Is it quality or the process of making from scratch that you care about? Because if it's the former, ginger brew at Urban Plates (and Tender Greens, for that matter) is good and popular. Made by an independent beverage company. If it's the latter, make your own at home. We used to.

Whole Foods in Del Mar now sells a pretty decent rendition of actual ginger ale in canned form. Between this and UP/TG, we've stopped making it at home.

Oddly enough, we attended a birthday party where they served 12 pizzas from Regent's Pizza. Never heard of the place, but everyone enjoyed it and asked where they got the pizza from. It definitely left a good impression on everyone.

It's certainly not the best pizza I've had, but far better than the average pizza in SD.

Yakitori is definitely their strong point. They use bincho (imported white charcoal) which gives a great smokey flavor. The owner has done this for a long time (originally from Nagoya, then Hillcrest, now Convoy) and it shows. Ramen is good for San Diego.

For a period of time, my son was addicted to yakitori and this and yakitori koubou made great family meals. Yakyudori has better yakitori but koubu is easier to get a table, has other specialities, and is pretty good as well.

Tender Greens also has Professor Cane. ^^

What's your basis for saying that Jiro doesn't like foreigners? He serves Robuchon all the time among many other foreigners. I guess you must know something they don't to say he doesn't like them but calls them friends to their face.

I'm a foreigner, and I happen to speak good Japanese. Will he not serve me? It's one thing to say someone doesn't like foreigners due to the language issue, it's quite another to make a claim like yours that Jiro happens to be a racist hiding behind this excuse.

I've met many others who made the same insinuations about establishments in Japan using language merely as a mask for blatant racism. If I stuck with them long enough, I observed that without fail they spoke in ear wrenching Japanese expecting to be perfectly understood without further effort and it all became clear what was happening. It's no different than some people on the net speaking half English and getting angry about it.

The simple truth is, there are far more people who just can't stand your bastardized Japanese than actual racists, of which there also are like any other country. No restaurant here in the States would want to serve someone who couldn't speak an intelligible sentence of English but expected otherwise.

Foreigners in Japan, it's their fault. Foreigners in the US, it's also their fault. It's quite an astonishing form of hypocrisy.

I've heard Bird Rock and been meaning to go..then one morning I ask my wife "Where'd you get this coffee?" It's UCC coffee, bought from Nijiya (also Mitsuwa). Gold blend is my recommendation. I've tried the usual suspects in my area, and this has been the most consistent for me. I had just bought Peet's a few weeks back and it was immediately clear she didn't brew Peets. This was way better.

We're staying at the Wynn, and one night want to try Chinese take-out or delivery. Anything worth trying? I'm Taiwanese so anything good is good with me. =)

We have a toddler so although we'll eat out it'll be limited to the buffet and places where we can keep him occupied (drawing, ipad, stickers, etc..). That's why going out to a Chinese restaurant isn't an option, but anything delivery is.

I guess worst case we can do take out from Red 8 in the lobby, but this is Chowhound and I bet you can do better. ;-)

I think 1 billion Chinese and Mongolians would disagree with you on that one. I've had better, but it's fairly good Mongolian hot pot and authentic. I also wouldn't recommend it to anyone unfamiliar with Chinese food - aka 95% of people who aren't Chinese. My wife hates it.

They're being generous listing anything south of LA. These lists aren't meant to be taken seriously you know.

Pearl is great for dim sum (worth the extra drive, but super busy on weekends), and so is Okan if you don't mind Japanese.

Josh's suggestion of Dos Pedros was spot on. Another place with great adobado tacos was Tacos El Gordo (chain in Chula Vista). I haven't found a place with everything, but lots of shops have at least a handful of outstanding dishes.

Try 10 recommendations here and see if your success rate doesn't go up.

LJ Farmer's market has the best playgrounds and dogs running around. You guys will understand when you have kids. ;-)

Quite the contrary. You seem to be unaware that certain Thai dishes *require* spiciness to be authentic. I never said all Thai food needed to be spicy, however it's quite accurate to say a large portion of Thai food is spicy. Not true of most Asian cultures.

Go to Thailand and see if they ask you to rate how spicy you want your Papaya salad from 1 to 10. Oh wait, maybe they will if you're white. And give you a fork and knife.

Do you actually make or know anything about Thai food? Just curious.

Lumping Asian together is like lumping European, American, and Middle Eastern food together. I've eaten Asian food since the day I was born, and I could count years between when we made something spicy - and it was never Asian! Sure we knew about spicy food, maybe our neighbors were from Szechuan or someone wanted to try Thai or regional Indian.

It's a different topic if you're talking about a restaurant. Asian food in the US is as authentic and varied as European food - there are some good places but most are serving Americanized food.

