come on into my kitchen.: san delicious

my fiance is getting his PhD, which means he gets to travel to exciting cities all over the county to sit inside at conferences, while i tag along and explore and (more importantly) eat my way around town.

we just returned from a weeklong trip to san diego. we went out to california last january, but we only were in san diego for a few days before venturing northward. i absolutely fell in love with san diego this time, and i can't wait to go back. hopefully we will find ourselves living out there in sunny socal if all the cards fall into place. but in the meantime i'll just keep dreaming away, and i'll fill you in on all the delicious food we ate while we were there!

i read that san diego does not have a specialty that is unique to the region...but all the food i ate was spectacular, so i'd venture to say that they do EVERYTHING well! so be prepared to be bombarded with food pictures now...

bountiful breakfasts

OB People's Food Store

fruit, quinoa, and chai...breakfast of champions

jordan approves...but i think he needs some sunglasses.

this is a really great co-op right in the heart of ocean beach that is comprised of a grocery store on the first floor and a café on the second floor. members get a 10% discount, but i gladly paid the few extra pennies to load up my plate at the breakfast bar with fresh organic fruit, tofu scramble, kale, and quinoa! they feature a different homemade juice every morning.

The Mission (SoMa)

plain yogurt, granola, and fruit

this hip breakfast and lunch joint has three locations. i found the one closest to me (soma, in the east village) when i was exploring on my own one morning. it was bustling, but i found a little corner nook and cozied up with a book and a cup of tea and had a delightful breakfast for one.

café 222

i read about this spot in lonely planet, and it said there was always a line wrapped around the building. welp, they were right. but it was just down the street from our hotel in the gaslamp district, so we didn't have an excuse not to go. i changed my mind at the last minute and ordered the orange pecan pancakes (instead of the crunchy corn waffle). i was given not one, but THREE ENORMOUS pancakes with an almost ice-cream scoop sized dollop of butter. dusted with powdered sugar and drizzled with some syrup, they were rich and just sweet enough...but i could barely finish one of them (let alone the other two!)

OB Smoothie Bar and Subs

towards the end of the trip, we were feeling worn down. chris, our friend, suggested we try an acai bowl for breakfast. i had heard of the magical powers of this superfruit, but i had never tried it before. well, i am hooked. they blend frozen acai with apple juice or soy milk and pour it into a bowl and top it with granola and fresh fruit. my kind of heaven. there are lots of places to try acai bowls in s.d...they were so good that i made us late to the airport on our way home because i wanted to go back into town to get another one for breakfast before our 10 am flight back east!

lovely lunches

Olive Tree Marketplace

this sandwich was great...but really, any sandwich that comes with a pickle is ok in my book.

this deli and wine shop in downtown ocean beach was so good i had to have it twice! and yes, i ordered the same thing both times i went. they offer sandwiches that are so california...loaded with sprouts, avocado, and the best cheese you've ever tasted. i got the old smokey...turkey, avocado, smoked cheddar, sprouts, and mustard on rye. you can browse their eclectic selection of wines, sweets, and other snacks while the surfer boys make your sandwich.

La Puerta

after a day of walking and exploring downtown san diego with my friend, we suddenly realized it was 3:30 p.m., we hadn't had lunch yet, and we were starving. we came upon a mexican restaurant near the hotel and luckily for us, it was happy hour and all the appetizers (and drinks...) were half price! we shared flautitias (crispy corn tortillas rolled with potato, cheese, onions and drizzled with sauce), and a plate of guacamole and house made chips. three margaritas later...there was still food on the table, and it was still delicious!

delightful dinners

Old Town Mexican Cafe

handmade tortillas in the front window

we came here for $2 taco tuesday! and the homemade tortillas. when i asked the women who were tirelessly rolling balls of masa and cooking them on the grill what was in the little bowl they kept dipping their hands in, they told me it was lard. luckily, san diego is a vegetarian-friendly city and they had separate grills and friers for vegetarian tortillas and chips. so i enjoyed my lovely lard-free fish taco, guacamole, and a margarita with agave, lime juice, and tequila (no sour mix for this girl...i like it fresh).

Urban Solace
hands down, my favorite meal we had all week. a group of us went out to dinner to celebrate a friend's birthday on a friday night. we sat outside on their patio and enjoyed fresh spins on classic dishes (think chicken and dumplings with fried sage; "not your mama's meatloaf";and mac and cheese with duck..."duckaroni"). there are plenty of dishes for vegetarians, and that night i had the quinoa burger. oh. my . GOD. i haven't tasted a real burger in about nine years...but all i know is that this quinoa burger tastes SO much better than any burger i've ever had, meaty or not! i am kicking myself because i didn't take pictures of our dishes that night (but the lighting was dim so they would not have come out nicely, i suspect.)
oh yeah, and for dessert? how about a mini key lime pie with roasted blackberry compote and basil-mint syrup? BOOM.

Farmhouse Cafe
our last night in san diego, jordan, chris, and i strolled into this lovely little french restaurant owned by a chocolatier. i was more interested in dessert than anything else...but our sweet waitress, who was also a friend of chris's, treated us with a sweet apertif that tasted like pears. i loved it. to start, we had a salad of endive, grapefruit, and avocado with pistachios, watermelon radish, and burrata. i would have bathed in the burrata if it were socially acceptable. the boys shared a flatbread with goat cheese and pork jowl (i sat that one out...)
i had a delicious house made taglietelle with mushrooms and parsnip puree. it was delicious, but it was so rich with butter and salt that i could only have a few bites. i am glad that i couldn't finish it, however (and so were jordan and chris, who happily finished my plate), because what really was stellar were the desserts (like i said...my main point of interest at this restaurant).
since the chef was a chocolatier, we wanted to try the chocolate sampler. the waitress brought out 5 homemade truffles for us to try: espresso, raspberry, mint, hazelnut, and black pepper. all were delightful...but the mint and the espresso stand out in my mind as the most wonderful of all.

but then.
oh god.

when i thought life couldn't get any better, we tasted the almond panna cotta. as chris said, i wish we videotaped us eating this dessert so we could go back and watch it in slow motion.
it. was. so. delicious.

schnicky schnacks

miscellaneous food and drink.