Bobierto's Profile
Coffee shops, great breakfasts and solo dining in san diego
I'm with you there. The drive out to Cabrillo is probably the best view in town. Amused by all the banter about Prado ... but Ewilensky got where I was coming from ...
Coffee shops, great breakfasts and solo dining in san diego
I emphatically agree about the Mission, haven't been to the East Village location so it's not on my mental map but is a great choice for the poster. The Pacific Beach and North Park spots are favorites for me. And now that we have given cherie all these other great picks let's agree to take Hob Nob Hill off the list. Haven't been there i years ... please note for Prado I specified the happy hour, when the prices on small plates are great and a woman dining alone will feel very comfortable in the bar. It is a beautiful place, stylish yet casual, I have only been there a couple of times but a couple of years ago for my birthday the kitchen delivered spectacularly. Maybe they've slid but I think the happy hour is a good pick = try those crab cakes! But thanks for the input.
Coffee shops, great breakfasts and solo dining in san diego
Yikes! How the heck did I do that?! Thanks for the correction.
Coffee shops, great breakfasts and solo dining in san diego
Cafe 222 is also walking distance from you and is really popular for breakfast. As for happy hours there was a recent string on happy hours in San Diego, there are lot around downtown so do a search on that ... a favorite happy hour of mine is Prado in Balboa Park, that is probably just within your 2-mile walking radius. Stout Pub downtown has good bar food, and Downtown Charlie Brown's is a good burger & beer kind of place. These are all more downscale. For more upscale, find that post! (Oops except Prado, that's pretty elegant but good happy hour deals.)
Coffee shops, great breakfasts and solo dining in san diego
Hob Nob Hill for an old time breakfast joint vibe, just up First Avenue from downtown.
A San Diego Sampling
While we're on the topic has the Reader Review Buzz died down at Sab E Lee. I heard there was an hour wait on a Tuesday night right after Naomi Wise's review was printed. The review was well-deserved but I was sorry she printed it as there is no way that tiny place can handle a crush of interest. He needs to have a dining room 4 or 5 times the size, but then he would also have to hire some more cooks as skilled as those he has now.
Good, nice eats in San Diego?
SD metro is a city of 3 million spanning hundreds of square miles. You need to narrow down your request ... where will you be staying, what kind of eats are you looking for, how much to spend, etc?
"You've gotta eat this..." in San Diego?
Apparently she's too humble to plug it (I don't know her so I'm guessing here) but you need to have a look at Alice Q Foodie's blog ... I've been eating my way through this entry and have encountered several moments of bliss, so far my number 1 "Thank You Alice" moment was the mole at Cantina Mayahuel.
http://aliceqfoodie.blogspot.com/2009/02/100-good-things-to-eat-and-drink-in-san.html
Good Idea for a San Diego Restaurant to do:
Airfare to Madrid is very cheap right now, for a May vacation ... and it's shoulder season so there are cheap accommodations. So much for wine though, I'm flying to Berlin, staying in a condo I found on VRBO, and will be drinking cheap good BEER!
Good food, good prices SD
We were there recently and the food AND the service were quite uneven ... $20 is a deal but the wine was quite expensive ...
I need a hamburger so bad! [San Diego]
I have to say the Aztec burger (jack cheese and anaheim chilis) at Downtown Johnny Brown's is really quite good.
San Diego Mexican near Midway Museum
Mexican Fiesta is GREAT but it is take-out only. By the way - to the ejbjr - "pastor" means tacos al pastor - shepherd-style tacos - spiced chopped roasted pork ... mmmmmmm!!!
Japanese pastries -SD?
Please do. Twice a year I go to Montreal, and bring at least a dozen bagels home - best in the universe! If there was something even close to authentic around here I would be thrilled!
Sat breakfast between SD airport and Oceanside
The Mission at 3795 Mission Blvd in Pacific Beach. - http://www.themission1.signonsandiego.com/
Ocean Beach Pier Cafe - halfway out the Ocean Beach pier - funky picturesque and very San Diego.
And another vote for Perry's - 4620 Pacific Hwy. These are all close to the airport so assuming you'll be hungry before you land!
Mole at Cantina Mayahuel - wow!
We've been eating our way through Alice Q Foodie's wonderful post of a 100 things not to miss in San Diego.
http://aliceqfoodie.blogspot.com/2009/02/100-good-things-to-eat-and-drink-in-san.html
We had had several and agreed with most (all but the burger at Ritual Tavern) so decided her advice was worth it. We're not high-end diners, generally, but at least 2/3 of her list, probably more, meets our dive to mid-range qualification. Friday night we went to Cantina Mayahuel for the mole. Wow! I'm not an expert but I think this was the best mole I have ever had. Plus the place is just great, I can't believe I didn't know about it. I think this is going to become a summer favorite of ours when it's warm enough to eat on their patio. Thank you Alice Q, whoever you are!
If people have recommendations for other awesome mole around town, I am all ears.
Modern Chinese (SD)
A couple of years ago I was working up in OC and we went to a place called Tri-Village in Irvine a lot - I thought it was GREAT. Would be interested to hear Kirk's opinion on it. I heard it changed hands though.
Vegetarian Pho in San Diego
Good point but I was stunned by the number of Christian churches!
Fabulous dinner in San Diego???
I stand corrected. I was replying to sweisman without referring back up to the original post. Thanks for keeping me on the straight and narrow path ...
Where to buy harissa in San Diego?
I bought Aleppo pepper at NP Produce last month ...
BOSTON HOUNDS VISIT
Have to agree, SD's finest Pizza would be pretty lame next to any average place in BOS. Frankly Boston has better seafood too. Besides Mexican, our strong point is Asian places.