I cook a lot of Japanese, and the only time I'd ever need wasabi is if I'm making sushi. By the way, unless you went to a rare sushi place or visited Japan, you probably have never tasted wasabi in your life - you probably ate flavored and dyed horseradish which is what the vast majority of "wasabi" in the US is made of. There is 0% wasabi in most "wasabi" here. Just to reiterate the point about Americanized food.

They didn't grow up eating cheese. In Japan, cheese is eaten aguably more than in the US - and of higher quality (but not quite Europe's).

Roppongi's is a good recommendation for happy hour.

Not an expert on this, but:
http://www.homegrownmeats.com/

I'd just call them and ask.

As other said, Roy's, Barolo, Donovan's.

Roy's has three course menus at around $30pp but that's before drinks/tax/tip. To stay close to budget I'd share a dessert/appetizer (one person get the 3 course, another person get an entree and you split 2 courses), but as others said you'll probably still go a bit over $70 if you're ordering more than 1 course + drinks.

Donovan's is more expensive, so it's probably out of budget.

Barolo's is well within budget but on the east end of UTC.

I had a friend recommend the Melting Pot at the Hyatt. It's certainly something different, for a special occasion. I have a kid otherwise I'd have gone. ;-)

Their tart was alright, the same as Yogurt World far as I can tell. Not tart enough for me but I have strange yogurt preferences. ;-) I preferred their vanilla instead over it. Yogen fruz is the best example of a good frozen yogurt vanilla.

If you visit LA/OC, try Ce Fiore. They're the best tart in my experience. Similar type to Pinkberry but better.

Had a burrito there, definitely will try again!

Turns out they're open at noon but will check it out another time. Thanks!

She actually says if you have diabetes *you should* eat a slice of cake instead of a whole cake. She actually said that. I don't think she should be giving that kind of medical advice to people with diabetes. There are too many examples of this.

Obviously, you can say she's trying to compromise people eating whole cakes but that's not the issue. The issue is her saying it's okay to eat even a slice of fudge cake. No, it's not okay.

Apparently they just opened last week..tried it out last weekend.
http://www.delmarswirls.com/

Three strong points:
Really good toppings - fresh, perfect sizing for frozen yogurt (ex. mini m&ms
)Good flavors - Dulce de leche, pecan butter, vanilla were all great
Serve yourself - get as much or little as you like. My son's was $1.60 and mine was $1.93 for extra small portions.

Flavors available: Tart, pomegranite, cookies and cream, velvet cake, dulce de leche (similar to Haagen Das but liquid), snickers, pecan butter

Yeah, we do have too many frozen yogurt places in SD. There's two decent ones nearby in UTC mall (yogen fruz has great vanilla, Nordstrom Cafe has a decent one with fresh fruit), and another Swirls in Encinitas. Now there's even a Pinkberry in Fashion Valley Mall (my favorite for tart). But this one's becoming a new favorite for convenience and good flavor choices.

Thanks looking for something different, sounds good. =)

I'm taking classes in PB on weekends now, what's good for lunch in the area near the pier? I had some good NY pizza, but that's about all I know. =)

Go at lunch time. It's much cheaper and not crowded, and you can get a lunch set. Chirashi sushi is mixed sashimi on sushi rice, and easy way to try a variety. Their rolls are also a good way if you're on a budget. Ota's a fairly big sushi place and it really doesn't matter if you're a regular or not.

For anyone just starting to get into sushi and on a budget, I'd suggest Ota. It's at a fine balance in price and quality..Kaito is more a place that has lots of more exotic offerings (at least for the states) that someone who's used to regular sushi would love to try. It also has great personal service where you can talk with the chef and learn about what you're having.

I like Ota for their chirashi sushi lunch set, and also ordering togo. My sister did that every time she came in from the airport. Kaito has an added experience and is more a sit down meal than a quick lunch. In any case, Ota is definitely better than the vast majority of sushi joints in SD. Dinner can be very crowded especially Fri/Sat. I'd say both places have their niche.

It's certainly not a private matter when you're a paid spokesman for diabetes medicine at the same time as strongly advocating dangerous behavior and giving health advice on her show.

Wait, this was a secret? Let me ask you, does she look like she has diabetes or not? If you have to hesitate to answer that..

In Italy if they have an English menu, it's probably not that great by Italian (and perhaps American) standards. This is a longstanding rule and I can attest to it personally. The best places were all 95%+ locals. I don't think it had anything to do with authenticity though, there are simply good and bad places in Italy and the bad ones survive on tourists or because of location.

Caramel popcorn at Cinepolis was pretty good. Someone else will have to tell us about the rest of their menu..