Hotel Del Coronado - Coronado, CA

It should be easy to have a good time at a seaside resort, especially when you can livestream your conference while sitting on the beach. 

The Hotel Del seems quite conducive to that, and we did enjoy our basic room in The Cabanas. It's a fine example of practical nicety; plenty of clean white sheets and towels and robes to go around. There's a pool right outside and a beach only steps away, and location is everything here. 

Unfortunately, it seems their best feature is location because the food was horrid. Resort prices are to be expected, and nothing we ate tasted bad, but it seems that their extensive renovations have made room service utterly unavailable. Major points lost here as they did nothing to try to make up for this dire deficit. There are literally only two on-site restaurants that allow to-go orders, and one of them is a taco bar that only makes 5 items. You can ubereats or doordash but you have to physically go pick up your delivery at the front desk, which is in a different building altogether.

The other restaurants are fine dining or pubs/bars so being heavily pregnant with a toddler makes all other options impossible. If you’re anything less than fully able-bodied and extremely energetic, I suggest you stay somewhere else or be prepared to pay a premium for a kitchen so you can bring your own food. 

Still, it's overall a lovely place, and I'd consider a repeat stay for the beach access, but definitely not before the renovations are complete and room service is restored. 

Eno Market & Pizzeria 

Almost all our meals were eaten here, and they have a decent spread. 

The protein wrap is full of fluffy eggs, 

and the English muffin with turkey sausage is a standard sandwich. Plenty of bagels and pastries if you're looking for something simple, and I did enjoy their French Toast Latte every day.

The Italian Sandwich is a nice lunch or dinner,

especially with a Beet Salad, which is absolutely my favorite item here. The beets are roasted to perfection, and the accompanying goat cheese and vinaigrette are great. 

They also make a good Focaccia for dipping if you're looking for something simple and light. 

The Italian Cheese Board comes with generous slabs of varying potencies, and it's plenty for two to share. 

There's plenty of pizza as well, but both are a bit heavy on the cheese. The Funghi has plenty of fresh mushrooms, 

and the Carbonara is an alright mix of prosciutto and pear. 

Beach & Taco Shack

Your only other option if you need food to go. 

The Surf & Turf is a rich mix of brisket and shrimp, plenty of filling to fill you up. 

The Chile Relleno is a good one, though, love the mushroom and pepper combination, especially with flame-kissed corn. 

There's also a Cheese Quesadilla for pickier palates, and it's just cheese melted in a taco, but I can't even complain. 

Achiote Shrimp has tender grilled ones with a nice, perky spice. 

No thanks on the Catch of the Day Taco - the slab of fish is as bland and dry as it looks and tastes like it was the catch of several days ago. 

Not bad for a quick meal or a grab n' go. Just wish this wasn't the only other option. 

Sundaes

Gelato and paletas, sure, what's not to like?

The strawberry paleta was creamy and mild, and you have the option to have them dipped in chocolate, though I think that overpowers the fruit flavors. 

There were chunks of ice in my scoop of strawberry cheesecake gelato, but I thought the chocolate flavor was good, as was the passion fruit and mango sorbets. 

The one thing I really didn't like was that the smallest size is still a double scoop. It's too much ice cream for a toddler, especially one that refuses to share. Still, it's fun to have a place to grab something cold and sweet in summer - I just wish they had some seating.

Currant American Brasserie - San Diego

Glide down the gilded stairs of the Sofia Hotel and Currant beckons from its back door facing the reception desk. One step and you're over the threshold, face to face with happy hour heaven.

Except there is no happy hour. Despite the clear advertising, the bartender insisted the menu didn't exist. I showed her my menu and she actually snatched it away. No happy hour for me - I just b*tched unhappily over bar bites.

Well the Duck Confit Tacos were nothing to b*tch about. Hearty helpings of fat-flavored meat with a nice mix of avocado and cabbage. Nice combination, went well with my whiskey.

The Truffle Parmesan Popcorn was a fun nibbler if you're not too hungry. I bet it goes great with whatever game is on, but it's only one notch above the white cheddar from the vending machine.

Currant had me not-so-happy during "happy hour", but we still went back for brunch. My discontent melted away when the Beignets melted in my mouth, a sweet-tart dipped in lemon curd.

Just this half-portion of the Red Chili Pulled Pork Skillet filled me up twice over; the hearty, flavorful carnitas a wake-up call from a potato bed.

I love San Diego...at least I think I do. I love drinking a big beer on the Animal Safari Park tram, I could live backstage at the zoo, and I think I'm addicted to panda cam. That said, I have yet to be blown away by the food. Cafe Chloe had some great highlights last year, but their snobbery left a sour taste. Searsucker felt like a sellout, and Currant did a sketchy thing. The brunch was plenty pleasant, but I have yet to have a meal I consider truly, amazingly great. I like staying in Gaslamp, but I don't think I'll eat there again.

Searsucker - San Diego

Gaslamp is a gathering of tourists, but I had high hopes for Searsucker. Named for the fabric of the Kentucky Derby and the catalogs of J. Crew, Searsucker looked like a gentleman's spot, and the so-cool, so-casual ambiance searsuckered me right in.

A gentleman likes his whiskey, and a whiskey-girl likes a Henebadger. Honey and a dash of lemon lighten a statement liquor in anticipation of the heavy meal to follow.

The Pork Belly is soft but it settles like a brick. Weigh it down even more with bacon and hollandaise for for a Benedictine crowd-pleaser on brioche.

