Hash House a Go Go- Hillcrest

3628 5th Ave San Diego, CA 92103

(619) 298-4646

Official Menu

Hello folks! I have been overly consumed by a little bugger of a problem for the past few weeks.  Which cell phone am I going to get?  The Iphone 4g by ATT or HTC Evo by Sprint ?  They are the two current heavyweights in the newest baddest sleaziest phones around and if I have to sign a contract and commit myself for 2 years to a greedy corporation, then I better get the best phone for my buck.  I have been slowly going crazy between internet research, friend polling,making pros and cons lists, taking advantage of the companies' 30 day trial period, etc.  Basically it came down to what can I live with and what irks me the most.  If you want to know more specific findings, feel free to comment and I can impart the completely non-scientific results of my research and tears.  

I finally crawled out of my she-cave for brunch with a gal pal.  Yes I just said gal pal and I kicked myself in retaliation.  We met at 830 for brunch at the Hash House, oftly reviewed I'm sure.  It was between this and the Omelette House in La Mesa....looking back, I shoulda went with Omelette House.  My thinking was, I want ALOT of food so I can have yummy leftovers.  However that theory only works if you like your dish to begin with.  I was very disappointed that I didnt enjoy my food! Its not that cheap there as you might know and now it just kind of whet my appetite for a brunch craving that will probably not get filled for awhile...

Drinks: Blood orange sparkling beverage from a bottle and their Asti mimosa of the day (I forgot the actual name or other ingredients).  I dont know why I broke my either ice water with lemon or alcohol drink rule today--it was alright but I could have done without. 

My order: Griddled French Toast (on their website as a spotlight dish).  "Our signature Amish style bread dipped in a banana cinnamon cream with pecan maple syrup...a breakfast legend".  It was huge of course with three toast pieces and a whole griddled banana on top.  Way too sweet.  I should have asked to have the syrup on the side.  The bread was not as crunchy as it looked...disappointing.  The pecans were yummy and candied.  They also threw some strawberries on there for extra measure.  Overall I ate 1/3 of one slice and not because I wasnt hungry.  My friend's little bro will be eating that for dinner tonight I'm told.  Maybe part of it is that I dont have the biggest sweet tooth, but still even I can appreciate a sinful french toast.  This one, just didnt do anything for me.

My friend ordered herself the BBQ griddled flank steak with 2 eggs, potatoes, fruit and a biscuit. The mashed potatoes were fantastic, which is saying alot since I'm not a great fan of them.  I like my taters roasted, fried, grilled, baked or crunchy somehow and its one of my worst cravings.  The flank steak was supposed to be medium rare and I know from my Food Network education that cooked properly, this can be a flavorful cut of meat.  Why did that sound dirty?  However it tasted overdone, bland, and rubbery.  Another fail.  The portion was huge of course and my friend enjoyed her fried eggs enormously.  

We also ordered a side of biscuit and gravy.  Decent gravy of sausage base.  The sausage chunks were good in my opinion but sparse--I didnt expect there to be any since the sausage was a part of the gravy base.  The biscuit was huge and I only made it through half of one.  The gravy was alright tasting but it was off mark.  Tasted artificial.  Maybe I was spoiled after eating biscuits and gravy in my vacation on the east coast?  I sure hope not.  

Overall, 25 bucks later I ate1/3 a slice of french toast and 1/2 a biscuit with gravy...oh yeah and 1/4 glass of organic orange sparkle drink.  At least the wait wasnt bad.  It will probably be awhile before I choose to come back here....damn you!!!!!  ****To be fair, I dont recall having a bad experience on my previous visit here last year so maybe today was just an off day.  Still there are too many brunch places to stick to one, especially if you werent in love with the food.  

What would you do?

