food in SD (San Diego, San Francisco, Napa: home, live in, garden)

[earlyretirement]

I totally agree with you Shmoov (as usual). Also, I think it's important to mention that I don't think San Diego could ever become a "foodie" city. Yes, it gets a lot of tourists but you really need a local population that is going to frequent these foodie type restaurants and embrace them.

I don't know San Diego nearly as well as all of you locals and those that have lived here many years. One thing I noticed however is that many locals just don't embrace restaurants and dining out and the appreciation of great food like other cities I've lived in. In other cities I've lived in, people will get together more often and it's not uncommon for me to go to lunch or dinner several times a week and spend hours in a restaurant eating/chatting/etc.

Here in San Diego it seems like many people (a) don't have the disposable incomes to blow on an expensive meal because salaries are relatively low and cost of living is relatively high; (b) people don't have as much time; (c) when they do have extra down time they want to spend it at the beach or with their kids, etc. (d) just being close to the beach it's a much more laid back environment.

I'm sure there are many other factors. Still, there is PLENTY of good restaurants here where you can get good food for decent prices. I dine out with friends a few times a week and we always try to go to a new place each week and I've very rarely had a truly bad meal here.

[Jenkay]

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

I totally agree with you Shmoov (as usual). Also, I think it's important to mention that I don't think San Diego could ever become a "foodie" city. Yes, it gets a lot of tourists but you really need a local population that is going to frequent these foodie type restaurants and embrace them.

I don't know San Diego nearly as well as all of you locals and those that have lived here many years. One thing I noticed however is that many locals just don't embrace restaurants and dining out and the appreciation of great food like other cities I've lived in. In other cities I've lived in, people will get together more often and it's not uncommon for me to go to lunch or dinner several times a week and spend hours in a restaurant eating/chatting/etc.

Here in San Diego it seems like many people (a) don't have the disposable incomes to blow on an expensive meal because salaries are relatively low and cost of living is relatively high; (b) people don't have as much time; (c) when they do have extra down time they want to spend it at the beach or with their kids, etc. (d) just being close to the beach it's a much more laid back environment.

I'm sure there are many other factors. Still, there is PLENTY of good restaurants here where you can get good food for decent prices. I dine out with friends a few times a week and we always try to go to a new place each week and I've very rarely had a truly bad meal here.

We actually do have a pretty strong "foodie" commnuity here. Emphasis on locally-produced foods, with strong ties to the local craft beer community (I mean, beer *is* food, no?). We're just not "known" for it, and (just like everything else) there's a prevailing impression that we have a shallow tourist-based culture here and nobody does anything else (see threads about how we have no cultural events etc.) Chow is a good site to check out if you're interested in that sort of thing. Or go talk to the farmers and local food producers at the farmers' markets. Just because you don't know people who are into that sort of stuff doesn't mean they don't exist

[Jenkay]

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

Jenkay knows his food! We've been to several of the places he mentioned and they had really tasty food. For Korean we like
these below. I prefer Buga as it's bigger and there is always a seat and the food is good. Obviously in both places it's all Koreans that own/operate it. The food is tasty.

Buga Korean Barbecue Restaurant

5580 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, San Diego, CA 92117


Dae Jang Keum Korean BBQ Menu

7905 Engineer Rd., San Diego, CA 92111

I agree about the Chinese places. Most in San Diego don't even know what Chinese food is. An example of that is looking at some of San Diego Magazines reader polls of "Best Chinese Restaurants" and it's pathetic to see P.F. Changs on the top 3 list almost every year! LOL. There are a ton of places over in Kearny Mesa. I haven't found anything too terrific but very decent food.

Oh, and I am most decidedly a "she", BTW

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by Jenkay

We actually do have a pretty strong "foodie" commnuity here. Emphasis on locally-produced foods, with strong ties to the local craft beer community (I mean, beer *is* food, no?). We're just not "known" for it, and (just like everything else) there's a prevailing impression that we have a shallow tourist-based culture here and nobody does anything else (see threads about how we have no cultural events etc.) Chow is a good site to check out if you're interested in that sort of thing. Or go talk to the farmers and local food producers at the farmers' markets. Just because you don't know people who are into that sort of stuff doesn't mean they don't exist

Originally Posted by Jenkay

Oh, and I am most decidedly a "she", BTW

Oops. Sorry about calling you a "he". I meant she.

