San Diego: For your consideration

If you're going to Alesmith, Ballast Point and Hess, you might as well stop in at Green Flash as well. Karl Strauss in Sorrento Mesa is close as well, and a pretty reasonable place to grab a bite. The food trucks at Green Flash switch around a bit (or at least they did when I lived there), so you might not know ahead of time.

Since you're coming in from Ohio, hit up any taco-shop that ends in an "ertos" and order a Carnitas Burrito. You can thank me later.

For touristy shit, I'd definitely recommend taking surfing lessons. It's a great activity, and August is a reasonable time for beginner surfing - should be sunny out and the waves won't be big. Also bring some sunglasses and oggle the "zony" girls in for the summer at the beach.

During summer, and I speak from personal experience, the cops are nazis about drinking on the beach. It's a $250 fine or so too, so generally advised against. I'd suggest hitting up PB Shore Club in Pacific Beach though, and grabbing Red Bull/Vodka slushies. Doesn't involve beer, but it's still a great time.

The different PPs all serve basically the same food and quality thereof. They do have different beer selections though, as each one serves some beer brewed on location. My two recommendations would be the OB location (benefit of being close to the beach and OB is a cool scene) and the Carlsbad location (good stop on your way home from Stone/Lost Abbey/Iron Fist/Aztec - though dining at Churchills would be my first recommendation).

 

"Since you're coming in from Ohio, hit up any taco-shop that ends in an "ertos" and order a Carnitas Burrito. You can thank me later."

Most agreeable suggestion I've ever heard in one of these threads lol. If it's mexican food and has tile floors, red or yellow falling apart booths, and a huge fan blowing to keep the flies out then you know it's good.

 

1. A lot of breweries have food trucks on occasion – you can check out the brewery’s website for scheduling. Also, sdfoodtrucks.com keeps tabs on where the trucks are, but usually only for weekday lunch locations or evening gatherings. I’m a big fan of MIHO and Green Truck. Other than eating some proper mexican food at the aforementioned “-ertos”, there’s also some legit asian food along Convoy street, which also happens to be where O’brien’s is. I’d recommend checking the SD Chowhound board for restaurants closer to where you’ll be staying.

2. Haven’t done much touristy stuff myself, but I can speak from experience that the zoo is pretty worthless during the summer because all the animals just want to stay in the back where there’s shade.

4. In addition to what rrryanc said, you can check out their tap cams to see what’s available that day.


Also, if you haven’t seen it already, nanobrew put together a nice map that you might find handy. And looking at my calendar, be aware that the 17th and 18th is the Stone Anniversary party

 

What are "zony" girls?

 

The OP is much more amusing if you read it in a Ted form "Bill and Ted's" voice.

OB Pizza Port is the best one. You can also knock out the beach, a great bottle shop (Olive Tree), and a couple other decent tap lists (Newport Pizza, Harp, South Beach <--get a fish taco here)

For a great unique meal, check out House Hash. Go on a weekday though.

Put Societe on your brewery stop list as well.

 

girls from arizona. it's unbearably hot there in the summertime, so lots of zony familes come here for vacation.

 

What riko said, but I meant more the girls from the Arizona colleges that summer in CA. Especially living in PB, seemed like the entire beach became Arizona college kids during the summer months.

Also, I have to highly second Sebwoski's Fish Taco recommendation. The best fish tacos I found were at The Fish Shop in PB, but South Beach in OB has some excellent fish tacos as well.

 

If only somebody had a blog with reviews, photos and a local's take on (mostly) beer related stuff in San Diego. If somebody had a blog like that, it might be a good resource for a guy like you.

Also, both Monkey Paw (not far from you) and White Labs (Near Ballast Point and AleSmith) should be on your list.

