Discovering San Diego: October 2015

September officially marked a year in San Diego for us, and this past month I tried to make an effort to renew our quest to try new spots. It’s so easy to stay in our hood and go to some of our regular spots for a relaxing night out. Speaking of places I don’t mind going to over and over, I shared some of my favorite San Diego spots for a travel guide on Feast + West. Go check out what made my list for Hidden Gems: San Diego.

We did manage to try these new spots in October:

Food

Water Grill

Their space is beautiful, I loved it as soon as I walked in. Very open and airy. The oysters were very yummy and I enjoyed the wedge salad I ordered. The wedge salad was HUGE. I’ve had better, but this one was solidly good. Shannon’s shrimp and grits were excellent, though I wish they had a touch more spice. I will certainly go back to try out dinner and maybe a cocktail 🙂

Brother’s Provisions

Oh my this was quite the find! It was SO SO good, and I want to go back 🙂 Both our sandwiches were amazing. I want to try all their sandwich options. They have an interesting menu and quality ingredients. Also while an order at the counter place, the inside was nicely appointed and lots of seating.

CounterPoint

We tried it out for brunch and were impressed. The bologna sandwich was a nice surprise too, don’t see very many of those in San Diego, and it was good. I really enjoyed my Chicken & Waffles Benedict, best seasoned fried chicken I’ve had! Even if the hollandaise looks a bit wonky, it still tasted good.

Bracero

This is a fairly new addition to the Little Italy food scene, that has gotten a ton of buzz from articles and foodie groups.

We tried:

• Surf and Turf Oysters: beef tartare over an oyster, and it was amazing! The oysters were so good!
• Beef Tongue Confit taco: meh, I wasn’t overly impressed, it wasn’t hot enough, lukewarm, and the corn tortilla was a bit damp. P though said he really liked it. I didn’t find it had a whole lot of flavor.
• Shrimp and Bone Marrow Sopa: OMG this was the BEST dish. I’ve never had anything like this before and it’s hard to describe. It was basically shrimp in a bone marrow (sauce) over a very yummy cake (maybe corn not sure what it was made up of).
• Crispy Corn Masa Egg: This dish was excellent too, very flavorful. I wasn’t sure about potato foam, but it was salty and yummy, not overly earthy. All the components of the dish worked beautifully.
• Grilled Octopus: cooked perfectly, it was tender. Though I feel like the smoke overwhelmed the whole dish and the components did not really come together like the shrimp and masa egg dishes, but it was still good.

We also ordered a few cocktails, which were both great, well balanced. They offer quite a few craft Mexican beers, and wines from Baja, it’s nice they have wine and beer that reflect the menu. If you are smoke sensitive at all, request with your reservation to not be seated near the upstairs kitchen. The smoke from the kitchen was overwhelming upstairs, we came home and my hair smelled. That was really a turn-off for me. I enjoyed our waiter, and he was very personable. However, I did not feel like the service was that smooth, we waited quite a while between finishing and ordering our next dishes, water service was ok but not great, and I felt like there were lots of staff standing around. Dishes came out basically all together, which was fine for us, but if you were at a table with ordering lots of dishes this may be an issue. I feel like their service could be refined to be a really great dining experience, but we will certainly be back for the food.

Smoking Goat

I had high hopes for this place. So many people recommended it, but I was not impressed. This was one of the worst prepared ducks I’ve had, so disappointed. The other food was ok, but nothing special. We may try it again for their happy hour and get just appetizers, but I would not go back for entrees. They just are not worth the price. The escargot and soup were the best part of the meal.

Booze

The Homebrewer

This is where P buys his home brew supplies, but we had yet to try their beer so we finally corrected that. I really liked that they offered a few single malt, single hop beers, because it is neat to see what those single ingredients produce. The seating is very limited, it’s more pop in for a sample and pop out. Not really a hang out kind of set-up.

O’Sullivan Brothers Brewing

Very standard American style beers, that are well done. I prefer just a bit more innovative offerings, but their beers were well made. Tight space, but they were friendly and had a fair amount of seating available, and it was kind of neat to seat so close to the “action”.

Division 23 Brewing

Overall ok beer, but could use some refining.  The IPA we tried was really off, but the brown and porter were good. The space is a bit dark, but fairly large with friendly bar staff and plenty of seating.

Other

Kayaking with P. I went prior with Shannon, and P wanted to try it out. We did the same provider as the one I did before, using Everyday California. It was good, though a bit boring as it was the same information/show as the first time around. They are really big on group participation and it was a little hard to pay attention when they ask the group the same questions that I already know. It was a nice day, and I did get in the water this time. We actually got rained out of our first scheduled tour and went back the next weekend.

We dressed up for the first time as a couple for a Halloween party! I forgot to take pictures before we left for the party, so this is the only one I have. We had a fun night out!

I made this little beauty at Pigment with Esther. It was a fun little afternoon activity, though I feel like the customer service could have been vastly approved upon.

What was the highlight of your October?