Yeah it is going in where that old Subway was in the Lumberyard. The competition is definitly ramping up around there. Hope they can make it

Durant's is worth the drive into Phoenix. My s.o. is happy if we make a pit stop at the Heard gift shop first. The place never seems to get much love on national rankings, but I agree with BC, best eveh. Love the roses and I didn't realize everybody goes thru the kitchen.

Red Tractons in SB. They were up in LA, but they closed that one when they moved into Solana Beach. Very old school American style steakhouse. Love the waitresses there. Sirloin "Sinatra style" will kill you, but very tasty.

I really find this discussion of Petco and the changes it has caused downtown, interesting. I know Fakey wants to blame the rowdy drunks from Petco ruining the ambiance of downtown. I don't go to Petco that much, since I live and work north of the I-8 in the area otherwise known as "not San Diego" plus going to school in St. Louis, made me a Cardinal fan forever. When I have gone, I just haven't seen that much drunken behavior at Petco. The crowd is really fairly mellow and very family friendly, not like Dodger stadium or Comisky at all. My guess is that the club scene and the bars geared to 20 somethings down in that area has more to do with drunken behavior than Petco. Up in my area, Encinitas, especially along the 101 corridor, has seen a large increase in public drunkenness and the associated bad behaviors. Obviously there is no ballpark in Encinitas, but there is now a restaurant and pub scene. I just think blaming Petco for the problems downtown, is just picking on the easy target.

I am actually surprised that they picked 3 places in Encinitas and one in SB, so they are trying to include north county. The thing that I noticed besides the table heights, is the use of metal chairs, which I know have that industrial vibe, but they are noisy and uncomfortable

My question is this: Does Blue Ribbon Pizza up in lovely Encinitas count as a San Diego pizza place? And while this list is fun, you can't really take it too seriously. St. Louis is not listed, while KC and Memphis are. Yes St. Louis style pizza is kinda quirky, but it is a better pizza town than the two previously mentioned towns

Hopefully they will have the wine tasting event that they had at the SD fair last year. It was behind the O'Brian pavilion in the gardens. There were about 40 wineries participating each pouring about 2 or 3 selections. It really gave me a good taste of what SD county can produce. While not up there with Napa or Sonoma, or even my beloved central coast, the wines were surprisingly good, a huge improvement in the last 10 years

YES on RELLENOS. NO on Poppers and no on Chile relleno casserole.as well even though I do like it, (lots of childhood memories) it is not the same

I've been on a chile relleno kick lately. I know it's americanized and I will get blasted but I really like Garcia's rellenos. Where are your favs? And please no relleno burrito, I really can't figure out the appeal of them.

Go ahead and start up the flame throwers but the meatball with peppers sub from Filippis to my non-authentic taste buds is really really good

Well you probably also had a fake ID

I usually get my fix at the fair. I like the rolls at the Old West Cinnamon Rolls booth out by the horse arena. They also have a brick and mortar store up in Pismo and whenever I am up the 101 make an effort to stop by but they close early.

Chandler's which is the restaurant in the new Hilton down across coast highway from the beach in south CB or Ponto for the locals, is pretty solid. The exucitive chef is Pascal Vignau. doubtful he is cooking on Sunday morning, but the kitchen seems well run. If it is not raining you can eat out on the patio with a nice view. Good thing you were not here last Sunday, the CB street fair was on and it was a zoo.

Red Tractons also does a fried chicken dinner on Sundays as well. I'm not a fried chicken guy, but the spouse just loves it.

La Mesa is just a glorified street fair, El Cajon is way better and this weekend shouldn't be too hot. The desserts are homemade and really good. It does get crowded, the bar in the clubhouse, in the back, is the place to hang. I have never been, but I am going to try the West Oktoberfest up in Carlsbad in a couple of weeks. Hoping that the food offerings will be a bit better.

Living in St. Louis, and enjoying Ted Drewes frozen custard, I have been spoiled forever. Nothing in SD comes close. I don't know why, I don't think its the fat. Ever see the pizza at Fillipis or the lines at CF. We San Diegans like our calories.

Not really suprised. I was bummed when they took over the Chart House chain. Yeah I know the concept was dated, but it was fun, and to have the headquaters in downtown Solana Beach... Don't forget downtown, they also run Oceanaire and McCormicks. I almost wrote ruin instead of run.

