to do: eat in san diego

some of the offerings at chocolat on fifth ave (taken by camera phone) | san diego

i arrived in san diego yesterday to 80 degree weather (sorry dc'ers). during the superbowl, i had seen the forecast, but felt a little weird digging into my summer clothing storage for tank tops in february and decided against it. fail. people here are in shorts, tanks and flip flops. i'm poorly prepared in my short sleeved light sweaters and slacks - i am here for work after all. luckily the warmer weather only lasts until sunset, then it's a nice 65-70 degree evening. i LOVE it here.

miss danidee and i decided to have a catch up over sushi and sake in the gaslamp quarter last night. and instead of going to uber-chic [read: overpriced] nobu, we went to not-trying-as-hard, not-considered-as-chic, but uber tasty taka, known for it's "gourmet sushi" and authentic taste. needless to say, it was wonderful. we sat outside and enjoyed the weather while people watching and listening to a street performer in a full on double breasted suit (plus hat!) sing classic songs on the corner.

we tried to be adventurous and order a sushi style shrimp that apparently had a garnish of a shrimp's head with still moving antennae but since they were out of season, we opted to try a fresh quatro of seaweed salad. the seaweed was not like the usual marinated salad but instead fresh "kelp" (as dj called it when she saw it) with a sesame ginger dressing. the server warned us that some were adverse to the taste since it was pretty much tasted like sea. it was great! the textures of the different types seaweed were interesting and the sauce was a great compliment.

after ordering the usual favorites of unagi and salmon avocado, we opted to try special of bluetail tuna sashimi (it was so dark red that it was like magenta/purple ish). also, dj introduced me to a new taste of scallop sushi. raw scallops! who knew?! it was so fresh that it wasn't fishy, but so soft that it kinda just melted in your mouth. yum! this is the way sushi should be, everything was so fresh!

our meal was completed with a concoction that i learned from logorrheic - plum wine mixed with sake. since plum wine is so sweet, the sake mixes perfectly to make a tasty cocktail, with a great punch. surprise, you're tipsy!

finally, to top off the night, we had to check out the gelato place, chocolat (we had eyed it on our way up 5th ave). they sold all kinds of crepes and gelato, made from cocao from south america and africa. it was so pretty. and yummy. they had some more adventurous flavors but i opted for my favorite combination of chocolate hazelnut. dj ended up with two: a spicy chocolate and strawberry. this is a definite place to check out while walking around the gaslamp.

ok, time to work. more san diego to come later!