A few weeks back some of my friends and family threw me a surprise birthday party and to my surprise, I had not been to this restaurant before! So we went to Isabel’s Cantina in Pacific Beach. It fuses Asian and Latin flavors and also boasts quite a few vegetarian dishes. On to the food!
First up: Flat Iron Steak With Mojo. The steak was served with portobello mushrooms, cilantro garlic mojo pico, and roasted red and sweet potatoes. The steak itself was a little on the tougher side but that garlic mojo pico sauce made it easier to chew. You can’t really go wrong with portobello mushrooms either and even though I’m not a huge fan of sweet potatoes, these were cooked nicely and went well with everything on the plate. There could have been a tad more salt as well. Verdict is out if I would get this in the future.
The Free Range Jidori Half Chicken was a notch up from the steak. It was cooked better, seasoned better, and it came with a duo of sauces. I’m a sauce person so I was happy. There are four different versions they offer and I decided to get Dragon Style which came with roasted red and sweet potatoes and chipotle cream. I wish there were more red potatoes than sweet potatoes, but the chicken portion was large and in charge so I guess I can’t complain. The other sauce was on the sweeter side. I don’t typically go for the sweet and salty combo, but again, this was one of those instances it worked. I give this dish two thumbs up.
On to the Imperial Bowl! As Isabel’s menu states: Big bowl of lemongrass, miso and coconut milk broth with shiitake mushrooms, brown rice, steamed zucchini, bean sprouts, and julienne vegetables. All I can say is the texture was off. I have no complaints about the flavor but it was like eating rice with three times the amount of sauce that should accompany it. So this meant it was mushy and hard to eat a whole lot of. I think if they served the rice on the side much like a curry dish, this would be a pretty successful dish. But alas, this would not be so.
Last the cake! They were so kind to get me an ice cream cake from Maggie Moo’s. Thanks kids for a great night!
Isabel’s Cantina
966 Felspar St.,
Pacific Beach, CA 92109
858.272.8400
http://www.isabelscantina.com/isabels-cantina.php
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Asian and Latin fused together? Sounds intriguing. Looks like you had a good birthday!