My Portland Coffee Tour - Part 8

Okay, so this month has been incredibly busy and lacking in the coffee exploration in Portland, so I bring you one, then I want to talk to you about an amazing coffee shop we found in San Diego and that crazy Zombie Frappuccino from Starbucks. 

I hope to get back into my coffee crawl next month, when things have settled a bit and I am not working quite so much, but if I have to take a break, I will, in order to bring you more quality posts even if they are further apart.

Barista

I've been told by a few people that Barista is a shop I needed to get to. They have a few different locations, including the one at Pine Street Market, but I saw it on the way to brunch with my mom, so we stopped in on our way back to the car for me to grab something real quick. The inside was small with only bar seating, but it's warm and inviting with wood and a giant window overlooking the street. 

I'm not usually one for a mocha, as they're usually too gritty, but I saw something called the Valrhona Mocha, and asked about it. Turns out, it's a type of dark chocolate that's 61% cocoa that is infused into the espresso and it was amazing. It was $5 for an 8oz, but it was like drinking a luxury dark chocolate bar with espresso inside it. It had a rich flavor that I could definitely get used to in my coffee. 

There aren't a lot of food options. You're basically either going to get a pastry or a baked item. I opted for a blueberry cornflour cookie ($2), because it was incredibly different sounding. It was much like a sugar cookie, but with whole blueberries in it that I really enjoyed. I'd definitely be into trying to make something similar at home, maybe with added chocolate chips, for the holidays. I could see how cranberries would also work with the sweetness. Overall, I wouldn't go back to Barista for food, because it's lacking, but I would absolutely go back for the coffee.

Cafe Bassam

Only a block away from our timeshare building in San Diego was this coffee shop, that looked totally normal and modern on the outside with floor to ceiling windows and a fenced in outdoor eating area. I didn't even care what they had when I looked them up and Google described the shop as a funky coffee house with antique furniture and rifles on the wall. I mean, what? You gotta go just to experience that weirdness, right?

So, we rolled in one morning for breakfast and ordered an iced Vietnamese coffee (yum!) and a white chocolate mocha. On top of that, I ordered a bagel, which is clearly the best presentation for a bagel I've ever gotten anywhere. So pretty. Eric ordered eggs and toast, which was a similar presentation, with toast, marmalade, steamed(!) eggs and a pile of fruit. He inhaled it. 

While we waited for our food and drinks to appear, I took a moment to look around and snap a hundred pictures, because what even is this place? My theory was that it was a antique store that was foreclosed on that just happened to have enough space for a coffee, so they just kept it all to be wacky, so I asked.

The owner (Bassam) is from Palestine and an art and antique collector. He created this coffee shop be a place people could gather and have the feel of a European cafe. They are open early and open late, so you can enjoy coffee (or wine or beer or a cigar) any time of the day. The vibe is eclectic, the employees are friendly, and everything we had was fantastic. If I lived in San Diego, this is the place I would drag people who claimed they'd never heard of it.

The Zombie Frappuccino from Starbucks

Starbucks has been creating new drinks more and more frequently and have been serving up these limited edition beverages lately. It started with crazy popular (and, apparently, violently sweet) unicorn frap. I wasn't willing to try that one, or fight people to get to the counter, but the zombie frap looked very much doable, even though there were mixed reviews. I admit, I kind of wanted it just for the whipped cream "brains". 

It has not been nearly as popular as the unicorn and with good reason. It is supposed to taste like caramel apples, but I didn't get any distinct taste from it at all. It was refreshing, yes, but there was no caramel or apple in my cup. But I've spent $5 on worse things, so I wasn't that disappointed, even though I was expecting Laffy Taffy flavor explosion. If you want to try it out for yourself, it's only available until Oct 31.

Do you have a favorite coffee house or an opinion on the Zombie Frap? 

San Diego Eats In Pictures

While in San Diego, we were in search of some really good food. I employed my timeshare concierge as well as my Uber and Lyft drivers to help us find it. We did a pretty decent job of it, too.

