Today, a friend and I checked out the SDMA Sculpture Court Café by Giuseppe, a new European-style café that recently opened adjacent to the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park. The café is open for breakfast and lunch and features a delicious menu of omelets, pancakes, pizzas, salads, sandwiches, soups and sweets all made using organic produce and local ingredients.  Click here to preview the menu.

Come by for breakfast or lunch

Enjoy the setting

If I had to describe the food in one word it would be, “YUUMMMMM!” I had the ½ Sandwich and Soup of the Day, which turned out to be so delicious and surprisingly filling. 

Chicken Sandwich and Cream of Asparagus Soup

Ultimate Grilled Cheese with Fries

So, if you’re in Balboa Park checking out the museums or the Darwin exhibit and you start to feel hungry, I highly recommend that you stop by Giuseppe’s Sculpture Court Café for lunch. (Oh, and Giuseppe’s also has a café in La Jolla at the Museum of Contemporary Art-La Jolla. I’m sure it’s just as good.)

The end : )

Tags: balboa park, dining, la jolla, san diego museum of art

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Forget zombies.  Craft beer is about to take over San Diego. 

Friday, Nov. 6 through Nov. 15, breweries, bars, restaurants and hotels will celebrate the first-ever San Diego Beer Week with tons of awesome events all around town.

From beer dinners, cask nights and barrel-aged tastings, to learn-to-brew classes and beer education seminars local brewers plan to show off the goods that recently earned San Diego the honor of being named the top beer city in the country by Men’s Journal.

The kickoff event is the San Diego Brewers Guild Festival on Friday at the World Beat Center in Balboa Park.  The festival will feature 80 beers brewed in San Diego – admission includes 10 samples, complimentary food, live music and a souvenir tasting glass.  

Festivities wrap up on Nov. 15 with a Chef Celebration of San Diego Beers in La Jolla.  The event will feature 16 local chefs and eight San Diego breweries. Admission includes a souvenir tasting glass, live music, all you can eat pairings and beer seminars presented by local brewers and chefs. 

During the 10 days in between, there are more than 200 fun San Diego Beer Week events. 

You heard me right, that’s two full weekends of pints, pours and parties. 

Plus, if you’re considering a last-minute trip, hotel packages and special rates are still available.  Come and raise a glass with us!

Tags: craft beer, dining, drinks, festival, food

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Listen Up!

A couple weeks back, Peter Haigh of the internet radio show On The Menu was in town scoping out the San Diego restaurant scene.  Peter and his co-host (and lovely wife) Ann have been doing this show for years and have interviewed some of the culinary world’s biggest stars.  So, I was really excited to get an opportunity to chat with him on-air. 

We got to talk about San Diego in the fall, all our amazing farmer’s markets including the Little Italy Mercado (a personal favorite) and our incredible fall culinary events like San Diego Restaurant Week on Sept. 13-18, Celebrate the Craft  on Nov.1 and the first-ever San Diego Beer Week coming up Nov. 6-15. 

Peter also got a chance to interview a great local chef, Adam Bussell from the Vela at the new downtown Hilton San Diego Bayfront. 

Adam’s a native San Diegan (they are hard to find here!) who spent the last several years in the kitchens at the Five Diamond Award-winning Mary Elaine’s at the Phoenician in Scottsdale, Michael Mina’s Aqua at the St. Regis Hotel Monarch Beach and Montage Studio Restaurant at the Montage Laguna Beach.  Now, he’s back and cooking at Vela.

Listen to us online in the On The Menu archives (look for the Sept. 6 show) or click here.

Tags: dining, food, in the news, san diego bay, san diego restaurant week

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Sam the Cooking Guy, San Diego’s own Emmy Award-winning, foodie TV star is excited about the upcoming San Diego Restaurant Week. 

So much so that he’s offering up a series of video tips on how to make the most of your  experience Sept. 13-18.  Watch and learn!

Tags: dining, food, san diego restaurant week

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Chef Jeff Thurston, catch him in October!

Want to channel your inner Julie & Julia?  

Whether you want to master the perfect hand-rolled sushi or unravel the mysteries of wine tasting, this fall the Balboa Park Food & Wine School is offering the chance to dig in and savor the experience with an exciting roster of autumn cooking classes.  

