nileg's Profile
San Diego New Places Opening Thread, Part Deux
This is great news. Amici's was one of my go-to choices in the Bay Area while I lived there. I'll be checking out the La Jolla shop this afternoon.
Any good deli in San Diego?
The Costco on Morena currently has refrigerated Geshmak half sour kosher pickles in 48 ounce bottles in their meat department. They seem to carry them for Passover, so when they run out we probably won't see them again until they stock them next Passover. Get them before they lose their crunch...they have a limited shelf life even when kept refrigerated.
Best San Diego Mexican Food?
Last year I spoke to an employee of Point Loma Seafoods and learned that they don't have a license that would allow them to process and sell sports-caught seafood. I believe he said they get their fish from Catalina Offshore Products.
Binchotan Charcoal
Binchōtan charcoal ("White Charcoal") is nothing more than charcoal made from the Ubame Oak (Quercus phillyraeoides). The product in the link you provided is one of many similar products available, but for it to work properly at filtering water it must have the proper size particles and porosity. Unprocessed binchōtan wood charcoal is no better at filtering water than a number of other wood charcoal products. Most water filtration units use activated coconut charcoal as it is one of the most effective types of activated charcoal and is inexpensive to produce and due to the rapid growth of coconut trees environmentally more friendly than hardwood charcoals.
Charcoal used to purify water must be activated first (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activated_carbon#Production) to create the very fine microscopic holes (called "microporosity") that does the actual filtering.
Binchotan Charcoal
Just purchase "granulated activated charcoal"...it is the generic name for the high-adsorption charcoal used to filter and purify water. It is widely available for purchase by the pound from many vendors, particularly those selling it to people who use it for filtering aquarium water.
Best San Diego Mexican Food?
Maritza's is a small, inexpensive place that serves the same items you'd get from Super Sergios or similar take-out Mexican shops. It has carnitas as its weekly special, not a speciality. It is not a big sit-down restaurant nor does it specialize in regional cuisines or a particular type of dish. It is a small, family owned "taco shop" style Mexican restaurant with fresh ingredients and good preparation to order. Nothing gourmet, nothing specialty, nothing expensive and no alcohol sales to help pump up income. The clientele is mostly local families and at least half of the business is take out.
It isn't the same class of restaurant as the others on y6y6y6's list. I see it as a better quality alternative to similarly priced places like Cotija, Super Sergio, etc. Judge it accordingly.
Best San Diego Mexican Food?
The carne asada is typically very good at Maritza's and the chicken items are always tasty. Carnitas on Wednesdays is always good. I haven't tried the fish taco and don't intend to as they only use breaded fish. It probably isn't a popular item there as I've never seen anyone order one. I'd stick to their terrestrial protein offerings. If you want a good fish taco I'd stick to places like Blue Water Seafood Market & Grill, El Pescador, Bay Park Fish Company, South Beach Bar & Grille or one of the mariscos fish trucks like Mariscos German or Mariscos Beyer.
Mission Bay recs? for this Sat.
Mission Bay is a body of water surrounded by other named communities. Search for Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Bay Park, and La Jolla. Pacific Beach and La Jolla are to the north of Mission Bay, Mission Beach is to the west, Bay Park is to the east. Those are the areas that feature the majority of the restaurants surrounding the bay. Pacific Beach (called "PB" by the locals) and La Jolla have the most offerings. The best nearby food is in La Jolla, with a few decent-but-not-spectacular offerings in Pacific Beach. Mission Beach has few and limited food offerings as it is mostly high density beach housing.
Point loma sandwich shop?
I think I know that place on Rosencrans Street...Is'nt it the place run by the Gildensterns, right off of Shakesphere Street? :) .
West Coast BBQ and Brew
I want to know more about the barbecue. It's easy to find good beer in San Diego.
Ensenada Olive Oil
The Olive Press in Sonoma is a great source of many excellent EVOO varieties. I've bought from them many times. They sell items from their website: http://www.theolivepress.com/
Great news re: old Police station
You want a tower, I got your tower right here. And it costs ya nothin'. Such a deal!
Chow, bella.
Great news re: old Police station
Most of the Ferry Building (the upper floors) is office space for high value tenants. It makes the SF Port a substantial income. The retail businesses in the Ferry Building get great foot traffic, sell quality products and make good profits. The Port made money for their leases throughout the recession. None of the businesses in the Ferry Building are marginal, many sell world-class products from renowned businesses. This is all well documented and easily accessible information available via a Google search.
