The Prado

Located in the center of Balboa Park in downtown San Diego,

The Prado is fully embraced by the beautiful garden surroundings along with its very own artsy decor.

Catering and banquets services are also offered to the public. What a wonderful place to hold weddings or events over here.

How about their food? Despite many awards I saw throughout the restaurant's website, I actually find it...mediocre. Let's see some examples here.

Grilled Chicken & Orecchiette pasta-

Orecciette is a type of pasta that looks like small ears. In Italian, Orecchio means ear.

It always interests me that I can learn new languages while exploring the world of food at the same time.

The pasta looks well-flavored along with red onions and toasted pine nuts. However, the aroma of all these ingredients wasn't delivered successfully. I felt like it was missing something. Perhaps...lemon juice?

Cindy's Rating: 6

Chipotle Braised Chicken Enchiladas-

Nothing will surprise you in this dish.

Cindy's Rating: 4

Even though the food was not as stunning as I expected, the restaurant was actually pretty cute-

Too bad I didn't get a picture of their patio area.

Overall Rating: 6 (The place excites my eyes, but not my palate)

The Prado

1549 El Prado

San Diego, CA 92101

(619) 557-9441

http://www.cohnrestaurants.com/cohn/cohnrestaurants/prado.php

Fried Tofu Stuffed with Ground Pork - 豆腐鑲肉

Some Extra Work, But It Comes with Great Taste-


Ingredients?

2 stalks of scallion (chopped)
Ground pork
1 box of fried tofu (about 8 pieces)
6 garlic cloves (peeled)
1 tea spoon of corn starch
White pepper
Brown sugar
Soy sauce
Water or chicken soup
Extra virgin olive oil

How?

Cut the middle part of the tofu and dig it out. The way I do it is cutting a rectangular shape along the edges without reaching the bottom of the tofu. Then I use a small spoon to scoop it out.

What to do with those spared tofu?
Well, you can save it for soup, or simply combine it with the ground pork mixture later.
Don't just throw it away, such a waste.

Now let's talk about the stuffing,
Mix together the corn starch, few pinches of salt and pepper, 1 table spoon of soy sauce, and chopped scallion together with the pork.

And here comes the fun part, just stuff them in the holes we dug out earlier-


Prepare a deep frying pan or a shallow pot,
Drizzle some olive oil and toss in the garlic, you can also add 1 or 2 scallion stalks if desired.
After few minutes, add some soy sauce in the pot, and few pinches of brown sugar to smooth out the salty taste.
Don't forget to pour water or chicken stock, about double the amount of soy sauce.

Carefully place the tofu in the pot, bring to a boil and just let it simmer till cooked.
If the top of the meat is still raw after a while, just put the lid on and turn the fire to low heat,
It'll be ready in just a few more minutes.

Cindy's Rating: 6