San Diego Gal--Erin Knows San Diego

Best of San Diego: Beer Week + New Restaurants!

San Diego Beer Week Starts Nov 6! My Picks for the can't miss bars, restaurants to visit during the festival:

Hamilton's -- great beer bar inSouth Park is doing a launch event for beer week with Karl Strauss this Friday.

Extraordinary Desserts -- They are hosting beer-dessert pairings. A sample from their website:

• Chocolate Truffle Loaf Cake made with Rogue Chocolate Stout finished with Chocolate Ganache Frosting. $6
• Warm Caramelized Apple Pie with House Made St. Peters Cream Stout Ice Cream. $10.95
• Coconut Porter Beer Float with Two Heaping Scoops of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Served with a Sprinkling of Oven-Roasted Coconut and Topped Maui Brewing Company’s Rich and Creamy Coconut Porter Beer. $9.95

 If you haven't been here in a while, it's time to make a visit! New menu items, cooking classes, etc.

Blind Lady Ale House -- Ballast Point night -- meet the brewer behind Yellowtail and get a pint glass to take home

New Restaurant News!

Counterpoint -- new wine bar, small plates spot in Golden Hill with local beer, wine. Always has a Loswt Abbey beer on tap (no website yet)

BICE -- new restaurant in the Gaslamp on 4th Ave (over by Oceanaire and Rama)

Kips -- new Japanese spot in Hillcrest. (no website yet)

Suite & Tender: Media Dinner, New Menu Additions

Met the new chef and tasted new menu items at Suite & Tender media event. Corndogs were spicy and perfect with cocktails in the lounge. New pok tenderloin (pictured) and lamb dishes on the menu upstairs. Virtually no one in the restaurant, other than the hosted media party : (

Food News This Week: 10/16/2008

A roundup of this week's local food news, media, soundbites and new restaurant reviews.

• Ms. Wise at The Reader reports on Tender Greens
• Her Tin Fork counterpart discusses pho
• Caroline Dipping dishes out table talk this week on AR Valentin, the new restaurant L'auberge and more (if superfluous) news and notes. With so little food staff anymore, I always wonder how they still manage a food section every Wed.
• The UT does manage a news story on the Chuey's sale
• mmm-yoso visits Ra Ka De Ka
• San Diego Mag reviews Venice in UTC and blogs on Chocolat Cremerie in the Gaslamp
• Gayot shows some updates, barely.
• GLT reveals Little Italy's best kept secret and profiles Babycakes owner
• Everyone waxes poetic about Top Chef Brian Malarkey's new blog at San Diego Mag.
• Citybeat's Candace Woo generates some juicy food news
• NY Times mentioned Linkery in a story on tipping policies

San Diego's 'Wolf' pack

Wolfgang Puck is town, in more ways that one. Jai by Wolfgang Puck just recently opened up in La Jolla at the Playhouse theater (Puck actually stayed in town for a few days and hosted a slew of us food writers for a fancy media lunch) and now one of his protege's from LA is opening his own spot Cresent Heights downtown. Jeff Thurston at the Prado also has ties to the celeb chef. Any other Wolf cubs I missed around town?

Cresent Heights restaurant opening (downtown San Diego)

Chef David McIntyre (a Wolfgang Puck protege) and his wife Mariah host an opening bash for their new restaurant Cresent Heights tonight in downtown San Diego at the end of Broadway. I'll stop in for a nibble and a cocktail and report more details tomorrow. I'm hoping Kevin O’Connor (director of wine at Spago) will be there, too, as I hear he helped create the wine list.

San Diego Gal's Goin' Out

Hello. Let's get right to it.

Busy week this week, with lots of 1st anniversary parties (remember what a crazy season for restaurant openings it was this time last year?) and then a few new openings, a CS event, and even some sad-to-see closings to report.

San Diego Gal this week:

Monday:  Lunch -- at Panevino downtown with an insider who says she has some 'dish' for me! Watch for news posted manana.

Tuesday: Marble Room opening after work

Wednesday: Urban Solace anniversary dinner, CS wine tasting at Grant Grill

Thursday: Crescent Heights opening, Pearl Hotel 1st anniversary party (not looking forward to the taxi fare in between the two!)

Friday: Dinner out in North Park for Ritual Tavern's 1st anniversary. (It's been way to long since we first visited)