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An important change occurred recently at Bazinga Eatery<\/a> since it opened in July as San Diego\u2019s first and only macaroni and cheese house.<\/p>\nA few months into the operation, owner Leila Oualha took some heat for under-cheesing the roux that serves as the vital base for a variety of enticing mac \u2018n cheese options dominating the menu. The criticism, she admits, was valid and it prompted her to enhance the sauce with stronger cheeses in bigger quantities.<\/p>\n
The key, she says, was replacing mild cheddar with a sharper aged version, which joins forces with white cheddar and Fontina. Indeed, the revised recipe is spot-on tangy and creamy. And depending on what dish you order, the comfort meter goes up from there as other curds get added in.<\/p>\n This is Oualha\u2019s first restaurant venture, which materialized after immigrating to San Diego from Tunisia and earning her doctorate in business administration from California International Business University. While doing so, she helped a friend manage a local French bistro and became interested in the hospitality industry. She would later visit a mac \u2018n cheese restaurant in New York called S\u2019Mac before deciding to replicate the concept here, in the space that formerly housed Sea Rocket Bistro.<\/p>\n An avid fan of the popular CBS show, \u201cThe Big Bang Theory,\u201d she derived the name of her eatery from its main character, Sheldon Cooper, who brought \u201cbazinga\u201d into the American vernacular as a fooled-ya expression he commonly uses after pranking his roommates.<\/p>\n \u201cThe word isn\u2019t related to food, but I think it\u2019s very catchy,\u201d says Oualha.<\/p>\n Bazinga features two dining rooms that are sparsely decorated, yet warm on the eyes. Seating options are plentiful, ranging from high tops and low tops to communal picnic tables and bar perches.<\/p>\n With oodles of noodles cloaked in different cheeses ahead of us, it seemed necessary to start our meal with salads. My companion raved over his medley of red beets, field greens and lemon-infused goat cheese while I whipped through a simple kale Caesar made memorable by an addicting dressing accented with stone-ground mustard. Oualha would do well if she bottled and sold the stuff.<\/p>\n From the \u201csmall bites\u201d category, we ordered with initial skepticism the mac \u2018n cheese pizza, fearing that it might be too carb-heavy. But the 8-inch pie went down like a breeze.<\/p>\n The house-made crust resembled thin focaccia, and with a yeasty flavor to boot. It teamed naturally with classic mac \u2018n cheese spread evenly over the top along with several slices of pepperoni offering bursts of spiciness. If you like mac \u2018n cheese with ham or chorizo, for instance, and topped with breadcrumbs, this is pretty much the same thing in rearranged form. The only ingredient I would add if trying this at home is a thin layer of stewed tomatoes to give it a tinge of acidity.<\/p>\n Other starters include mac \u2018n cheese balls, house-cut french fries and a \u201cfour cheese sampler,\u201d which is actually a quartet of noodles kissed separately by four different sauces (smoked Gouda, Irish cheddar, Gruyere and pepper jack). It\u2019s not an actual cheese plate as some might assume.<\/p>\n The entr\u00e9e list features 10 mac \u2018n cheese choices, including a vegan version using Daiya cheese and one for vegetarians using herb ricotta, cheddar, Fontina and various veggies.<\/p>\n For us, the decision-making process became even tougher when considering a recipe mingling beer cheese sauce with bratwurst and red cabbage, or another combining lemongrass cheese sauce with Asiago, lump crab, leeks and white corn.<\/p>\n Choosing none of the above, we were delivered to mac \u2018n cheese heaven nonetheless. My companion\u2019s \u201cbrie and steak\u201d was divinely rich and as comforting as coming out of a cold rain to a warm blanket. Juices oozing from the marinated steak on top formed something of a stroganoff sauce as they met with the hot, creamy brie. The dish was laced with cremini mushrooms and balsamic onions, resulting in a super-flavorful outcome that filtered down to the very last corkscrew noodle.<\/p>\n![\"Skillet](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Skillet-mac2web.jpg\")
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(Foto por Frank Sabatini Jr.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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<\/a>I ordered the \u201cFrench onion\u201d with hopes that it would taste like fondue. It very much did, thanks to the addition of Gruyere cheese in the recipe. Served in a cast iron skillet, the caramelized onions strewn throughout tasted right at home. And the cheese mixture maintained its sauciness after everything cooled down \u2014 a telling sign of a balanced roux.<\/p>\n