San Diego (July/August)

[aak0517]

Hi there,

I tried to do a search and couldn't find a thread about SD.

We're going down the first of August for a weekend for H's birthday and neither one of us has ever been. (We live in SF currently). So I'd love some recommendations on places to eat/get drinks and fun things to do. We're not super into 'touristy' stuff... so if there's any hidden spots that locals know about and love would welcome that.

I'm thinking of trying to get a surfing lesson for him. So any info/advice about that would be great.

Thanks!

[dearprudence]

Do you know where you're staying yet? San Diego itself is fairly large and the public transportation is lacking, so a "home base" might help us point you to things relatively near where you'll be.  I can do better food/drink recommendations based on where you'll be.

I feel like San Diego is best known right now for Beaches, Beers, and Beasts.

Beaches - Almost everywhere you stay is going to be beach-close (since I don't imagine you'll stay inland). Coronado is my all time favorite beach - it's got that "Southern California" long white sandy beach similar to (your) Ocean Beach. I don't think the surf there is very good though. I'm partial to North County beaches (Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana, Del Mar). Surf "schools" are easy to find in those areas also, and they're not terribly "locals only."

Beers - Oh the microbrews in San Diego! If you guys like beers, take advantage of this. I swear there are more popping up every day. They used to be all in North County/inland but now you can find them just about everywhere. The Brewer's Guild has a great guide, although it is missing some of the newer ones. There are beer-pairing dinners, you can self tour, or go on a brewery tour that visits a bunch of different ones.  (I'd recommend Temecula for wine, but personally prefer Napa/Sonoma, so I don't know if you'd be interested).

Beasts - We have the zoo, the Safari Park, SeaLife Aquarium, Sea World, and the Birch Aquarium if you love animals.  Safari Park is going to be REALLY hot in August though, so go early if that's your thing. 

[Deleted]

Ditto, let us know where you are staying and we can get you some recommendations based upon where you will be.

[aak0517]

Sorry I should have included that! We are staying at the Keating Hotel. Which is between Broadway & Market near Westfield Horton Plaza it says...

[Deleted]

You will be in a great area and walkable to many great bars and restaurants.

Where to eat:

For your $$$$ meal go to Searsucker in the Gaslamp. The food is amazing and to die for. 
-Cafe Sevilla, amazing spanish Tapas
-Rama, excellent Thai
-Cafe 21, amazing Turkish food with a rotating menu.Their Sangria's are amazing.
-Karl Strauss, love their beer!
-Oceanaire Seafood Room

Little Italy:

-Prep Kitchen
-Fillippi's Pizza Grotto
-Anthony's Fish Grotto

Staying downtown you will be able to catch the trolley and take it over to Little Italy. Lots to see and explore.

Old Town San Diego:

-Harney Sushi
-Casa Guadalajara

You can take the trolley to old town as well, lots to see and explore.

Things to do w/o a rental car:

-Take the ferry over to Coronado and visit the Hotel Del Coronado. Hang out on the beach and relax.
-Tour the USS Midway

-Go on a Hornblower dinner cruise
-Take the trolley over to Little Italy and explore
-Take the trolley to Old Town and explore for the day
-Take the train up to downtown Encinitas and explore for the day. 
-Have Breakfast at Honey's Bistro in Encinitas
-Go to Moonlight Beach in Encinitas and walk along the cliffs at low tide.


If you have a rental car:

-Drive out to the Cabrillo monument in Point Loma, visit the tide pools and explore the area.
-Have lunch at Point Loma Seafoods.
-Stop at Stone Brewing in Point Loma for a few beers.
-Eat at Slater's 50/50 in Point Loma if you love burgers.
-Go to Balboa Park for the day and visit the many museum's, eat at The Prado.
-Come back the next day and visit the San Diego Zoo.
-Drive over to La Jolla and explore Prospect street, visit La Jolla Shores beach.
-Eat Breakfast one day at Hash House a go go in Hillcrest.
-Walk around Hillcrest and explore.

That's all I can think of right now. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about a specific area of SD. 

[alleinesein]

There are 34 pages worth of responses that mention San Diego but I dont think you want to sort through all of that stuff.

