Category

World of Wine Events

The San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival is an event that features over 150 wineries and food restaurants. It is located in Downtown San Diego at Marina Park.

As representative of Oh-So Yummy, I took it upon myself to single handedly review as many food and wine samples as possible. (Ahh, don’t these samplers look good? I know you’re already looking at them) ^_^

When I arrived at the front gates, the staff members gave me an event collector’s wine glass and an appetizer tray. The tray was plastic and had a slot for the wine glass to slide in. It was a really convenient item to hold both sampler food items and wine glass. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to eat, drink, and take pictures at the same time. And they also had fresh french bread at the gate. It was a nice treat to carry around and use to it with the various olive oil dipping sauces and cheeses that were offered in the restaurant booths.

The event grounds had some nice stop areas where there was a tall table to place food and drink on. Fiji water bottles were freely distributed at various cold refrigerators. It was refreshing to drink high quality water after a couple cups of warm liquor. Cleans the palette well!

Well anyway, enough of the talk. Here are 26 photos of the food samples I ate. Although, there were more things that I tried out like cheeses, olive oil dippings, sauces and jams, I’m only going to present samples that were from actual food restaurants. The places I have chosen to sample and review were chosen at random out of the 150 possible choices. I had a tendency to visit the booths with nicer decor, cheerful representatives, and really good looking food!

Restaurants

• Beach City Market
• Salad Style
• Chef’s de Cusine

• The meat, cream cheese, and ciabatta was tasty. (#4)
• The shrimp was too salty. I accidently ate one before taking a photo.

• Bondi Bar and Kitchen

• I really liked their calamari salad (#5) and lamb chops (#6). The calamari salad really built my appetite for the following meals and the lamb chops were cooked perfectly.

• Carlsbad Gourmet
• Soleil@K

• They served an assortment of rich cheeses and tasty meats. Unfortunately I ate my sampler before I took a picture of it =)

• Anthony’s Fish Grotto

• Krab and Mac Salad (no photo). It was awesome. But I also ate this before taking a picture…

• Gourmet.com
• Arterra Restaurant and Bar
• Jakes Del Mar
• Castillo De Cabernas
• House of Blues

• Super tender bbq rib with ranch dressing and side of slaw. Probably my favorite amongst the rest! (#10)

• Nappa Valley Grill

• The salad over pastry thingy was refreshing and good. (#11)

• Buster’s Steakhouse
• Barona Oaks Steakhouse
• Hash House A Go Go
• Cendio
• Celadon
• Asia-Vous

• Interesting combination of rice crispies with sushi. The rice crispies gives a nice crunchy texture to the soft and raw sushi. (#18)

• Island Prime
• Rice Restaurant
• Maple Leaf Farm
• Flemings Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar
• Sauce Goddess
• Baja: Villa Saverios Tijuana

• I didn’t like this one. Was it some kind of soup? If it was, then it was too salty and sour. (#23)

• McCormick and Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant

• Best crab cake I’ve had! The flavor doesnt get boring like some other crab cakes I’ve had. This one has been relatively consistent and tasty. (#24)

• Roppongi
• Terra Restaurant and Bar

• This tastes just like pumpkin pie. So what exactly makes this special? (#26)

Drinks

• Atacon Cabernet
• Omrah Shiraz
• Sauvignon Blanc
• Pietra Santa
• Pedroncelli Sangiovese
• La Storia Meritage
• Grgich Hills Cellars Zinfandel
• Pama Pomegranate Wine
• Sweet and light =)
  
• Zipang Sparkling Sake
• I’m a big sake fan and this one is now on my list =)
• Domaine Carneros Taittinger
• Don Fernando Anejo
• This shot went down smooth. I like it better than most tequilas.
• Baja TJ Beer
• Cucupa Triguena
• I don’t like beer, but this one is actually good. The taste is clean and goes well with some hot foods. =)
• Cucupa Clasica
• Tijuana Morena

Overall, this festival has been a wonderful experience. I was able to sample a large variety of foods and drinks that I would probably not have tried outside of this event. I would definitely recommend this festival to any person who loves to sample gourmet cuisines and taste a variety of wines. Oh, and I was able to meet a couple of celebrity chefs while I was here. Super cool!

I’m still surprised that I was able to eat and drink as much as I did. Does anybody want to go with me next year? I’m gonna need more manpower to review more booths. =)

-Dennis

Here are so more selected photos of the event.

http://www.delmarmainstreet.com/html/todm.html

Saturday, Oct. 21, 2006

10 am - 4 pm

$30 in advance / $40 at the event

~ OR~

Try to win FREE tickets here:

http://contests2.signonsandiego.com/contests/SOSD_Contest.2006-09-21.4536

San Diego’s 7th annual Taste of downtown offers a little over 50 restaurants for your tasting pleasure. The event started from 5PM and ended 9PM on 9/14/06. It’s $25 per person but its worth it for the price and large sampling. All the restaurants are within walking distance of each other in the Gaslamp and Little Italy area of downtown San Diego. We managed to hit a third of the restaurants on the list. Next year we’ll split up and try to get them all!

