San Diego Part 6

This post will be all about food!  Now that's an awesome post!

We ate a good number of our meals at the restaurant in the hotel.  But it's not just any old restaurant.  It's more of an upscale restaurant. We actually had vouchers for most of our breakfasts.  (thanks to our awesome travel agent!)  You could order a full breakfast but our vouchers only covered their "continental breakfast."  When I think of continental breakfast, I think buffet style-make your own waffles-stale bagels-Days Inn-type food.  Not this place.  It was still a "sit down and you'll be served" type of meal.  They bring you food (you don't really order) but it's plenty and good.  Yogurt, assorted pastries (yum!), assorted fruit, bread/toast if you wanted it, and assorted muffins.  My kind of breakfast.  The day we got there was Christmas Day, so not many other restaurants were open.  We ate dinner there that night (late for us; the second it opened at 5pm). They actually had a Christmas special that was really good.  I think it was some kind of a roast with the yummiest mashed potatoes and broccolini.  Another night we at in the bar area and had Kobe beef burgers.  If you ever order Kobe beef burger, do NOT ask for it well done.  There is so little fat in Kobe beef that it dries out really fast.  But it was the special that night:  I think $6 for a burger and fries.

One night we had reservations at a really really really nice and really really really expensive seafood restaurant. The restaurant was actually right on the water, literally part of the restaurant was out over the water.  It was dark and you could see the lights of the city reflecting on the water.  It was beautiful.   When we got the bill, C wanted to see it.  Before I showed him, I told him to keep his words and emotions quiet.   By the time we were done, it was well over $150 for the 3 of us.  I had 3 risotto cakes each topped with a scallop then a piece of prosciutto and then something else.  C had steak and french fries.  Daddy had surf and turf: a lobster tail and a steak.  It was all very yummy.  After we were done, Daddy took some amazing pictures down by the water.

We also ate at a California Pizza Kitchen.  They have them other places besides California but we've never been to one.  Pretty good pizza.  And we ate at a burger place called In & Out.  Everyone that we talked to that had ever been to California said we needed to eat at one.  Good burgers and fries.  Awesome shakes!

One of the things I wanted to make sure of:  I did not want to eat at any kind of a "chain" restaurant that we could easily get back home.  So I looked on line and asked for suggestions.  One of the places I found on line had actually been on Food Network's Restaurant: Impossible with Robert Irvine. I remembered watching the episode.  So I had Daddy watch the re-run with me.  The restaurant was on this show, not because the food was awful.  Actually, on the show Roberts comments "the food here is actually pretty good."  It was on the show because the owner had gotten herself into huge debt and couldn't figure out how to get out.  She was charging pretty much "at cost" for her food and had borrowed a lot of money to buy an expansion of the store front.  So we decided to try it.  Oh.  My.  Word!  It was the best place we ate THE ENTIRE TIME WE WERE IN SAN DIEGO!  We went for breakfast 2 days in a row.  It was called The Trails Neighborhood Eatery.    The first day we went Daddy got their cinnamon roll pancakes.  C and I lusted after them.  The next day we all ordered them.  We actually got to talk to the owner.  We told her we were there because we saw the show.  We have since tried to make them at home.  Nothing compares.  They were awesome.  (Disclaimer:  I actually tried the Elvis Presley pancakes on the first day.  They had chocolate chips, bananas, and peanut butter.   They were really good too)  If you are ever in San Diego, it's a must try!  (PS:  I have a picture of those pancakes somewhere, but can't find it. My pictures are not the most organized thing in the world)