Here are some of the best foods we had while we were in between sightseeing:

Shrimp and krab enchiladas with spicy crema sauce

I had seen a restaurant really close to our home base and decided to try it based on the name. Jimmy Carter's Mexican Cafe? How could one resist. It has absolutely nothing to do with the president, and everything to do with yummy Mexican food. Our concierge recommended their cucumber margarita and, since we were literally across the street, I decided to go for it. The wait staff were super friendly and we weren't starving, so we split a plate of enchiladas and all that stuff on the plate, and a bowl of chips with two dips. 

Number one: if you're looking for a refreshing drink, this margarita is your best friend. It's delicious. Number two: Even if you aren't that hungry, you'll wish you had these enchiladas all for yourself. It's probably the best enchiladas I've ever eaten. Like eat them every day good.

  

Pan-fried catfish 

I, honestly, can't pass up a good catfish, even with fried chicken on the menu! I know this plate doesn't look that appetizing, but we were in a diner (Crest Cafe) and really wasn't expecting too much beyond burgers. The presentation wasn't perfect, but the fish was awesome, as were the scalloped potatoes and veggies. Then, the star of the show: 

  

Chocolate croissant breadpudding

The dish this came in was huge, and I totally thought it was someone's dinner when I saw it in the food window. This bread pudding was outstanding, and we even went to a dessert place that people raved about that wasn't as good, and cost twice as much. If you like bread pudding, this is a must-visit...but make sure to try the food as well. Crest Cafe was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, which I didn't know until we were leaving. 

Cappuccino cake

Have you ever been to a sit-down restaurant at a zoo? I haven't, but San Diego Zoo is pretty fancy, so it's not really a surprise they have a fancy place to eat in the middle of the park. At Albert's, I basically ordered a salad with shrimp on top, which was very good, but I saved my calories for dessert it seems. The waiter didn't seem to think this cake sounded that exciting and was surprised when I was like "yes! bring me that!" It was light, chocolaty, and just the right hint of coffee. Yum.  

House-made veggie burger

By now you know I'm not a vegetarian, but I like to get my veggies in where I can. We spent a lot of time in Balboa Park and, while there are a lot of places to eat, there aren't a lot of truly interesting options. Prado is on the more upscale side, but worth it to spend a few dollars more to get something tasty and unique. Eric ordered a chicken sandwich, but I was intrigued by this homemade veggie burger. Aside from being a bit dry, which would have been helped with a layer of hummus (which comes with chips instead of bread and butter), it was pretty good and beyond better than any other non-Boca Burger I've ever had out. It came with a heap of fries that were crispy perfection. 

We took half our food to go at Prado so we could indulge in this Tres Leches Cake. It had caramelized bananas baked right in and a layer of pistachio meringue on the bottom. It was phenomenal. The least appetizing thing on the plate was the ice cream. Ice cream! We didn't take any of this to go, because we demolished it.

Short rib pappardelle

I love a good short rib. Probably because it's so fantastic being cooked in all that fat. Either way, I was nomming on this big bowl of pasta and meat served at Two Seven Eight. It came with that side of kim chee you see. Normally, I don't do kim chee, but I didn't hate it. Eric, on the other hand, who does enjoy kim chee, didn't find it had enough bite for him. So, take that how you will. He ordered the goat cheese burger, because all of that sounded really good, and he said it was. 

I wouldn't come here if you're in a hurry. This is a great place to sit on the patio and just relax while enjoying a beverage. I flipped through the drink menu and saw that they served moonshine. I know it's had a bit of a revival lately, so I asked about it. The owner came out to give me a tasting, so I could decide what to order. If you want to put hair on your chest, Devil's Cut is the way to go. It's S.T.R.O.N.G. I passed on a whole glass of that for the smoother Kalifornia brand. The owners actually know the moonshiners and the son is the first in his family to actually make moonshine legally. They are local and they definitely know what they're doing. If you want something a bit different, bottoms up!