The other day, I made a new friend.  In the same day, I lost my new friend.  I was on my way to a client's house in the middle of a not so nice area and saw a little black furball trotting along the sidewalk.  It looked obviously homeless and downtrodden.  I couldnt resist so I pulled over to try to look for a tag on its neck or something.  The dog gave me chase and ran down the street.  I jumped in my car and followed it around the corner, where it ran under a car.  If you know me, you know I like to always be prepared.  So this should come as no surprise that I had a bottle of water, dog bowl and dog food in my trunk.  The only thing I lacked was a dog leash.  I began by throwing pieces of kibble at the dog to lure her to me.  Eventually she let me come close enough to sit about 3 feet away from her.  Poor thing was mangy, either pregnant or been massively overbred, half blind with a funky ear infection.  Saddest little face ever.  I called animal control to ask them to come pick up the dog in case it had a little microchip under her skin.  They told me that they wouldnt have anyone out there for at least an hour...I did not have an hour since I was running late!  So I took the little pupperoni with me on my first visit with a client...ha.  She only wanted to stay wrapped up in this fleece blanket I keep in my car and only wanted to stay on my lap.  After the meeting I took the dog to the Bonita shelter...where I was promptly told that this dog was "out of the jurisdiction".  Since when is a dog out of someone's jurisdiction??? What is the world coming to?  They advised me to call National City's animal officer...who then informed me that there was no available officer until the following morning.  I was advised to drop the dog off at the Chula Vista shelter before they closed.  Another couple hours later, the dog was safely turned over to the shelter personnel...but not without an almost tear from old softie over here....

Does anyone else have crazy dog love?  What is the silliest thing you found yourself crying over?

Still no pictures but if you can use your imagination...

Dear hubby still hasnt uploaded my food adventures pictures from his camera so I cant share my vacation eating with you quite yet.  Phoooey.  Eating vacation style is fun for a few days but then I start to miss my own favorite comfort foods.  Since I've returned from my vacay, I have been cooking up quite a storm.  My camera situation is going to be improved a few notches next week when my IPHONE comes in! I am so excited I cant stand it.  I've fought every impulse to get this phone, using every excuse in the book such as too expensive, dumb plan, better deal in the future, dont need it, cant afford it, its just a phase, etc.  Ever since ATT announced their plan to get rid of the unlimited data plan, I was forced to essentially poop or get off the pot.  So I did it. And with some careful application store picks, my monthly cell phone bill should actually drop by 5-10 bucks from my tmobile plan.  I will also get a way better camera and faster phone in the process.  

So back from my tangent.  If you are hungry, my next few sentences wont help one bit.  The last week's cooking adventures shaped up to be like this: korean seaweed soup, super egg scramble with spicy turkey sausage, tomatoes and potatoes, seaweed salad with krab, korean soy sauce eggs with beef brisket, soy milk and berry blend smoothies,etc.  This offset by leftover grill foods courtesy of some good friends and some takeout Filipino food of sisig and kare kare.  Those are two of my favorite items from that cuisine, tied only with the dish that I suddenly cant recall the name of (taro leaves in coconut milk and a little bit spicy) and pancit palabok.  Those are the Filipino dishes I look for when I get takeout at the bakery near my house every 3 months or so.  Even if the aunty in charge there is not nice at all!

Today, I cooked up a storm too.  Partly to save money for the coming week eats as life was too costly for me in the past few weeks what with the iphone and paying for study related items.  Mostly because I am procrastinating my studies for part two of my licensure exam.  Dammit....why is it so hard to make yourself want to study????  So my cooking today consisted of blueberry and blackberry chocolate chip muffins, potatoes and green beans in curry sauce, tomato soup with triple cheese raviolis, vietnamese egg meatloaf as well as prepping fruits and veggies for the upcoming week.  Most of the items have healthy substitutions inside i.e. low fat sour cream in place of heavy cream for the soup, no meat in the curry dish, muffin mix base was Fiber One brand, used only 1/3 of the recommended meat in the meatloaf and added extra vegetables in lieu of, etc.  However, my meatloaf didnt come out exactly as hoped as I had the wrong kind of fish sauce and didnt put enough salt in the egg mix.  It will still taste good with some hoisin sauce and rice though....

Happy weekend ya'll.  Remember to reduce your water usage and recycle recycle recycle.  The planet is showing signs of wear and frankly, we have had enough bad news/ devastation/ loss in the world lately....