Fabulous dinner in San Diego???
Hmm I stick to the lower end of the price range but if you want to get a sense of SD and its place on the Pacific Rim try El Comal for Mexican, Sab E Lee for Thai, Dumpling Inn for Chinese, and then if you want somewhere "nice" go to Prado for some "California cuisine." The Mission for brunch for an authentic SD vibe. Hodad's in Ocean Beach for a damn fine burger with surfers on the side.
San Diego restaurants are bad
I agree, a lot of us are reluctant to venture across the border these days but even this shall pass ... (the drug violence I mean) ... and SD and TJ ARE one urban area. Sometimes when you are looking for the "best" of a certain thing in San Diego, the answer is that it's in Tijuana! (or Tecate or Ensenada). Getting back to the main point, if the poster doesn't like SD eating now, he's lucky he didn't move here in 1994 when I did ... it was a culinary desert. Now there are some really good spots but I haven't read the whole thread so won't start recommending yet.
Vegetarian Pho in San Diego
Interesting, i thought the whole point of pho was the delicious beef broth. That certainly seemed to be the basis of the all the pho I ate in Vietnam a couple of months ago! But ... i don't speak Vietnamese so maybe some of it was extremely amazing vegetable broth and I didn't realize it!!! Good luck ...
Where to buy harissa in San Diego?
I second the suggestion of North park Produce. That's where I buy it. Also there's a middle eastern market further out on El Cajon but I can't remember the name. It's on a corner with a green store front and Arabic script on the sign.
Goat in San Diego
I'm pretty sure North Park Produce carries goat. They're on El Cajon around 35th or so. They're a halal butcher and are just an overall great resource. Call in advance and be sure they have it if you're not headed over that way. Also one of my favorite restaurants, El Comal in North Park, serves a good goat dish so you might call them and ask them what their source is. They're nice folks, I'm sure they would help you out.
San Diego - Farm House Cafe or Urban Solace?
I had dinner this past Friday night at Better Half and must say I agree with Alice's general tone. (Haven't eaten at Farmhouse so can't weigh in there.) First of all the service WAS overbearing, that's just the word. The guy was pretentious and mannered and didn't listen. I just wanted to tell him to back off. The tomato soup with basil was the high point of the meal, really very nice. The Cornish game hen was distressingly dry, though the wild rice was lovely. The meat loaf was overseasoned. The bread pudding was too bready! Not creamy enough. All in all a disappointing meal, and although I appreciate the $20 special, the price of our half bottle of wine inflated the bill quite a lot - it's what I often spend on full bottles.
Any REAL Italian food in San Diego?
I'm all with Stevechan ... I've had some damn lousy Italian food in Manhattan ... if the tourists will eat it, they will dish it up.
ben's chili bowl
I'm from California, ate at Ben's when I was here last summer ... didn't know at the time that it was an institution. Anyway last night I went with some friends to Next Door (I'm in DC several times a year ...) the kitchen has only been open a few weeks so they are still getting their act together. All in all it was good. It is a totally different vibe (and menu) than Ben's. The bar area is huge but apparently they serve food up there too. The dining area is relatively intimate but noisy (noisy seems to be standard for all new restaurants; someday the iPod generation will understand what it's like for us middle aged guys with hearing loss but meantime I just have to turn up my hearing aid and read lips). I would say our server was a bit inexperienced, but attentive and prompt without hovering. They have about 10-12 beers on tap, a good selection, but she wasn't a beer drinker and couldn't describe any of them. But when I asked about some beers she knew nothing about, she brought samples - all was good with the world. The kitchen was trying out some new appetizers and sent samples to us for our opinion - the roasted onion marmalade was a bit bland, but the chicken salad was fantastic. Our appetizers were a crab cake (when in Rome ...) which was standard and good; and a roasted tomato with buffalo mozzarella - just right, roasted but not mushy, with just a sprinkle of seasoned bread crumbs. The hit of the night was the short ribs, brined in Guinness, served with a rich sweet potato mash. Tender and delicious. The salmon with crispy skin was perfectly cooked, on a bed of mashed potatoes and fried spinach. The chef came and chatted with us (I don't watch Hell's Kitchen so I didn't know who he is, but earnest and seems to know his food). I asked him the source of the salmon, and he said in a kind of embarrassed tone that they used farmed salmon because it's more consistent and the gaminess of wild salmon is too much for some people ... hmmmmm. Well it was really good though I'm anti-farmed salmon and generally find it bland, so he's buying from a good farm. Finally the fried chicken was a bit of a disappointment. It was boneless chicken breast but the server told us that due to the brining it is very moist. Nope. Very tasty, with mashed potatoes and kale (delicious) - but the chicken was pretty darn dry. Delicious apple pie and decent red velvet cake (I thought it quite good but my friends thought it was on the dry side). With 6 beers and two G&Ts the tab came to less than $200 before tip ... really not bad at all for a very good meal.
San Diego Sandwich Spots people like
Mimmo's ain't gourmet but it is dependable and great for the price. I am in the downtown (6th Ave betw B and C) probably once a week. My new standby is Alex's Brown Bag in the Mr A's building, on the Maple St side betw 4th and 5th.
Sunday Buffet Brunch - VA or DC
I just had brunch at Cafe Montmartre yesterday - we were pretty underwhelmed. Place is charming enough, and I'll find any excuse to go spend a Sunday at Eastern Market. But the service was pretty bad and the food only so-so. The eggs benedict were hard-cooked, and the "pancetta" sure tasted like good ol' American bacon to us. The coffee was atrocious - maybe we were supposed to order espresso? But I don't think they have any excuse to charge $3 for a cafe americain and have it be no better than what the coffee maker in my hotel room makes.
