My adventures in San Diego come 1 week late as my VAIO laptop died on my recent trip so these posts are all "after the fact"...
Since I took a red-eye flight from HNL to SAN via LAX, I arrived 1 day early for the 71st Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association. So that meant a full day of filling up with sustenance. After checking my bag in (early check-in wasn't possible at 8:30am) at the Ramada Gaslamp (formerly known as the St James Hotel), I headed right next door to Brian's 24 - the restaurant associated with the Ramada. As their name indicates, they are open 24 hours a day and serve breakfast all day. They have an extensive menu but I ordered something I usually don't have at home - Biscuits and Gravy. Only these weren't your average biscuits and gravy. They included 2 large buttery biscuits smothered in sausage gravy with 2 eggs and either 2 strips of bacon or sausage and included unlimited home fries.
After finishing most of my breakfast, I headed to the Westfield Horton Plaza several blocks away to walk off some of my breakfast... okay, maybe I only walked off the slice of watermelon and pineapple. A little after lunch I headed back to the Ramada to check-in. After finally settling in and unpacking, I decided which symposia I would be attending over the next 5 days. Then at about 3:00pm, the lack of sleep on the red-eye and lack of sustantial caffeine finally caught up with me. I was ready to bonk! But my philosophy with red-eye flights is "stay awake at least until the sun goes down". Otherwise you feel that jet lag and never recover - waiting at least until it starts getting dark before retiring seems to reset your circadian rhythm for the new time zone. But therein lies the problem. Many restaurants close after lunch and don't reopen until 5:00pm. Don't think I can stay awake for 2 hours just watching TV. Then I found Taste & Thirst which starts Happy Hour at 3:00pm (which lasts until 8:00pm) with 50% off all drinks. Since I still wasn't very hungry after my fill of buttery biscuits and cream gravy, I simply ordered locals brews and an order of their Truffle Fries. The fries themselves were very good though the truffle flavor didn't come through very much (you have to refrigerate truffle upon opening to maintain the "truffle" flavor).
At this point, it was only a little past 4:00pm with several restaurants I wanted to try still not open so I moseyed over to Analog Bar whose motto is "Good Food Strong Drinks" and who starts Happy Hour at 4:00pm. Of course at this point, the tank is really filling up with biscuits, gravy, beer and fries. Though I still haven't had any veggies for the day... So I ordered the Popcorn Brussel Sprouts which were flash fried fresh sprouts with Parmesan bread crumbs and bacon bits. Along with a glass of Greg Norman Pinot Noir, Analog Bar completed my trifecta of copious consumption for the day.
Now to start the conference... and decide where to dine tomorrow...
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