Food is AWFUL in San Diego UNLESS...... (Los Angeles, San Francisco: home, neighborhood)

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by Encinitan

Where and what was the Paddock?

It was a steakhouse with more than one fireplace. It was stodgy and dimly lit even when I went and it certainly would not be considered trendy today by any stretch of the imagination. That said, it was classic steakhouse. We used to go all the time when I was a kid.

https://www.facebook.com/thepaddockf...type=3&theater

Thank goodness OC still has an equivalent to The Paddock that is still going, Gullivers. There is something to be said for these sorts of places.

[bloom]

Seasons 52 was very good on a single visit though not inexpensive but for a work dinner.
Those places with good ocean views in Del Mar and La Jolla (Jakes, Georges, etc) seem uniformly overpriced mediocre so skip, and go instead to the bad views but quality food places and take a walk after at a convenient good view locale.

[NJ Brazen_3133]

Originally Posted by CNYC

Chins is pathetic. That was one of the first places I ate at in Encinitas. As far as pizza goes I just can't do it in SoCal when Tony's NY Pizza in TJ is just minutes from my place down there. Tony's TOPS all pizza south of LA.

PCH has yuppie clip joints. I am so happy I never found housing in the beach area. I'd starve !

Nah, Chins is good for Chinese joint outside Chinese enclaves.

Leucadia Pizza on the corner of PCH, and think Encinitas Blvd makes a really good California style pizza. I like California, and even Chicago style better than NYC. NYC pizza is cheap junk food.

[NJ Brazen_3133]

Originally Posted by LuvSouthOC

Who remembers The Paddock in Encinitas?

Chins is crap.

No it is not. They have more than one location.

[USDefault]

Agree with the poster. And most of the posts that are negative about San Diego food are spot-on. San Diego restaurants, on the whole, mediocre at best. You can just tell what they are serving is Aramark-level food: low-cost, cheap, generic mass-produced junk trucked in from major agribusiness. There are few gems, most of which have been identified. San Diego also has way too many bad "Mexican" restaurants, serving cheap, grease-filled garbage I will never, ever touch. Most barbecue places in San Diego, you can taste the cheap liquid smoke they pour on the product, it's disgusting (don't want to name names).


Most cities are superior in every way to the San Diego "food scene," and this includes Los Angeles and San Francisco. Whether it's Texas, Nevada, Louisiana, Tennessee, New York, Florida (been to all many times for business, I practically lived in Texas and New York), their major metros have excellent fare, and much better than San Diego.


And my part-time companion city Portland? Yeah, Portland absolutely, utterly destroys San Diego food, and Portland does so much more cheaply -- and with no sales tax. And I'm not the only one who thinks so; friends who visit always, always remark how much better the truly fresh PNW seafood, the farm-to-table steaks, and the many ethnic cuisines are in Portland (and Seattle too), including Iraqi, Vietnamese, Thailand, and Indian food. There's so much good up here that French and Italian are boring (but still great). I could pick up the phone right now, call one of the many butcher shops in Portland or the greater metro area, and have fresh lamb racks, tenderloins, rib-eyes, or all kinds of fish, in forty-eight hours from farms in Corbett, or outside Salem, and/or the many boats along the Oregon coast. There is no comparison. None.


San Diego has two good food things going on. First are the farmer's markets. If you visit regularly, you'll learn which vendors have the good stuff, and San Diego is blessed to have a number of very good farmer's markets. Second is the Whole Foods in Hillcrest, they do a very good job there of stocking good and fresh stuff, but of course, $$$ to access any of it.

[SD-2023]

Market Place Deli. 5th& Maple. Nyc style deli sandwiches. Very good food & good prices too.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

We rarely eat out but will on occasion like birthdays. I get half a cow a year delivered to my house. I hunt and fish year round. My BBQ is second to none so I have zero reason to eat out. I have my own seasonings, spices, sauces, salsas. I usually always get disappointed eating out because my wife is an excellent cook and we'd rather eat at home.

We just loaded up for the week, BBQ ribs with a special rub, a nice roast over red oak from the local mountains. Food for the week. Local, fresh rockfish and some yellowtail and halibut. My freezer is still crammed with venison from this year's harvest. Time for some pismo clams from local waters.


Our garden and fruit trees are going full tilt and we live in Bay park. Anyone can do this if you are clever enough. 40 bucks for a rib eye I can make for 5 bucks?

[Radical347]

OP, have you tried anything on Convoy Street?

[masonbauknight]

Originally Posted by CNYC

NYC was worse. Great Food unaffordable prices. I don't know which is worse

The most ridiculous post I've read in years. I actually live in NYC because (1) it has the best and most affordable food in the U.S. and (2) one can get by very well without a car (unless you have children -- kids' activities, visits to the doctor or the emergency room, etc., generally require a private vehicle).

I'm a foodie and lived in France for almost 3 years. I know food. I'm a fairly good cook, too. New York's bakeries, food shops, greenmarkets, and produce stores are rather inexpensive even by the standards of Georgia, where I grew up. Yes, high-end restaurants are expensive here but they're pricey everywhere, as are gourmet food shops for the affluent elite (Dean & Deluca, with its small $10 chocolate babkas). Manhattan supermarkets have higher prices, due to exorbitant rents. However, the six (SIX) supermarkets within walking distance of my Queens home have sales on all the time. Prices are very reasonable. The sheer variety, abundance, and prices of food in NYC -- even in Manhattan -- put the rest of the country, not just San Diego, to shame. You have my sympathy.

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by masonbauknight

The most ridiculous post I've read in years. I actually live in NYC because (1) it has the best and most affordable food in the U.S. and (2) one can get by very well without a car unless you have children (kids' activities, visits to the doctor or the emergency room, etc., generally require a private vehicle).

I'm a foodie and lived in France for almost 3 years. I know food. I'm a fairly good cook, too. New York's bakeries, food shops, f greenmarkets, and produce stores are rather inexpensive even by the standards of Georgia, where I grew up. Yes, high-end restaurants are expensive here but they're pricey everywhere, as are gourmet food shops for the affluent elite (Dean & Deluca, with its small $10 chocolate babkas). Manhattan supermarkets have higher prices, due to exorbitant rents. However, the six (SIX!) supermarkets within walking distance of my Queens home have sales on all the time. Prices are very reasonable. The sheer variety, abundance, and prices of food in NYC -- even in Manhattan -- put the rest of the country, not just San Diego, to shame. You have my sympathy.

Yes, but you live in Queens. Most of us would take San Diego over Queens any day of the week.