Here is the thread from CEP www.pandce.proboards.com/thread/280242/ncep-san-diego-recommendations

Check out the thread for the hyperlinks- they dont like to play nice with cut and paste!


We have a ton of breweries all over the county. Pizza Port has good beer and good pizza. Stone is my favorite and they do have a restaurant in Liberty Station over by the airport; their main location is up by my house and is good 30 minutes north of downtown.

Fig Tree Cafe has good breakfast items. They have 3 locations- Liberty Station, Hillcrest and Pacific Beach. You can get to the Liberty Station and Hillcrest ones easily from downtown.

Kous Kous in Hillcrest for Moroccan food.

Bencotto is ok Italian; it seems to be really popular with people who grew up eating East Coast Italian.

El Agave for upscale Mexican. This is not you local taco joint; they specialize in Mexico City cuisine and they have an amazing tequila selection. A good place for Moles, Huachinango and Huitlacoche.

Las Cuatro Milpas for your taco fix. This is a hole in the wall restaurant in Barrio Logan (just south of downtown, can be reached via trolley). They are only open Mon-Sat for breakfast and lunch (they close around 3pm) and it is CASH ONLY. Basic menu- tacos, burritos, taquitos, tamales, rice, beans and homemade tortillas. Their salsa is crushed up chilis in oil; none of that wussy pico de gallo crap. If you go for lunch there will be a line stretching down the street but the wait is worth it.

Panchitas Bakery for Pan Dulce. There is one right down the street from Las Cuatro Milpas. Stop in, grab a tray and some tongs and go wild. Everything is good.

Extraordinary Desserts has 2 locations but I prefer the Little Italy location. They do a sunday brunch and have added a wednesday night cheese bar.

Hash House A Go Go gets mixed reviews on here; some of us love it and others bitch that its 'too much food'. If you like big breakfasts you will get more bang for your buck here. They do take breakfast reservations on saturday mornings. Jay the bartender is a sweetheart and he occasionally helps out as a server; we try to either sit at the bar or in his section whenever we go. Their biscuits are huge and yummy.

There is a ferry that you can catch over by the cruise ship terminal that will take you to Coronado. The Hotel Del Coronado does a fabulous Sunday brunch and they have a nice wine bar. ENO (the wine bar) added a pizza oven a few years ago but I have yet to try their pizza; they offer a nice selection of wine flights, a few beers, cheese and other goodies.

I like Happy Hour at The Brigantine. They have multiple locations around the county and there is one in Coronado.

If you like wine Temecula wine country is about an hour north of downtown San Diego. There are tours that you can book or you can rent a car for the day to check it out.

Little Italy Farmers Market on Saturday mornings is always fun. There are a few food trucks and vendors that have good stuff to nosh on. The Indian stall has really good samosas and they also make a meal sized samosa loaded with veg/non veg items and rice. There is a vegan bakery that has a really good carrot cake and they also have some gluten free items.

Another transportation option is Amtrak or the Coaster. You can take either up to Solana Beach, Encinitas, Carlsbad or Oceanside. The Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach is a great venue for live music- they have a good mix of smaller bands and big name acts. There is a great little Peruvian restaurant in Oceanside called Panca Peruvian Cuisine. O'Sullivans in Carlsbad is an Irish pub with live music and good food.

Read more: www.pandce.proboards.com/thread/280242/ncep-san-diego-recommendations#ixzz33WhmMcJk

[alleinesein]

A few more things

Azucar in Ocean Beach. Its a little hole in the wall cuban bakery and they do have a few sandwiches.

Hiking is very popular among the locals and if you have a car you might want to hit up one of the trails

www.sandiegohikers.com/
www.sandiegomagazine.com/San-Diego-Magazine/April-2012/Get-Outside/
www.sandiego.org/what-to-do/sports/hiking.aspx

ETA- you will be here during racing season at Del Mar.  If you like horse racing you can take the train or coaster up to Solana beach and hop on the bus over to the racetrack.  They do free concerts on fridays (with paid admission) and they always seem to get a good mix of music.

The International Cottages at Balboa park have Sunday afternoon programs.  The entertainment is free and a different country hosts each week.  There is food available for purchase.