Classes are held at the school’s gorgeous facility in the heart of Balboa Park and fall highlights include a brunch how-to with last season’s Top Chef contender from San Diego, Rich Sweeney, on Sept. 19 and the 9th Annual Harvest Celebrationwith The Prado’s chef Jeff Thurston and local winemakers on Oct. 15.

Of course, Balboa Park isn’t the only place in San Diego to give your culinary muscles a good work out.  Classes are also regularly scheduled at downtown’s San Diego Wine & Culinary Center, at Great News! Cooking School in Pacific Beach and at Macy’s School of Cooking in Mission Valley.   Bon appetit!

Tags: balboa park, cooking classes, downtown, fall, food, mission valley, pacific beach, wine

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Hungry?  Just a little?

Here’s five new eateries to whet your appetite:

• Claire’s on Cedros, an eco-friendly bakery and café, opened in Solana Beach earlier this month as the first freestanding restaurant in the U.S. to receive Platinum LEED certification. The laid back, dog-friendly restaurant offers organic eats (natch) for breakfast and lunch. 
• Also in August, The Red Door opened in Mission Hills with affordable New American comfort food for dinner daily, lunch on weekdays and brunch on weekends. Priced below $20, dinner entrees include cornmeal-crusted Cajun catfish with sweet potato-crab hash and a surf & “cheeky” turf with sea scallops, braised pork cheek, roasted garlic jus and crispy polenta.  Um, hello?  Yum. 
• Here’s a double – Barona Resort & Casinoin San Diego’s East County opened two restaurants in July and both are great values (and good for those of us playing the penny slots).  Italian Cucina serves classic Italian dishes, pizzas, calzone and pasta all priced under $20 while Seafood Plaza offers grilled items, priced from $6.95 to $12.95, oysters at the raw bar and signature rolls at the sushi bar. 
• In June, Cucina Urbana opened in Banker’s Hill adjacent to Balboa Park serving affordable Italian regional cuisine with a local farm-to-table ethos (no menu item tops $20). Crazy good starters include seasonal pickled vegetables, pate and other spreads served in mini mason jars and antipasti like amazing fried squash blossoms with ricotta, purple basil pesto and lemon aioli.  Innovative pastas and modern spins on classic Italian entrees round out the menu.  The restaurant is open daily for dinner. 
• Also in June, a long-time San Diego favorite returned with the opening of Casa de Bandini in Carlsbad.  For more than 25 years, the restaurant was a fixture in Old Town and, once again, diners can enjoy the ambiance of Old Mexico with strolling mariachis, brightly colored umbrellas on a sunny outdoor patio, authentic regional cuisine and giant, frosty margaritas. Open daily for lunch and dinner.

Okay, I can’t stop at just five.  Just one more because, in San Diego you can never have too many great new restaurants.  Especially when they’re serving up frosty margaritas.

• Casa de Reyes in Old Town State Historic Park reopened in May with a new chef, menu and bright cheerful design. The restaurant has always been popular for outdoor dining so they doubled the size of the patio and added a new shade arbor and dramatic fire pits.  Salsas are made fresh daily; each burrito is served with a specially prepared sauce, and chili rellenos are made the old fashioned way with a creamy, homemade cheese sauce. The restaurant is open daily for breakfast, lunch, dinner and – yes! – margaritas. 

Tags: 5 to try, bankers hill, Carlsbad, casino, dining, dog, food, green, mission hills, old town, solana beach

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Side Bar sets the bar.

Last night, my friend and I went to check out the new Side Bar in Gaslamp Quarter, which reopened in May after a multi-million dollar renovation. 

Upon entering, this bar/lounge/club was unlike anything I had ever seen. The black, red and silver décor was over-the-top in the most fabulous way –  I swear, I spent a couple of minutes actually considering how I could attempt to steal all the lights, mirrors and rugs – and the ambiance exuded a sense of mischief, intimacy and dare I say… sexuality.

Aside from all the amazing décor there are a lot of neat design details that many may not notice. For example, the VIP booths have secret compartments for girls to hide their purses, and the bench cushions you sit on?? Yeah, they come off to reveal your very own personal dance floor underneath. How cool is that?!

After making our usual lap, (you know, the one where you walk around and scope out the scene) we sat down at a table to taste some of the menu selections. While everything was fantastic, I highly recommend the Toasted Raviolis and the White Spinach Pizza, they were delish! For drinks, we tried the Watermelon Mojito (fabulous, but strong) and the Absolute Side Bar (mmm, the fresh strawberries were a nice touch, except for when they clogged my straw, sad face).

