Dog Haus - Pasadena

My aunt Betty and cousin Celia were visiting from San Francisco this weekend to take care of some things. My aunt recently moved to San Francisco a year ago for her retirement, and to be closer to her daughters as well as her new born granddaughter.

To save this story for my next post, we were in queue as to when we were going to have dinner, so my dad told us to eat a snack first and dinner will be later around 7 - 8pm. This was around 3 close to 4 when he told me. John and I were done with the gym, and yea we were pretty hungry.

And that's where our post workout meal landed us at Dog Haus in Pasadena.

It was my first time here. John used to come with Brad, his best friend, that left us to Arizona (what a jerk right?). So now, John took me. I realized they used Hawaiin Kings roll instead of your American white logs, and they also have tater tots as an option for a side. Without getting too excited, I just wanted to stick with the classic downtown dog. John got a little leaguer, and we shared an order of tater tots and soda pop.

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That looks pretty fantastic doesn't it? And a total failure to what a snack should be. Just imagine how full we felt afterwards.

This was my Downtown Dog. It consisted of a smoked bacon wrapped dog, caramelized onions, roasted bell peppers, mayo, mustard and ketchup. There was a few things I wished. One, was I couldn't unfortunately taste the bacon and wished the roasted peppers weren't so wilted that the only texture came from the dog. Other than that, I did enjoy the crispy toasty Hawaiin roll and the perfect combination of everything else.

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Little Leaguer

Ok. I only looked passed this because there was "Little" in the name, and I was not looking for something little as a snack considering how hungry I was. If I actually read the description of " haus chili, fritos, shredded cheddar, diced onions" I would've ordered this in a HEARTBEAT. This was a pretty good dog. I wished the fritos had a stronger corn chip flavor due to it being slightly stale, but I still liked this better than the Downtown dog. I would order this again. I am the hugest sucker for Chili cheese. HUGE.

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Tater Tots

Fried-to-perfect. Each one very extremely crispy with a piping hot center. Next time, I'm going to order these with Chili cheese.. because everything should have chili cheese... everything...

So there you go, a quick post workout meal after LA Fitness in Hastings Ranch. We always tend to find something to eat or going towards Pasadena because that's where the food is closest. Dinner ended up being at 7:30pm... so we were pretty screwed..

But in my genes, our family will eat no matter if we are hungry or full. Just wait and see later what we ate.

Enjoy a fantastic Sunday! I'm off to the Race tracks to celebrate a dear friend of mine's birthday today, Patrick Yorba. If I come home still standing from the champagne and endless shrimp cocktails, be ready to see my Chinese meal with my family.

Cheers!

Daiisies

Poke Salad Bar - Pasadena

"Summer is over" says the last 3 day weekend before all hell breaks loose for the rest of the year. I'm trying not to think about work, or the amount of money that's going to be spent now till next February.

The weekend, so far, has been absolutely beautiful. The weather was nice, sunny, and not too unbearable even though there were some heat in Pasadena. John and I went to the flea market today at Pasadena City College. It's only on the first Sunday of every month. There's no entrance fees, just find street parking, grab a Starbucks and head on over. The market is inside their parking structure and outside their lot. It's really a fun treat if you want to kill some time, be outdoors, getting some exercise, or just looking for unique items to decorate your homes with. Most of the little vendors are cash only, but once in a while you will find some stands that takes credit cards.

After spending about 45 minutes to an hour browsing through the aisles, we were hungry and ready to grab a snack.

By the way, breakfast consisted the usual bacon and eggs.

Since we were in Pasadena, we decided to head into Old Town. After little thought, we wanted to try this little joint called Poke Salad Bar.

What's great about PSB is the toppings that they offer, for free. I know this may sound weird, but I love imitation crab meat. I don't know why. Don't judge me either. There's just something comforting about how sweet it is... and growing up eating California rolls thinking it was sushi really made me appreciate them differently.

I ordered salmon and yellowtail with all the fixes minus the pineapple. I also added a yuzu vinaigrette which flavors were not present. John doubled down on the salmon with additional spicy tuna, but he did not go loco with the fix ins like I did.

The flavors were satisfying. I was also happy with the portions considering it being larger than Flour and Tea on Lake (which I'll never go again). I parked at the Fair Oaks structure since it's 90 minutes free. A quick lunch and a visit to Crate and Barrel did not run my time over 90 minutes.

I highly recommend this place if you are hungry, want something tasty, affordable, satisfying, and wouldn't feel too ripped off. The total for 2 after taxes came out to $21-ish.

Try it and let me know what you think. They also have other options like shrimp, tuna, and scallops. Rice can be substituted with salad and you can also make a burrito!

Now that the sun is going down, and dinner will be soon... it's time to get drunk. OH! And John found $5 on the floor which he made me pick up. I feel terrible, but at the same time, finders keepers losers weepers.

Happy 3 days! Cheers.

Daiisies