I want to take my roommate out to breakfast/lunch tomorrow, but I want a vegan or vegetarian place downtown, maybe Hillcrest. Any ideas?

My friend just opened Marcella June's Coffee Lounge this Saturday morning at 8:00 am. It's located at 5410 El Cajon Blvd near the college area (On the corner of 54th and El Cajon between the check cashing place & the H&R Block). Go check it out as it's cheaper and MUCH better than Starbuck's!

Does anyone know what's up with the Commonwealth? The last three times I've driven past during business hours, they've been closed.

Thanks.


x-posted to san_diego

Is anyone here a current (or former) member of a local CSA? I'm considering joining one, and am trying to narrow down my choices. Any opinions, experiences, etc. are much appreciated.

Heads up SD Foodies...

San Diego Restaurant Week is coming!

JUNE 22-27 2008
3 Courses. Extraordinary Food.
Experience cuisine that delights the palate and defines the art of dining during San Diego Restaurant Week. Choose from over 130 of the city’s best restaurants and enjoy a three-course dinner for either $30 or $40 per person, depending upon the restaurant.

List of participating restaurants

http://sandiegorestaurantweek.com

Is there anywhere is Escondido or in close proximity (maybe San Marcos, but not say, Carlsbad) where I can get decent Japanese food/sushi?  I don't like to go just anywhere for that kind of stuff, so any recommendations would be appreciated.

Weird question, but are there any good sushi train restaurants in San Diego? I'm looking for a place with conveyor-belt type service...they're popular in Portland but I've yet to see one in San Diego. I think they're also called "kaiten" sushi places.

X-posted to san_diego

OK, with Med Grill Cafe's new owners (last year) I don't know of any good Lebanese places.

Any suggestions?

Notes:
Mama's is ok, but not really a belly dancing kind of place is it?
Rannoush has good atmosphere (if you don't mind Hookah) but the food is so-so....
Aladdin's (not really lebanese, but the best I could come up with) isn't bad, but still no belly dancing....

(I hope this isn't off topic, forgive me if it is)

Where do most of you do your weekly grocery shopping? We hit up Costco and Trader Joe's. Albertsons seems a little pricey, and I haven't checked out Vons too much.

I just moved here from San Jose, and I would love some good burrito place recommendations. I went to Santana's on a whim, and it was not good. I live very near downtown, in Sherman Heights. Thanks so much for the help.

If any of you fellow burrito lovers ever make it up to the bay area, I suggest eating at La Victoria or The Burrito Factory for a mind blowing burrito experience!!

Does anyone know where I could buy freshly boiled crawfish for my upcoming Mardi Gras party?

So far, I've found the following options, which I'm not particularly fond of:

• Buy from Mardi Gras Cafe - I know that theirs are frozen and reboiled, but I think they lose a lot of their juiciness and flavor; to me it's just not the same.
• Buy LIVE crawfish and boil them myself.  Uh... yea, no thanks.  :o)

I've heard that the Gator By The Bay festival has crawfish... does anyone know if they boil theirs live or if they buy fresh boiled from someone?

(x-posted to san_diego)

When I eat at a restaurant, I tend to drink a lot.  Whether I'm having water, iced tea, or soda, I tend to consume a lot of it.  Heck, even when I'm drinking wine or beer, I'll want a glass of water on the side, and I'll usually finish both of those before most people get half way down the glass.  So, I appreciate it when the waitperson is attentive enough to notice when my drink is running low and fill me up.  Unfortunately a lot of wait staff just don't know how to fill up a glass.

Because I consume my drink so quickly, often times the ice doesn't have much time to melt, so I usually have a fair amount of ice left in my glass.  A proper refill for my glass would consist of mostly liquid and maybe little bit of ice.  Unfortunately, more often than not what I get from the person refiling my beverage is someone who doesn't think, and attempts to fill the glass as quickly as they can.  This leads to the person filing the glass with more ice than liquid.  Occasionally they will notice the mistake they just made, and go retrieve a fresh glass with the proper proportion of ice and drink.  Usually though they will not notice, and I'll get stuck with a little bit of drink and a lot of ice.  :-(

Now here is the question, how do I communicate the problem to the wait staff?  I could just tell the person as they fill up my drink.  Unfortunately that sounds like I'm telling the person how to do their job.  I could ask for a separate pitcher for myself.  That doesn't often work because most restaurants use the pitchers and don't have enough to just place one with any guest that asks.  I could ask for a drink with no ice.  That would likely send the wrong message, I don't like cold drinks.

Thoughts?  Ideas?  Suggestions?

I've been craving Burmese food and momos (Tibetan/Nepalese dumplings). Does anyone know of Burmese, Tibetan and/or Nepalese restaurants in San Diego?

Thanks!

This info got passed onto me via my blog, so I'm passing it along to all of the other foodies in San Diego. :)

KPBS is collecting recipes from all over San Diego for the KPBS Celebrates Home Cooking cookbook. For more information and to submit your recipe, go to www.kpbs.org/cook.

We’ll publish your recipe in our cookbook and pick some of the best recipes for broadcast on the KPBS Celebrates Home Cooking television show. Entrees, appetizers, salads, desserts… we’re looking for everything. So pick your favorite recipe and go to www.kpbs.org/cook. But hurry, the deadline is at the end of November!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me.

Best regards,

Andy
On-Air Fundraising Production Coordinator
KPBS
atrimlett@kpbs.org

 We're having a party next Summer (August) and have been looking round San Diego off & on for a good 2 months for a cake, similar style & talents to Charm City Cakes (Ace of Cakes). We would greatly appreciate it if anyone can point us in that direction?


Even if we have to drive to LA or Orange County.

Cheers,

M&C