Happy Hour shared plates 

We absolutely had to hit up a restaurant in Little Italy. We wandered India Street in search of a suitable dining option with a good happy hour and settled on Davanti. It was a good choice, since their whole happy hour menu looked fantastic. Above is my favorite, the ricotta vasi. It's basically ricotta with lemon and olive oil, served with tasted baguette and a cube of honeycomb. The honey brings it all together and it's just soooooooooo good. Like, make a meal of it good. We took our leftovers home and had it for breakfast.

The second best pick was polpette ripiene di mozzarella al forno, basically meatballs stuffed with mozzarella, in a red sauce and topped with all the parmesan cheese on earth. If you like meatballs, you can't go wrong with this.

Do you like peppers? I'm not sure why I thought these would be stuffed, but they were only stuffed with their own seeds, giving them a kick of heat. Peperone al forno are roasted pedron peppers with cherry tomatoes and a sprinkling of cheese (because Italian). We were wimps when it came to these and only ate about a quarter of the pan, but, to be fair, that pan was a lot larger than expected. I do wish we had also ordered the calamari, but we didn't, so I guess that's a goal for our next trip to San Diego. 

 What's the best thing you've eaten out lately?

How To Use Freebies To Stretch Your Travel Dollars

No matter where you go on vacation there are bound to be free things to see and do. These things are a great way to make your trip dollars go further and allow you to do even more.

As a fellow budget traveler, not only am I looking for fun and exciting stuff to do on my trips, I'm also looking for affordable ones. While I may want to cram as much in as possible, my bank account doesn't particularly allow it, so free things are an excellent way to pad out my schedule. If you know where to look, you can do the same.

Free museums

We just came back from San Diego, where Balboa Park is a huge resource for culture. We purchased an Explorer Pass for the museums there, because we knew we wanted to visit at least half of them. Several of these we're free anyway, but our pass gave them a piece of the profits as a donation when we visited, which we would have done anyway.

A lot of cities we've visited have had free museums, including large ones like London. Some only have certain free admission days, while others run on donations. Keep a couple bucks in your pocket to spare for those. I know it's technically not free this way, but two dollars is still way cheaper than $18+ that lots of museums charge to get in.

Parks

Got kids? This is a great way to give them a way to burn off excess energy and give you a bit of a break, but parks are awesome for adults too. Tons of large parks have more to see and do than just a playground. You might find a duck pond, sculpture garden, botanical garden, etc. Balboa Park is full of such things, plus wildlife, bocce ball courts and more.

Think ahead and get yourself a takeaway meal and enjoy it al fresco. You can't beat that, especially on beautiful days. Some hotels will loan you sports balls, bikes, or other ways to take advantage of the outdoor space. Don't be afraid to take them up on it.

Zoos

While most zoos cost an admission fee (some quite a hefty one), others are totally free. Check online to see what your destination zoo charges. 

If you have a zoo membership at home that participates in AZA, you might be able to use it elsewhere for free admission or at least a discount. Just don't forget your card. Same goes for children's museums and gardens. Some member benefits extend to travel.

Outdoor historical sites

We walk on vacation. A lot. So, I'm always looking for outdoor attractions and landmarks, like ruins, statues, historical walks and more. It's a fantastic way to learn more about the city and most of them are free. 

We went to Old Town San Diego and explored a cemetery that was discovered with radar equipment. We were able to read some of the stories of those people laid to rest there from old obituaries in the newspaper and from a history book (posted at the gravesites).

Street art

I love nothing more than an excellent mural or a street performer. You never know what you'll find around town, so keep your eyes peeled for cool stuff just waiting to be discovered. A lot of cities are partnering with local artists on beautification projects, so this is more and more common in downtown areas.

Think of how much money you can save by adding free things to your trip. You can do more and then put that extra money to a meal (or meals!) out to make it even more memorable. What are your favorite free things to do in a city?