Bubba's Smokehouse Barbecue: La Jolla, California

Sides on the Rib Platter: Mac and Cheese (7/10), Baked Beans (7/10) and Cornbread (5/10

Ribs (8.5/10)

Bubba's Smokehouse Barbecue is probably my favorite place to eat barbecue in the San Diego area so far. We first went there from a recommendation from a friend who has lived in the area for a while. However, he told us to go to a place called Joey's Smokin Barbecue. Apparently it hasn't been called that for some time now.

Anyway, on to the food. The ribs here are fall-off-the-bone meat with a dry rub and two different sauces. You can go for sweet sauce, which is pretty good or a spicier sauce which is also good. They have a pretty wide variety of things on their menu for a barbecue place including Frickles (fried pickles). Last time we were here my mom got some chicken which she wasn't too impressed with. However, if you're going to a barbecue place to eat chicken you probably shouldn't be going there at all.

This time she had a brisket sandwich and enjoyed it quite a bit. Typically she's the healthy eater in the family and never finishes her plate but this time she ate the entire sandwich.

The prices are pretty typical of a barbecue restaurant but we had to pay $10 to park in the middle of the day which added to the cost a little bit. The restaurant is located in a great shopping area which is only a couple of blocks from the beach. For those of you that live outside of San Diego, La Jolla is a great place to visit.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

Five Guys Burgers and Fries is a national burger chain. They have a pretty simple menu but we had heard that this place was really good. While waiting in line you realize that all of the decorations in the building are cutouts of newspapers and magazine articles where they've been called "best burger joint," "best burger value," and "other random burger related award."

At this point I was pretty excited. I love hamburgers so the prospect of having the BEST was making my mouth water. Unfortunately my excitement was met with disappointment.

When the burgers came out they looked good. Their "regular" burger is two quarter-pound patties. I got mine with bacon, cheese and a ridiculous amount of vegetables. The burger was fine but "fine" definitely didn't meet my expectations.

Their fries come in two variations; simply salted and Cajun. Both styles of fries are thick slices of skin-on potato. We opted for the simply salted. The portion size of fries was fairly generous but that didn't really make up for the fact that they didn't taste great. Apparently at Five Guys, "simply salted" means "doesn't taste salty at all." This is a great example of, "I don't care if its healthier if it doesn't taste good."

Overall I wasn't extremely impressed. This place probably falls somewhere in the middle of my fast food burger rankings. Maybe I didn't order the right thing, maybe they were having a bad day but either way this burger wasn't my favorite.