February 22, 2011

  • Post Valentine

    In my own little world, February has changed from an average month, to a very important one. Hyun’s birthday is on February 4th, so now, every February is going to be extra special. For her birthday, I took her kart racing at K1 speed, out for drinks at 1st Street Bar, and then dinner at El Q’ero restaurant in Encinitas. I don’t think that racing was a huge success. Hyun got more comfortable with the kart on each lap, but was quite timid to start. After driving down PCH and enjoying the sound and smell of the ocean, we ended up in Encinitas far earlier than our reservation. We decided to stop for a drink and happy hour was still going on. This meant a pitcher between the two of us for under $10. Many rounds of darts and erotic “find what’s different” later, we were happy and heading over to El Q’ero. This place is tiny. They have room for about 30 people inside, and another 8 outside. Because of this tight seating capacity, it’s understandable that reservations are necessary. We checked in right on time and was told that a specific table inside would be ours. After waiting for 5-10 minutes, I started to get impatient. Seeing that there was an open table outside, I went to see the waitress about sitting outside. Unfortunately, a couple walked in before me and asked the waitress if they could sit outside. Now this normally wouldn’t bother me, but I specifically remember the waitress asking, “do you have a reservation?” and the customer saying, “No. We called in and they said to come down.” The waitress then proceed to seat them outside. At the same time, the table that was supposed to be “ours” emptied and another couple that was waiting inside with us was directed to that table. So not only had one table of walk-in’s get seated without a reservation. A second table was seated in front of us at a table that was “marked” for us. After waiting another 10 minutes, we were seated at a nice table looking out on the street.

     

    Dinner at El Q’ero was very good. I had a hard time enjoying it because of feeling mistreated before we were seated. Looking back now, it was probably the best meal I had in 2011. Our quinoa salad was delicious. My short ribs were cooked to perfection and had some delicious marrow in the bone. It was served with kale, which had a hearty taste that spinach or lettuce couldn’t pull off. Hyun had the flat iron steak with qinoa. Her steak was a little chewy, but the qinoa was spectacular.

     

    Geoff’s birthday was 4 days later, so I don’t think I’ll miss his birthday for a long time. Ameesh’s birthday is coming up soon as is Cheryl’s. February is turning into a great month.

     

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