I have been to San Diego numerous times at this point. I have even written several blogs about it. The weather is always great. There is so much to see and it is incredibly bike friendly. This time we weren’t brining the bike, but still wanted to be active too. We decided to stay up near a good friend of ours who we usually visit with anyway. We still wanted to be situated by a bunch of stuff to do though, so we picked La Jolla. I had heard of the town, but really didn’t know much about it. Heck, I even learned more about it to write this blog. Apparently, although it is a jewel along the California coast and everyone pronounces the name like the Spanish word joya. It doesn’t actually mean the jewel, but in many ways has adopted the fitting “translation.”
We flew down on Thursday night to San Diego for a three day weekend. We arrived on the later side but not too late for a quick bite with our friends at the Starlite Lounge. It’s a super convenient spot by the airport. After a great burger and mac n’ cheese that we shared, we headed up to La Jolla to settle in at the Sheraton for the weekend. The hotel was a little different than most Sheratons I have stayed at, but a decent spot. It was a multi short building complex and we were put in the building that had the club lounge for those with status and the gym. The room itself was spacious and looked out on the main courtyard that had a bit of a tropical feel with all the plants. The hotel was a bit outdated and the lounge wasn’t great but it served it’s purpose fine.
The next day we had lunch sushi plans with our friends so both of them could join us for omakase, which is chef’s choice sushi and an experience that Brent and Brian has introduced me to in Seattle. I absolutely die for good omakase, and always have to go with Brent as he knows where to go for the best. The reservation we had was for an early lunch so Brian and I planned our day around it.
After a tad lazy morning and hitting the hotel lounge for breakfast, we headed over to La Jolla cove to wander around and enjoy the coast before lunch. It took us a bit to find a parking spot, but we ended up getting one on the far side of all the sights, and walked back towards the actual cove and the caves. I took countless pictures of course as the area there is truly amazing and breathtaking. I won’t post them all here but you should check them out on Redbubble. We were both pleasantly surprised by the discovery of numerous sea lions and seals just hanging out. We hadn’t read a lot about the top places to go beyond to visit them and had no idea just how close we would get to these sunbathing animals. We walked over to Children’s Pool where we first saw them, and then headed north through the park to La Jolla Cove and on to La Jolla Cave. Brian had read a little bit and knew that The Cave Store actually was an entrance to one of the caves and we paid the $5 each to head on down to one of the caves and watch the waves crash for a bit.
After enjoying the coastline for a bit, we wandered back to the car and headed over to sushi. I had thought it was insane that during a weekday we had to get a reservation for sushi given the place didn’t seem in a high traffic area, but it was a good thing Brent had. The sushi bar was packed shortly after we arrived when they opened. The restaurant that Brent picked was Sushi Tadokoro. All 4 of us chose to do omakase. They will typically ask if there is anything you don’t like or if you have allergies. I learned on my first adventure with these guys that you should really go all in and be open to anything, so I always do. I have been going at lest a couple times a year now and have only had a couple pieces that I didn’t like and believe me I am not a very adventurous orderer when I don’t have omakase. This restaurant did not disappoint. The only thing I would say is that it had 1 or 2 items with unique sauce or toppings but in general it seemed to do less about pairing the accompanying sauce than some of the others have. They used wasabi and two different options with almost every piece, but it was still fantastic. I love when they torch the fatty fish to bring out more flavor, and at the end Brent and I asked for one more of our favorite which was one of the more uniquely flavored ones that had rock salt and lemon on it. Another cool aspect about this place was that they have all unique sake glasses and you get to pick which glass you want to be yours. As always Brent did not disappoint, and I highly recommend being adventurous and trying omakase in a city known for their sushi like Seattle, San Diego or San Francisco.
After sushi, we started preparing for an impromptu dinner with friends. Brent has an amazing smoker and we went and got salmon for dinner. His smoked salmon is amazing and we swung by this great fresh seafood place to pick up some salmon for that night. The place we went to was Catalina Offshore Products and it had fish I had never seen in a market or maybe even on a menu. There were multiple salmon options too. From there our friends headed home and Brian and I went to check out Stone Brewing. We grabbed a beer and chilled out for a bit before heading back to the hotel for some warmer clothes and making our way over to a nice neighborhood evening and dinner with friends.
The following morning I hit the gym before we made our way to breakfast/brunch/lunch with friends at Ponce’s Mexican Restaurant. We had some fabulous guacamole, queso, burritos, chilaquiles, tacos and margaritas. Brian and I then split off to checkout Torrey Pines Natural Reserve. We had bikes past the entrance before but never gone in. We parked our car at the bottom and hiked up along the road to where all the trails are located. We took two different trails both of which had incredible views and did not disappoint. The hike up and one other stretch of heading back up on the second trail were the hardest parts. Overall neither trail was super difficult. Guy Fleming was the first trail and it is named after a crucial person to the park’s history. It had a long stretch along the coastline and a small point out by the edge where you could lookout and see the pterodactyl like birds flying around. After that trail it was only a small walk up to the next one that also went along the coast, but had an option to drop down closer to the ocean. From there we could see San Diego and all the paragliders. That trail was Parry Grove Trail. At that point it was warming up and we decided we had had enough and it was time to head on down to the car.
Having earned a beer or two from the hikes, we went to my favorite brewery in San Diego, Kilowatt Brewing, which has more than one location. We went to the one in Mesa which is in a warehouse section. They have a fabulous Chocolate Macadamia Nut stout that they have made several variations of, but my favorite is the original. I love it so much that our friend Brent brings it to me when he drives up to Colorado. I highly recommend checking out one of their places to have some. Brent met us there and then took us to his “Cheers” where I got a much needed late lunch. The place was O’Brien’s Pub. They had some great chicken tenders and it was a nice chill place.
Our last day we found a nice place by Scripps for breakfast. Caroline’s Seaside Cafe was a perfect place for a leisurely breakfast by the water. I of course was thrilled too that they had a lox bagel option. After enjoying the spot, we went for a walk around the area and took in a little more of the coast before packing up our stuff at the hotel. We then checked out one more brewery for a beer and a food truck before the airport. AleSmith is another well known brewery and has quite the selection and plenty of stouts. Stouts are my favorite and Brian knows that so we swung by for just a bit.
Overall staying La Jolla was great. It gave a much more suburban coastal experience with great food and beer. San Diego downtown is much more touristy and busy. La Jolla offered a more chill peaceful time to view the coast. I highly recommend staying a bit north of San Diego for a change.