 

1) Food options:
Downtown where you're staying:
Neighborhood - Great burgers and good beer lineup. Try to get in to Noble Experiment hidden in the back behind the wall of kegs for a few excellent pre-prohibition style cocktails too
Searsucker - modern american and creative takes on some old standards. Good food. Good drinks. Fun place.
Cowboy Star - Best steakhouse in San Diego. Not really a traditional old-school steakhouse though.
Cafe Chloe - Excellent French bistro
Monkeypaw - Part of the Hamilton's/Small Bar/Eleven empire - Great beer, good cocktails and good cheesteak sandwiches

Logan Heights:
Tacos el Paisa and La Fachada - 2 very good taco shops not far from downtown. They both actually use an asador outside to grill up the carne asada (unlike most taco shops that just cook it on a flat top grill). I like the cabeza (cheeks), lengua (tongue) and al pastor (spiced pork) as well. Probably even more than the carne asada. I go back and forth on which taco shop I like more.

Uptown/South Park/North Park:
The Linkery - king of the farm-to-table restaurants and homemade food in San Diego. Great sustainable meat and lots of pork based items. Not cheap but not expensive. Portions aren't huge but it is really good. Good beers and wines on draft.
Hamilton's Tavern - Excellent beers. Good grilled cheese sandwiches and burgers.
Alchemy - right next to Hamilton's. Good beers and drinks. Better food. Another sustainable farm-to-table type restaurant. Probably the best burger in San Diego.
Super Cocina - best Mexican food in San Diego and there really isn't anything else like it in the area. Homestyle guisados which are basically stewed/slowed cook items that are made by older ladies with their own family recipes.
Mariscos German taco truck - Excellent seafood based Mexican. The fish taco itself is just alright, but the Gobernador (shrimp with grilled peppers & cheese), Pulpo (octopus) and Seafood Mixto Tostada are to die for. They have a few locations but the one I usually went to was in South Park not too far from Hamilton's. It's in the parking lot for the IGA.
Toronado - burgers. sausages. beer.
Ritual Tavern - across from Toronado. In the same vein as Alchemy and The Linkery but not quite as good.
Urban Solace - sort of upscale modern Southern cooking. Really good. Best Sunday brunch spot in San Diego.
Blind Lady Alehouse - Good beer and good pizza. They use mostly local ingredients and house make a lot of stuff. Favorite pizzas are Egg & Bacon, Chorizo w/ Poblano peppers, and usually one of the daily specials.
Starlite - Fun place with good drinks, decent beer selection and good gastropub style food
Craft & Commerce - Somewhat similar to Starlite. Better drinks though. The food isn't quite as good.
Underbelly - Good ramen and beer
Cafe Dore - Good banh mi sandwiches
Cali Baguette - Good banh mi sandwiches

La Jolla:
El Pescador - Good fish sandwiches
George's California Modern - Amazing view and excellent food. One of the best in San Diego. Pricey. They do have an upstairs more casual patio too that's good for lunch/late afternoon.

Mira Mesa:
Sorrento European Bakery - Not sure why it's called European. It's actually Vietnamese. Near Green Flash and they have good Banh Mi sandwiches. Super cheap.
Pho Cow Cali - Great pho

North County:
Kaito Sushi - Best sushi in San Diego hands down. Not even close. Some people will tell you to go to Ota. Those people are idiots and clearly have never been to Kaito.
Stone - a lot of contention on here about it, but I like it. And it's a great spot.
Addison - Probably the nicest/best restaurant in San Diego. Expensive but excellent.

Chula Vista:
Aqui es Texcoco - Probably my 2nd favorite Mexican spot. Mostly lamb-centric but they do other stuff well too. The full lamb head is to die for. The rolled tacos (lamb or potato) are great, consomme is very good, and the huatlacoche quesadilla is delicious.
Tacos El Poblano - Probably the best carne asada tacos in San Diego
Tacos el Gordo - Not quite as good as its counterparts south of the border but a very good Tijuana style taco shop. Great carne asada.
Tacos El Pescador - Best fish taco in San Diego. Off a truck in a Toys R' Us parking lot
Tortas Ahogada - Same Toys R' Us Parking lot. Truck that sells Tortas Ahogadas which are these mexican pork sandwiches that are smothered in a spicy red sauce.

