Must-Eat San Diego?

[Delairen]

Hey Chowhounders -

Decided at the last moment to come down to San Diego for this weekend, and wanted to find & check out some of the best that San Diego has to offer.

Anyone have any recommendations for fantastic restaurants with a focus on local, organic, seasonal & sustainable produce that they want to point me towards?

Bonus question: Best farmers market to check out?

Thanks Chowhounders!
Del

[jennywenny]

Other places include alchemy and tender greens. I love the little italy mercado, but the hillcrest farmers market is pretty good and I've always enjoyed the la jolla one on a sunday morning after a nice brekkie at pannikin, or Harry's if you're feeling old school.

[globocity]

jenny, what do you recommend at Alchemy?

[honkman]

Alchemy just recently changed their menu a bit but they becoming better and better over the last 5-6 months. From the appetizers we like elote, squash blossoms, bone marrow, piquello rellenos and calamri. For the entrees trout, tortelloni, sea bass and the burger (even though the one at Starlite is still our favorite) are good. The cocktails are often unusal, strong and good.

[Ewilensky]

Honkman, LOVE Alchemy (especially the Wed. night vegetarian tasting menu) but I've found their one weak spot to be their cocktails. What are some of the ones you tried that are good? I've never sent a drink back but have done so a number of times at Alchemy...

[Fake Name]

I like their deluxe margarita (who's twitter handle escapes me) and I'm not the margarita type. On the rocks, very strong.

[Ewilensky]

I think I'm scared of any drink with their own Twitter handle. I'll need to give that a try. Not a margarita type either, which is why this one has eluded me...

[Fake Name]

Ok, it's not *actually* a twitter handle. It's a name, like "Super Duper 100 year old tequila with the brow sweat of a thousand monkeys and lime juice" on the rocks.

[Fake Name]

Oops.

A trip over to their website claims it has this exotic name: <drum roll>

Alchemy Margarita.

Comprised of: Cuervo 1800 tequila, orange, lime, agave, black salt

But I like my recipe better.

[DiningDiva]

I do too. Monkey sweat is always good for what ails ya

[Ewilensky]

I only do grass fed Monkey.

[DiningDiva]

ROFL...good one :-)

[Fake Name]

The extract is superior when the monkeys are fed a steady diet of grass, but finished on bananas for a few days prior to harvesting the browsweat. But care must be taken to find a source that is both sustainable and cruelty-free. Some of the bigger monkey farms actually force the animals to run for 30 minutes on a Stairmaster to maximize the yield.

There are farms in Berlin that are trying a rare breed of flying monkey- "Ze LuftMonkey" for a stronger and more distinctive flavor.

As with any spirit or flavor, distillation is key to flavor.

[Island]

Berlin, seriously? I scoff in your general direction. It's not authentic and it not even in the same league as the brow sweat of organic grass fed free range flying monkey from Oz.. Truly sublime.

[Fake Name]

You "scoff in my general DI-rection"? I know you edited for the CH family, Frenchman.

Meh. It's just a fleshwound.

[karaethon]

Well if money is no object, Addison is by far the best restaurant in SD.....

[mayache]

There is also Starlite (highly recommend the roast chicken and the cocktails esp the Starlite Mule) and JSix off the top of my head.

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Starlite
3175 India Street, San Diego, CA 92103

JSix Restaurant
616 J Street, San Diego, CA 92101

[Josh]

Only really a handful of places match that description, all pretty close together. Check out Sea Rocket Bistro, Alchemy, Linkery, and Blind Lady Ale House. The Hillcrest Farmer's Market on Sunday is my favorite, but a lot of people also like Little Italy's Mercato on Saturday - I suggest checking out both.

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Linkery
3794 30th St, San Diego, CA 92104

Blind Lady Ale House
3416 Adams Ave, San Diego, CA

Hillcrest Farmer's Market
San Diego CA, San Diego, CA

Sea Rocket Bistro
3382 30th St, San Diego, CA 92104

[Delairen]

Thanks Josh!

Hit up the Linkery last night for dinner and found it to be amazingly good. Really appreciate the rec. I'm definitely making plans to hit the Hillcrest Farmers Market on Sunday, and then will probably try out one of the other restaurants you mentioned. :-)

While I was at the Linkery, I grabbed some of their cured meats to take back to the Bay area with me, NOM!

Are there any other food, dining or cooking places I should hit up for souvenirs (edible or otherwise)?

Thanks again for all your help!
Del

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Linkery
3794 30th St, San Diego, CA 92104