BC remember that the Inn at RSF was bought by John Moores a few months ago and I heard he wants to do a large remodel. The place is getting a bit shopworn and it could use some updating but if they do a hatchet job like the Sultan did to my beloved Bel Air Hotel, it could be a disaster

BC you know I didn't, It was in the winter and they were running some sort of promotion so the restaurant was crowded. But the head chef was there that night, we saw him working the room. I know I should of written a letter cuz my wife was just fuming but she will never set foot in there again no matter what. I was just disappointed. The restaurant was pretty but there are others that are nicer. The view is good not great. Eddie V's view is spectacular if that is what you want, even the new Chandler's up in CB has a nice sunset view. To me, AR Valentine is a really one of the most romantic restaurants because the food has always been very good, the service polished, and the ambience great.

We went there last year and we were definitly underwhelmed. The food was decent but not stellar and the service was almost to the point of being amatuerish. 10 minutes after being seated we were finally greeted by the waiter, We were not asked if we would like a cocktail or possibly an appetizer before we ordered, we were just asked what we wanted. I ordered a bottle of wine and then it took a good 15 minutes to realize they were out of said wine. Then they didn't bring back the wine list, they just brought me a different bottle of wine and I was told I would "like" it. I had won a dinner for 2 at Mistial at a charity auction and if I didn't have that, we would of walked. The wine was decent and the food was decent but the staff made it an all around unpleasant time. I know the Marine Room gets beat up on this board, but at least they have decent staff. I had much better service at the 3rd Corner than at Mistrial. I was expecting a lot more from them than they were able to deliver. Heck, the staff at the Brig Coronado the next morning for brunch was much more professional.

As someone who spent several years in St. Louis as a grad student, I can attest to Uncle Bill's Pancake house. The food was really generic, but it was THE place to go for drunk 20 somethings. I was kinda suprised to see it still around after all these years.

Probably the same one I've seen out at Poway on Saturday. Really nice selection of beans

There is a Paradise Grill in the Flower Hill Mall. It hasn't moved, but the mall is undergoing a major remodel. It sounds like you are describing PCG however. If you are looking for Paradise Grill, their food is not even as good as PCG.

I can't believe that BC didn't hear the the Del Mar Brig is reopening this afternoon at 3:00pm. I am sure that they will be very happy to fry up some tacos for you.

Take the bus from Mira Costa and tell the driver you want off at the back gate They have been letting people off in the back this year. Unless your tickets are at will call then you are stuck. It really is crazy crowded. The food lines are not that bad once you are in the fair. The best deal bar none is the carved sandwiches at surfside race place and you can get splits of chandon there, you gotta be 18 to enter.

There are a couple of new things at the fair this year. There is a place seving up lobsters in the infield right next to the bbq place. 25 bucks for a one and a quarter pd lobster with a couple of sides. I think they also have tacos, a lobster roll and a slider. Chicken Charlies has some Haiwiian style chicken dishes. Next to Charlies, there is a guy selling everything bacon wrapped. I have not tried any of those offerings. The best thing was on the first Saturday a SD wine festival in the garden area. There were about 30 wineries pouring 2 selections. They were all SD wineries, no Temecula wineries. It was really nice and the wines were way better than I feared they would be. The crowd was a lot mellower than the beerfest guys from last weekend.

Argyle at the golf course of the Aviara resort. Honestly most of the food I have had at private courses, while decent, is more like good hotel food than anything earth shattering.

Craftsman is opening up this week in the old Savory space on ECR in Encinitas. It is the new venture of the people behind Blue Ribbon. I stuck my head in early Friday evening after picking up some dry cleaning and they did a nice job with the space. Another place with a north park vibe is Union Kitchen down on 101.

The Brig was supposed to close for some major renovations once Miguels in Carlsbad opened. With it being so close to summer, not sure if thats still happening. Zinc and Wildnote on Cedros are popular with the lunch crowd. Beachgrass on 101 is nice for breakfast. Woodys opened up in the Blanca space though its really more a bar. Crush opened up in the PCG space and its decent Italian, much better than Paroli.

Am I missing something because I really don't get the point of it. Is it to be part of someting just so you can be part of it?