Wired Cafe is located on Towne Centre Drive, across from UTC Mall. It is a small neighborhood cafe with European owners and a nice relaxed atmosphere. The menu includes Paninis, Pancakes, Pastries, Salads, Quiches etc, all very tasty. The wine list is also pretty big, though we did not try any. San Diego can certainly do with more places of this type. Compare with St. Tropez in Encinitas.
The place can get crowded on weekends, but the wait is worth it. And the coffee is very good too.
See more reviews here
Friday, January 18, 2008
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Dumpling Inn
Dumpling Inn is a small Chinese restaurant on Convoy, just north of Balboa. We figured Dumplings are just the right thing to eat on a cold rainy Saturday afternoon. The restaurant has about 10 tables, and was moderately crowded at 330pm. There were many people stopping by to pick up take-out, so the restaurant is quite popular.
We ordered the Fish and Chive Dumplings, which tasted a bit bland to begin with. But a nice dipping in Soy Sauce and Chili Pepper brought out the taste really well. I was expecting the dumplings to be served in a Bamboo dumpling steamer, but they came in a regular plate.
We also ordered the Chicken Chowmein with the crisp noodles. The noodles themselves tasted a bit like Indian bhajiya, with a crispy/salty/oily feel. But after a while being dipped in the excellent sauce, they started to feel very Chinese.
The Schezwan Pork entree was not as good as the other two items, but it was comfortably edible.
Summary
Decor: Hole in the wall Chinese
Food: 3 stars in 4
Service: Competent, but the water had some dirt in it.
Price: $30 for two people
Menu: Reasonable sized menu, includes several vegetarian options.
We ordered the Fish and Chive Dumplings, which tasted a bit bland to begin with. But a nice dipping in Soy Sauce and Chili Pepper brought out the taste really well. I was expecting the dumplings to be served in a Bamboo dumpling steamer, but they came in a regular plate.
We also ordered the Chicken Chowmein with the crisp noodles. The noodles themselves tasted a bit like Indian bhajiya, with a crispy/salty/oily feel. But after a while being dipped in the excellent sauce, they started to feel very Chinese.
The Schezwan Pork entree was not as good as the other two items, but it was comfortably edible.
Summary
Decor: Hole in the wall Chinese
Food: 3 stars in 4
Service: Competent, but the water had some dirt in it.
Price: $30 for two people
Menu: Reasonable sized menu, includes several vegetarian options.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Casa Guadalajara
This is one of many "we-are-oh-so-close-to-Mexico" restaurants located in Old Town San Diego that you can take your visiting relative to. We went there with a cousin who was in town for a conference of 8000 statisticians at the Convention Center (apparently statisticians really do believe in the law of large numbers).
The restaurant was extremely crowded (Sat night, around 7pm). The restaurant does not accept reservations and the wait time was about 30min. Parking in the restaurant lot was a nightmare, but we could find relatively easy parking on Calhoun Street. The unending "Last Call for Dick, Party of 4!!!" announcements more than drowned out the live music where we were sitting. It might be worth it to ask for a seat in other parts of the restaurant, especially the courtyard (which was unusable on this day due to rain) where the Mariachi band plays.
On the plus side, the food was good and the margaritas were huge. We had crab cakes (excellent) and chipotle chicken tacos (avoidable) for appetizers and the fiesta fajitas (good) and camarones rancheros (excellent) for entrees. The portions are big here, so 2 entrees were more than enough for 3 people.
Website: http://www.bazaardelmundo.com/guad2006.shtml
Ambiance: Looks nice, but sounds like LAX.
Price: $70 for appetizers, drinks and entrees for 3 people.
Overall Rating: 2.5 burros out of 4.
The restaurant was extremely crowded (Sat night, around 7pm). The restaurant does not accept reservations and the wait time was about 30min. Parking in the restaurant lot was a nightmare, but we could find relatively easy parking on Calhoun Street. The unending "Last Call for Dick, Party of 4!!!" announcements more than drowned out the live music where we were sitting. It might be worth it to ask for a seat in other parts of the restaurant, especially the courtyard (which was unusable on this day due to rain) where the Mariachi band plays.
On the plus side, the food was good and the margaritas were huge. We had crab cakes (excellent) and chipotle chicken tacos (avoidable) for appetizers and the fiesta fajitas (good) and camarones rancheros (excellent) for entrees. The portions are big here, so 2 entrees were more than enough for 3 people.
Website: http://www.bazaardelmundo.com/guad2006.shtml
Ambiance: Looks nice, but sounds like LAX.
Price: $70 for appetizers, drinks and entrees for 3 people.
Overall Rating: 2.5 burros out of 4.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Zinc Cafe
Where: Located in the Cedros Design District of Solana Beach, a block from the train station, this is a small easy to miss place... It has a very bohemian family run feel to it with vines and creepers adorning the walls and roof...
What: This is another one of those quaint brunch places. It has a fully vegetarian menu with a variety of omelettes, breakfast cereals and sandwiches. We got the House special Zinc burger, a vegetarian patty on Focacia bread and a baguette with Mozzarella tomato and basil. Both the sandwiches were very tasty, fresh.. The serving size though was more Europe than America... The house coffee was also very good.. We finished with a Banana Nut Espresso cake which was excellent..
Service: It was a first-order-pay-then-eat kind of place so not too much serving involved but the staff very very friendly and helpful...
$$: Quite an affordable place. Sandwiches and omelettes run $5- $10. Deserts are $5 a piece typically but well worth it..
Overall a good place for a lazy weekend brunch in a very fashionable part of town...
http://www.zinccafe.com/
What: This is another one of those quaint brunch places. It has a fully vegetarian menu with a variety of omelettes, breakfast cereals and sandwiches. We got the House special Zinc burger, a vegetarian patty on Focacia bread and a baguette with Mozzarella tomato and basil. Both the sandwiches were very tasty, fresh.. The serving size though was more Europe than America... The house coffee was also very good.. We finished with a Banana Nut Espresso cake which was excellent..
Service: It was a first-order-pay-then-eat kind of place so not too much serving involved but the staff very very friendly and helpful...
$$: Quite an affordable place. Sandwiches and omelettes run $5- $10. Deserts are $5 a piece typically but well worth it..
Overall a good place for a lazy weekend brunch in a very fashionable part of town...
http://www.zinccafe.com/
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