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4701 Ruffin Road, San Diego, CA 92123 (858) 715-6400
Studio Diner is more of an upscale joint than a Denny’s. It has a diner feel but without the unhappy kitsch that most 50’s diner replicas have. Their food is pretty good, though a bit pricey.
Located on the premises of the Stu Segall studios in San Diego (where they shoot actual TV shows), they’re open 24 hours and definitely a decent place for late night eats.
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3343 Adams Ave, San Diego, CA 92116 (619) 282-0437
Lestat’s is a decent coffee house — they serve good coffee, espresso drinks, sandwiches, and pastries. They’re also open 24 hours a day, have free wi-fi, and located on Adams Avenue near several used bookstores and antique stores. Many nights they also have a performer or two — check the calendar.
The decor is semi-gothic, but I haven’t actually been there at night to see what sort of clientele it attracts — during the day it appear to be “the normal people”.
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3628 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA 92103 (619) 298-4646
Hash House a Go Go is a great restaurant for any meal. We primarily go for breakfast — my favorite is the Sage Fried Chicken Benedict, a tower of food with mashed potatoes, Andy’s famous biscuits, mozzarella cheese, fried chicken, and eggs all stacked and held together by the Hash House trademark spike of rosemary. That, along with a S’mores Mocha (an espresso mocha with a graham cracker soaking in it, topped by brulee’d marshmallow creme) makes it a complete breakfast.
They’re quite good for dinner, too — we’ve never been disappointed by any meal. Always go expecting to take half your entree home with you, though — the platters are two and a half feet wide and filled with food. Our dogs love when we go to this restaurant, too.
Invariably there will be a line of people out the door, but the food is worth the wait (sometimes 1+ hour in the morning, less in the evening).
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4445 Lamont Street, Pacific Beach San Diego, CA 92109 (858) 270-3060
Hours:
Mon-Fri 5:30PM-10PM
Sat-Sun 5PM-10PM
Lamont Street Grill is a great sit-down restaurant that fits the bill for when you want a nice restaurant with good food but down-to-earth staff and prices.
We’ve been going to Lamont Street Grill for at least 7 or 8 years now; we’ll go on a whim, to celebrate something, and we’ve even had business dinners there. Hidden in a former house between Grand and Garnet in Pacific Beach, it can be full, but doesn’t always get crowded.
The chef at Lamont Street designed all the dishes, and while everything is good, he’s best known for his soups. Every night the soup is different; even if the combination of items in the soup sounds odd, try it anyway, as chances are it’ll be good.
In addition to the food, there’s a full bar, in which they serve an excellent variety of martinis. I had my first chocolate martini at Lamont Street — the bartender was experimenting and gave me something new.
We’ll usually start with at least a couple of the appetizers. Lately we’ve been ordering the bleu-cheese mushroom caps — mushrooms served in a cast-iron skillet filled with sizzling butter and melted bleu cheese. A friend of ours’ favorite is the won-ton-like spinach and roasted garlic cream cheese pillows. The sauces that come with the appetizers are as amazing as the soups, and we’ll often sop up the remainder with the fresh-baked bread that comes with the meal.
You also really can’t go wrong with the entrees. They’ll always have two different specials for the day, but the standbys are great too. We’ve had the filet mignon with roasted garlic whole grain mustard butter, the baby back ribs, baked chicken in a puff pastry, and the sauteed shrimp and scallops with gorgonzola over pasta.
One of our favorites that cycles on and off the menu is a spicy chicken on grilled romaine salad; even if this (or another dish) isn’t on the menu, though, ask your waiter — if they have the ingredients in the kitchen, chances are they’ll make the dish for you.
Last, you must make sure to save room for dessert. There’s a lovely variety, my favorite of which is the kahlua and cream cheese crepes, drizzled in caramel.
Lamont Street Grill is a great restaurant for pretty much any occasion, or no occasion at all, when you want decent food in a nice atmosphere.
350 University Ave. (at the corner of University and Fourth)
Hillcrest San Diego, CA 92103 (619) 683-9322 Map
Hours:
Mon-Sun
Bread & Cie is the storefront for what’s become one of the premier sources of bread for many upscale restaurants and grocery stores in San Diego.
The most obvious and best of their items is, of course, the bread. They have all sorts of types, including 3-raisin, black olive, jalapeno-cheese, rosemary, and multigrain, among others. There’s also a daily bread selecting, including goat cheese and garlic (Sunday), challah (Friday), and red pepper and corn(?) (Saturday).
We like it as a destination for breakfast or lunch. Our favorite is the bread plate, which gets you three huge (1 to 1.5 inches thick) slices of any of their breads (mix and match), and your choice of butter, cream cheese, and preserves. Or, you can grab one of their sandwiches — favorites are roast beef and horseradish cream, mozarella and mushroom, or peanut butter, mascarpone cheese, and jelly.
Being a bakery, they also have all sorts of lovely and interesting cakes, tarts, rolls, and pastries. We usually don’t stray too far from the bread, but all the pastries and such we’ve tried have always been wonderful.
As well, they provide a range of breakfasty beverages — coffee, tea, and espresso drinks, as well as orange juice, lemonade, and the standard sodas.
Bread & Cie also sells loaves and rolls of their bread; sometimes if we’re feeling the need, we’ll head down to Bread & Cie to have breakfast before work, and grab a couple of loaves to bring back to the office.
In terms of a wait, more often than not there is a line, and both the parking lot and seating are crowded — but people finish and leave fairly quickly, so the wait usually isn’t that bad. The food is definitely worth it. They also will make their items to go, and it appears that they’ll also do catering.
Bread & Cie is an excellent place for a small (but not light!), inexpensive breakfast, or an excellent lunch sandwich.
