Taco Mesa

Hematovore: Here Be Dragons...

Taco Mesa

Orange County, California

Taco Alambre

Carne Asada, with Bacon, onion, and pickled chilis.

Tastes even better than it sounds, and it sounds delicious.

Pretty much only one way to make Carne Asada even better: Add Bacon.

  Blackened Calamari Taco 

Calamari, seasoned and cooked squid meat which is much like the chicken.

I don't mean Squid Tastes Like Chicken. It does not.

I just mean that these two tacos are essentially the same except the choice of meat.

Both incredibly tasty.

Blackened Chicken Taco

My favorite thing on the menu. I have been eating these tasty tacos since the day they opened the
 first Taco Mesa on W. 19th Street in Costa Mesa in the building that was an old Taco Bell with a fire pit when I was a little kid growing up in Costa Mesa.
Back then Taco Bells had actual bells, and open fire pits.
The Taco Mesa Blackened Chicken Taco is probably the best chicken taco I have ever had anywhere.

Crab Hut

Kearney Mesa/Convoy Street
San Diego, California

(same parking lot as O'Briens)

Very popular local spot. Generally crowded.
Incredibly obnoxious loud horrible "music."

Food is good though and usually worth the excruciating aural assault.

Shrimp, or Crawdads, by the pound.
Peel and Eat.

Crawdads come with corn on the cob and andouille sausage.
Shrimp does not have corn and sausage.
Would be better if it did. I usually order a side of sausage.
Put on a bib and dig in.
Paper table cloth is made for a mess.

Pick your spice level (Mild/Medium/Hot/KO) and add your choice of sauces;
Cajun Sensation, Lemon Pepper, or Garlic Butter.
I choose Full House, which is a combination of all 3.

Gumbo. Pretty good. Sausage, shrimp, okra, celery, onion.

Fries go with everything

The Remains

Taps at O'Briens a few doors down.
World Class Beer Bar.

Mission Brewery Dark Seas Stout (Yob)

Yob's latest album Atma made many Best of the Year Lists for 2011.

It was definitely in my top 5. 

They recently opened for Tool on the East Coast,

and are playing a free Profound Lore Showcase show on March 31st in Pomona. 

 

Label says 11% but that is for the eventual bottled version.

The current batch on tap is 9.5%

More importantly, they also have four Jack Daniels Barrels full of Dark Seas.

Mission Brewery is located in DownTown San Diego

in the old Wonder Bread Factory

The factory is located on 14th and L.

Pretty easy to find if you know how to spell and count.

I wonder what they made that bread out of....air, and marshmallows?

On Tap at Mission Brewery.
Plastic Cup, Bummer.

Dark and Tasty.
Sweet roasted malt smell.
Rich roasted chocolatey malt taste.
Seriously sweet and very dark roasted coffee flavor.
Chocolate flavors mostly on the sweeter side.
Subdued hop presence will turn off a lot of West Coast Hop Heads.

with St. Agur Blue.

with Cypress Grove: Midnight Moon

Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti

High On Fire Rules the Universe

Greatest Heavy Metal Band on Earth paired with
One of my Favorite Imperial Stouts.
[The song may or may not be about this particular Yeti]

Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti
9.5 % ABV

Denver, Colorado

"We toned down the hops a bit to allow cocoa nibs to contribute some pleasing bitterness, 
while vanilla notes from the oak combine with the cocoa 
to create an aroma and flavor akin to a gourmet chocolate bar.
 A dash of cayenne keeps things lively"

Yeti is always in my fridge. We drink it year round.
Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti is a Seasonal Release.
I bought a case. Will get more next year too.
Same delicious Yeti with extra chocolate.
The strong chocolate flavor goes well with the roasty bittersweet character of Yeti.
Regular Yeti is fairly chocolaty, from the malt without actually adding any.
This is different. Both are incredible. Great Divide does an amazing job with these variants.
The cayenne is hardly noticeable. I think it just keeps it from being too sweet.
Like a cacao flavor. The oak adds a smooth tasty vanilla backdrop,
and just pushes it right over the edge into one of my favorite beers ever.
A delicious, complex, and intense winter sipper.

