Eno Market & Pizzeria - Hotel del Coronado - Coronado, CA

A second visit to Hotel Del is better than the first. A few hundred dollars upgrades to a resort-facing patio complete with comfy chairs and cozy fire pit. Mental note to bring marshmallows and long sticks next time. 

Still no room service, but all the restaurants will let you order some takeout, though I suspect the food travels with varying levels of success. 

Eno remains the default due to online ordering, deli sandwiches, and food that is more portable by nature. 

None of the food will blow your mind or change your view on life, but quality ingredients are good enough for me. I'm digging this Grilled Stone Fruit Salad - I love charred sugar, and it's a filling, satisfying salad with good greens like bitter arugula and bright sorrel as well as meaty prosciutto and creamy stracciatella cheese. 

Did you like that salad? They put it on toast as well. The Seasonal Crostino has a fluffy focaccia spread with a seasonal jam, topped with a creamy goat cheese and everything else that's in the salad.

Hearth Baked Meatballs are super tender. Nice, juicy meat with a not-too-tangy marinara and wedges of focaccia for scooping up the sauce. 

The Napoli Verde is one of their many pizzas. The chewy crust is good, but I still just can't say I love their combinations. Jury's out on the peas but I love the lardons, and I can't say I complained while I ate it. 

The market also has a mortadella sandwich and a pretty good grilled cheese with tangy tomato bisque if you're looking for lighter or easier fare. 

After a second visit in under a year, I'm developing a fondness for Eno Pizzeria...probably because it remains one of few things you can try to eat in your hotel room and not hate too much. I think it'll be a lot longer before I come back to this hotel, but whenever I do, I won't be too mad about having to eat at Eno again. 

Calif Chicken Cafe - El Segundo

I will not lie, their menu is BORING. It is chicken. Chunks of chicken, parts of chicken, salads of chicken, and wraps of chicken. It's a good thing Ellie has impeccable taste or I would not have driven any distance for this menu. 

The location is interesting, more casual than casual with only outdoor seating. There’s no real inside, just a counter for ordering and pick-up. 

We start with dark meat Rotisserie, only legs and thighs. The fat drips a little, as it should when you pick up a piece to bite into. The seasoning is just right, the meat is perfectly tender, no need to add anything, though chipotle dressing does supplement with spice. 

A side of Chinese Cabbage Salad is like a sweet coleslaw of understated simplicity, a refreshing contrast to all the meat. The first few bites feel meh, but the more I eat, the more I like it. 

The Melrose Wrap has a wholesome cross-section, just strips of white meat bordered by avocado and greens with tangy Italian dressing to perk it up a bit.

It's good, nutritious food that doesn't make you feel gross after you eat it. There's no carb coma, no grease regret, just the lingering savoriness of chicken cooked correctly and refreshing veggies to give you an energy boost.  As simplistic as this stuff seems, it's not stuff you should skip. 

Temecula Pizza Company - Temecula, CA

I love places like this. Sweet, clean, and homey, with a menu full of good eatin'. 

Don't be shy when you order - the portions are generous, but the food's meant to be shared. The Love Potion #9 Salad will easily appetize a table of four, and maintain a nice balance of romaine lettuce with a rotisserie-quality chicken, with cranberries and blue cheese. They make their own dressing, and it is a sweet delight. 

The decor is simple, but they would hold up against any pizzeria in LA. The White Tiger Pizza features a whole pound of fabulously fresh shrimp, cooked into that perfect al dente (can you use that to describe shrimp??) texture, and that creamy, pesto-speckled white sauce has one heck of kick. 

I left reluctantly, feeling full but like I haven't had enough. Every single item on the menu looked like something I would love, and if I lived in Temecula, I'd have pizza and beer here week after week. 

Mama Says - Torrance

Mama says to eat your vegetables. And I did listen a little bit. I loved some vegetables as a child, and adult me loves them all. But salads. Salads are the bane of my existence, and I will never understand the American drive to consume large quantities of crunchy, tasteless chunks of raw iceberg lettuce. I love carrots in hummus as much as anyone, but I will never understand a salad. 

But Mama Says speaks of a different kind of salad. A customizable container of roughage, featuring suggested combinations like the Proscuitto di Parma that I can not only live with but actually learn to enjoy. The key is the soft slices of cured Italian ham on crusty chunks of bread with balsamic, but they also include a base of romaine lettuce, which carries more weight than iceberg-water. Less common options like gooey sweet potato and discs of lentils add depth. Their original dressing spice up the salads as well, though the Italian is tossed best with a simple oil and balsamic. 

Mama says you can have your less healthy options when your vegetables are gone. The salads are generous portions but they disappear easy and quick. You won’t be hungry after one of these, but you may still want to split a Carbonara between a couple people when you’re done. Al dente spaghetti is coated with eggy cream, and bacon brings its own savor. Add chunks of chicken if you want the protein, but you don’t really need it as they don’t really mix it in. 

Maybe I would have listened to my mama more if all vegetables could taste this good. I’ve never willingly ordered a salad anywhere else, and though I’d readily order from Mama Says again, I doubt I’d go anywhere else. 

The Grill at Quail Corners - Reno, Nevada

With weddings comes a lot of things. The end of your freedom, the end of an era, and the end of a thing called personal space. But there are beginnings as well, notably the beginning of a whole new family, a fusion of the one you start with and the one you acquire.

I already have family on three continents, and three years ago, we conquered both coasts. But my immediate family has always been small, and with the upcoming wedding, my family has been growing fast. There's a stronghold in the west-coast-best-coast now, and I got to meet the best of it in Reno.

I was nervous, but I didn't need to be. After all, these are grandparents, and if anyone knows how to give a warm welcome, it's them. This visit just flew by, and before I knew it, we were at our last lunch, fuel for the flight ahead.

We've eaten so much in so little time, and salads are the only thing our stomachs can take. But I hate those filler-filled plates of iceberg nonsense... Except at Quail Corners Grill.

The Louie-Louie is no-nonsense, a dead-serious salad, dense with cold crab and cocktail shrimp. Goes well with chunks of avocado and a couple of asparagus spears, and the bed of romaine is in just the right proportion to tie it all together.

The Sesame Seared Ahi is just as impressive, with surprisingly fresh inland tuna and a dash of Asian flair. Wasabi and pickled ginger add some zing, and what's not to like about water chestnuts and wontons over bitter mixed greens?

Good salads, nice grill, totally ready to go... Wait there are Cookies. Chocolate chip. Fresh out of the oven and soft enough to crumble. Salad then cookies. Finally, someone who understands a balanced diet.

Off to the airport for my shortest, most pleasant flight to date, and I smile the whole way home. Because there's no better family than grandparents, and these two are some of the best. I've never met a pair as sweet nor a pair as sharp. In their 80s, smarter than most in their 20s, more classy than I can handle, with charm and wit to spare. I'm sad to see this visit end, but at least I know there are more to come!