This time of year in my work as a school counselor, seniors are thinking ahead to college. Many are worried about leaving their friends behind when considering colleges and universities that are out of town or even out of state. With these worries, I always advise students that although it's nice to have lots of friends, the real important friends will still be your friends years after high school, whether or not they go away for college.
Fast forward 20 years, I find myself thinking back to when I was a senior in high school, having those same fears and worries about losing my friends. Today, I can count my closest friends on one hand. We try to schedule dinner dates every few months, most especially during birthdays and at the end of the year during the holidays. These dinner dates are special - we reminisce with funny stories growing up, we share mommy and wifey stories, and squeeze in a bit of innocent gossip here and there!
This past last week, we had the chance to visit Sirena Gourmet Latin Seafood Restaurant in Little Italy in San Diego for our holiday dinner date. It was such a treat to try a variety of the menu items to satisfy our tummies while we enjoyed each other's company.
5) The Chicken Seco entree has an airline chicken which was a boneless chicken breast with the drumette attached, Peruvian seco sauce, quinoa risotto, and an Argentinian criolla sauce. I love risotto so I gravitated towards this dish. The risotto was prepared drier than the usual Italian risotto, but was a great compliment to the juicy and moist chicken. The risotto soaked up the juices of the chicken to create a wonderful blend of Latin flavors.
Fast forward 20 years, I find myself thinking back to when I was a senior in high school, having those same fears and worries about losing my friends. Today, I can count my closest friends on one hand. We try to schedule dinner dates every few months, most especially during birthdays and at the end of the year during the holidays. These dinner dates are special - we reminisce with funny stories growing up, we share mommy and wifey stories, and squeeze in a bit of innocent gossip here and there!
This past last week, we had the chance to visit Sirena Gourmet Latin Seafood Restaurant in Little Italy in San Diego for our holiday dinner date. It was such a treat to try a variety of the menu items to satisfy our tummies while we enjoyed each other's company.
We all studied the menu before hand but we had a hard time deciding on the appetizers since they all sounded so delicious. Sirena's host Michael suggested a few items on the menu for us to try.
Here are our top 8 eats we loved at Sirena Gourmet Latin Seafood Restaurant:
1) The appetizer Empanadas with crab and cream cheese was creamy, yummy goodness in a fluffy crust. They were very filling so be conservative when wanting to eat an entire empanada. You want to have space in your tummy for the other yummy goodies to enjoy!
2) The Seafood Wings appetizer with crab claws, chili sauce, and habanero parsley aioli was another hearty appetizer. I enjoyed the savory, spicy and sweet, crunchy flavors and textures of this dish.
3) The fusion of flavors in the Berry Good Ceviche brought a smile to my face. The yellowtail, shrimp, scallops, crab meat, pomegranate, kumquat, red jalapeno, cilantro, lime, blackberries, and red onion brought a unique combination of flavors to my palate. I liked the crunch of the pomegranate seeds and the tart blueberries, along with all the citrus flavors fused with the seafood. I love ceviche and this dish is a great twist to one of my favorite dishes. Every Wednesday, Sirena has specials on a variety of special ceviche dishes made just for day. I look forward to future visits on Wednesday to try the other awesome ceviche fusions.
4) The Scallops entree is presented with braised lima beans, chorizo, apple puree, tiny roots, parsley root aioli, and bone marrow butter. The saltiness of the roasted chorizo was a perfect compliment to the creamy bone marrow butter surrounding the generous helping of scallops.
6) The Flat Iron entree was a hearty steak with an onion ashes crust, corn tamal, cherry tomato relish, huitlacoche sauce. The steak was cooked medium rare which gave it a nice tender, juicy consistency. The steak, with it's accompanied flavors of corn and onion, really gave the dish a Latin flare. Super delish and mouth watering! It was more than we could eat - this can be a meal to share if you've had a few of the appetizers.
7) We had the Coyota mexican pastry for dessert. The warm piloncillo, brown sugary yumminess, inside the warm doughy pastry was a pleasant treat topped with vanilla ice cream, fresh strawberry, and fresh mango.
8) The other dessert we enjoyed was the White Chocolate which was white chocolate mousse topped with chocolate sauce, blueberries, and white wine gelée. The mousse had the consistency of hard tofu but the flavors of sweet white chocolate. I really liked the gelée which was wine infused gelatin. I could have eaten an entire bowl of the gelée alone!
We had a wonderful evening at Sirena. Nothing beats great company and delicious eats! Thanks to manager Michael and the entire staff at Sirena for an excellent experience!
We had a wonderful evening at Sirena. Nothing beats great company and delicious eats! Thanks to manager Michael and the entire staff at Sirena for an excellent experience!
Disclaimer: My guests and I received complimentary meals in exchange for this blog post and social media shares. All opinions are mine.