Trip itinerary help

[SaraPA]

We'll be visiting San Diego in early April and staying in the GasLamp District (Westin Gaslamp). We prefer more casual restaurants (nice jeans and sweater/blouse). We will have a car. I prefer not to drive too much after dinner (wine with dinner).

Thurs:
In N Out burgers for lunch. (*grin*)
We are usually pretty tired and jet-lagged after traveling all day. Thinking of spending some time on Coronado with dinner at the Coronado brewpub or Karl Strauss Brewery closer to home. Looking for some place with good beer and bar food and not fancy.

Fri: Spending the day at the zoo.
Breakfast at Hash House agogo? or maybe Broken Yolk or Cafe 222.
Drinks at Noble Experiment (I'll make a reservation) or US Grant and dinner either at Cafe Chloe or Cowboy Star. While Cafe Chloe seems more like our type of place, I'm nervous about no reservations at Cafe Chloe. How bad is the wait on a Friday night around 7 or 730?

Sat: Torrey Pines and PB area
Breakfast at Brockton Villa for the view? Or is the food just too awful?
Beers at Pacific beach Ale House or Green Flash.
Dinner at Costa Brava (looks nearby) or Cucina Urbana.

Sun: USS MIdway and Harbor boat tour
Breakfast at Broken Yolk or Cafe 222.
Dinner at Basic. We are usually tuckered out by this point in our trips and want "simpler" food.

Any thoughts? Recommendations? Does anything NOT work on this itinerary? Or does some work better? Any bad or awful choices?

Thanks. Can't wait to visit!

-----
Costa Brava
1653 Garnet Ave, San Diego, CA 92109

Cafe Chloe
721 9th Ave, San Diego, CA 92101

Cafe 222
222 Island Ave, San Diego, CA 92101

Cowboy Star Restaurant & Butcher Shop
640 10th Ave, San Diego, CA 92101

Brockton Villa Restaurant
1235 Coast Blvd, La Jolla, CA 92037

Basic
San Diego, CA, San Diego, CA

Karl Strauss Brewery & Restaurants
1157 Columbia St, San Diego, CA 92101

Hash House A-Gogo
3628 5th Ave, San Diego, CA 92103

Broken Yolk
355 6th Ave, San Diego, CA 92101

Green Flash
701 Thomas Ave, San Diego, CA 92109

Pacific Beach Ale House
721 Grand Ave, San Diego, CA 92109

CUCINA urbana
505 Laurel Street, San Diego, CA 92101

[daantaat]

If you look around on the board, Hash House a Go Go is nothing to make a trip for. I'd suggest Cafe Chloe for breakfast, if you're not going there for dinner.

Brockton Villa is all about the view and really, not much else except for the "Coast Toast." Much better breakfast places in La Jolla are Coffee Cup Cafe on Wall St and The Cottage.

Based on the posts about Cucina Urbana, I'd pick it over Costa Brava. Costa Brava is decent but doesn't quite cut it for a "great" dinner. It is in Pacific Beach, though. Maybe someone who's been to both can compare the two.

I'd consider Wine Vault and Bistro for one of your dinners. Easily one of the best deals for the quality of food in town.

-----
Costa Brava
1653 Garnet Ave, San Diego, CA 92109

Cafe Chloe
721 9th Ave, San Diego, CA 92101

Brockton Villa Restaurant
1235 Coast Blvd, La Jolla, CA 92037

Coffee Cup
1109 Wall St, La Jolla, CA 92037

[bizzwriter]

Definite yes on Cafe Chloe, Noble Experiment, Cowboy Star, and In-N-Out Burger.

Definite maybe on Brockton Villa -- yeah, there's better food at some of the other La Jolla breakfast places, but they don't have the magnificent view. One caution: weekend mornings are busy there. Also, I like Hash House a Go Go, but there are many here who do not.

Definite no on Costa Brava, PB Ale House, and Green Flash. All mediocre at best.

