San Diego recommendations (so many options)

And if you go to any *to's, you can order carne asada fries. Like nachos but with French fries. Most of them won't have it on the menu but still make them. Also, depending on which one you are at get the California burrito (some places call it different things) but it's got carne asada, fries, guacamole and a bunch of other stuff and it's fantastic.

 

Anyone check out latchkey brewing yet? I stumbled across an article about it and was intrigued. Wondering if it's worth a visit.

 

I had never heard of Latchkey until just now. Certainly sounds like a group that could do something. Not just a pair of buddies that dreamed of opening a mediocre craft brewery that's indistinguishable from all the other ones here.

 

My wife and I will be arriving in SD on Thursday. We'll be there through the weekend, then headed to Carlsbad Monday for a few days (more on the business side of a visit). We both love IPA's (she leans a little toward wheat and lagers). From reading this thread, we plan on hitting Alesmith, MT, and Societe breweries in SD.. and Pizza Port in Carlsbad.

Since we live on the east coast, we want to try west coast beers that aren't available back home. Any recommendations on store(s) that have single bottle selections, to include any California - Washington - Oregon area brews? We plan on bringing about 12-18 beers back home.. so we're looking for cans/bottles. If the bottle store you recommend has draft options as well.. all the better.

One last question. Are there any good places for steamed crabs/seafood (not named Red Lobster.. etc etc)?

Thanks!

 

Any of the BottleCraft locations (north park, liberty station, little italy, solana beach) as well as Bine N Vine (on Adams) for bottles....each Bottlecraft also has draft options: https://www.bottlecraftbeer.com/

Seafood....hopefully someone else can help you out here but on Miramar Rd. (basically your way to Alesmith) we have Supernatural Sandwiches: http://supernaturalsandwiches.com/

 

I just got back from a quick weekend to SD with a couple friends and our opinions lined up pretty well with the recommendations already here. We stayed in North Park at an airbnb and just walked or used Lyft to get around everywhere, so no North County this time.

Friday: Got in and went straight to Modern Times Lomaland. The beer was solid to exceptional across the board. Shared about 12 tasters including a couple MP variants. If we had anything more than a very quick weekend, I would have made sure we went again or to the NP location.
Ate a very late lunch at Carnita's Snack Shack and that was pretty great. Walked to Toronado for a beer (I had a Melvin 4x8, my friends had a Pliny and The Pupil. The taplist was like 90% IPAs). I'm probably ignorant of something great they had on, but I didn't see a ton of stuff I had to have, so we moved on to Rip Current NP for tasters of tons of stuff. It was all solid, but I wasn't in love with any of it. We continued to Belching Beaver and Fall and did tasters of 8-10 things at each of those too. Same as Rip Current for me personally, but it's hard for stuff to stand out sharing 40+ tasters in a day. A highlight of the night for me was hitting Roberto's for an adobada burrito and then eating half of my friend's california burrito too. We just don't have that style of mexican food in Austin and I'm pretty hugely disappointed right now.

Saturday: Went to Pacific Beach in the morning and went surfing for a couple hours. We're noobs, but we got to work out some alcohol. Oscar's had a huge line, so we hit a La Perla's and I had a pastor burrito and it was delicious. Got a ride out to Alesmith and their setup is really nice. We did flights of the hop lovers, gold medal and then a couple speedways and other stuff. The Thai Speedway was my favorite by far. I'd had most of their big malty beers before and they're always solid. Next we walked to Mikkeller, which was surprisingly our 2nd favorite stop on the trip. Again, we went through much of the board with the Mors Ruin and Beer Geek Dessert being crowd favorites. I loved the Raspberry Blush the most personally and their IPAs and other light sours were all very good. We moved on to Societe for a couple IPAs and sours. The Apprentice and The Swindler were my favorites and I picked up some bottles of a few other sours. Got a ride back to North Park to URBN pizza. We had the sausage & pepper pizza that had gorgonzola and some pickled peppers on it and it was pretty amazing. I had a MT Black House and that was very good. Walked to Bottlecraft and got some bottles and got to do a taster of some Grimm IPA. I kind of wanted to work through some of their very good taplist, but we walked back to our airbnb for a short rest. Went back out to Tiger Tiger, but I was pretty dead at this point. I nursed a Bottle Logic Mocha something porter and my friends got more hazy IPAs. Their tap list looked good. Then we ended up at the Coin Op game room which had a ridiculous tap list for the venue. They were offering a Monster's Park variant, but my stomach just couldn't do any more beer. That's what I love most about cities like Portland or San Diego, etc. All sorts of random places have really great craft beer options.

Sunday we basically just woke up late, got a burrito at Colima's and flew home. Overall, the trip was pretty great. Next time I'll have to get up to north county.

 

Sounds like my average Saturday

 

Steamed crabs is something you're not really going to find here with regularity - some seafood places will have special events, but it's not a mainstay here. Honestly, your best seafood bet is going to be Sushi Ota - we have some good casual seafood places like Mitch's, but it's not really going to stand up to the kind of stuff you have back at home. We have some excellent sushi and fish tacos of course, but as far as more traditional, New England style seafood, there's just nothing here that will impress you.

