San Diego, California

We were in San Diego for a few nights and I had planned on a trip to Phil’s BBQ. I don’t really think of San Diego as a barbecue town. It’s a fish taco town. I think I had my first fish taco there, and last year we had great, great fish tacos at Bluewater. But Phil’s, incredibly, has well over 10,000 Yelp reviews and a 4.5 star rating, so how could I miss it?  They also have very long lines, according to all reports, but I was thinking about short-cutting the process by getting carry-out during off hours and eating it on the hood of the car or somewhere else nearby.

I skipped Phil’s the first night because of the lines and because we were staying downtown with Liza, Mike, Hunter and Anne Rain, and I didn’t feel like driving any more. We all walked over to the Gaslamp Quarter armed with a couple of misguided recommendations from the concierge. We rejected those after looking in, but spotted Double Standard, an Italian place that looked promising and proved to be very good.  Try it.

The next day Nancy and I moved over to the Marriott Resort on Coronado. We got there before 1:00 pm, and, of course, our room wasn’t ready but – not of course – they comped our lunch. We had eaten a big breakfast so all I had was a shrimp cocktail. It was a revelation, really more of a ceviche than a traditional shrimp cocktail, a combination of lime juice, pico de gallo, shrimp, and magic.   We went elsewhere (the Islander on Coronado) for dinner, but the next day we both had the shrimp cocktail (and good fish tacos, very fresh and perfectly grilled). And I had the same thing for dinner — my third shrimp gazpacho in a day and  a half.

So much for Phil’s BBQ.   I may go there if I return to San Diego, but I will certainly have another shrimp cocktail. Maybe three.

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