A Great Place To Eat

I had finished the flooring job in Jim’s rig and Jim invited us out for dinner. We have never been much for eating out and had only limited knowledge of where to go and what to expect, so I searched the internet for a reputable place to eat in El Centro. I do not value Chinese food nor any of the more exotic style foodie places. Finally I found an Italian-style (the most exotic I accept) restaurant called Jonny Carino’s. I plotted the address into our GPS ….and we were ending up in a residential area.                                            New vinyl flooring installed in Jim’s rig What??? Dogwood Ave was the given address on Tripadvisor but GPS could only find Dogwood Rd. Rd. or Ave?  What was it going to be?  I knew about the giant Dogwood Mall south of the I-8, so we drove in there looking and looking. Finally, at the south end of the mall, Bea spotted the place. If the outside looks were any indication towards the quality of the food, we could expect a nice meal. And we were not going to be disappointed. After a shared appetizer of Italian wings we went onto 2 pizzas, likewise shared between us. The crusty edge and rich topping was nothing short of being delicious. We ordered dessert too. 3 desserts to share. Number 1 was a lemon cream cake, Number 2 was tiramisu and number 3 was Italian chocolate cake served warm and with vanilla ice cream. The desserts cannot be described other than being a wild feast of heavenly taste.   And being a dessert-kind-of-guy I was more than impressed about the portions served. Especially the tiramisu and the chocolate cake would have been enough to make desserts for 2 persons each. This restaurant also offers an impressively long list of different bottled beers and drafts. Bea had an Italian-style concoction of sangria with something stronger in it, while Jim enjoyed a red wine to his meal. And if you are still not convinced: Service was great too.  Matching the quality of the food were the prices. After all it’s not a Denny’s or a fast food joint. But I wouldn’t call anything on their menu for overprized. How to find it From I-8 take exit “Dogwood Rd.” and turn south. Drive into the Dogwood mall and funnel yourself through the maze of stores and roads to the southern end. You will see the place near Dogwood Rd. If you miss the 1. turn-off into the mall, just take the next one. We never figured out whether it’s actually on Dogwood Rd or Dogwood Ave. We concluded the evening with coffee in our own digs, watching Chica doing her funny antics around the floor. She finally settled on Bea’s lap. Thanks for stopping by!