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

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 .]

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

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

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 .]

ttt

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

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 .]