-----
Costa Brava
1653 Garnet Ave, San Diego, CA 92109

Cafe Chloe
721 9th Ave, San Diego, CA 92101

Brockton Villa Restaurant
1235 Coast Blvd, La Jolla, CA 92037

Green Flash
701 Thomas Ave, San Diego, CA 92109

[JRSD]

Downtown for bar food/beer, I would go to Neighborhood. Excellent selection of beer on tap and very good bar food. The beer at Karl Strauss had been getting better and better recently so that it is not a bad place to stop downtown. Food is nothing special but was not terrible. I haven't been to the Coronado Brewery but taking the ferry over to Coronado is a fun trip.

The Tap Room in Pacific Beach also has an outstanding selection of local beers although the food was mediocre and there is no view. There is a location of Pizza Port in Ocean Beach that might be good for beer on Sat. Not too far from PB.

Had a great brunch at Chloe recently so second that for Sunday. Also check out Venissimo - a great cheese shop a block from there.

-----
Tap Room
1269 Garnet Ave, San Diego, CA 92109

[Beach Chick]

I'd bag Hash House a go-go.. and go to Park House Eatery..
Skip Brockton Villa and have breakfast at the Cottage or La Valencia terrace patio in LJ.
Gaslamp dinners..
Cowboy Star, Cafe Chloe, Jsix at the Hotel Solamar, Dobson's, Basic, Oyster Bar/Sushi bar at Fish Market Downtown next to the USS Midway.
Wine Vault in Little Italy is a good call for excellent food for very little $$.
Prado next to the SD Zoo is great for app's and drinks.
Hear that Noble Experiment is great.
Take the water taxi over from the Gaslamp to Coronado..fish tacos at the Brigantine and drinks at the Hotel Del..Coronado Brewery is decent for a beer.
Have fun and try and take in a Padre game since opening day is April 5th..cheap and a good time!

www.sdhe.com
www.lavalencia.com
www.hoteldel.com
www.brigantine.com
www.gaslamp.org

[CTDub]

Some alternatives to consider:

Fri: The Mission North Park (pretty close to the zoo). Hash House A-Gogo is notable for fun and huge portions, but the quality is mixed.

Sat: JRDN at Tower23 in Pacific Beach is a nice view. Cantina has no view but is an inviting space and good. In La Jolla I'd go to The Cottage over Brockton Villa. Good beer choices would be Public House (La Jolla) or PB Fish Shop. Cucina Urbana is far better than Costa Brava, which has its charms but is pretty heavy and oily Spanish food.

-----
Costa Brava
1653 Garnet Ave, San Diego, CA 92109

JRDN Steak & Seafood at Tower23 Hotel
723 Felspar Street, San Diego, CA 92109

Brockton Villa Restaurant
1235 Coast Blvd, La Jolla, CA 92037

Cottage
7702 Fay Ave, La Jolla, CA 92037

Hash House A-Gogo
3628 5th Ave, San Diego, CA 92103

Cantina
966 Felspar St, San Diego, CA 92109

Mission Restaurant the-Northpark
2801 University Ave, San Diego, CA 92104

PB Fish Shop
1775 Garnet Ave, San Diego, CA 92109

[foodiechick]

Sat: I would skip Brockton Villa, there is a pretty ripe guano odor on the cliffs across the street from all of the sea birds. I would have breakfast at Coffee Cup Cafe for some really great food, then walk a few blocks see the seals and tide pools. Another alternative is Cody's looking towards Scripps park and the ocean.

-----
Coffee Cup
1109 Wall St, La Jolla, CA 92037

[bizzwriter]

Oh yeah -- I forgot about the stink by Brockton Villa right now. My wife and I walked by one evening last week and it was terrible. Between the bird guano and the sea lion poop, the smell was truly bad. The La Valencia terrace patio would be a much better choice for breakfast.

-----
Brockton Villa Restaurant
1235 Coast Blvd, La Jolla, CA 92037

[SaraPA]

Thanks for the great advice! I think we'll take the ferry over to Coronado our first night, as some have suggested. We'll have dinner at Cowboy Star Fri night (reservation) and brunch on Sunday at Cafe Chloe. That was a great idea! Cucina Urbana instead of Costa Brava. Probably skip Hash House and reconsider the Brockton Villa. Although sometimes I think mediocre breakfast food is accepabtable in exchange for a great view. Not so into the sea lion smell, though! I'll report back on our trip.

