I was visiting San Diego this weekend, so I called my college pal, Jason, to see if he's available to hang out. He invited me to join him and his friends in Taste of Gaslamp on Saturday (6/17/2006). Being a foodie, of course I could not reject such invitation.
We met at the Will Call at 12:30PM and spent the next 4.5 hours eating through downtown Gaslamp. Most of the restaurant listed are medium priced ($15-$30 per entree) so the dishes are pretty descent and decor are very nice. Gawd, my stomach was ready to burst by 3PM. We end up sampled only half of the restaurants listed.
Of the restaurants we sampled, these are my favorites:
Sevilla (#16) – Their Espresso Cream Brulee was delicious. We went there toward the end of event so I was full and only ate one. But man, I wanted more (like TEN MORE). Furthermore, this restaurant provide dinner show (Flamenco, Tango, and Gypsy dance shows). After 9:30pm, it turned into a night club, Salsa dancing during week nights and regular/DJ club during weekend nights. I would love to go here again.
Stingaree(#19) -First restaurant we visited. The food was average but the decor and ambient of the place was very nice. On the roof top, there are little tents with plasma TV and bars. Inside the restaurant, there's a 32 feet water fountain wall in the middle. Very cool. I can totally see this place turn into a very trendy lounge during the night. I would love to bring a group of friends here and just hang out at the roof top.
Dussini Mediterranean Bistro (#22) – The sample Dussini provided was Penne Pasta with Saute Mushroom in Creamy Sauce. I dislike most US restaurants' creamy dishes because the sauce usually are too rich and greasy. However, the dish at Dussini was excellent. Now I want to go back to try their other cream sauce dishes.
Dakota Grill & Spirits (#11) – The sample was steak with veggies. The medium – rare steak was excellent. The restaurant has an old classy feeling to it, it would be a good place for business dinner. The pianist playing the piano for the diners was pretty good too.
Rama Thai (#26) – The sample was Thai curry (pork with bamboo shoot and bell peppers) with rice. I totally thought it would be just another average Thai dish but the dish turned out to be really good. Now I want to try more of their dishes.
Fleming's Steak House & Wine Bar (#27) – I wanted to go to Fleming's because there's a Fleming in Manhattan Beach that was suppose to be really good but I never been, and this is part of that chain. The sample was a cube of cooled fillet Mignon drizzle with rosemary and truffle oil sauce over grill zucchini. I prefer my entree hot, however, this dish was delicious. The meat just melted in my mouth. YUM!
Masala, Spices of India (#24) – I don't like Indian food because after 10+ tries, I still don't like most of the dishes (maybe I been order the wrong things but so far, I only found two dishes that I likes – the sweet milk ball thing and the grill chicken). The sampled Masala provided was (red) chicken curry with garbanzo bean and basmati rice. I actually like it and probably wouldn't mind too much if all Indian food taste that good. Everyone in the group love it and many plans to go back; a few proclaimed this is their favorite restaurant among all that we tried.
Additional Notes:
We did not went inside of Osetra (ran out of time) since a couple been there before. There is a TALL (3 stories high) wine bar in the middle of the restaurant. Supposedly, if you order a bottle of wine, the waitress would strap herself into a harness to retrieve the wine, a la cirque soleil style. I would go to there for dinner just to see that.
THIN is a lounge/club. The decor is very neat but the drink sample was horrible!!! Get drunk before you hit this club.
Belo Restaurant + Nightlife is in the basement, so it would be very hard to spot from the street. The decor is very warm (lots of bright orange, I like) and the shrimp sample was pretty good too.
Visions Restaurants + Lounge has Tuesday movie night where they show the latest movie release. The tables are separated by blinds and each table has its own plasma TV. The decor is very trendy, almost pretentious. (I did not try their sushi sample, was too full at this point). This would be a very cool place for a laid-back outing.
Conclusion:
"Taste of Gaslamp" is awesome. You get to try out THIRTY restaurants for only $25. It's a steal! If I have the chance, I would buy the two day pass ($40) because it is just too much food to digest in one day. There is also a similar event call "Taste of Hillcrest" and the guy who went highly recommended it. If you live in San Diego or plan to visit SD, you should look into trying both of these events.
