San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival 2006

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 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 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.