Keepin track of Kezza: San Diego Trip Report

Friday night, after I picked Maia up from work, we decided to get tapas at La Gran Tapa, which had great reviews on Yelp. They were supposed to have a $10 tapa & wine special for Happy Hour, however when we arrived we were informed that because of the theater, and because they were so busy, they would only be doing a $25 prix fixe menu. We sat at a table out on the patio, and were handed the regular menu as well. It was extremely confusing.

This old man who seemed to be the Host of some sort said he'd take care of us.."just tell me what you want, and I'll get you what you want out of kitchen." Ummm... OK. I ordered a glass of Zinfindal from a woman waitress, and we picked out some tapas to share. Old-man came back and we told him what we wanted and he said,

"No, I can't to do that.. you can only pick from the special menu."

"But we don't want any of that stuff..." At this point I thought Maia was going to walk out.

"OK Beautiful ladies, I will only charge you for one of the special meals, and I will bring you two meals, and free wine, and whatever else you want. I bring it. Just for you beautiful ladies."

We were starting to warm up to this strange old man ;-)

Maia ordered a glass of tempranillo, and he turned to me. I told him I had ordered a glass of zinfindel. "I bring you tempranillo too." And he disappeared.

At this point, Maia and I just gave up all hope of getting anything we wanted and decided to just enjoy the ride. Soon plate after plate of food arrived. Marinated kalamata olives; fresh baked bread; a European potato salad; marinated beets... and those were just the appetizers. Next, a delicious fresh greens salad with a basalmic vinaigrette, followed by a melt-in-your-mouth pan-seared salmon dish, and pumpkin risotto.

Somewhere along this culinary adventure, we learned that strange-old-man was in fact, Basilio the owner of the restaurant. He stopped by our table many, many times to make sure we were happy, and to keep our wine glasses topped off.

(Maia showing off the octopus)

After our entree's Basilio brought us something "special". It was their sauteed octopus dish that I had read all about on yelp. It received rave reviews for being especially tender and not at all chewy. Being a big calimari fan, I was curious to try it, but I would never have ordered it on my own. Well, let's just say, the reviews were spot on, and I devoured the entire plate (with some help from Basilio!)

Yes, by this point, Basilio had pulled up a stool, offered a bottle of wine, pulled out a fork, and joined us for dessert. Dessert, by the way, was some of the best tiramisu and creme brulee I have ever had. I can't say I've ever had the owner of a restaurant join my table before! At one point, one of the waitstaff made a comment like "Has Basilio harrassed you enough for tonight?" While he was a HUGE flirt, he never quite crossed over the pervert line, and was harmless enough. Plus, he was feeding us amazing food, pouring good wine, and at a discount at that!

And yes, true to his word, Basilio only charged us for one prix fixe meal, plus a glass of wine or two each. Making our total $23 each. OK maybe the math doesn't quite add up, but we drank a lot of wine!! Either way it was a total steal for such a memorable meal! If you're ever in San Diego, I highly recommend La Gran Tapa! Basilio also owns The Turquoise in Pacific Beach. I can't vouge for it personally, but I'm sure that's worth a shot too.