-----
Costa Brava
1653 Garnet Ave, San Diego, CA 92109

Cafe Chloe
721 9th Ave, San Diego, CA 92101

Brockton Villa Restaurant
1235 Coast Blvd, La Jolla, CA 92037

[chezwhitey]

Sara, where are you coming to town from? If you want to have breakfast/brunch in la jolla, try the prep kitchen, I am a fan of their brunch. Nice outdoor seating too. Don't bother with broken yolk for any of your meals, it's just like going to a little nicer Dennys, not that it's a bad thing, but you can get it anywhere.

[carli]

Sara, just a heads up - although PB and La Jolla are bordering communities, PB and Torrey Pines area (if you're referring to Torrey Pines State Park) do not border each other and are about a 20-30 min drive apart via I-5. Torrey Pines State Park is north of La Jolla village. Still definitely great to see both in the same day but just didn't want you to think it's one and the same.

If your plan is to head to Torrey Pines State Park, another option is to do breakfast or lunch at the Lodge at Torrey Pines either at AR Valentien (sit out on the deck overlooking the pool area w/the Pacific in the distance) or in the more casual Grill Room area. The Lodge is a great example of early California Craftsman style of architecture, in a gorgeous setting on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific.

If you're hikers, you can walk from the Lodge at Torrey Pines (less than a mile) in to Torrey Pines State Park, where there are great trails from the state park down to the beach, but plan on a couple hours of walking to go there and back. http://www.lodgetorreypines.com/dinin...

It's definitely worthwhile to visit the village of La Jolla and the nice restaurants listed in prior posts, but just wanted to clarify that Torrey Pines is a bit further north. Enjoy!

[CTDub]

If you're traveling between PB and Torrey Pines think about stopping at the Torrey Pines Gliderport (off of Torrey Pines Rd., not far from the beach and hiking trails). Great views (top of the cliffs overlooking the beaches below) and fun to see the paragliders launching and sailing by.

[SaraPA]

Just returned from SD and had a great trip. Thanks again for the recs. We followed most of them and, in one case, wish we did.

Our best dinners were at Neighborhood and Cowboy Star. Neighborhood is cool, funky and a great place to have appetizers to share—they are quite large. We had the corn dogs (with GREAT presentation), sweet potato fries with blue cheese and deviled eggs and it was more than enough for the both of us. Cowboy Star is expensive, but worth every penny. I was most impressed by the service and steaks, but found the wine list overpriced and uninspired.

I was not impressed by Cucina Urbana. Initial impressions were great—good service, appetizers tasty (cheese plate and squash blossoms). I liked that the wine seemed to be at cost, with a $7 corkage fee. At this point we lost our server. Our appetizer plates sat on the table for the whole main course. And when she finally checked in after we finished, she left the main course AND appetizer plates sitting on the table. I thought the food was over-hyped and with too many elements on the plate that didn’t really all work together.

We hit Mission for breakfast before the zoo—great recommendation. Everyone was right about Brockton Villa in La Jolla. Superb view, mediocre food. The Coast Toast was too mushy for my taste (more like custard). But the view was almost worth it. Café Chloe was as tasty as everyone said—we went for brunch, sat outside and watched everyone walk by on the way to the game. Also had a delicious breakfast at the Grant Hotel. We didn’t have time before leaving to drive anywhere. It was a bit expensive (so maybe only for expense accounts), but really was one of my favorite meals. Very elegant AND tasty at the same time.

Lastly, we also hit Basic for pizza. Great pizza, cool space, but maybe a little “funky” for some. We walked to a Noble Experiment after lucking out with a last minute res b/c of a cancellation. The. Coolest. Ever. And cheap! $12 for a personalized cocktail.

We accidently drove through the Gaslamp district proper one night. What an awful looking place. So many drunk, yelling people stumbling around. Anyone looking at this thread, hoping for a good place to eat in the Gaslamp should avoid it. Most of these places are just outside the gaslamp, with a quick easy drive and easy parking.

-----
Brockton Villa Restaurant
1235 Coast Blvd, La Jolla, CA 92037

[bizzwriter]

Thanks for the report -- glad to hear you enjoyed the visit. I'm going to update my own to-do list based on your feedback!