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San Diego Recommendations
We're going to be in San Diego for 3 days at the end of May. We're staying
the Old Town and plan on touring that general area the first day, then renting a car and heading out the next 2 days. Current possible itinerary includes (in no particular order) Point Loma, Crystal Pier, La Hoya, Coronado, and maybe the wine region. I need recommendations on the following: A really truly outstanding Mexican resiuaurant in Old Town for our first night Any other "must experience" restaurants within a reasonable drive of Old Town for the other 2 nights (seafood, Italian, steak) A good water tour/ferry ride How long it takes to get in a good visit to the zoo Thanks, Dave -- "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - HL Mencken |
#2
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San Diego Recommendations
I assume you mean La Jolla, not La Hoya?
I think the best Mexican restaurant in Old Town is El Agave because they offer more than the usual tacos and burritos that 99.99% of all Mexican restaurants offer. They arlso specialize in tequila. Berta's is unusual in that it serves Central and South American dishes. Here is the San Diego Reader's restaurant review site: http://www.sdreader.com/ed/rr/restcaps.html You can also access the newsgroup sdnet.eats either directly or via DejaNews.com. If you are in Old Town, you are about half-way between downtown and La Jolla, and not very far from Hillcrest. There are plenty of great restaurants to choose from. Downtown is the Gaslamp Quarter, though there are others nearby that are excellent (e.g., Dobson's). At times it seems as if the Gaslamp Quarter is 100% full of Italian restaurants. La Jolla has George's of the Cove that is also excellent. La Valencia or 910 are also very good. But there are fine restaurants to be found all over San Diego, both near and far from where you are staying. As for your itinerary, there isn't a lot to do in Point Loma, other than the lighthouse and I don't think that will take more than an hour or so. It would be a good trip to combine with Coronado. If you do visit Point Loma, you might want to drive through Pt Loma Nazarene College which might have the most beautiful views of any college in America. I think of Coronado as a place for walking or bicycling. Maybe there are some pedicabs? The Hotel Del Coronado has good decent food, though perhaps not San Diego's best. The beach in front of the hotel is public property, so you don't have to be a guest at the hotel to enjoy the beach and ocean. The wine region is quite a distance from Old Town, closer to Riverside County. I think the best known wineries are Callaway and Thornton, but there are plenty of others. I believe there are good restaurants at both of these wineries. This has got to be an all-day event. There are a few very good steak houses: I liked Ruth Chris's but it is certainly expensive. There are others that are probably just as good. If you want something different, the Turf Club (around 25th and B streets) allows you to cook your own steak. I've been there and cooking your own isn't my style. Your experience may differ. I don't eat seafood, but Anthony's is well known for its fish. Less fancy is The Fish House. I think Cafe Pacifica is good for fish. La Jolla is a place for shopping, if only window shopping, dining, and walking along the ocean bluffs. The Museum of Contemporary Art has a LJ branch that might appeal to you. I can't help with the ferry or harbor tour recommendations. As for the zoo, I would recommend 2-4 hours. Take the tram tour to get an idea of the layout, and then walk back to revisit any areas that still interest you. In the summer, the zoo offers a nighttime tour that is supposed to be fascinating, but I've not been to it. There was a recent thread here about Santa Barbara vs San Diego and I recommend that you look at some of those postings. DKM On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 17:16:42 -0500, "Webkatz" wrote: We're going to be in San Diego for 3 days at the end of May. We're staying the Old Town and plan on touring that general area the first day, then renting a car and heading out the next 2 days. Current possible itinerary includes (in no particular order) Point Loma, Crystal Pier, La Hoya, Coronado, and maybe the wine region. I need recommendations on the following: A really truly outstanding Mexican resiuaurant in Old Town for our first night Any other "must experience" restaurants within a reasonable drive of Old Town for the other 2 nights (seafood, Italian, steak) A good water tour/ferry ride How long it takes to get in a good visit to the zoo Thanks, Dave To contact me directly, send EMAIL to (single letters all) DEE_KAY_EMM AT EarthLink.net. [For example .] |
#3
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San Diego Recommendations
Doug McClure wrote:
I think the best Mexican restaurant in Old Town is El Agave I don't remember the name of the Mexican-style restaurant we tried in Old Town (I think it wasn't the above) that was extremely disappointing. It was also the only place on Earth that I've seen "Guacamole Dip" on a menu. Most memorable, all the the servers with whom we had contact were neither Latino nor Hispanic. All of the bussers with whom we had contact were Latino and Hispanic. Of course San Diegan reject my observations and insist that it's not a narrow-minded and ignorant hotbed of racism and right-wing politics. Yeah, sure. The restaurant was very pretty, though, with unusually comfortable seating. My companion there? A Mexican from Aguascalientes. She hated the place and its food. The best advice so far is your recommendation of the San Diego food group. http://www.sdreader.com/ed/rr/restcaps.html __________________________________________________ __________ Un San Francisqueño en San Francisco http://geocities.com/dancefest/ http://geocities.com/iconoc/ ICQ: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/19098103 IClast at SFbay Net |
#4
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San Diego Recommendations
Icono Clast wrote:
whom we had contact were neither Latino nor Hispanic. All of the bussers with whom we had contact were Latino and Hispanic. Of course San Diegan reject my observations and insist that it's not a narrow-minded and ignorant hotbed of racism and right-wing politics. Yeah, sure. Because it's abundantly clear that many of your views are inflexible, biased and prejudiced, as you've demonstrated time and time again in this very newsgroup. However your affinity for stereotyping still amazes, so I suppose not all is lost. Nex |
#5
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San Diego Recommendations
You asked for excellent Mexican food. Most of the restaurants in Old
Town are mediocre, which is why I recommended El Agave, Bertas, and Cafe Pacifica. Old Town is a tourist area with lots of cheap souvenier (sp?) shops. It serves touristy food and drinks and most of the diners there are enjoying themselves, but they are not consuming anything excellent. While you are in Old Town, I _would_ recommend that you visit Heritage Square which is a small park where several old Victorian homes have been moved and saved from demolition. I believe some of them have little shops and light meals (like high tea or muffins, etc.). Heritage Square is just a few minutes from anywhere in Old Town. It's free. You could walk there, but it is on high ground so it isn't an easy stroll (depending where your hotel is). I won't claim that Heritage Square is a must-see attraction, rivaling the zoo, etc. It's just a pleasant spot near Old Town that you might enjoy on a nice day, and it's one you might not know about. DKM On 10 Apr 2004 02:38:58 -0700, (Icono Clast) wrote: Doug McClure wrote: I think the best Mexican restaurant in Old Town is El Agave I don't remember the name of the Mexican-style restaurant we tried in Old Town (I think it wasn't the above) that was extremely disappointing. It was also the only place on Earth that I've seen "Guacamole Dip" on a menu. The restaurant was very pretty, though, with unusually comfortable seating. To contact me directly, send EMAIL to (single letters all) DEE_KAY_EMM AT EarthLink.net. [For example .] |
#6
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San Diego Recommendations
ttt
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#7
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San Diego Recommendations
Doug McClure wrote in message . ..
You asked for excellent Mexican food. Most of the restaurants in Old Town are mediocre, which is why I recommended El Agave, Bertas, and Cafe Pacifica. Old Town is a tourist area with lots of cheap souvenier (sp?) shops. It serves touristy food and drinks and most of the diners there are enjoying themselves, but they are not consuming anything excellent. While you are in Old Town, I _would_ recommend that you visit Heritage Square which is a small park where several old Victorian homes have been moved and saved from demolition. I believe some of them have little shops and light meals (like high tea or muffins, etc.). Heritage Square is just a few minutes from anywhere in Old Town. It's free. You could walk there, but it is on high ground so it isn't an easy stroll (depending where your hotel is). Thanks for the great info. We were planning on spending our first day touring Old Town, but since we're not particularly interested in anything too touristy, should we skip it entirely? Or is there something else nearby (no car the first day) we should do in the AM and then tour Old Town and hit El Agave or Bertas that night? TIA, Dave |
#8
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San Diego Recommendations
If you are staying in Old Town, you are fairly close to Balboa Park
and Sea World is even closer. Or you might like strolling through Coronado and the Hotel Del Coronado, perhaps having brunch or enjoying the beach there. But all of these will require a taxi ride. You could take a trolley tour of San Diego, just to get some orientation to the city, and I'm sure your hotel will have little booklets about those. Most likely they will pick you up at the hotel and return you there. Or a harbor tour? If you want to learn more about San Diego, I've posted quite a few responses to this newsgroup over the past few months. Look up from www.deja.com. DKM Thanks for the great info. We were planning on spending our first day touring Old Town, but since we're not particularly interested in anything too touristy, should we skip it entirely? Or is there something else nearby (no car the first day) we should do in the AM and then tour Old Town and hit El Agave or Bertas that night? TIA, Dave To contact me directly, send EMAIL to (single letters all) DEE_KAY_EMM AT EarthLink.net. [For example .] |
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