D Bar – San Diego, California

D Bar Restaurant
3930 5th Avenue
San Diego, California 92103
http://www.dbarsandiego.com/home

My weekend getaway trip to Southern California was graced with the fact that I would be coming down during both DineLA and San Diego Restaurant Week. It was a great surprise and I was not going to let the opportunity slip away. Recommendations from friends lead me to D Bar for dinner on a Sunday evening in beautiful San Diego. The $40 Pre Fixe Dinner Menu was enticing, but even more so was the Cocktail Flight for an additional $20. I was on vacation, why not?

Phil’s BBQ – San Diego

Phil’s BBQ is the place to go in San Diego, or so I’ve been told (along with Extraordinary Desserts). My friends and I took a road trip down to SD on a President’s Day weekend, giving me the opportunity to finally try this place.

Being the foodies we are, we braved the ~40 degree weather and waited patiently for 2 and a half hours, instead of chickening out and finding refuge at an AYCE Chinese buffet place in the same plaza. It was tempting though. The line wrapped around the building and only grew longer as the night went on. We ended up playing a dozen or so rounds of Connections while waiting.

Even for people dining in, orders are taken up at the front counter. Everyone’s given a remote control-looking pager to let them know when their order’s ready. Pretty neat contraption, imo.

People who buy drinks are given different colored cups, but we shamelessly just used our water cups to pour ourselves beverages from the fountain tap. I think the wait staff is pretty lax about it too.

I ordered the Baby Back Ribs & Chicken ($11.95), with sides of potato salad and cole slaw. I was a tad disappointed by the portions (4 baby back ribs and quarter breast of chicken) because my plate looked sort of empty. The pork ribs totally owned the chicken though, but there was way too much bbq sauce slathered onto the meat. All that smokiness and tang overwhelmed the flavors and juices of the barbequed meat. Potato salad was alright, but I thought the cole slaw was a bit soggy.

Everyone else ordered variations of chicken, pork and beef ribs. I can’t comment on how the beef tasted haha.

My friend and I split colossal onion rings ($5.95), which came with ranch dressing dipping sauce. I don’t particularly like ranch or milk-based dressings, so I just drenched these perfectly-fried onion rings in ketchup. Perfect amount of batter on these large onion rings. They made my day.

Verdict:
BBQ chicken is one of the world’s most perfect food combinations. But given all the hype, I expected something so flavorful that it would induce a food orgasm, for the 2.5 hour wait. It’s a good experience, all in all. That’s all I can say about it.

Address: 3750 Sports Arena Blvd, San Diego, CA 92110 | Yelp

Peace, Justin

Friend’s House – San Diego

 

I love family run businesses, and Friend’s House is no different.

But I’ve unfortunately forgotten what I ate tasted like, so it’s not worth bullshitting a review on. But I must say that I took whole advantage of the free banchan (side dish) refills. Their sweet squid (?) was especially delish.

– Justin

Blue Fin – San Diego

 

Resto Review: San Diego’s Bluefin

Attentive staff, sleek interiors and decent rolls. The 50% off promotions on basic rolls made the visit a sweeter deal, although I wish I could’ve come on a weekday to take advantage of the 20% happy hour deal.

The signature dish was the mucho hungry roll, basically tempura rolls with crab meat tucked in the rice on fire. Apparently a head turner, as tables around us kept asking the waiter the dish’s name.

I was sort of disappointed that this sushi joint doesn’t sell inari (I don’t care that it’s vegetarian), something that even 99 Ranch Market offers.

Score: 3.5/5

Del Mar’s Board and Brew – San Diego

 

Resto Review: Del Mar’s Board & Brew

My first morning in SD, I went to try Board & Brew, a pretty casual sandwich shop in the coastal town of Del Mar. The restaurant is pretty much hole in the wall and homely, and the sandwiches are affordable (most sandwiches are around $6)

I got the turkey club sandwich, which came with generous slices of turkey, bacon and lettuce. The bread was a bit chewy but decent, and the bacon complemented the turkey and gave the sandwich some unusual textures. It was what you’d expect a club sandwich to taste like, but far better than Subway’s or Arby’s could offer.

Score: 4/5

Pappalecco – Downtown San Diego

 

Resto Review: Downtown San Diego’s Pappalecco

These folks seriously know their gelato. After a long tortuous walk to downtown SD, my friend and I finally made it to our destination: Pappalecco, a corner Italian joint that specializes in gelato and coffee. After sampling the different varieties, I settled for the nutella and stracciatella (chocolate chip) gelato, $3.50 for 2 scoops.

Let me tell know, the way this creamy goodness melted in my mouth. The nutella seeped through my taste buds ever so delicately and the stracciatella’s oddly shaped chocolate chips (they were shaped like they froze as they were drizzled into the mix) were semisweet but blended oh so well with the milky and slightly sweet gelato. Perfect texture: silky smooth.

It doesn’t hurt that essentially all the staff are Italian, even speaking Italian to customers and good looking at that. The place has a nice, quaint hipster charm and is what I’ve always dreamt my perfect study spot would look like. Too bad I don’t live in SD.

Score: 4.5/5

– Justin