The chef may be a celebrity, but the Octopus Jar won't be making waves. Much like the Japanese takotsubo octopus traps, the bizarre pairing of broccolini and the icy serving temperature lets none of the fragrant flavor escape.

The octopus was a fail, but the Mussels were one heck of a recovery. The mussels are steamed tender and finish a little bit sweet thanks to the combination of tomato-smoothing chorizo. The sauce has an understated brilliance, evidence that Searsucker knows its stuff.

Unfortunately, the glimpse of greatness starts and stops with the mussels, giving way to more crowd-pleasing concoctions. Out of consideration for other diners, I refrained from using my flash, but sadly the New York Strip tasted as exciting as my pictures look. There's no doubting the quality of the strip, but the chimichurri is barely-there generic, and the roasted new potato and broccolini have been done by every restaurant in town. It's a pretty small plate with a pretty small flavor for $32.

The Warm Brown Butter Cake was basically a cupcake without the sugar. The texture is neither dense nor fluffy, and though I liked it not-so-sweet, it was overpowered by the caramelized apples. The accompanying creme fraiche tasted like a thick sour cream and didn't really help.

Maybe I expected too much from Gaslamp's #1 restaurant (USA Today's 10Best), or maybe I just don't agree with the selection criteria for "essential restaurants" (#15 on San Diego Eater), but I found Searsucker to be only enjoyably neutral.  They like to toe the line with their flavors, and while I found nothing too offensive, I found no spark, no innovation, no excitement at all.

San Diego's hottest restaurant, it is not. Pleasant but not head-over-heels inviting, trendy but not super-chic, and tasty without forming a lasting impression, I enjoyed Searsucker, but I didn't enjoy it enough.

Palate-Pleasing Pomegranate – San Diego

If I had to make a list of my favorite words in the English language, fusion would make the top ten. Not that I would ever make a list that nerdy…or at least if I did, I wouldn’t tell anyone…hypothetically speaking, of course. But all nerdy denial aside, I really do like fusion. Fusion depicts the coming together of concepts, ideas, and sometimes objects, and both are often better because they met. Maybe we need a little more of that these days.

My favorite form of fusion occurs on a palate, from a plate. While foods of Asian fusion tend to be hit-or-miss, Pomegranate had the right idea when they combined the literal “meat and potatoes” of Russian cuisine with the lesser-known gastronomies of its neighbor Georgia.

My familiarity with Russian cuisine limited at best, but everyone has heard of the beet soup Borscht, a pomegranate-colored broth, boiling with all the fresh, hearty-yet-light sweetness of a rarer root vegetable. And when it comes to borscht, Pomegranate doesn’t miss a beet.

I know very little about Russian cuisine, and the only exposure I’ve had to “Georgian” cuisine takes the form of an entire pig in a barrel-shaped grill. Then again, Florida-Georgia Line is one of my favorite bands right now so I figured I’d give the Russia-Georgia line a chance.

Believe me, crossing that Georgia line was one of my better decisions ever, a decision in the form of Khachapuri, a bread-bowl of dripping, gooey cheese made just that much goopier when mixed with a soft raw egg.

The best part of the khachapuri is that it goes well with anything you order. Dip in the borscht, and the cheese will give the beets a new dimension. Mix and eat with the Salad Sampler, and the veggies will balance out the dairy and starch. I didn’t care for what was basically the Russian version of a mayo-loaded potato salad, but I loved all the others. The Lobio is light and full of spice- and walnut-flavored beans. The Carrot Salad is sweet and simple, and since no Russian experience is complete without a good beeting, the Kavkaz Beet Salad doesn’t disappoint. The Ikra Badrijannaya is full of smoky, garlicky eggplant made with the perfect soft, seedy texture, and I think they’re onto something when they call it the poor man’s caviar. How can something as simple as a salad taste so good? Beets me.

At an American wedding, the perfect mix of “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” promises a lifetime of happiness, and every culture prefers a combination of their own. Every culture has their own tradition when it comes to dumplings too. The Chinese are perhaps the best known, with endless combinations of ground meats and various veggies, but chicken n’ dumplings have pleased many an American generation, and Italian ravioli is not to be sold short. The Geo-Russians also have their version, the Vareniki, which seems to borrow from its neighbors near and far. The body of tortellini, the thicker wrapper of an Asian dumpling, plus the cheesy, smushed potato filling of a Portuguese pierogi melds into a masterful mix.

So many mixes had me craving a simple Russian Beef Stroganoff, with its tender cubes of beef in a savory sour cream. But even this dish is partly borrowed. Although it’s traditionally served with mashed potatoes, this version has you spiraling sauce around rotini al dente. As the server astutely explained, “Americans like it with pasta, and it just tastes so good”.

I know that Russia is the literal meat and potatoes of cooking, but I could only hope the Georgians weren’t vegetarian. One bite of the tender meat-falling-off-the-bone shank of Chakapuli lamb had me eating my thoughts. Sure, I prefer the stroganoff, but this lamb is straight-off-the-spit good!

I love my cultures, and I love my traditions, but if SimCity is any indication, it’s the power of fusion that powers the future. When our cultures combine their power…we get Captain Planet. And when we combine the two great countries of Russia and Georgia we get an amazing place like Pomegranate. Seriously though, multiculturalism is fun, multilingualism is awesome, and mixed babies are both attractive and smart. Rihanna and Chris Brown aside, can you think of anytime when collaboration wasn’t for the better?