[alleinesein]

Jun 2, 2014 15:52:39 GMT -5 dearprudence said:

Do you know where you're staying yet? San Diego itself is fairly large and the public transportation is lacking, so a "home base" might help us point you to things relatively near where you'll be.  I can do better food/drink recommendations based on where you'll be.

I feel like San Diego is best known right now for Beaches, Beers, and Beasts.

Beaches - Almost everywhere you stay is going to be beach-close (since I don't imagine you'll stay inland). Coronado is my all time favorite beach - it's got that "Southern California" long white sandy beach similar to (your) Ocean Beach. I don't think the surf there is very good though. I'm partial to North County beaches (Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana, Del Mar). Surf "schools" are easy to find in those areas also, and they're not terribly "locals only."

Beers - Oh the microbrews in San Diego! If you guys like beers, take advantage of this. I swear there are more popping up every day. They used to be all in North County/inland but now you can find them just about everywhere. The Brewer's Guild has a great guide, although it is missing some of the newer ones. There are beer-pairing dinners, you can self tour, or go on a brewery tour that visits a bunch of different ones.  (I'd recommend Temecula for wine, but personally prefer Napa/Sonoma, so I don't know if you'd be interested).

Beasts - We have the zoo, the Safari Park, SeaLife Aquarium, Sea World, and the Birch Aquarium if you love animals.  Safari Park is going to be REALLY hot in August though, so go early if that's your thing. 

DITTO!  I live right by the Wild Animal Park (this is what the locals still call it...we will NEVER refer to it as the safari park).  It gets INSANELY hot in the summer and there is almost no shade at all in the majority of the park.  The Zoo would be a better option because the weather can be 20 degrees cooler and there is a ton of shade at the zoo.  Check groupon and living social because they have been running a few deals for the zoo this year.

[dearprudence]

I don't want to take away from  anything tarzanswife said, I think she's pretty spot on.  So consider these "additions to" and not "instead ofs":

1) My favorite day to visit Little Italy is Sunday, because of the Farmer's Market.  It's the best in San Diego. 

2) Breakfasts:  Walkable from your hotel are The Mission and Donut Bar (depending on if you like eggs or pastries for breakfast).  If you're driving to Hillcrest, I have a new love instead of Hash House, it's Snooze.  Both are going to have lines out the door and down the street.

3) Also in Hillcrest is Barrio Star and Blue Ribbon Rustic Kitchen.  I highly recommend both if you happen to be in the area (Balboa Park/Zoo).

4) Downtown restaurants I really enjoy include Currant, Tender Greens, Sushi Deli and Neighborhood. Neighborhood has a great beer menu if you want to try some of the local stuff.

5) Great places to drink - there's a "secret bar" in Neighborhood known as "The Noble Experiment".  Contact them to get on the list and they'll take you behind the walls to the bar.  I also love love love adore love Starlite.  All the drinks are fantastic, but the mules are my favorite, and the food is also great and their burger is my favorite in San Diego.

[dearprudence]

Jun 2, 2014 18:24:57 GMT -5 alleinesein said:

  I live right by the Wild Animal Park (this is what the locals still call it...we will NEVER refer to it as the safari park). 

Your locals are better than mine!  I keep telling people I'm a couple exits away from the WAP and they have NO idea what I'm talking about. 

[alleinesein]

Jun 2, 2014 18:51:55 GMT -5 dearprudence said:

Jun 2, 2014 18:24:57 GMT -5 alleinesein said:

  I live right by the Wild Animal Park (this is what the locals still call it...we will NEVER refer to it as the safari park). 

Your locals are better than mine!  I keep telling people I'm a couple exits away from the WAP and they have NO idea what I'm talking about. 

Hi neighbor!!    I still call the stadium The Murph and The Sports Arena will always be the Sports arena; new transplants get confused all the time when you mention places by their old/original names.

Are you in SM, RB, or Esco?

[aak0517]

Wow this is amazing info! Thank you all SO MUCH!

[Alyssa]

Bacon Street and surrounding streets in Ocean Beach have a lot of good places to eat.  If you like beer, pizza and a fun crowd, I recommend Pizza Port.  Easily the best pizza I have ever had.  It was packed every time we went there.

www.pizzaport.com/