In this article I took a LA girl out of her natural habitat and brought her along for the ride! We made it our goal to have as much fun as humanly possible (successful), try some breweries and restaurants, and to walk as far as our feet could take us. One of us did end up with shin splints, but we had a wonderful weekend trip to San Diego!
PDX Girl: Karl Strauss has several other locations in the San Diego area but they served good American style fare and the crispy brussel sprouts that LA girl ordered were to die for. Unfortunately for me I ordered the ahi tuna poke bowl, but for next time I would stick to ordering one of their burgers or different fare. For me the real winner was in the beer. My favorites were the honey California Common, Mosaic Session, and Red Trolley beers.
LA Girl: Having lived 3 hours roughly from San Diego, I have to say I’ve been there more times I can count. However, I’ve always gone to the typical Sea World, Wild Animal Kingdom or some fun nights out at San Diego State University and never experienced the awesome breweries and historical sites of the city. Karl Strauss was definitely a favorite and those brussel sprouts were so delicious. They were topped with a balsamic glaze, feta cheese, and bacon. The honey California Common and Mosaic Session were definitely top choices as far as beer goes, but I’m always in favor of a good amber, and the Columbia Street didn’t disappoint!
PDX Girl: Unfortunately we didn’t get to spend as much time here since we arrived during last call, but I was able to sample some of their beers. They had a warehouse which was large with an extra bar in the back area and the bartenders were super laid back and friendly (a trend in San Diego!), and walking there was definitely interesting- at night they do have a homeless community but they left us alone. They were playing Bob’s Burgers which is always a plus, and my favorite was the raspberry wheat…next time I have to try their “pirate-themed” IPAs!
LA Girl: The East Village was an interesting part of town and Mission Brewery was a neat little place to stumble upon. The beer selection seemed like most of the beers were of the fruit kind, not usually my taste, but the Berried Treasure was actually one of the best I’ve ever tried! The staff was also very friendly, like almost all the places we visited in SD.
PDX Girl: Half Door is a house-turned-brewery with an upstairs, downstairs, and a large patio area. My favorite beers here were “Necessary Evil” a sour wheat with raspberry and the “Roark Red Ale” which was an amazing Irish red paying homage to the brewers Irish tradition. We didn’t try any food here, but they do serve American fare. We totally wanted to stay here longer but had one more brewery to hit up!
LA Girl: This was my favorite spot from the entire weekend. I didn’t get to try the food, but the menu looked like a place where I would come back to eat. The environment was very inviting and I loved the theme and decor. The music was great too! Overall, a fun place to hang out with friends and have a tasty flight.
Little Italy Mercato
PDX Girl- Saturday morning we walked through Little Italy and stumbled upon the Little Italy Mercato! We arrived around noon and it was pretty jam packed, so to avoid crowds I’d suggest getting there earlier, their hours are 8 AM until 2:00 PM. We browsed the items they had including sea urchins, tropical fruits, flowers, and all the produce you could ever need. We took a walking break at Queenstown Public House a really cute dog-friendly breakfast place with a patio, and a tasty looking brunch that had a really long wait but fortunately for just two people it wasn’t hard to grab a seat at the bar with open seating.
LA Girl- I think PDX girl and I could agree we were really excited about this. It was one of the largest farmer’s markets I had ever seen and there were great samples of food, beer, and my personal favorite – honey. I purchased the Mikolich Family honey in the flavor
of “local wildflower.”
Balboa Park & Museum of Man
We meandered around Balboa park before heading over to the Museum of Man. It came recommended from a couple different locals, and their exhibits include archaeological collections from the Mayan, Kumeyaay (Native Californians), and Ancient Egypt. They also had rotating exhibits- “Race”, “Beerology,” and “Monsters!” There is a recently added tour of the California Tower and a special exhibit “Cannibals” which both have an extra cost. The museum by itself was $13 but we opted to do the whole museum, tower tour, and Cannibals package for $25.
PDX Girl: As far as the museum goes, I enjoyed it but was slightly underwhelmed. Monsters! was really cool for kids, kinda corny for adults but fun. There were many interactive exhibits that I could totally see being fun for children as well. Being a huge ancient Egyptian history and archaeology fan I was a little disappointed by the majority of exhibits being casts- but to be fair after the Egyptian museum in Torino, Italy I’m now clearly spoiled. I was looking forward to “Beerology” as well, and it was ok, but a brief. It took about 10 minutes to get through reading everything and emphasized a few different ancient civilizations way of brewing beer. The Cannibals exhibit was another one I felt was too brief, but they did have a lot of interactive exhibits like an interesting display of medicines that use human parts. The California Tower tour however was awesome, and gave us some great views of the city while being informed of the history of the region & tower. Our tour guide was super enthusiastic and she answered all our questions including the best local spots to hit up later! Definitely take the tower tour if you’re able to take the 125 steps required to make get there.
LA Girl: For someone who is afraid of heights, this was not something I’d have put on my list of top ten things to do. But I was wrong! The Tower Tour was an informative tour that gave you bits of info on the building each floor you went up. The views at the top were priceless and worth the journey through the tower.
Miscellaneous Other Neat Spots
Balboa Bar and Grill- supposed to have the best burgers and was definitely was a cool local watering hole right by Balboa Park
30th Street Beer Crawl- Runs through North Park & South Park neighborhoods. Not all of these are breweries such as Toronado which is a beer bar with more than 52 beers on tap. We didn’t have enough energy or time to try the full hop but were able to drop by!
Gastown District- There were these crazy pedicabs that were glowing and it was really popping up with clubs and bars. We passed it to get to Mission Brewery and it definitely seemed fun for the younger out-of-town crowd!
Cafe Gratitude- An awesome vegan & holistic food place that makes you order by first stating “I am (insert name of dish)” We had “Giving” (pizza) and “Resolved” (southern sampler plate)
Our Lady of the Rosary Church
Cheers!
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