Cody's, La Jolla

Cody's La Jolla is a breakfast and lunch place at 8030 Girard Ave, La Jolla. I belive its popularity mostly stems from its location. The restaurant operates from a small cottage with ocean view. We went to Cody's for a Saturday lunch. We started with coffee, apple juice and onion rings. For lunch I ordered Grilled Mahi Mahi sandwich with cucumber, red onion and tomato basil tartar sauce. The sandwich was decent, but I liked the fries more than the sanwich itself. Rajat had a Grilled chicken sandwich, which was also alright. There was nothing novel or innovative about the taste and presentation. However, as stated before, Cody's great location does end up drawing a lot of people.

Bombay, Hillcrest

Bombay has a great decor and I might rate is as one of the better ones amongst the multitude of Indian restaurants that cater specifically to the American palate. The mango lassi was creative (served in a wine glass) and the Mohito had a refreshing lemon-mint taste. Goa fish (Mahi) cooked in ginger curry sauce was prepared very well. The veggie Tikka masala was average (The chicken version might have been better). The aloo paratha was also decent but its jumbo size left us with no room for dessert :-).

Trattoria Ponte Vecchio, Carmel Valley

We decided to go to Trattoria Ponte Vecchio for a weekday lunch for two reasons. The primary reason was proximity to my office and the secondary reason was its zagat rating. This restaurant serves northern Italian food. The restaurant has a pleasant outdoor seating with a view of the lagoon. The complimentary bread was fresh and tasty, but all the other items we ordered were quite average. We had Eggplant sorrentina for appetizer. It was a bit too...cheesy. Rajat had fresh grilled Mahi Mahi with mussels and clams. This dishwas supposed to be a special of the day, but did not taste as fresh. I had Ravioli de zuca (pumpkin ravioli). It was alright, but was floating in an excess of butter. This place might not receive a second visit from us.

Soltan Banoo, University Heights

We discovered Soltan Banoo on Yelp as one of the top rated Persian restaurants in San Diego. Its a family operated restaurant at 4645 Park Blvd, San Diego. We ordered our drinks outside the menu and had absolutely no trouble in getting it. This drink was "Doogh", and is somewhat akin to the Indian salt lassi. It tasted great.
We had pomegranate soup, Ghalieh Mahi (a salmon entree) and Zereshk Polo (a rice dish). The rice dish was average, but the other two items were delicious. The chocolate cake for dessert was warm and yummy. We will go to this place again to taste their kabobs.

Roy's

In spite of being super close to this Hawaiian fusion restaurant in UTC, we had never been there in the last 4 years. The restaurant is deceptively quiet from outside. We were however surprised by its popularity. I ordered butterfish and it turned out to be the one of the best tasting fish I had ever had. My earlier favorite Salmon has now taken a back seat . Rajat ordered a Trio with butterfish, salmon and seared ahi tuna. He rated them as butterfish>salmon>tuna. In a nutshell, if you go to Roys, do get a taste of their butterfish. (The calamari appetizer we ordered was not great, but people in neighboring tables were raving about the sushi appetizers)
And, their Melting hot chocolate souffle for dessert is NOT TO BE MISSED.
http://www.roysrestaurant.com/

Parkhouse Eatery, University Heights

The brunch hunt takes us next to the Parkhouse Eatery in University Heights. Brunch is served here till 230pm, and we had a 15 minute wait around 11am on Sunday morning. I ordered a fried pasta with eggs, tomatoes and feta cheese. Prachee ordered french toast. Both items were delicious and also stylishly presented. This place takes the crown for best tasting brunch, and comes out ahead of The Cottage in La Jolla, though it has a somewhat smaller menu.

The atmosphere is nice too, particularly if you take the outside seating. Service is quick and without any fuss.

Yelp review: here.

Nine Ten Restaurant, La Jolla

Another lovely day for brunch. Today we visited Nine Ten restaurant, located at 910 Prospect St. This restaurant is part of a historic hotel, and has both indoor and outdoor seating (no ocean views again). The outdoor seating is quite sunny in the morning, so we chose the calm indoor section.

We ordered Omlettes, and they were made to perfection, served with a side of just appropriately crisp potatoes. The fresh squeezed apple juice was also excellent. The place has very good reviews for dinner too ... so there may be a second visit.

Yelp and Restaurant website.

Beach Grass Cafe, Solana Beach

Brunch at Beach Grass Cafe. It is a casual place with lots of local people showing up for brunch. One group showed up in an old VW Bus, and looked the part too. The Cafe is dog friendly too, and will provide a dish of water for the dog. You can sit outside in the shade with a cool ocean breeze (no ocean view though).

The food was fresh and tasty. The Ahi Salad sandwich was quite big, but not heavy at all. I chose a side of apple slaw and it was a great healthy alternative to fries. The Sweet Corn Polenta was good also, and stylishly presented in a banana leaf wrap.

Yelp and Cafe website.

Chocolat Creamery

We went into this small eatery on 509 5th Ave (Gaslamp) in search of some crepes, and it turned out to be excellent all round. I found the Mozarella sampler on the appetizer menu particularly impressive. The paninis and crepes we tried were also very good. They also have a large selection of Gelato which we unfortunately were not able to get around to.

Champagne French Bakery

Had been planning to go to this Carmel Vally place for quite a while, and got to visit a few days ago. The desserts are simply great. Smaller servings than Extraordinary, but equally tasty. Need to try their brunch one of the coming Sundays.

People seem to love this place on yelp. Menu on website. They have locations throughout SoCal.

Bangkok Spices Thai

A very tasty and affordable Thai place on El Cajon Blvd. Beats the Hillcrest/MiraMesa/SolanaBeach places on price, and is no slouch on quality either. The vegetarian appetizer (Satay) was delicious, and the two chicken curries we got were good too.

People on yelp like it. Menu and timing etc on their web site.

Annapurna @ Mira Mesa

Annapurna is a new Andhra themed restaurant behind the Cam. Ruiz Target store.

Web site and Yelp review.

We tried the weekend buffet ($13). The food was good, in particular the crispy dosas (served hot at the table), the yummy sambhar and the chicken biryani. The dessert was a great surprise, a very halloween-orange rava kesari.

Contrary to the review reports, the service was quite satisfactory. The next step for us is to try some entrees from the menu for dinner.

Update: Visited for dinner, and ordered off the menu. The non-vegetarian food was delicious, and the servings were big. The food holds up pretty well in the fridge too ;)