I took my puppy down to dog beach today–still one of the nicest off-leash dog parks/beaches ever–to try to run some of that “puppy energy” out of her. We had a great time as usual and the day was perfect. I was feeling a bit peckish afterwards and wanted to grab a bite, but couldn’t just waltz into Miguel’s with my puppy in tow. I then remembered there were outside tables at the Ferry Landing and I had seen dogs there before. So we headed to the other end of town and I inquired with the hostess at the Village Pizzeria Bayside if they serve to the tables outside of their covered seating area. Yes, there’s another VP at the Ferry Landing–just as yummy as the original one on the corner of Orange and Churchill. I am told that yes, I can sit with the dog at any of the outside tables and they can serve me there or I can order from Lil’ Piggies BBQ right next door as they are both owned by the same owner (Dave Spatafore). The only restriction if I sit outside their enclosed area is that I cannot order beer or wine as it is outside their permitted area to serve alcohol. Then I’m told that the tables outside Lil’ Piggies BBQ are within their permit so I could sit there and order a drink from them, but I could still order off either menu. Nice! I’m not a beer drinker, but Lil Piggies does have a pretty impressive selection–over 100 different sorts in bottles (Village Pizzeria also has draft beers) and a limited wine selection. I saw an empty spot outside at Lil Piggies so I sat down at the long wooden picnic tables covered with the requisite red and white checkered tablecloths (traditional “Family Style” BBQ dining). I sat next to a few other very nice couples (one of which also had a dog with them) and we enjoyed some pleasant conversation about dogs and all agreed that it truly was a wonderful day. Then I noticed that the West African sounding music I was hearing from behind me sounded live and I turned around to see a three piece band playing! There was a guitarist, a drummer playing a Sabar (a traditional Senegalese drum), and a man in brightly colored garb playing a Kora (a sort of cross between a harp and a lute, or banjo with 21 strings). What a treat! I love West African Music, it’s happy music. It reminds me of Steve Martin’s banjo music sketch where he says you just can’t sing: “Oh, death and grief and sorrow and murder . . . ” while playing a banjo! If you ever listen to “The World” on Public Radio International’s Geoquiz they use a riff of West African music as the theme song. I was fascinated by it and called to find out who the artist was. The album is Talking Timbuktu and is a collaboration between Ali Farka Touré (#76 on Rolling Stones list of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”) and Ry Cooder. The whole album is really great. I didn’t know much else about West Africa until David Levine, a dear friend of mine who was a Family Practice Osteopath got a wild hair one day, dropped everything and moved to The Gambia to do volunteer work. He wrote many emails over the years, sort of a travelogue back to his friends to keep them updated on his adventures. Eventually, at the insistent urgings of his friends (me being one: “Dude, you HAVE to publish these stories!”) had them collected with his beautiful pictures and printed. It’s called: Toubab: An American Doctor in West Africa and you can order it from Amazon. Toubab means “white man” and you can also get a taste and read a few free chapters on his blog (at this link). He even wrote about the Kora (also spelled cora in The Gambia). Meanwhile, while I’m enjoying the happy, meditative music, the backdrop of the boats on the bay, the San Diego skyline and marveling at the perfect weather, I order a “small” portion of the smoked sausage plate. Now this is the SMALL portion and it’s only $6.99, but I notice that it comes with not just one side dish but TWO sides! I can pick from a list of about eight different ones, and again in the traditional BBQ idiom: it also comes with two pieces of white bread (I’m immediately transported back to opening my sack lunch at Elementary School, the last time I ate “Wonder Bread”). “Well”, I think to myself, “even if the portions are tiny, that’s a lot of food and ought to be a pretty good deal for seven bucks”. It’s become one of my wife’s and my favorite places to eat in town. The servers are always very nice, attentive, obviously very well trained and the food is AWESOME. The waitress even brings a little dish of water for my puppy! Well the platter of food arrives and I’m awestruck–I can’t believe my eyes. There appears to be two LARGE sausages worth of exquisitely smoked and BBQ’d meat cut on the bias and slathered with BBQ sauce, and each side comes in an EIGHT oz. dish full to the brim, the pasta salad is heaping–and tasty! The beans are smoky, and REAL smoke not just chemicalized (you can see their woodpile behind the gate) and there’s all kinds of little pieces of smoked meat throughout. Despite being pretty hungry, I couldn’t even finish it, but they brought me lids for the sides (ah, now I get it!) and a clamshell for the meat. There’s more sauce on the tables and a spicy version as well–highly recommended! It feels like a little Mom and Pop place was snatched right up out of Memphis and just dropped at the north end of town. You can even download their menu (here) to check it out for yourself. I spoke to Amadou Fall, the Kora player after they finished and he said they play there three times a month on varying Saturdays and Sundays. Amadou is from Senegal (which completely surrounds The Gambia) and he also gives instruction on the Kora. It is fascinating to watch him get around all those strings with just his thumbs and forefingers and the music is trance-like, yet groovy–hard to describe. They will be there next Saturday and it’s worth a trip down for the food and a free concert. I tried to snap a quick picture, but my cellphone doesn’t do the color and the vibrancy of the scene justice AT ALL. It was the perfect setting: warm with a cool breeze, the jacaranda trees in their full purple glory, the sails on the beautiful “Urban Tree” sculpture turning with the breeze, the sun glinting off the water and the buildings across the bay, the people strolling on and off the ferry boat coming over to enjoy Coronado. What a treat.