After dinner, we hung out for a bit as the DJ revved up for the evening, but as responsible girls with work the next day, we called it an early night and left before the mass crowds came to let loose.

Side Bar is open Tuesdays – Sundays from 5 p.m. until 2 a.m. for dinner, drinks and dancing. The owner told me that the place gets packed on Fridays and Saturdays, so come early to avoid the lines… I know I’ll be there, with my Toasted Raviolis in one hand and my Absolute Side Bar in the other. Cheers!

Tags: drinks, food, Gaslamp Quarter, night club

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Need something to tide you over until San Diego Beer Week in November?

I just found these cool videos on DRAFT Magazine’s website of behind the scenes tours they took at Karl Strauss and Stone - two of the biggest names in San Diego craft brewing.

Tags: craft beer

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The other weekend, the guys and I took a little trip to a destination famous for its gambling opportunities and had a great time.  But in truth, I spent very little time at the tables and slots.  Why did I forgo this intregal part of the trip, you ask?  ‘Cause I’ve got plenty of opportunities to gamble here in San Diego when the mood strikes!

Barona Casino

San Diego has numerous Indian Casinos in our East and North county regions. In all honesty, I’m not a huge gambler but do enjoy it for the entertainment value every once in a while. After a few months of playing poker online, I work up the courage to head over to one of the Indian Casinos and try my luck with some real money.  San Diego casinos that I’ve visited and enjoyed are:  Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino, Sycuan Resort & Casino and Viejas Casino & Outlet Center.

My last casino visit was to the Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino a couple of months ago. Barona recently won like 25 awards for their casino, so I figured I should roll someplace recognized as a leader in their field.  Unfortunately, my online Texas Hold ‘Em skills weren’t quite honed to perfection that night, and the fine ladies and gentlemen at my table quickly added my $40 to their stacks of chips.  Vowing to return one day and sweep the table, I cheered myself up with an amazing steak dinner at Barona’s Oaks Steakhouse - absolutely fantastic!  Definitely one of the better steakhouses that I’ve eaten at.

Ranch House Buffet at Barona Ranch Resort & Casino

If you’re a casino regular, you’re also well familiar with the concept of the casino buffet.  I’ve had the pleasure of eating at Barona’s Ranch House Buffet, and I gotta say that my mouth still waters thinking about it.  Now, I’m not a huge buffet guy, but when I do a buffet, I do it big!  The Ranch House Buffet has multiple islands of different types of foods (I think my first plate had sushi, macaroni & cheese, salad and carne asada on it). I definitely ate my fill that day!  In fact, I’ve even been tempted to drive out to Barona just to do Sunday brunch there!

 

Tags: casino, dining, east county, food, north county

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The people I beat out for the buffet

Last week I was lucky enough to attend Kona Kai Resort’s first luau of the summer. Having only experienced a luau in Hawaii when I was all of 11 years old, I had no idea what I was in for. Was I supposed to bring my own hula skirt? Did you have to eat the luau pig in the pit? And if you’re a vegetarian, is there a pit-roasted tofu pig? These are things I was eager to find out.

The luau was completely sold-out, and for good reason. The setting was directly on the beach in Shelter Island, and the weather was gorgeous. My husband and I were greeted with leis and escorted to our tables, where we had a direct view of the water, the stage, and were in close proximity to the buffet table. After grabbing some Mai Tai’s, we were set. I was happy to have left my grass skirt at home, as I would have been the only one besides the dancers wearing one.

Is the view from your dinner table this gorgeous?

The sunset over the water was gorgeous, and truly added to the tropical atmosphere. The Hawaiian band was the perfect touch to the evening, and we were able to enjoy a dinner show of music and Polynesian dances while chowing down on our food. No one made me eat the luau pig or judged my plate of delicious salad, sticky rice, Hawaiian rolls, coconut creme brulee, and additional macadamia nut cookies. Hey, I was there to tell you about my experience, and I needed to experience two desserts.

The Kona Kai summer luaus will continue on Friday evenings on July 17, 24, 31, and August 14. It’s a great idea for a date or a night out with friends and family, and if you’re there for a special occasion they announce it on stage. So if you’re looking to score points with your in-laws in town celebrating their anniversary, I’d suggest you make reservations for the next luau ASAP.

Tags: beach, hotels, kona kai, luau, shelter island

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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