability of information is challenging us cooks to make it interesting," he explains, noting that with something like Twitter people are able to disseminate details about food or restaurants in an instant.

The future involves food and technology for certain, but the future is now for those of us who are going to be in the kitchen this week making Thanksgiving feasts for family and friends. "Being a food person, I’ve never been a big turkey fan," Saad confesses. "Turkey is the least return on efforts, although I love [turkey as the] symbolic item." But turkey still makes an appearance on his Thanksgiving table, mainly because his Iranian-born and Rome-raised wife insists on having it.

For Saad, however, Thanksgiving isn't just about family, it's also about friends, and the experience of sitting down to eat in good company. It also means it can be a great opportunity to introduce an element of adventure to the traditional meal. This is where Saad's spice savvy comes into play. "I’m the guy who wants to do that additional thing," he explains. Not eschewing the expected holiday flavors, Saad wants to encourage cooks at this time of year to look for ways to make food that lets "you taste the same flavor profiles you want to taste during the holidays, but in a more interesting way."

Saad's blog offers lots of suggestions for ways to spice up the holiday table, like a Non-Stuffy Stuffing or a Fall Risotto. But that doesn't mean he's endorsing abandoning everything traditional! A cook who wants to shake things up a little bit can "just start with one thing," he suggests.

Some ideas? "Try something like 5 Spice. Put it on some butternut squash or pumpkin along with olive oil and salt and roast it, then drizzle it with some spiced cream--you can make cinnamon cream, or stir chipotle into sour cream." The result is a spicy, sweet side dish that's "holiday-esque." And there's always fun with the leftovers. "Throw a scoop of those with some mushrooms into a taco for the next day," Saad offers.

Spice up turkey with a harissa-flavored cranberry sauce (Photo via Jeffrey Saad's website)

And what about the post-Thanksgiving future for Saad? Right now it's possible the Food Network will make the call to order more "Spice Smuggler" webisodes, and Saad is working on putting together material for his book, and he is busy making appearances where he can showcase his culinary and hosting skills. Those abilities shone recently at the Los Angeles Magazine Food Event, where Saad served as co-host in the demonstration tent and make both the chefs onstage and the audience feel right at home.

Saad says he enjoys both hosting and preparing food for an audience, and sees himself doing either or both completely on television someday--hopefully soon. He thrives on the energy of and interaction with a live audience, and recalls that in his involvement in the restaurant industry he's always preferred being the guy out of the kitchen and in the dining room, engaging with people and answering questions. "If I can be talking about food I’m inspired and excited. I can’t stand the kitchen--I've got to be out there talking to the customers. At the end of the day that’s what it’s all about."

Angelenos can see what it's all about for Saad next month when he opens for the Food Network's Guy Fieri, who is doing a food "roadshow" that stops in L.A. December 17th at the Gibson Ampitheater in Universal City. Saad describes Fieri's event as a "food concert" that is "changing food," due to its "over the top entertainment" qualities. As the opening act, Saad will be doing a live "Spice Smuggler" demo onstage.

Even if you can't make it to the show, you'll likely being Saad on your small screen and on the shelves of your local bookstore. And hopefully you'll be inspired to spice things up in your own cooking, too!

The Guy Fieri Roadshow with Jeffrey Saad is December 17th at the Gibson Ampitheater (tickets). Watch Saad's "Spice Smuggler" web series via the Food Network.

Our brunch cocktails arrived fairly soon after, and included a refreshing and brisk Bloody Mary for some, and other champagne cocktails for others, like a crisp Rose Kava, and a very understated (read: not really any flavor) Bellini. For the bargain price of free and unlimited however, we felt victorious and appreciative. Cheers!

But we were also hungry. As we sipped our drinks a few things began to happen as time wore on. First, we grew restless staring at both the menus that still sat before us and the pretty spectacular dessert buffet that faced two-thirds of our table. Then we grew indecisive about our eventual order. Then most of us decided we should start dessert first, since we'd long swallowed our tasty bread slices and gotten about halfway through our drinks, and had yet to order. Yes, it was nearly 40 minutes into our meal and we hadn't even ordered yet. There's leisurely, and then there's just plain long.

In order to get our server back to us we had to call over the older gentleman who seemed to be in charge of the shenanigans (we witnessed multiple times his frantic and dismayed walk from the hostess stand to the kitchen and his hand-waving chagrin when the ice cream at the dessert bar was down to a melty puddle). Eventually our server came over, and minus any sort of pleasantries or offer to help us choose or answer questions (and really, at this point that sort of good service would have been just for show since we could probably have taken an exam on the menu at this point, they'd been sitting in front of us for so long) took our orders.

