August 19, 2014 Garcia’s Kitchen Machaca/Huevos Locos and PPI Dinner of Bobby Flay chicken, Tabouli, tzatziki and string beans

I received a call from Buddy around 8:30 this morning about our meeting with a new client.  I was getting into the shower after a bike ride with Suzette, so I said I would call him after I showered and he said they would go to Garcia’s Kitchen for a cup of coffee.  I returned his call at 9:00 and I said I would join them.  So I drove the five blocks to Garcia’s Kitchen at 1736 Central SW, www.garciaskitchen.com.

When I arrived Buddy was finishing a plate of Huevos Rancheros. As we began discussing Eric’s legal issue, I became hungry, so when the waitress asked me what I wanted to eat I asked, “Do you have machaca?  She replied, “With beef or ham?.

I had never heard of machaca with ham, but wanted beef anyway, so I answered, “With beef, please” and described the dish I wanted and mentioned that I wanted corn tortillas with it.

In a few minutes she brought me a plate filled with an egg omelet filled with fresh chopped jalapenos, tomatoes, beef brisket, and onions on one side and refried beans and fried potatoes on the other side and a small plate covered with aluminum containing three warmed corn tortillas.  I loved it and we came to a satisfactory conclusion for Eric’s legal problem.  When I received the check I saw that my dish was identified as “Huevos Locos”. Upon re-examination of the menu, it appears that the dish I ordered as machaca is on the “Breakfast Anytime” portion of the menu identified as Huevos Locos ($7.00), so I have a new breakfast joint to go to. 

I loved Garcia’s Machaca/Huevos Locos.  It was a sufficiently large portion to power me through the whole day until Suzette arrived at 6:00 as I was finishing up an incorporation for another client.   

At around 6:30 we decided to use up the PPI Bobby Flay chicken from Thursday evening and the tabouli, caprese salad and tzatziki from last night’s meal and steam the string beans I bought at Sprouts Farm Market last Thursday ($.98/lb.).

I de-stemmed the green beans and washed them and Suzette heated up the chicken and steamed the green beans and we were ready to eat in about ten minutes.

We smeared the last of the  Bobby Flay recipe's honey mint sauce on the chicken and Suzette drank a beer and I drank a glass of the PPI J Winery Pinot Gris. The J’s Pinot Gris is the lightest pinot Gris I have tasted, which puts it into the elegant French category for me. Unfortunately, it lacks a fruity flavor.  My favorite American Pinot Gris is still Elk Cove from the Willamette Valley.  J’s is grown in the Russian River district of northern California, just south of Healdsburg and next door to Rodney Strong Vineyards. . We visited J’s Winery a couple of years ago and I see from its current website that it still specializes in food and wine paring tastings.   Here is the website address and a bit of info on its pinot gris wines: http://www.jwine.com/en/Wines/Pinot-Gris.

I bought the bottle of J California Pinot Gris at Costco last Friday for $11.99.  According to J’s website J makes two better grades of Pinot Gris.  Perhaps they have more fruit flavor?

Here is a picture of the bottle of pinot gris I bought.

Our big TV finally died, so I went to bed after dinner.

My most recent weight loss regime seems to be to eat only two meals a day, to reduce my sugar intake and to ride the bike as many days of the week as possible.  It actually seems to be working.

Bon Appétit