Will Write 4 Travel: Dinner at The Wallace and A Day in San Diego

[Sorry for the weird formatting. That is what happens when I try to blog on a mobile device! Edited for formatting and added a missing photo]

After Hello Kitty Con, I had about an hour to rest before meeting up with my good friend for dinner in my old neighborhood, Culver City. I used to be able to walk to Downtown Culver City and loved being in that part of town.

We met up at The Wallace, and neither of us had dined there before. The Wallace is a shared plate establishment, so we ordered four dishes to split.

First up, a jar of chicken liver mousse. So yummy.

Then we had roasted bone marrow. I have only had bone marrow once before and it made me feel super gassy for the next three days. This version was much better and did not have the unpleasant after effects.

Our third plate was a persimmon salad that also had pomegranate seeds. It was a refreshing dish. Persimmons are one of my favorite fruits, but I had never had them in a salad before or cooked for that matter.

While our first three dishes were delicious, the fourth one was pretty gross. We had monkfish and it was served with crab, fennel and apples. The worst part of it was the sauce. It tasted kind of sweet and ketchup-y. Not yummy, disappointing to end our savory dishes on that note.

For dessert, we shared the caramel pudding with graham crackers and whipped cream. Thankfully, this dish was a good finale to our meal. It was not to sweet and I loved the added texture of the crumbled graham crackers

Although it was Halloween, my meal at The Wallace was the only thing I did that evening and I was fine with that.

The next morning, my parents and I hit the road and headed down to San Diego for a day. This was a familiar sight off the 5 Freeway. Boobies! Okay, they aren't really boobies. They are part of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

After meeting up with the baby brother and his wife, we had lunch at Ramen Yamadaya. I started with a pork belly bun, which had way too much mayonnaise on it. Luckily, I was able to scrap most of it off. We also shared a helping of Japanese-style potato salad. I was so excited that they had tsukemen ramen. The broth was rich and flavorful, while the noodles had that firm snap that makes ramen ramen. I can always eat ramen any time, any day.

After lunch, we headed over to Old T own, where there was a Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) festival going on. There was face painting and sugar skull decorating booths set up all along the street. Altars were also beautifully decorated and on display throughout Old Town.

That evening we waited over an hour to eat all you can eat Korean barbecue. I must have been so hungry that I forgot to take photos.

The next day, I had to head back to Albuquerque, so we left San Diego after brunch to make the drive back to LA. My final meal for this trip was at Elijah's, a Jewish deli. I was torn on what to order, but finally decided on the whitefish salad platter. It was yummy and so much food!