We do go to several of the farmer's markets. It's great to know there is a "foodie" type atmosphere here. I have some clients here in San Diego that are big time "foodies" and they are always complaining about the options here compared to other places. But it's good to hear from a foodie that there is a "foodie community" here. I don't consider myself a foodie but I most certainly appreciate great food.

Jenkay, what are your top 5 "foodie" restaurants in the area? For frame of reference, so far our best meals have been at Market in Del Mar.

[Jenkay]

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

Oops. Sorry about calling you a "he". I meant she.

We do go to several of the farmer's markets. It's great to know there is a "foodie" type atmosphere here. I have some clients here in San Diego that are big time "foodies" and they are always complaining about the options here compared to other places. But it's good to hear from a foodie that there is a "foodie community" here. I don't consider myself a foodie but I most certainly appreciate great food.

Jenkay, what are your top 5 "foodie" restaurants in the area? For frame of reference, so far our best meals have been at Market in Del Mar.

Top five "foodie" restaurants? I'm not sure if I'm strictly working within your definition of "foodie" but at least that narrows it down a little.

Farm House Cafe
Nine Ten
Prepkitchen
Cafe Chloe
Jayne's Gastropub (although to be fair it's been at least a year since I've been)


I don't get out anywhere near as much as I'd like, though. Partially because money's tight (been furloughed for 3 years now, finally getting back to full time this month) and partially because I really like to cook and do so 5-6 days a week

[earlyretirement]

Great! Thanks. I've been to a few of those places and I agree the meals were good. I'll check out Cafe Chloe and Janye's as I haven't been there yet. Thanks for listing those. Great to add to the "weekly list" of new places to hit. I always enjoy hearing about people's favorite/latest places.

I know there are plenty of food websites but it's nice sometimes reading about it here, especially as you get a sense of someone's personality on the board.

My latest new meal was at The Cottage in La Jolla (http://www.cottagelajolla.com ) and had a good meal there.

I agree there are plenty of good places with good food here in San Diego.

[Think4Yourself]

Originally Posted by Moondogger

food in SD sucks! Period!

There is a comical and uninformed post if I ever saw one. I would agree that high end dining isn't a strong point for San Diego compared to NYC, LA, or Chicago but those are all much larger metro areas with many more well heeled customers willing to pay top dollar. San Diego does do the medium and casual levels of dining very well though.

BTW I'd second (third?) going to chowhound.com's San Diego subforum as you really will get better responses there.

[tonyinsd]

Good food does not have to be expensive. That's the first thing we need to get away from. The perception that high quality food has to run you a c-note per person is just wrong.

Plenty of restaurants have locally sourced food at reasonable prices.

[sdurbanite]

Originally Posted by Clevelandgal

Jen Kay post your faves of all of the above! I have to admit I still need to explore more since I have had some duds. Ive found the best places to be the hole in the wall ethnic vs anything much above that. When we first moved to San Diego,I was not working so I was doing a lot of cooking which is fine since im a pretty good I am told. Places like Super Cocina, Mexicali tacos ,The Mariasco German truck, titas kitchenette and Aqui es Texaco are hard to beat but a little divey. I've had some nice starters at Alchemy and Counter Point...but need some good Asian ....Sab e lee Thai is pretty good. but Chinese? Help me! have not tried Korean BBQ in San Diego, but its great to know there is something great out there.

Nice to see that we are hitting up some of the same dives around town But no Royal Mandarin for the salt and pepper chicken wings?

For Asian (and other ethnic, too), check out the mmm-yoso's food blog. This guy does "Hole in the walls" real well.

mmm-yoso!!!

Another fun one to check out is Convoy Conquest. Two girls grazing up and down Convoy.

Convoy Conquest

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by sdurbanite

Nice to see that we are hitting up some of the same dives around town But no Royal Mandarin for the salt and pepper chicken wings?

For Asian (and other ethnic, too), check out the mmm-yoso's food blog. This guy does "Hole in the walls" real well.

mmm-yoso!!!

Another fun one to check out is Convoy Conquest. Two girls grazing up and down Convoy.

Convoy Conquest

Thanks sdurbanite! These blogs look awesome. Especially the Convoy Conquest. I'm definitely going to check that out. They are so detailed.