San Diego Weekend

The first time I ever went to San Diego was a turning point in my life.  I was a 6 year old little girl from Doniphan, Missouri and I immediately declared that I would live in California when I was grown up.  My Aunt and cousin's houses were like something out of a movie: big, just miles from the beach, with their own community pools!!!  There was fresh fruit galore, the food we ate was like nothing else I had ever had, I tried Chinese food for the first time as well as Sunchips (in 1996 Sunchips were the healthy alternative to regular chips) I was in heaven.  I knew that the day to day life of San Diegians was like a vacation and I wanted to be part of that lifestyle.

This past weekend we went back to where all of my dreams began.  I finally got to experience Kahn's Salk Institute, we drank absinth for the second time from the same restaurant where we tried it the first time 4 years ago, Currant American Brasserie, and we got to experience everything with Napoleon, because San Diego is the most dog-friendly city on the planet.

The Food and The Dog Friendliness:

Currant was great for happy hour.  We happened to be there on a Friday, so we also took advantage of the $8 Lucid Absinth Friday deal (normally $15)  We could barely get it down.  Why is absinth so gross?  It's like licorice, but worse.  Ah, but I just love the process.  The waitress lights the sugar cube on fire.  The sugar cube is cradled above the absinth and when the flame goes out you begin slowly dripping ice water over the sugar until it has completely dissolved into the liquid below, turning the once green drink into a cloudy white.  Oh Chemistry.  We also munched on the garlic and chive tots which came overflowing in a giant bowl with two scrumptious dipping sauces: chive buttermilk ranch, habanero ketchup.  All for the happy hour price of $4.75.  After all that, we still had quite some time before our dinner reservation, so I ordered the house red wine which came to me in a large glass with enough wine for two people.  Best. happy. hour. ever.  But, the greatest part of all?  Napoleon was welcome to join us on the patio.  That's right LA, ON the patio, not tied up outside the patio on the sidewalk next  to our table, but at our table, on the nice patio.  The waitress brought him water.  Take note LA restaurants, you will have happier customers if you would allow this more.  (Earlier in the day we had a quick lunch at a random Thai place in the Gaslamp District and they allowed this as well.)

For dinner we went to Salvatore's Cucina Italiana.  The maitre de was very pleased to have us and promptly took us to our corner window seat.  We saw that if you checked in on yelp, you got a free glass of Prosecco, so that was our plan! (Danny even got the app just for this reason)  Before we got the chance to do so, the manager greeted us and asked how found out about the establishment to which we replied "yelp."  Then he told us he was going to bring us each a glass of Prosecco because "we love our yelpers!"  The bread, balsamic, and olive oil were all amazing, probably the best white bread I've ever had.  I ordered a salad and Danny a spinach ricotta ravioli, both were delicious and filling, but you know we had to leave room for dessert!  I had the tiramisu, he had the creme brûlée.  Best creme brûlée ever.  Really really good tiramisu.  Oh, did I forget to mention that they filled up our glasses with Prosecco again, on the house?  Love this place forever.

The hotel:

We stayed at the Westin Gaslamp and I normally would stay at the W, but this time they were being dicks and said we would have to pay $25 extra a night and a one time $100 cleaning fee for Napoleon to join us.  That is bs and they should take a lesson from their sister (another starwood hotel) the Westin, who does not charge you a thing for your little one to stay with you.  They also provide a dog bed (as if Napoleon would ever sleep there) and food and water bowls.  They only ask that you not leave your dog alone in the room and you will have to pay if you do that and your dog disturbs others.  Napoleon is an angel, we had no such problems, therefore: free dog stay!  The "heavenly bed" at the Westin makes me want to throw my mattress out the window.  I seriously can't sleep well since we've returned.  Luckily you can buy everything they use to make the "heavenly bed" online, for a pretty penny.  Oh well, I suppose I will have to continue to sleep terribly until I return to the Westin.

More Dog-Friendliness:

There are many dog beaches in San Diego, compared to the one I know of in Los Angeles, plus maybe one other in Malibu?  Come on LA, step up your game!  We took Napoleon to a really popular and huge one called Ocean Beach Dog Beach and he loved it!  It was overcast, June Gloom never ceases to amaze me at how it knows it is June 1st...  Napoleon enjoyed frolicking in the sand and didn't just stand by Danny and I the entire time, which is what he always does at a regular dog park. I think this guy was made to be at the beach.

San Diego, you are a great get-away.  Could I live there?  Maybe, but realisitically I don't think there is much in the way of jobs and things to do like there is in Los Angeles, but you are beautiful and I love you still the same.