2) Touristy stuff:
Zoo/Wild Animal Park - It's an excellent zoo and one of the San Diego touristy highlights so you might as well check it out. The Wild Animal Park up in Escondido (near Stone) is pretty cool cause you can see the animals in a more wide open space. That also makes it a bit harder to actually see the animals though.
Beach - see below
Kayaking out of La Jolla Shores/Cove
Hang gliding off the Torrey Pines bluff
Baseball game at Petco Park - nice park. Shouldn't be hard to get tickets
Head up to Julian and then hike to Devil's Falls for a swim
Go to Tijuana and eat a shitload of tacos. So good. Mision 19 is one of the hottest restaurants in the area these days and worth seeking out for a dinner too.

3) Beaches:
Coronado - closest beach to downtown. It's big and wide but a little boring. Coronado is nice but lowkey.
Ocean Beach - not too far away but somewhat more difficult to get too/poor parking. Lots of bars by the beach. Including Pizza Port.
Mission Beach - most touristy beach in San Diego. Has a boardwalk with carnival type stuff
Pacific Beach - the college kid party beach area
La Jolla Shores - more of a locals beach. Nice beach

4) Pizza Port:
Same food at all locations. Some beers might be the same but they each brew their own special ones too and they have guest beers on tap as well.

 

Your timing is quite acceptable for Drinkabout!

http://sddrinkabout.blogspot.com/?m=1

It should be that Weds. You can knock out 3-4 major spots in one evening. More if you plan it right. Drinkabout is a monthly event where 2 buses are on a circle route dropping off/picking up from like 8-9 beer/bars/restaurants for a 6 hour window. And its F'n Free!

And yes, Hash House is amazing for breakfast. Don't eat the day before if possible.

Most everything else seems to be well covered here.

 

Just my advice, but since you're going to want to bring back beers, you might as well get a styrofoam 12-bottle wine shipper and pack it up with trades/shares. (best if you're flying Southwest, or course.) Generally the second bag fee is cheaper or about equal to shipping, which isn't advisable in the heat of the summer anyway.

 

Quite the write-up. Good to see people willing to do this rather than say check the Internet.

 

a couple of things I will add to the list (or re-add).

Downtown Johnny Browns - as the name indicates it is downtown, it is actually in a "plaza" area in the center of the civic center.
Ortiz - my favorite Mexican place, this might have something to do with it being two blocks from my house, but no matter what it has the best Cali burrito I have ever had.

In Point Loma there are two awesome fish stops, Mitch's Seafood and Point Loma Seafood. Mitch's has great fish tacos and PL has great fish sandwiches, smoked fish, and fresh fish to go.

One other thing that is near downtown and fun to do (and not beer related) is Midway Museum. It is a tour on the USS Midway Aircraft carrier. Depending on how much you enjoy military history or museums this can either take 2 hours or 8. Also, in addition to the Zoo located in Balboa park, there are a lot of museums in the area along with the large parks.

p.s. Drinking on beaches is monitored pretty well. I would suggest putting you drink in a different type of container (coffee cup). Also OB is the most chilled area and might be your best bet

 

If you don't go to White Labs, your trip to San Diego might be a little bit of a failure.

http://www.whitelabs.com/tasting_room.html

 

I very highly recommend eating at Blue Water Seafood near the airport.

 

It is a get in line and order at the counter place, and ever since it was on the Food Network show Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, the lines have been ridiculous - so go there at an off hour if possible. I get the stink eye every time I'm picking something up to take home from their fish counter, because when you do that they wave you to the front of the line. Good times.

 

When was it on TV? I haven't visited SD in a few months, but I've never had an experience anything like this there.

 

It was on Triple D a few years ago. I eat there often and it's a scene still. Best red snapper avo sandy in the world though.

Cheers....