I go to Baltimore every year for a concert festival and eat the hell out of some seafood while I'm there. If Delaware is anything like that, you'd be wasting your time tracking down that style of food out here.

 

point loma seafood and blue water are on point for seafood

 

If you want cajun style seafood, there's plenty of options. Crab Hut (multiple locations), Boiling Crab in Mira Mesa if you'll be Alesmith/Mikkeller/Pure Project/Ballast Point, Submarine Crab on Convoy, Crab Town on Clairemont Mesa Blvd. Quality is pretty comparable across each one of those.

 

I was born and raised in Baltimore. Delaware steams/cooks everything in the same manner. Thanks for the info!

Thanks everyone .. it looks like we'll get our seafood fix in for sure!

I believe I'm stoked

 

Liberty Station has good seafood in the food court - live whole sea urchins and full belly fried clams.

 

Those places are all fine, but when I think of my favorite seafood in SD, most of it is ceviche. Find a mariscos truck and get a tostada and you will be happy. A place like Blue Water is good, too, but I'd still rather go to Karina's Mexican Seafood on India. If you want a cool sit down place, Ironside also does things pretty well. I'd just avoid crab and find fresh tuna and other stuff from this coast.

 

Anybody go to Rip Current recently and know if they still have their Coconut Rescue Buoy?

 

In mid-April, we spent a week on vacation in Carlsbad/SD (stayed next to Legoland). We were able to visit Burgeon, Karl Strauss, Societe, and Rip Current, but missed Alesmith because I wasn't feeling well on the last day (Thanks to my lovely wife, she picked up a case of beer from Alesmith after spending a day shopping in La Jolla with our god daughter). All locations I went with my wife and youngest son (11 year old).

Burgeon - We went on a Monday. Short drive from the hotel and is located in an industrial area (typical SD). I liked the inside drinking area and there was a nice friendly vibe. Other a few locals (10-15), there wasn't many people. We ordered a brown, stout, and IPA. All very good. No food, but we ordered from Alan's Pizza which was good and delivered. Staff was friendly, especially as I asked for more than the two tasters per order (saw the sign later!). We planned to go back to pickup some canned beer on Saturday (new releases), but ended up not as I wasn't feeling well.

Karl Strauss - After a day at Legoland, we had dinner and a few beers. Enjoyed the meal and beer so much that we went back the last night of our visit. I had an amazing nitro Baltic porter, a surprisingly good imperial stout, and an excellent Belgian golden ale. Probably the biggest beer surprise of the trip.

Societe- After a day at the hotel playing games and swimming, we took a mid-afternoon drive to Societe. Loved the place. Best vibe of all the places visit. We played Monopoly, my son played with a dog, and we talked with locals. My wife had an excellent pilsner and I had a great IPA (Pupil) and Belgian Strong Dark. As a snack, we ordered some food from a food truck. I brought a bottle of one of their feral (wild) ales.

Rip Current - This was the only place which we had visit prior to this visit (about three years ago). Not much had changed. We went mid-afternoon. Not as kid friendly (although it did have games). I was disappointed in their DIPA, but loved the bock and coffee imperial porter. Slow at first, but locals started to show up as Friday work ended. I purchased a six pack of the coffee imperial porter and couple bottles (mocha and vanilla imperial porters).

Churchill's - After visiting Rip Current, we went and had dinner at Churchill's. Very good food (fish and chips) and I had a Cellarmaker Brown which was good. Not too busy for a Friday. Staff was friendly and efficient. Good tap list of a mix of local and other breweries. Worth a visit.

We had a great visit even with missing Alesmith. Looking forward to returning for a weekend in October when we will Alesmith at that time.

 

If couple of week ago is recent, then, yes. However, at $28 bottle, I decided to pass.

 

This last trip to San Diego has spoiled me so bad. Coming back to Vegas it has highlighted how below average our craft beer scene is. May need to find more reasons to visit San Diego a few times a year...

 

I too was in SD over the weekend. Went to Societe which I liked a lot, somehow bigger than I imagined. A daughter lives moments away.

Neighborhood is a great place too, very enjoyable. Dined at Cowboy Star - absolutely fantastic food and cocktails.

My son-in-law came in a week early from 8 months of service, she didn't know, NS came to the table serving us champagne - her eyes lit up like silver dollars !

Did the Art Walk festival - perfect weather. Ballast Point was a few blocks off the edge, always hopping. Had a trio of solid big beers.

There is a small package store about 6-7 blocks from Olive Tree Market, I've no idea its name, you park off the street along the right hand side of the building. My eyes light up like silver dollars when I see BCBS and 3 bottles of the Barleywine (seriously shocked) on the bottom shelf. I bought a 2015 & 2016 - unfortunately the 15 was infected but the 16 was sublime. I imagine the one I didn't buy is still on the shelf ; ^)

 

I used to come here a few times a year, then I said fuck it and just moved here. Craft scene is on a different level here.

 

~
from my trip
cheers
jd