Day 3, our last full day together in San Diego… It was bittersweet, but we made the most of it and even got to see some old friends I haven’t seen in a few years. We even found a place to watch the Bears game… with about 200 other Chicago Bears fans, which was awesome, except the Bears did horribly. But enough about the game, let’s talk food and our last day in San Diego.
I don’t think I can reiterate this enough, DO NOT TAKE CABS IN SAN DIEGO. To go 10.8 miles from the Manchester Grand Hyatt to the 710 Beach Club in Pacific Beach cost us $40! The UberX car that took us the same distance back cost $25. Granted I think there was an UberX promotion going on for a few weeks, it’s still a significant difference. Looking up the fare cards for Chicago compared to San Diego, Chicago charges $1.8 per mile and San Diego charges $2.6… that adds up quickly. So do yourself a favor and sign up for Uber or I think I heard Lyft is popular out there as well.
710 Beach Club Pacific Beach
A friend of mine from high school moved out to San Diego after graduating college so whenever I’m in town I try to see him (or crash on his couch). And since we didn’t know where to go for the Bears game he was able to suggest the 710 Beach Club which is a huge Chicago Bears bar in Pacific Beach, and conveniently a short bike ride from his house. It’s also steps from the ocean which made the day even better.
Yelp said the bar didn’t open until 11am, but there’s no way that was possible since the Bears games start at 10am west coast time. We got to the bar around 9:30am and it was already packed. There wasn’t a single empty seat in the house… Ok, that’s a lie, there were plenty of empty seats, but people were saving entire tables well after the game started. We managed to find a little ledge off to the side and one bar stool, and posted up there for the game. Guerric met us there shortly after. We had to get some food before we started drinking so I opted for their breakfast menu, which consists of a breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese and tater tots; it was delicious. Celeste and Liza chicken tenders and a quesadilla. It was basic bar food, but the breakfast burrito was delicious. Guerric upgraded his to the “philly cheesesteak breakfast burrito” which I regret not doing.
After breakfast the drinks started to flow, yet again, but I had to resort to drinking Sailor Jerry since they didn’t have Captain Morgan. Actually, come to think of it, a lot of places I tried to have a captain and coke at only had Sailor Jerry. It’s not a huge deal, but I do enjoy the taste of Captain Morgan. What can I say, I’m picky when it comes to my drinks too.
Just after half time we had another old friend, Amanda, meet up with us for a drink. She moved out to San Diego about 9 years ago to become a teacher, but comes back to Chicago a few times a year when the Cleveland Indians play the Chicago White Sox… to see her brother… Starting 2nd basemen for the Indians, Jason Kipnis. And believe me when I say athleticism runs in the family. Amanda had just played 2 softball games that morning and tried to recruit me to play in one that night. Celeste would have killed me if I went and played softball on our weekend vacation, so I had to pass, but how cool would it be to play right on the ocean; jealous. She only stuck around for one drink, as they had to go to the bar across the street to meet up with some friends for someones birthday, but I was glad we got to meet up. I think it’s been almost 2 years since I saw her, and her brothers, back in Chicago. So thanks for meeting up with us Amanda, great seeing you.
Since the Bears couldn’t pull out a win there was no reason to hang out at 710 to celebrate, so we ditched out and walked down the Pacific Beach Boardwalk. By this point Guerric’s friend Matt had joined us also and we were getting a bit hungry, and thirsty, so we made our way down to World Famous.
World Famous Pacific Beach
World Famous is more of a restaurant than a bar, but it’s right on the ocean and has a nice enclosed patio that we were able to get a seat in. We would have preferred if it was open air, but it was kind of nice to sit inside since it was super hot out on Sunday. The drinks started flowing again, but we definitely had to eat some more. I can’t remember what everyone had, but I opted for the simple bacon and eggs breakfast. The food was solid, as it’s hard to mess up breakfast food, and the drinks continued to flow. After a couple hours of hanging out and talking we had to get back to the hotel so that Liza could get ready to head to the airport to fly back to Vegas. She was leaving Sunday night, but I wasn’t leaving until Monday morning, and Celeste was staying until Thursday for her work conference.
After getting Liza safely in a cab and on her way, we hung out in the room for about an hour before yet again heading out to meet up with some friends that recently moved to San Diego. Chris and Steve moved out to San Diego for work a few months ago and have never looked back. We made our way back into the Gaslamp district for yet another meal of Mexican food, which is totally fine with me. This time we ended up at Fred’s Mexican Cafe.
Fred’s Mexican Cafe
Again, I’m sure there are better Mexican places in San Diego that aren’t mini-chains, but Chris and Steve seem to like this one and I’ll agree, it was pretty good. We got to sit outside on the patio, which is nice considering we probably won’t get to do that too much in Chicago anymore this season. So already they got a star in my book. The chips and salsa were good, the salsa wasn’t too spicy which I liked. I, again, went with old faithful the carne asada tacos, and they were delicious. Unlike some of the other places we went, the pieces of carne asada on the tacos were bigger chunks and cooked perfectly. There were no chewy pieces and everything tasted delicious. Celeste got the classic California burrito which is basically just a carne asada burrito, but with french fries in it. I can’t quite remember what Chris and Steve got, but I think Chris got some sort of enchilada which he liked.
I will say, even if Fred’s is more of a chain than some of the other places, the food was damn good. And don’t forget to get yourself a margarita, those were delicious as well. I probably could have sat there for another hour and had another drink, but my flight was at 7am the next morning so it was time to call it a night.
So that was the end of day 3 and the end of my stay in sunny San Diego. There is no doubt in my mind that Celeste and I will be back to visit again in the future, so if anyone has any other recommendations for places to eat, please pass them along.
And if you missed Day 1 and Day 2, you can check the out at the links below.
- Day 1 San Diego Food – Little Italy and Lucha Libre
- Day 2 San Diego Food – Snooze, Gaslamp, Searsucker
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