La Jolla-What to add to my list
2 families including 3 kids. Want to keep it good but reasonable (cheap). I won't go into what each person will or will not eat but here is my personal list that I've come up with.
Harry's Coffee Shop-for a reasonable breakfast or lunch. I know this will please everyone.
Mission Coffee cup-I haven't been but assume it is similar to Harry's? Enlighten me please.
George's or Tapenade-If I can go with my husband to celebrate my birthday-what do you think?
El Pescador-Doesn't everyone like a fish sandwich?
Betty's in Encinitas for great lots of things.
Rudy's in Solano Beach-same as above.
A R Valentien-If we make the hike that was mentioned by a former poster ( I wrote the directions but cannot recall who wrote it) I think it would be worth it for a great burger with a view.
Kaito Sushi in Encinitas-I have been and think it is great!
Again, we will be staying in La Jolla at La Jolla Shores so any recs for the immediate area based on what is appealing to me above would be much appreciated. Any decent pizza? What I mean by decent-thin crust, East Coast. Enorah, you were so helpful with Carlsbad 1 1/2 years ago. I loved the Japanese tapas!!!
By Fru
on Sep 2, 2010 08:12 PM
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Staying in the Shores, there is Piatti's which is a great restaurant for families and the patio is awesome.
You can walk across the street from the LJ Shores Hotel..
Jeff's Burgers for great dimestore style for the kids along with the Cheese Shop for one of the best deli sandwiches..call ahead.
LJ Shores restaurant is pretty decent oceanfront.
Clay's for happy hour at the top of the Hotel LJ..
I would add the Cottage to your list of breakfast places..its in the village on Fay/Kline.
Nothing like breakfast/brunch/lunch at the back patio of La Valencia hotel overlooking the ocean..
We just had a pretty decent happy hour at Tikul for a great serrano, pineapple marg for $5 and imports for $3..excellent guac with chips.
Next to George's in LJ.
Add Bahia Don Bravo in Bird Rock for excellent fish tacos for .99 cents and Pacificos with surf views.
Lobster burritos and tacos too.
Love Rudy's but Fidel's might be a better call with your families..
One of the best chile rellenos and chicken burritos.
Outside patio with margs, and the mariachis during racing season on weekends..
I would do Manhattan's for old school Italian at the Empress or the Marine Room at LJBTC..you can walk next door and catch the waves on the windows.
Burger is great at the Lodge on the patio of Torrey Pines..lots of parking and a beautiful place.
Report back and have fun.
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big 2nd on The Cottage, they have a nice patio area and a great menu for breakfast or lunch. Also, Harry's is a fun place, the kids will love it. Burger Lounge has nice outdoor seating as well.
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Third on this. I just remembered I went there in February and was incredibly impressed by the brunch food and coffee. My friend who lives nearby called it one of the few places worth going to in La Jolla.
Much more casual was The Goldfish Cafe, which has decent (and cheap) food but possibly the best view ever. Since when can you do this with a cheap camera?
http://pics.chezpei.com/uploaded_images/DSCN6680-754075.JPG
http://pics.chezpei.com/uploaded_imag...
She also recommended going to Piatti's but we weren't able to get in.
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Piatti's is a tough place to get a table in the summer. The locals swarm it. Usually need to call a few days ahead for a weekend dinner reservation.
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So far we had burgers, sandwiches and fries for lunch at Jeff's and an assortment across the menu at Bahia Don Bravo.
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality at Jeff's. I had a turkey sandwich which was real turkey rather than the pressed roll. Everything was made to order.
Bahia Don Bravo was good over all. My husband had carnitas which I tasted, yum! I had a shrimp taco and a lobster burrito. I wouldn't call home about the rice and beans, pretty typical but the prices were reasonable and the people very friendly. As I have never been to Bird Rock, I thought what did I get myself into on the way over there but what a nice surprise when we got to the little strip of town! Now to go downstairs for breakfast....
I hope to get to Georges or Tapanade for dinner!
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Wow another vote for Bahia Don Bravo's lobster burrito? I must have hit them on a bad day. i've been on a mission to find good lobster and scallop burritos and tacos and have been striking out, even with Chowhound recs. Tried the BDB lobster burrito a couple months ago and it was really bad. It was almost entirely yellow cheese. Opened it to search for lobster and also discovered a random chunk of beef or pork and that was the end of that. Husband had a great fish and shrimp taco so didn't write them off completely, but no hurry to get back there either.
