Looking to have two truly great meals during my May visit. Fine Dining is not my thing.. just love unique well done playful small plate of shareable courses.. we are staying in La Jolla to be close to our son.. but any area is open to us.
For sharables here's a few options to check out:
Trust
Juniper & Ivy
Cafe Sevilla
Underbelly
TapaTapa Bar
Ketner Exchange
Bar Bodega
Galaxy Taco in La Jolla has good food and is fun. I'm not wild about their tacos, but their bar program, apps and entrees are usually excellent.
If you want pizza try Regents
The Cottage is always reliable for breakfast as is Sugar & Scribe
Harry's Coffee Shop is kind of the local see and be seen for La Jolla, but it's a coffee shop with veery good coffee shop food.
Happy Hour at Nine-Ten in the Colonial Hotel has a good cocktail program and their bar menu is good and includes their signature burger, which is one of the better burgers in San Diego.
Catania in La Jolla just reopened. They do coastal Italian cuisine in a relaxed setting. There's even a view :-) Patio seating.
Where are you visiting from? Cuisine preferences?
Puesto in La Jolla might be of interest.
Catania in LJ is also very good, but might fall into your fine dining bucket (you can make a dinner of small plates anywhere, even if the menu isn't designed that way). Many Italian restaurants that show pasta as a main will also do a half portion, which makes that easier.
Though for Italian I prefer Cucina Enoteca (Del Mar). Plenty of small plates and sides, and sometimes we add a pizza for everyone to share.
That said, the one truly great meal I've had in San Diego was at Addison: worth making a fine dining exception imo. Fantastic food, and it didn't feel like stuffy fine dining anywhere else.
The Marine Room in La Jolla is worth it for the views alone. They used to do an amazing Sunday brunch, but it’s probably discontinued due to Covid.
Another restaurant with a great view and food is George’s. Lunch on the ocean view terrace is lovely:
Piggybacking on this thread as I too will be visiting SD, for the first time ever! Especially interested in vegetarian-friendly or veggie-forward options, well-spaced outdoor dining a must (or takeout w/ nice nearby parks/beaches).
We will be staying around Sunset Cliffs & visiting a friend in La Jolla, certainly open to other neighborhoods too.
Thanks in advance! (Also, this is my first post here in a very long time, hello again!)
Sptiz
Green Door
Trilogy Sanctuary
If you like seafood, El Pescador
Indigo! I don't have any recs in San Diego for you, but I'm so happy to see you back on Chowhound again as our food world opens up again. Please don't be a stranger.
The coronavirus put a stop to a planned visit to friends in Oceanside last year. The one restaurant that I had in my sights to try was Dija Mara, an Indonesian mash-up. Don't know if there's enough plant-forward on the menu for you, but I like the looks of its signature eggplant dish: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKaDD2xjTFE/ And you know that fish sauce can be hard to avoid at Southeast Asian places, so depends on how strict you are. It is 30 miles north of La Jolla, perhaps too far away for your trip. But I'm posting it here in case someone can tell us more about it.
http://dijamara.com/
Another great place in LJ, The Cottage. It's a great place with a wonder al fresco setting befitting of So CA. They offer some nice veggie forward selections. Warning; you'll need a reservation.
reporting back:
Piazza 1909: decent enough; picking it had more to do w/ reservation availability & other logistics, & the food bore this out
Trust: this was great! Due to the Venn diagram of dietary restrictions 3 of us each ordered for ourselves. I had a beet salad that included deliciously cryovac'd apple cubes; oysters on the shell with ginger & hibiscus; the most perfect bucatini that was exploding with umami, due to what exactly I cannot say. Dessert was key lime cheesecake with matcha meringue. Everything was delicious, everyone was happy, our local friend declared it the best food she'd had in her ten years in SD.
Soi OB: we got takeout from here, all very good although of course fried rolls suffer in transport. Mushroom larb was a surprise hit; I'd never had it before. I liked the mock duck in the pad see ew too. Lots of bonus points to this place for not resting on vegetarian defaults. I wish I had a place like this where I live.
Also got a grilled salmon salad from El Pescador. It hit the spot, but not particularly exciting other than being cooked to the perfect degree. Also noticed that only men were working there (& it was a lot of people! like maybe a dozen+ workers), which always makes me look askance at a place.
We tried to go to Panama 66 but it was an hour wait so we got quinoa salads from the grab & go kiosk.
Really excellent peaches from OB People's Organic Food Market, plus a surprisingly satisfying grilled potato burrito. I mean, don't go there specifically for it, but if you're there & hungry it really works! plus WAP juice -- watermelon, apple & pineapple, no really! ;)
Thanks everyone for the recommendations! I had a great time in your beautiful city!
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