pacifica del mar

del mar, ca

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after outlet shopping in carlsbad, derek and i stopped by del mar on the way back to san diego. there were some cute restaurants along camino del mar, but we decided to go to del mar plaza for easy parking in the multi-level garage. del mar plaza has several restaurants (and very random expensive shops). we really wanted to try flavor del mar, but they were no longer serving lunch at 2 in the afternoon.

we tried pacifica del mar, which was right next door. we got great seats on the patio with a nice view of the ocean. we were still looking at buildings across the street, but you could see the ocean beyond the buildings. the food was good, but not great. my pasta with clams was good, but covered with too much cheese. there's an italian custom of not putting cheese on seafood dishes, which i know many people ignore. it would have been preferable to have cheese as an option rather than a requirement.

richard walker's pancake house

san diego, ca

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one of the benefits of having friends scattered across the globe is that there's always someone willing to show us great restaurants wherever we go. san diegan monica suggested that we meet her for brunch at richard walker's pancake house. there was already a line outside at 11 am on a sunday. a good sign. we ended up waiting only about 10-15 minutes before getting seated.

the menu has a variety of pancakes - much like ihop, only so much better. monica ordered the apple pancake, which appeared to be an apple pie in the form of a single giant pancake. i decided to order the potato latkes (pictured) - i haven't had these since moving out of manhattan a year ago. served with apple sauce, the latkes were delicious. derek had normal-sized pancakes, eggs, bacon, and hash browns. everything was good, but i think monica's massive apple pancake was the clear winner.

extraordinary desserts

san diego, ca

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wow. this place really lives up to its name. this is a favorite of cindy and ryan, former san diegans, and they make a trip here whenever they're in town. this time derek and i went with cindy, ryan, and the kids. the table was filled with sweets - strawberry napoleon (pictured), strawberry pie, truffe framboise (raspberry chocolate cake), and i think we also had a brownie but the sugar overload may have affected my memory. each dessert was artistically presented, showered with flower petals. beautiful and delicious, truly extraordinary.

before driving up to disneyland, we all went one more time for breakfast. i ordered the chocolate coffee cake, which turned out to have molten chocolate liquid in the center. cindy ordered the chocolate strudel. an intense breakfast, to be sure, and neither of us could finish. ryan had the brilliant idea of boxing up our leftovers and bringing them into disneyland. it was the perfect dessert after our (surprisingly good) meal of pasta and salad at the pizza port.

emerald chinese seafood restaurant

san diego, ca

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blogging ethics dictate that i have to disclose if there is a potential for bias in my reviews, so i have to tell you that steve's parents own this restaurant. i might be biased, but the food was seriously good. i love dim sum and emerald has all of my favorites, especially the stir-fried noodles that you don't always find at dim sum places.

shown at the bottom of the picture is the magical plate of noodles - magical because they were delicious and also because no matter how much i ate off the plate, there always seemed to be a massive pile of noodles left. other favorites were the pork shiu mai, congee, and hom sui gok (deep fried glutinous rice dumpling filled with pork). finished the meal with some egg tarts, of course, but watch out - the plates are hot! biased or not, if i'm ever in san diego again, we're going here for dim sum.

los panchitos

san diego, ca

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adventures in san diego with our host, steve, started with excellent spanish tapas and expensive cocktails at cafe sevilla in the trendy gaslamp district in downtown san diego. progressed to rum+cokes and a video dj mash-up performance (turn-table scratching with videos?) in a warehouse at the afterparty for the asian american film festival. and ended with cheap mexican food on pacific highway. a job well done, steve.

los panchitos was the final stop of the night. open very late, it serves perfect post-partying cuisine. authentic? probably not. but it was still pretty good. i had cheese enchiladas and ordered rolled tacos for derek, which are basically flautas. cheesy greasy hangover-prevention goodness.