Neither of us have jobs that allow us to travel frequently, but sometimes we get lucky and can combine work and play! The American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology held their annual conference in San Diego this year, so we took it as opportunity for A) me to learn more about my awesome speciality and B) for us to explore a new city. Here are some of our trip highlights!
Where to Stay:
We chose the Pendry Hotel, mostly because they had a special rate for the conference, BUT also because it looked very modern and was located in the Gaslamp District, which is where we were told all the fun happens!
- Pros: Staff very friendly, helpful with recommendations and directions; Bed super comfortable; nice amenities; many dining options and rooftop pool deck with view of the city; free drip coffee in the coffee shop from 5:30 AM-9:30 PM
- Cons: No coffee maker in room; Valet $47/night, no self-parking
Coffee/Breakfast:
Copa Vida in the Gaslamp District
- Pros: Great tasting coffee and matcha; Both the almond toast and the croque madame were lick-your-fingers good.
- Cons: A little on the pricey side for some items. Matcha latte was $5, Croque madame was $14 (But was plenty of food for two). No easy parking, but easily walkable from The Pendry.
Provisional Kitchen Cafe and Mercantile at the Pendry Hotel
- Pros: Located inside the hotel, expanded hours; great quality pastries, bright and modern decor
- Cons: Some of the menu items were a little bit overpriced (Avocado toast for $14?) but overall this was a great place to grab a nice coffee and breakfast.
Lunch:
- Pros: Wow. Cannot say enough good things about this place. One of the best doner kebab sandwiches we’ve had. It’s ALL about the garlic sauce, get extra, and mix it with the spicy harissa. YUM. It’s also super cheap with multiple locations across San Diego. What more could you want?!
- Cons: NONE.
- Pros: The seasoned tator tots were amazing. I would just get a bowl of these with some of the chipotle mayo sauce or the smoked paprika sauce. Great patio with heaters and a playground for the kids. Lots of beers on draft. Reasonably priced and ample street parking.
- Cons: We come from the land of some pretty DAMN good burgers (Texas) and I think we were a little under-impressed with this one. The meat was not as juicy/flavorful as we’re used to.
Dinner:
- Pros: An extensive menu with every kind of freshly made pasta you can imagine! Lots of wines by the glass at reasonable prices. The stuffed gorgonzola gnocchi was delicious in the recommended pink pancetta sauce with shrimp added.
- Cons: A little bit loud/trendy for our tastes but the food made up for it. Wished the lamb ragu had a little more sauce.
- Pros: The Pizza! It was traditional Neapolitan style pizza cooked in a wood fire oven. We ordered the mozzarella affumicata e pepperoncini with spicy salame and truffle honey added. SO GOOD.
- Cons: We went to the La Jolla location. They also have a location in Little Italy, which I think has been around a little longer. The service was a little slow and it was crowded and loud in the restaurant, but we were too busy going to town on the pizza to really care.
- Pros: Offers delivery, which was nice since it was a rainy Sunday. Ordered the green curry with chicken and the green papaya salad, some of my standard go-to Thai dishes. Both were delicious, spicy, and served in HUGE portions. I could barely finish half. The prices were low ($9 for the green curry, $8 for the salad) and food was delivered in under 45 minutes.
- Cons: None! Great delivery Thai restaurant!
- Pros: Lots of choices. The burritos looked really good, but we weren’t super hungry, so we went with trying a couple tacos – the shrimp and fish. The fish was excellent. Everything is cooked to order, you can actually watch them making it, which is always appreciated. It’s located inside Liberty Public Market, so you can go grab a cocktail or drink from one of the bars and dessert from one of the stands.
- Cons: Coming from the land of $1 tacos, I thought $4.75 per taco was a little steep. A little salsa on the side would have been nice, especially for the shrimp taco. I think we’re spoiled when it comes to tacos, but we were hoping for more flavor!
Drinks:
Liberty Public Market – See post below
- Pros: Adorable restaurant/bar with a wide variety of cocktail options. The interior of this place is worth a visit alone. There are trees growing throughout the restaurant and the décor is beautiful. Drinks were stiff and tasty. We had the Hawaiian Sidecar and Marcelo’s favorite Old Fashioned.
- Cons: Drinks were $13-15 a piece, so be careful how many you have!
What to Do:
- Pros: Super romantic spot with lots of Italian restaurants. It was so hard to choose one! Ample parking. Great spot to grab dinner or drinks and walk around.
- Cons: None, unless you don’t like Italian food!
- Pros: SO, SO glad we went to La Jolla. It was a bit rainy when we left the hotel, but when we got to the beach, the rain had cleared and we got a great view of the cove. It was still a bit chilly and windy, but the view was so worth the messy hair. We watched the seals sunbathing and caught a spectacular sunset before we wandered through the shops and found Herringbone for drinks. We also stumbled through Hotel Valencia, it looked gorgeous, definitely worth looking into for future stays.
- Cons: A little out of the way from our hotel, it took about 20 minutes to get there; Parking was a little tricky, but we were able to find a spot relatively quickly. The beach area itself looked pretty limited, but hardly anyone was on the beach anyways given the chilly temps. We went on a Saturday night and by 9 PM it seemed like everything was dying down a bit, so if you’re wanting a busy night life scene, go to the Gaslamp District.
- Pros: Tons to check out here. The famous San Diego zoo is inside this park, as well as numerous architectural structures and museums, and a beautiful botanical garden, supposedly. At least, that’s what our concierge told us. Unfortunately the heavy rain and limited parking made us miss this park. We ended up driving through it and looked at all the cool buildings from the car. If we go back, we will definitely allocate at least a half day to explore this park.
- Cons: The parking! Not sure if there is another entrance that would have been better to go through, but we simply followed the signs and drove through 3 different parking lot areas that were totally full. This was the only time we really struggled to find a parking spot on our trip.
- Pros: Easily walkable area with ample food choices, from high-end to cheap street eats. Lots of bars and clubs, busy nightlife scene.
- Cons: We’re not in the clubbing stage of our lives anymore … so, we were in bed by 11 most nights, haha. We heard people screaming and shouting until 2-3 AM from our hotel room, which was not overly annoying, but keep it in mind when deciding where to stay if you like to turn in early like us.
- Pros: We LOVE food markets. We were first exposed to these when we went to Spain and loved them, so when we read that there was one at Liberty Station, we were so excited to check it out. On top of the food market, there are lots of little shops, beautiful picnic areas, and several art galleries. A cool spot for sure! Inside the food market, your options are limitless – Crepes, burgers, sausages, sandwiches, tacos, pizza, pasta, Thai, lobster rolls, poke bowls …. the list goes on. There’s also two coffee shops, two dessert/pastry shops, a deli, a cheese stand, a bar, and an outpost of the Stone Brewing Beer company. Highly recommend this spot.
- Cons: None! Check this place out!
We had such a blast on our trip! Hope this list is helpful for planning your upcoming San Diego trip!! Let us know what your favorite spots are.
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