For most of us the appetizer course was their seafood salad, which is a generously-portioned romaine salad mixed with bites of calamari, crab, and prawns and just a tiny bit too dressed in a mustard-heavy cream dressing reminiscent of a Caesar. Others at the table sampled a fresh tomato and mozzarella salad, a smoked salmon plate that had a perplexing tofu-based cream cheese, and a beet salad. The beet salad, mind you, was another Casa del Mix-up, when the diner was served an Eggs Benedict in its stead (an entree) as the rest of us were served our appetizers. First, find a server. Next, inquire why you didn't get your beet salad but someone else's entree. Then, wait for your salad. Luckily it didn't take too long, but, remember that entree. It might come back to the table later. In the meantime, good luck getting a twist of fresh-ground pepper for your salad; no one will come to your table to offer such a thing.

The pacing and taste of the meal proved to be on par and enjoyable when it came to the actual serve-and-eat segment. We didn't have to wait long after our appetizer plates were taken to be served our entrees. At our table were a few different selections from the menu's breakfast and lunch offerings, with a few of us opting to try the Eggs Benedict, a few the Lobster Club sandwich, one Skirt Steak and Frites, and one name-your-ingredients omelet.

Remember we asked you to keep that premature Eggs Benedict in mind? Well, we're pretty sure the Casa del Mar waitstaff and kitchen did, too, because it seems likely that the very same plate was kept aside for our table and returned to us at entree time. This is because it didn't take yours truly more than a moment to notice that piled upon the very hot plate was some very lukewarm-to-downright cold food. A tap of the yolk on the poached eggs didn't yield a warm, yellow gush, but rather a firm jiggle and a clammy feel. "Feel my eggs!" was the invitation to my friends and fellow-diners, who obliged and concurred. This was the same dish served erroneously a course before, or was at least plated and held on the hot plate too far in advance. Either way, as part of a $29 brunch it's not the kind of food that should be leaving the kitchen.

Our server, however, was not anywhere to be found. Or, rather, if we did spot him in the section he was tending to other tables and moving from them to other places, but never to us. No one came to ask us how we were doing, how things tasted. Once again, we called over the manager and asked for the wrong to be righted. (Mysteriously enough, when he entered the kitchen we soon heard a massive clatter, and for fun speculated his ire over the cold Eggs Benny prompted a Gordon Ramsay-style Hell's Kitchen-esque rant involving a thrown plate and a swift kick to the trash bin for good measure. More likely, someone dropped something. No matter, we all heard it in the dining room. Good times.)

A hot Eggs Benedict emerged soon (the yolks ran, hooray!) and was fairly tasty. The English muffin base was a bit too thin and well-done for my liking, but the eggs were nicely cooked, the Hollandaise not too thick, and the potatoes well-prepared and seasoned. Those dining on the lobster sandwich enjoyed the generous portion of lobster meat, but one had been given both the "ass" end and a mutilated center "piece" of tomato (sorry, but those wouldn't even make it onto a sandwich I made in my own home), and the potato chips served as a side were not anywhere near warm as promised. The omelet was enjoyed, and the skirt steak, well, "a skirt steak's a skirt steak," shrugged its eater. Brunch entrees: Good, but not great.

Ah, but dessert. The help-yourself table was laden with inviting sweets and goodies, including a sundae bar, a tiered cupcake tray bearing the goods from what our table's cupcake expert is certain is Vanilla Bakeshop, huge cups of butterscotch and chocolate puddings, small cake-like bites of cheesecake and tiramisu among others, crepes, and berry crumble. Most of us had indulged in mini-cupcakes and crepes pre-appetizer, but we all headed back for a course of sweetness to finish off the meal--now in its third hour, with many of our parking meters ticking impatiently outside. The desserts were the highlight of the meal.

With the bill came some lessons for us. First, never assume that when you're offered "flat or sparkling" that the "flat" option means tap. That glass bottle from which your water was served was actually labeled Evian, and your thirsty table may have been enjoying free cocktails, but you drank $27 dollars' worth of H2o--no wonder the joke goes that Evian is Naive spelled backwards. Consider us snookered! Second, never assume on a prix-fixe meal that the waiter can swiftly process credit cards for each diner (no matter that in this era of plastic as payment most restaurants have handled this burden with aplomb, patience, grace, and ease) because he will disappear with your payment for another long stretch of time. (You'd think by now they'd want to be rid of us, no?)

With the bill squared away, we emerged into the glinting late-autumn mid-afternoon SaMo sunlight, stuffed to the gills but not feeling satisfied. The flaws of the meal unfortunately outshone the merits, which is always a letdown, particularly when the outing was meant to be a pleasant weekend meal shared with the good company of food-loving friends.

The real kicker, however, came two-fold in the days to follow. First, the email informing me that @CasaDelMar was now following me on Twitter (so someone in the back office pays attention to customer service). Then, the text message reminding me that their text-for-free-booze promo ends Sunday November 22. So this is what I pass on to you, so that if you dare, you can at least drink for free for your possibly 3-hour mix-up meal. Just don't order the water.