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 ;)

El Fandango, Old Town

One of the Mexican places in Old Town. Food quality was so-so, place wasn't too expensive (<$10 per head). Wouldn't go there again.

Apollonia Greek Bistro, UTC

Okay Greek place in UTC. Had a fish dish, which was so-so. Price range $10-$20 per head. Could go there again thanks to the proximity.

Melting Pot, La Jolla

Fondue place near the Hyatt. Part of a nationwide chain. Very expensive (>$50 per head) for a place where you're supposed to cook your own food. Except for the dessert fondue, the food was so-so. Service was extremely slow. Ambiance was average. Wouldn't go there again.

Sushi Itto, Hillcrest

Best described as a Mexican-Sushi fusion restaurant, Sushi Itto is one of the best Sushi restaurants I've been to in San Diego. We had three of their specialty rolls: CuauhtemItto, Coronado (both of which were spicy) and the Crunchy Sweet roll. All of them were excellent. Additionally, the appetizer (Yakitori) and drinks (Sangria) were also good. On the downside, parking in the restaurant is a bit of a squeeze and the service is a little slow. However, the quality of the food easily makes up for that.

Price: $65 (inc tip+tax) for appetizers, rolls and drinks for two.
Ambiance: Simple, yet stylish.
Rating: 3.5 out of 4.
Website: http://www.sushi-ittosandiego.com/

Elijah's, UTC

Jewish (though apparently not Kosher) restaurant and deli next to Landmark theaters. We had a pastrami sandwich and a grilled chicken sandwich, both of which were quite bad. The bakery is nothing to write home about either.

Price: $20 for two
Ambiance: Mostly senior citizens.
Rating: 1.5 out of 4.
Website: http://www.elijahsrestaurant.com

Gulf Coast Grill, Hillcrest

This is a Cajun-style restaurant off Hillcrest. We had the blackened prawn (excellent) for appetizers, and cedar-plank salmon (good) and jambalaya (bad) for the main course, the Gulf-Old Whiskey (interesting) for drinks and the peach cobbler (bad) for dessert. Service was reasonably prompt and the decor was nice, though the street where the restaurant was seemed a bit run-down compared to the rest of Hillcrest. Overall, this is a good restaurant to try out, but it's unlikely that I go there repeatedly.

Price: $70 for drinks, appetizers, entrees and dessert for two.
Ambiance: Pretty good.
Rating: 2.5 out of 4
Website: http://www.gulfcoastgrill.com/

Chow

On our first visit, we found this Hillcrest restaurant to be a chic pan-east-Asian noodle place. Since then, there seems to have been a change in management (or at least presentation). The old menu with a subtle mix of spring-rolls, udons, chow-meins, is now replaced by one which leaves no doubt about the approach. The entrees have been grouped into Vietnamese/ Thai/ Chinese/ Japanese, along with a Noodles-for-dummies extract preceding each category.
The appetizer veggie dumplings held no surprises. For the main course, we had the grilled eggplant, and thai fat noodles with tofu - both of which had been helped with some extra servings of cooking oil. Admittedly, the curry sauces and pastes were fairly tasty. In summary, okay for a cheap (all entrees cost less than 10 dollars) and very oily chow.
(The crowd seemed not-local, and in retrospect, i think it's easy to see why)
-rajiv.

Aladdin Mediterranean Cafe, Hillcrest

This is a little eatery on Cleveland ave. right opposite a starbucks nook. The decor is very ornate with inlayed furniture and ornate lamps...basically very middle eastern to look at. We struck up a conversation with the owner who suggested we try the following menu :
appetizer :
borak (this was a open 4 cornered pastry with mildly flavored kheema...very fresh and really good)
entrees:
1.chicken biryani (very Indian Tandoor-ish ...we later found out they had picked up the recipe from an indian cook !)
2.mixed sheesh kababs (chicken tikka was the best I've had in San diego, the lamb kabab was very chewy however the kheema kababs were really juicy and tender)
dessert :
baklava (nice ...hadn't eaten it in a while so I was happy to get some familiar comfort food)
Kunafa which is supposed to be a kind of a cheese cake(Ravi absolutely loved it and I absolutely hated it...so its up to the reader to try it :o)
All in all a good experience with interesting company from the owner..a really nice softspoken gentleman.
~Arati