Had some with Cocoa Cardona.
Multiple Award Winning Artisanal Cheese from Carr Valley Cheese
[Aged Goat Cheese, rubbed with Cocoa Powder]

3 Floyds Zombie Dust

(Cenotaph)

A.P.A.

6.2% ABV. 50 IBU

"This intensely hopped and gushing undead pale ale will be ones only respite 

after the zombie apocalypse."

Munster, Indiana

Smells like citrus,and tropical fruit...
grapefruit, mango, pineapple.
Tastes like all of the above mixed with a slightly honey sweet biscuit.
A strong Citra hopped flavor with a robust malt backbone.
Incredibly tasty.

Zombie Dust with Roasted Duck.

Yakuza:Zombies
From the album Transmutations
on Prosthetic Records...

Deschutes Black Butte XXIII (Black Juju)

 "Welcome to crazy. Get it while you can."

Black Butte XXIII
(23rd Birthday Reserve )

2011
 Porter

10.8% ABV. 55 IBU
25% Aged in Bourbon Barrels

 Brewed with (Spanish) Seville Oranges,
Cocoa Nibs, from Theo Chocolate in Seattle,

 and some Pasilla Negra chilis (pasilla negro chili w/ancho and guajillo makes mole)

Chocolate, Chocolate Wheat, Crystal 75, Wheat,  & Pale Malt.

Millennium, Cascade, & Tettnang hops.
(475 Barrels produced. 275 Bottled)

I am cellaring a couple of these, but wanted to try one now,

even though I knew it was too early.

At least now I have something to compare with.

The bottle actually has a date on it: Best After 6/15/12.
I look forward to more but until then...

Very tasty. Too hot since I opened too early,
but I am really looking forward to next bottle opening, in about six months.
Strong flavors of rich dark chocolate,
coffee, molasses, and roasted chocolate malt. 
as well as underlying caramel and vanilla from the barrel aging.
Strong and full flavored.
Perhaps the heat that I assumed was from high alcohol is from the chilis?
Will be interesting to see later when I open the next bottle.

Deschutes makes one of the best beers on Earth: The Abyss.

So far, nothing I have had from Deschutes is as good as The Abyss.

The regular version of Black Butte Porter is a bit too low ABV for my taste and sort of thin, so I am really glad they release these alternate annual versions.

Also great that they experiment each year and have some fun with it.

Also enjoyed a glass on tap at Maui Brewing Co.

Bend, Oregon

Black Juju X III...

[see what I did there?]

Chimay Grande Reserve

Chimay Grande Reserve

Strong Dark Ale

9% ABV

Belgium

The monastery was founded in 1850.

It was the first monastery to sell beer commercially.

  The first to use the term Trappist Beer.

First Trappist Brewery to use "Wine Bottles" with Corks.

I  have seen this listed as being from various areas, sometimes called Chimay.

I did not know if that was the name of a town or what, 

so I consulted the highest authority possible...

Michael Jackson;

Produced at the Abbey of Notre Dame, on a hillside called Scourmont.

Near a place called Forges, close to a town callled Chimay,

in the province of Hainaut.

Generally referred to as "Blue." Or Blue Label/Blue Cap.
The large bottles say Grande Reserve. The small bottles do not.
(Color of bottle labels differ according to strength.)

with Chimay Cheese and Spanish Almonds.

Pours a beautiful deep, dark nutty brown color.
Smells like sweet bread and dark fruit; figs, raisins, plums, dates.
Tastes like dark fruit, caramel, roasted malts, and brown sugar.
Slight chocolate backdrop flavor. Mostly dark bread and sweet, spicy yeast.
Quite tasty and affordable.
Since it is so readily available, highly recommended.
I buy it at my local grocery store.
It sort of tends to get overlooked somewhat.
Since most people can get it anywhere, anytime.

Served in it's own etched goblet.
Yes it tastes better when served in it's own personally etched goblet.
Monastery advises two years cellar storage.
Michael Jackson advises longer.

Pairs well with food. Shown here with a homemade Paella,
and Caesar Salad.
Goes well with strong cheeses,
and would compliment any meal that would typically go with red wine.