List of Restaurants:
1. Crunch Time Popcorn
2. House of Blues

We reached this place near the end of the night and by then, the food wasn’t piping hot anymore, not that it mattered much. The catfish was oddly flavored, as if they were trying hard to make it cajun style, but failed miserably.

3. La Gran Tapa
4. Le Cake Chateau
5. Le Fountainbleau
6. RA Sushi Bar Restaurant

This was the Viva Las Vegas roll. It looked appetizing and was tasty enough for us. The lotus root chip was very yummy.

7. Sixth Avenue Bistro
8. St. Tropez Bakery & Bistro
9. The Local

They gave out 7 different samples of local beers brewed in San Diego. Two from Karl Strauss: Red Trolley and another one of their brews, one from Pizza Port Solana Beach, and a few other local favorites.

10. Yard House
11. Buon Appetito
12. Cabo Cafe
13. Caffe Italia
14. Chi Chocolat
15. Indigo Grill
16. It’s a Grind Coffee House
17. Sogno Di Vino
18. Sushi Fix
19. Vincenzo Ristorante Italiano
20. Zia’s Bistro
21. Alambres
22. Belo Restaurant & Nightlife

We all enjoyed the lovely plates and even rearranged them to complete the puzzle. The creole lobster ‘mac & cheese’ was pretty good, and one of us finished off the plate after giving the photographer only one bite. But don’t worry, the photographer was offered more to make it up!

23. Blue Ginger

The food here was like Panda Express food, except pricier.

24. Cheese Shop Restaurant

They had some good desserts and sandwiches as samples. The signature sandwich tasted the best.

25. Chive

We thought this was one of the worst samples. Not only was it tiny but it was also boring in taste: a cherry tomato atop of (?) cream in a custard cup.

26. Decos

The sample here was a mini-version of a pizza from their regular menu. Some of us liked the taste and some didn’t.

27. Dick’s Last Resort

This place is where the waiters are rude to you on purpose and it’s kind of entertaining. Just make sure you know that before going to this place or else you won’t like the service too much. This was kind of like a peanut buttery custard pie and you can really taste the peanut butter.

28. Dussini Mediterranean Bistro

This was easily agreed upon as one of our favorite places on this trip. The server graciously gave each of us a huge piece of lobster in our Lobster Ravioli sample. It was so soft and delicious. We give it two thumbs up!

29. Fred’s Mexican Cafe

The Fried Calamari and Beef Chimichenga sample here was so-so. The calamari was a little tough and the chimichenga was not memorable enough to remember.

30. Gaslamp Tavern
31. Heat

Many of the people we talked to between restaurants talked about how they really liked the food here. I can’t exactly figure out what the food is called from the menu online though. When I called the restaurant, the person on the phone had no idea what was served on Wednesday.

32. Henry’s Pub

This restaurant offered us their Finnish Peppered Salmon. The salmon was a little bit dry when we had it but if you ordered it fresh at the restaurant, rather than food that sits out waiting to be sampled, it may be more pleasant.

33. Jolt’n Joes

We tried all three of their samples. Hai declared that the chicken quesadilla was the best of the three. The other two were beef empanada and another that we’ve forgotten the name of.

34. La Cantina Restaurant & Lounge

35. Masala Spices of India

This place offered two different types of curry, a banana curry and a chicken curry. The chicken curry was the best tasting one. The banana curry was a little too sweet for me, so I didn’t like it too much. The curry was served with a side of saffron rice with peas and raisens.

36. McMillan Realty - Wine Tasting

Despite this NOT being a restaurant of any kind, there were four samples of fine drinks, one champagne and three wines, including a dessert wine. Also available were chocolate dipped strawberries and chocolate for the dessert wine.

37. Mister Tiki Mai Tai Lounge
38. Ole Madrid

The chicken had a weird tofu consistency and fairly bland. The paella wasn’t anything special and really had no distinct flavors.

39. On Broadway Night Club & Event Center

On the outside were rainbow rolls (salmon, tuna, and yellowtail). They also had a crispy eel roll on another platter. This place was great because the samples were all you can eat. The chef gave us a fresh plate because he said the others have been sitting for a while.

40. Rei Do Gado

We managed to get lucky and make it to this place before they ran out of food! The fried bananas are very popular and quite a treat. This place was also buffet style, with multiple types of food to choose from. No wonder they had to shut the doors 45 minutes early.

41. Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza
42. The Field

These are actually OTHER dishes you can get from the Field but they gave out mini cups of shephard’s pie. It was mediocre but how accurate can you judge this kind of food with just a tiny sample cup?

43. Basic Urban Kitchen & Bar
44. Buca Di Beppo
45. Cafe Chloe
46. Lotus Thai Cuisine
47. Pannikin
48. Taco Del Mar
49. Quiznos
50. Beach City Market
51. Boloco
52. Panda Inn
53. Samba Grill