Make Pizza, Not War at Sammy's Woodfired Pizza

Recently I declared a War on Vegetarians.  I've got nothing against them personally and I am sure that most of them are very nice and someone has to take care of all those cats but vegetarians drive me crazy!  Just try going out to dinner with them - Want to go to Flemming's Steakhouse?  Gross!  Um, how about Roys of Hawaii or the Fish Market or The Marine Room???  No, no, and no!  Ah, let's get some Mexican food!  No, there's lard in everything there.  Sushi?  Forget it.  Pasta, you can eat pasta!  No, I'm allergic to glutton.  So where?  Oh God, please, not Ki's!  

Of course, going out for pizza is nearly impossible with a vegetarian. They're bound to find a billion reasons why they can't eat there.  Unless you take them to Sammy's Woodfired Pizza.  What?  That's right!

The other day I was trapped into dining with a vegetarian and I braced myself for the worst.  Could Sammy's satisfy both vegetarian and meat lover? 

In case you didn't know, Sammy's has been around for 23 years so it's easy to forget that they once were one of the most hip places to get an unusual pizza - this is back when gourmet pizza seemed like a contradiction and items such as Thai Chicken Pizza and Chinese Chicken Salad were fresh and innovative.  Of course, times change and those items fell out of favor and were removed from the menu but due to customer demand Sammy's not only returned the classics but spruced up their dining rooms and even added handcrafted cocktails at some of their locations.

Additionally, they have a ton of vegetarian and glutton free options so you don't have to sacrifice your dinner just to keep them happy.  But can you really keep both sides of the war happy?  Let's see.

We started with the Chilled Roasted Vegetable Salad, made with organic spinach, fresh mozzarella, edamame, artichoke, yellow tomato, red bell pepper, red onion, fresh organic basil, lemon, balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.  Of course the vegetarian gave it a 10 and I had to admit it was very tasty, a nice tang to the dressing and lots of flavors and textures. OK, it was really good.  And look at how stunning the presentation is.  I wasn't expecting that from a pizza house.

Next up was a really crazy volcano sized mountain of greens.  They call this salad the Red Quinoa and its made with golden beets, tomatoes, avocado, red onion, wild arugula, parsley, almonds, mint, scallions and topped with a citrus chili vinaigrette.  Now I don't expect meat lovers to have any clue what quinoa or kinwa is but vegans are all over this like it's better than a rib eye steak.  I don't know, could a grain mixed into a salad really be any good?  I was skeptical.

Heck, I was wrong again!  I really dug this salad.  Hey you, Mr. Vegan, stop smirking.  Even meat lovers should check this salad out as it was not only tasty but oddly enough it was almost hearty, a description that never goes with a salad.  It also saves well in the fridge as a leftover for a couple of days, which is also weird but it's true.

Time for some meat.  Or more specifically, chicken meatballs done up with an Asian sauce with a side of housemade pickle slices.  Oh yeah baby, these were good balls!  Well that didn't quite sound right but you get my point - a nice appetizer.  And the pickles were so good that you might want to hide them from the vegetarians.

Time for some pizza.  Here's the classic Thai Chicken Pizza, one of the most popular pizzas at Sammy's.  It was good, a bit undercooked on the crust but perfect when I brought the leftovers home and heated it up.  By the way, you DO know the best way to reheat pizza, don't you?  You simply put it in a frying pan on medium heat, cover it while it's heating back up.  The result is crispy crusty bottom and piping hot top.  It was good at the restaurant but even better at home heated my way.

The vegetarian picked the Burrata and Pesto pizza and dammit if it wasn't better than my meat option!  The cheese was thick and the pesto gave a nice complexity to the flavors and melded well with the fresh tomatoes and man oh man did I just say that the vegetarian pizza was better?

So in the end perhaps my War on Vegetarians was a bit too George W.  We CAN all get along if you dine at Sammy's Woodfired Pizza.  So the next time you're stuck dining with a crazy picky vegetarian know that you can win both the battle and the war just by going to Sammy's.  With great vegetarian options that even meat lovers will appreciate, there is no way everyone doesn't go home happy.

Local Wally
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Win 2 Dinners for San Diego Restaurant Week 2013!

I started the year on a crazy detox Paleo thing where I couldn't eat beans (so long Roberto's), rice (see ya sushi), grains (oh no, no more Honey Bunches of Oats!), and any sort of pasta or breads or even, gasp, French Fries.  Yes, I went healthy since my blood pressure is skyrocketing and my cholesterol climbing faster than a monkey in a banana tree. But life is about balance so when I heard San Diego Restaurant Week was back (Jan 13-18), I decided to screw the Caveman diet and get back to where I once belonged - even if only for a night.