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It was good but I wouldn't say great. I hope this doesn't color your impression of what I just wrote but I have to admit that I liked Rubio's lobster burritos for what they were.
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Mission Coffee Cup is not the same as Harry's. Harry's is your old school coffee shop. Coffee Cup is Asian-Latino style breakfast/brunch/lunch food. Things like breakfast tamales w/ crispy potatoes w/ jalapenos, soyrizo (soy chorizo) egg scramble or grilled marinated tofu. They also have rosemary toast, great pancakes, French toast and Mexican hot chocolate.
George's and Tapenade are both good and different. George's has the ocean view, if that is a factor for you.
Don't know if this counts for what you're looking for in a pizza, but Z Pizza in UTC has thin crust style pizza.
Piatti's at the Shores is quite good. They also have Sunday brunch.
1111 Wall Street, La Jolla, CA
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Cool! I'm going to be printing these posts up to refer to!!!
Thank you:)
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Great suggestions by fellow posters. The happy hour at Clay's is extensive (although I'm not sure if they would allow the little ones in the bar area where it takes place - call ahead.
I would also add kid-friendly Barbarella's in LJ Shores, across the street from Piatti. Hearty breakfasts (open at 9am weekdays, 8am weekends). Good lunch, very reasonable for dinner. Great burger, nice thin crust specialty pizza, big salads, pastas, fish...a little something for everyone. http://www.barbarellarestaurant.com/
Walk over to The Cheese Shop, 2 doors down from Barbarella's for ginormous deli and specialty sandwiches. Try the hot, house-roasted pork sammy, take your brown bags and head down the block to the beach for a picnic. http://www.cheeseshopdeli.com/
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house-roasted pork sammy....
Thank you again. I'm really tired so unless I prop my eyes open with tooth picks, I'm going to have to continue drooling tomorrow morning:) Got me some packing to do!
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Be very, very careful with those beach picnics. Very aggressive seagulls... :)
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I was there a few months ago and really liked Extraordinary Desserts. It's a little sugary, but hey, the kids will love it.
photos: http://www.chezpei.com/search?q=extra...
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Sadly, we didn't make it to George's, Tapanade or the Cheese Store. We did have a lovely dinner at The Shores though. And, Harry's did the trick for traditional breakfast fare plus they have biscuits! There is always next year! So, thank you all!
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Fru. Glad you had a good trip. Can you tell me more about the Shores? I love the view there but have only been for drinks and apps so was wondering what you had for dinner?
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Thank you Island. I'm not very good at going into detail but here goes. This is our 4th time staying at either the Beach and Tennis Club or The Shores so we've eaten at the Shores on several occasions including breakfast during this and all our other visits. Anyway, because of convenience and compromise we ate there for dinner. I'm not saying it wasn't good, it was. I really wanted to try Georges or Tapanade since we have eaten at The Shores in the past but that will have to wait for another trip. That being said, 3 of the 4 adults had the prix fixe 3 course dinner for $25. I think it was a good value. I have to keep in mind that the view is wonderful because of course I am a bit jaded as we stay at the hotel for that very reason. 2 of us had the pork loin with apricot glaze. The pork was cooked perfectly. The wilted beet greens were delicious. There was a grain risotto that was unremarkable. My husband had the hangar steak with Bleu Cheese. He really enjoyed it. So much so that he untypically didn't offer me any as he didn't want my pork with fruit glaze. I would have ordered the steak as well but he has a thing about us ordering the same thing so I ordered the pork in spite of knowing that we wouldn't be sharing. Our dinners included a dessert of bread pudding with praline ice cream and caramel sauce. A nice way to end the meal. There were many other entrees on the menu that looked delicious. They were mostly in the low $20 range. We stuck to the prix fixe menu due to economizing. It was still satisfying. So, knowing that we were in a resort town, at a resort restaurant, the value was definitely there. The service was pretty attentive as well and of course casual. From the menu, it does look like they try to be local ingredient driven to some degree. I hope this helped.
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Just had a relaxing breakfast at The Cottage in LJ, the sun was shinning through on the patio, feeling warm and comfortable, the Tuscan Omlette was outstanding loaded with Italian sausage, roasted peppers & fresh tomatoes and the coffee (almost full bodied) was good and the huge bran muffin was moist with tasty crisp edges. Nice way to kick off the New Year, breakfast then a walk over to the Farmers Market.
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