As for Copia...it had NOTHING in common with either the Ferry Building or the Old Police Station/Seaport Village sites. COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts was a cultural museum and education center. It wasn't a retail venue like the street level Ferry Building and was in the middle of a rather boring part of the city of Napa. Bringing up Copia is a stretch, fakey. Your cynicism may be getting the better of your usually impeccable reasoning.
Great news re: old Police station
Funny, I'm the taxpayer but nobody asked ME what to do with my shared asset. Only appointed people I didn't elect get the right to choose restaurants Chowhounders universally ridicule. As a taxpayer and third generation San Diegan I don't have a say.
Enjoy the cheesecake...I'll recommend visiting CH'ers steer clear.
Great news re: old Police station
Once again I'm depressed. If this is true it will be yet another example of San Diego's historical preference for mass market mediocrity and short term thinking over quality and image building.
Where can I find smoked cod?
DZ Akins (at 6930 Alvarado Road, right off of Fwy 8 at the 70th Street exit) should have it.
Best Seafood Restaurant in San Diego
I like The Fishery. Its biggest issue is noise. Lots of hard flat surfaces makes it a noisy place even when it isn't filled with people. If they could only get someone in to make some sound deadening alterations I'd give the restaurant more recommendations.
Weekend Group Lunch in La Jolla/PB
If your group likes fish you might try calling Bay Park Fish Co. and asking to reserve their back room. They are in your price range and have a good wine and beer selection. Their seafood is very good...if you search you see there are lots of Chowhound S.D. recommendations for the place. Note that parking can be a challenge...limited on-street parking in a mostly residential neighborhood.
Do real bagels (boiled) exist in San Diego County?
Thanks for the info including the info on Beauty's in Oakland. I'll have to check them out next time I'm visiting the East Bay. I used to get my bagels from Manhattan Bagels on 4th St. in Berkeley as did Saul's Deli.
I tried the bagels at PL Bagels a few weeks ago. They were boiled, the texture was good but the flavor was just ok. I still prefer Busy Bee.
No spoon rule at Underbelly
You forgot the rule that you must literally *jump over a shark* to enter the bar.
Do real bagels (boiled) exist in San Diego County?
Yes, Busy Bee boils their bagels. Right now it's my #1 choice.
Craft & Commerce in Little Italy
>And last time I was in SF, I don't remember nary a corndog.
I lived in Oakland for over 13 years, spent many weekends in S.F., and although I neither eat corn dogs nor remember seeing them they are most definitely there to be had:
Corn Dogs in San Francisco: Not Just Carnie Fare
http://www.7x7.com/eat-drink/corn-dogs-san-francisco-not-just-carnie-fare
Proving, once again, you can find almost ANYTHING in San Francisco. I'm still hoping we can cop some of their food variety and expertise and transfer it here. Which reminds me: Is there any progress on the old downtown police station remodel project?
The Last Supper?
Yes, Roberto's is still there at 2206 Carmel Valley Rd.
http://www.robertos.us/locations.php
source of fresh herbs in bulk?
The name of the Persian market on Balboa is Balboa International Market.
Carnitas tacos/burritos
Maritza's does make carnitas burritos on Wednesdays. No carnitas tacos though.
Old Gulf Coast Space?
It's now Babbo's Bar and Grill:
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Babbos-Bar-and-Grill/144523062314201?sk=info
Mention on HillQuest.com (halfway down the first page):
http://www.hillquest.com/
The Y site:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/babbos-bar-and-grille-san-diego
I haven't been there or to Babbo Grande.
Permanent market for local farmers?
You'd think that *maybe* they would have thought twice before going with the acronym S.O.L.? Just sayin'....
Nonetheless, I'll be interested to see what they come up with.
San Diego New Places Opening Thread, Part Deux
So how much has that Police Building brought the Port District in the last 24 years? That sure has been good income, eh?
As I said before in a now disappeared post the city would benefit immensely by giving the Police Building AND Seaport Village a high-quality tasteful makeover and do what S.F. did with the Ferry Building. Then they need to exercise some quality control over the tenants to ensure it gives local, innovative, high quality businesses a chance and isn't overrun by run-of-the-mill, mediocre schlock vendors. The developers are worried about the lack of an "anchor tenant," reflecting their mass-market, shopping center-oriented mindset. Come on! People come to Seaport Village now even though there is really nothing compelling there. Why not give them something decent for a change? San Diego needs the buzz *and* a kick in the pants. This is one obvious way to get San Diego to live up to the "America's Finest City" moniker that we've all become so cynical about.
