Happy Friday friends! I'm here today with another post in my San Diego Spotlight series, where I highlight a local business that offers lots of deliciousness. Today the spotlight is on a breakfast & lunch spot in Carlsbad called Cafe Topes. Ever since I first found out about Cafe Topes and got to sample their signature cinnamon bun when I did the Carlsbad Food Tour last year, I've been itching to go back for brunch. With a style described as "American with a modern twist," Cafe Topes has been serving breakfast favorites to locals since 2013. The restaurant has a fun, modern feel to it, and one of the first things you spot when you walk in is a wall full of succulents. Open 7 AM to 2 PM every day except Monday, Cafe Topes has a nice sized patio so that you can enjoy ... [Read More]
San Diego restaurants
San Diego Restaurant Week 2016: Lunching at Del Mar Rendezvous & La Jolla’s Brockton Villa
Happy Friday! I hope that you all have some fun things planned for your weekend. I'm definitely looking forward to mine, and I have off from my publicist job on Monday for Presidents' Day so it's a long weekend for me! Backing it up a bit, a few weeks ago was San Diego Restaurant Week. It happens twice annually, and is a fun chance for foodies like myself to try out new restaurants at discounted prices. I missed the last SDRW due to travel, so I was excited to check out a few new eateries this time around. I wound up going out to lunch twice during this SDRW - which is kind of interesting since I rarely dine out for lunch - and thought I'd give you all some SoCal flair and share my thoughts on the restaurants today. First up was lunch at La Jolla's Brockton Villa with ... [Read More]
San Diego Spotlight on Swami’s Cafe
Hi friends, and Happy Friday! Today is another installment of my new San Diego Spotlight series, in which I share details about local restaurants, dessert spots, and wineries that I love. So far I've talked about Crepes & Corks Restaurant & Wine Bar and Elizabethan Desserts (Note: They were undergoing temporary closures the last time I stopped in there - insert sad teary face). Today's feature is a quintessential Southern California eatery called Swami's Cafe. Swami's Cafe is a wonderful hippy dippy sort of place that has 9 locations around San Diego County. My favorite one that I've been to (I haven't hit all of them just yet!) is their Highway 101 Encinitas spot, which is situated in a great location right next to the beach. This is most likely their first location, as ... [Read More]
San Diego Spotlight on Crepes & Corks Restaurant and Wine Bar
Hello and Happy Friday! You may remember that a few months back I started a post series where I highlight an eatery, bar, or winery within San Diego County. There are so many great places nearby, and I thought it'd be fun to share more of that with you guys. Last time I talked about Elizabethan Desserts in Encinitas, and today I'm putting the San Diego spotlight on a restaurant called Crepes and Corks Restaurant & Wine Bar. I first visited Crepes & Corks not long after I moved to the San Diego area. Crepes have a special place in my heart, and combining them with wine? Sounds like a good time in my book! Crepes remind me of studying abroad in Italy, and of roaming the streets of Thailand on vacation gobbling up irresistible crepes from street vendors... ...and ... [Read More]
One of My favorite SoCal Italian Eateries: Hillcrest’s Arrivederci Ristorante
When I was in San Diego last week, I made sure to hit a few of my top restaurants in the area. We had a lot of social plans so that we could see all of our friends in town, but one night Adam and I had a cozy dinner date just the two of us at our favorite little Italian restaurant in the city -- Arrivederci Ristorante. It's the kind of Italian eatery where the man who answers the phone when you call to make reservations says things like, "bellissimo" and "ciao bella." It's an old school, authentic kind of place... one where their website is always displaying internal errors, which probably doesn't bother them much because their food speaks for itself. It's a restaurant located in a quaint space that's constantly bustling with happy diners, their bellies full of pasta and ... [Read More]
Redefining Fast Food: San Diego’s Natural Selections
If you ask a lot of people why they often eat fast food, many of them would probably cite the convenience of it all. Yes, it's fast, it's cheap, it's something that requires little effort or thought when you're famished -- however, we have conventional fast food to thank as one of the reasons why America's waistline has increased while the health of our nation has deteriorated. Sure, McDonald's offers salads, but I doubt that most people are going to the drive-thru to pick up a healthy meal. How can they when a double bacon cheeseburger and extra large fries are staring them in the face? (via) In recent years, America has gotten more savvy and health-conscious with fast casual dining, with restaurants like Panera Bread and Chipotle offering a ton of healthy options. When I find myself ... [Read More]