San Diego's Hot Spots To Dine!

There is a huge movement happening in San Diego - it is becoming a FOOD LOVER'S PARADISE! San Diego has so many HOT SPOTS now to dine at that it's hard to choose. No wonder people are going on weekend food crawls where they hire a limo and hit several places in succession. Eating has become an event! T.V. shows like Top Chef, Top Chef Masters, Hells Kitchen, Master Chef, The Taste, etc., have brought more and more amazing popular chefs to San Diego to open up restaurants. I love that we have so much selection, however, with that being said, it seems that advance reservations are always a must. Websites like opentable.com have made it convenient (and necessary) to go on line and make reservations in advance, and, earn dining points as well. I also recommend going to Yelp or Urban Spoon to read a few restaurant reviews - before you spend your hard earned money.
These new up and coming hot spots can also be very pricey! My reviews for San Diego, New York, Toronto and Los Angeles restaurants can be found at: http://www.urbanspoon.com/u/profile/360635

In addition to great restaurants there are great cooking classes! Last Sunday, I drove up to Los Angeles for a Meatball Mania cooking class at Firenze Osteria hosted by famed Top Chef Fabio Viviani. If you have never been to one of Fabio's classes - you simply must put it on your "to-do" list. The class is always sold out - they pack the restaurant and you are treated to a two-hour Fabio show which is highly entertaining (he's hilarious), and, you get to taste tapas-sized portions of the recipes he is demonstrating and leave with the recipes cards in hand. Fabio is extremely approachable - he continually walks around the room and gets up close and personal with his audience, answering any questions you may have. He also allows time afterwards for photos with him and he has no agenda with anyone taking cell phone pictures or videos during his demo. I also found out that YES - he is opening a restaurant in San Diego and he told me that it will be near Qualcomm Stadium WOOHOO!!!

Top Chef Fabio Viviani at work

Handsome & Very Funny!

Delicious Seafood

My most recent San Diego dinner dining experience was at Richard Blais' newest restaurant Juniper and Ivy in Little Italy (Kettner Blvd. not far from the airport). Talk about modern chique! I can see why he won Top Chef. I went with a group of girl friends and we had the best time. From the moment we walked in the door we could feel the lively atmosphere and we were treated like 'GOLD'. We were immediately offered a cocktail menu by a very handsome male server named Gino while we waited for our table in their comfortable sitting area. Gino was adorable and genuinely friendly, had a great attitude and made suggestions for fun cocktails. We all ordered a fruity concoction and I liked that we were not immediately rushed off to a table but rather given time to sit and sip them while we chatted. The entire evening went extremely well and from my perspective, it felt like the servers knew how to work together in harmony to provide seamlessly excellent service. Once we got to our table which was a comfortable horseshoe shaped type of cushioned booth, we ordered wine and a few appetizers to start. From there, we went on to sharing small plates of beautifully presented entres that were so delicious and quite complex! You can read my full review of Juniper & Ivy at Urban Spoon. Suffice it to say, it's pretty obvious that Juniper and Ivy is a hit with San Diego diners and will be here for the long haul!

Almost Too Pretty To Eat!

Juniper and Ivy

Top Chef Richard Blais

In addition to visiting new hot spots, I also like to re-visit some old favorites that have been around for years and have a standing reputation. Take for example, Il Fornaio in Del Mar. Today, I met a couple of my girlfriends there for a casual lunch. I had not been there in about five years. I was greeted by a bubbly hostess who informed me that the restaurant had recently been remodelled as it was 25 years old. I couldn't believe it. When we first sat down, we were attended to immediately by a server who took our drink order. We ordered glasses of sparkly Italian Prosecco and house rose. Soon after that, our server - the handsome Giorgio appeared and began to charm us with his knowledge of the menu - he was so attentive and was happy to give us many great suggestions. We ordered several dishes and were continually entertained throughout the meal by Giorgios energetic personality. It was a very fun time! The servers we so attentive that we didn't end up leaving until 3:00 p.m. I had a wonderful modern cobb salad that contained rotisserie roasted chicken, applewood smoked bacon, shaved parmesan and fresh greens dressed in a bright balsamic vinaigrette. We also shared a delicious sampler dessert plate that had 3 different house favorite desserts on it including a rich coffee infused tiramisu and fresh tangerine sorbet. It was all in all a 5-star dining experience and I will definitely be back!