But if I was going to splurge the calories, where to go?  After all, San Diego Restaurant Week features some our best restaurants serving up delicious food at affordable prices.  It's a great time to try new places and new things but where or where shall I go?  Well, if you know me you know that making big decisions like that drives me nuts so since I live in North County it's back to my favorite, Del Mar Rendezvous.  And guess what, you can win a couple of free dinners there thanks to Local Wally and Rendezvous!  Yea!

So let's talk about the Restaurant Week offer at Del Mar Rendezvous.  They have three dinner options - pick from the $25, $30 or $38 menu.  All three offer the same appetizer and dessert options with the difference in the entree selection.  But before you start, you'll want to join their free Loyalty Program because that's how you get half-off bottles of wine and $.88 glasses of wine, beer or sake on your second round during Restaurant Week.  What??? That's right, half off - and it's good stuff, too - Rendezvous has a great wine selection.  The loyalty program also gets you a free entree on your birthday month, free dessert on your anniversary month, and lots of other free stuff.  Hey, free is good!

Dining with crazy vegans or glutton free fanatics?  No need to compromise your dining experience as there are special menus just for your picky friends.  But I eat everything so let's go.

I started with the BBQ short rib slices over a nice spring mix salad.  A bit like Kalbi Ribs, it has a nice flavor but without the bones.  A bite with the salad topped with a bit of chili oil and it was a winner.

The second appetizer we ordered was the dumpling sampler.  Del Mar Rendezvous' chef is Tony "Cu Jung" Su, the son of the same people who own the crazy popular Dumpling Inn, a hole in the wall place in the Convoy area that attracts lines of foodie-centric fans.  So yes, I will have the dumplings.  Let's pick one up... darn they are slippery!

Splash!  Dang it! Oh well, the chili oil went nicely with the fresh dumpling and I understood why people line up for these at the parent restaurant.  The Ha Gow dumpling filled with shrimp was my favorite, a bite size pop of delicious freshness.  I could eat a dozen of these on my own.

The Chilean Sea Bass was a crispy explosion of flavors with a distinctive sweet chili sauce over a bed of bok choy.  Sweet Chili Sauce is so popular that you can get it at Trader Joe's now but there's nothing like the real thing that doesn't come out of a bottle.  It's more complex with deeper flavors and without the cloying sweetness.  The fish had great texture and flavors and the dish was another winner.

I was lucky enough to get invited to the kitchen to watch my lobster dish being prepared.  Things get fast and furious back in the tiny kitchen and these guys were hustling to make sure no one had to wait very long for their food.  That's the lobster before it hit the fire, a nice portion.

Here's the lobster dish all done.  It's a salt and pepper lobster with a nice five spice flavor and a chili pepper seasoning.  The onions and bell peppers were so delicious that by the time we were done there wasn't a speck of food left on this plate.  Go ahead, pick up the lobster tails with your hands and dive in.  There's no elegant way to eat this dish but it's so tasty you won't care!

Finally it's time for dessert.  As I've said before, Chinese restaurants are not known for their desserts so it's easy to dismiss them as an afterthought.  And Del Mar Rendezvous even allows diners to skip dessert during Restaurant Week and get $3 off their tab.  But why?  Why, why, why??  The Xiagjiao is one of all time favorite desserts.  It's surprisingly simple, a banana wrapped in a thin dough wrapper and deep fried until it's soft and sweet, served with fresh whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate and caramel sauce.  Every time I have this I swear it's one of the best things I have ever eaten and I'll swear it again - get this dessert!

In the end, a fabulous dinner and experience at Del Mar Rendezvous.  And now, it's your turn to dine there on me, compliments of Dan Schreiber, the managing partner at the restaurant.  Here's how you win!

LOCAL WALLY DEL MAR RENDEZVOUS CONTEST RULES
Win a dinner for two at Del Mar Rendezvous, a $76 value, good through the end of Jan. 2013.  To enter just do the following:

1. Like my FB page and get one point:  http://www.facebook.com/localwally
2. Like my San Diego Beer Guide page and get another point:  http://www.facebook.com/drinkupSD
3. Like Del Mar Rendezvous's FB page and get another point!  This is so easy!
4. Post this blog on your FB page and get 2 bonus points!  Make sure you add the url of your FB page below in the comments section so I can give you credit and let me know when you "like" my pages.
5. I'll pull the winner on Jan 23rd and get the card to you. 

Good luck, and thanks for reading Local Wally's Blog to San Diego!

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