Baby Moon: San Diego, CA
Last Month, Brian and I went on our baby moon trip to San Diego. Our first thought was going back to Sedona, AZ for the mild hikes and views followed by the great food we had last time. Check out our Adventure Time Sedona, Hiking and Foodie Plates. Due to covid and not what is going on in the world we decided on a place we could drive to that was not too far, but far enough to feel like a getaway!
Driving into San Diego on a Friday afternoon, we stopped by Pho Kitchen for lunch. It was a cloudy day, and I wanted to have some soup! We ordered the Fillet Mignon and All Protein Pho, which had everything except for shrimp and meatballs. We also ordered a side of egg rolls and spring rolls, which were great appetizers to start with!
Pho Kitchen: 5375 Napa St #104B San Diego, CA 92110
After we checked in & settled into our hotel room at the Westgate in downtown San Diego, we went downstairs for happy hour at the Westgate indoor dinning room. We sat in the dining room, which we had the whole room to ourselves with lovely french music playing and the lights dimmed. It was really romantic. We ordered the cheeseboard,a dirty martini, and a house ginger ale for me! I have to mention that this hotel is so beautiful, we felt like we were in France!
The Westgate Hotel: 1055 2nd Ave. San Diego, CA 92101
Once happy hour was over, we walked over to the Gaslamp Fish House for a late dinner. We had the oysters, crab cakes with wasabi aiole, and fresh salad, and the fish & chips! Always have to try the fish and chips to see what it is like. The portion was huge, it was more than enough for the 3 of us!
The great thing about the hotel we are staying at is the fact it is right in the middle of the downtown San Diego, parked at the hotel and getting some steps in. Starting with an Old Fashion for Brian and a Heineken Zero for myself. Ordered some appetizers and took in the sights of the city from our table.
The food we ordered at the Gaslamp Fish House is what you expect and want at a seafood place and it was great. The shelled oysters were super fresh and a pretty big size. The crab cakes seemed to be make in house due to the large clumps of crab meat in them and a softer form that fell apart. The star of the table was the Fish n Chips and how it was super crispy and tender on the inside but not oily. This is a good trait for fish and chips.
Gaslamp Fish House: 411 Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101
On Saturday, we drove to Coronado Island for the afternoon! Where we were staying in downtown had a lot of foodie places but just a little bit further away on Coronado Island was more to choose from and a huge tourist location. We were on the hunt for more seafood!
Baby boy wanted seafood so we went to Lobster West for their lobster & crab rolls from what we saw on yelp it looked to the best in the area.
Lobster West is a tiny place from what we thought about it online and all the good reviews and pictures. Normally there is seating inside and out but not currently. Simple and filling menu and sending you on your way to the beach which a short walk away. We ordered just about everything they had! Of course we got their lobster roll and the crab roll, there is an upgrade option called Boss Size for another $5-7 to add a double helping of meat to make it a tower! YES PLEASE! Another great treat here at Lobster West was the lobster grilled cheese. At home we have make grilled cheese with ham or bacon and that is good but this place has it with lobster, it was better than a bacon grilled cheese! On the side we tried the lobster bisque and the New England clam chowder, both were good but the clam chowder was the winner for us.
Lobster West: 1033 B Ave #102, Coronado, CA 92118
After strolling up and down the main street in Coronado, we stopped by Nado Gelato Cafe for some ice cream before walking down to the beach! I had coffee and sea salt caramel gelato, and Brian had the amaretto and strawberry gelato. Great little dessert after all that lobster.
While still on Coronado Island we walked along the beach and took the long way back to where we parked the car. This little island is a pretty place to visit and we will definitely have to come back to see all the places we missed this time. Time to head back to the hotel and get some rest and take more baby bump pictures for memories.
The Westgate Hotel is a nice place to stay at and like a mini apartment when it comes to the space and room we have, not cramped at all. We kinda got the idea to come here from another baby moon blog and created our own adventure here. While talking about what place to go for dinner Brian was saying just going to Jack in the Box because wee already went out for lunch, he better be joking! He later surprised me with dinner reservations for us at Nobu, what a relief! Nobu was just walk down the street from the hotel and always hard to get a table on the weekend.
Nobu San Diego is in the Gaslamp district which is full of bars and restaurants and most were sorta open during this crazy time. The places all had outdoor dinning and limited seating. We would recommend coming here yourself. When we were seated and greeted by our waiter he told us about the specials and what is the most popular items, was it an up sell and worth it, yes it was and we enjoyed every dish that came out to us.
Bring out the sashimi and sushi! The reason why I’m so excited about coming here is because Nobu has the best creative dishes and experience, also during this year 2020 makes it hard to go out to eat. First up was to get us started for the night with a bluefin and scallion roll paired up with a spicy scallop roll. Bluefin was one of the specials this night so we tried it out and it was good. Salmon and yellow tail sashimi with roe and we are off to a great start! Next up was the special our waiter told us about, Porcini Bluefin Toro sashimi with baked spinach. We were told how this would be super tender like pork belly or even the salmon belly but even better, since it is a special time why not!
This was so amazing how the fish just melted in our mouth and with the crispy spinach for some texture it was a good mix of flavors and textures to make us clean the plate right away! A plate like this of 5 pieces was only $54 but worth it!
Now for the new types of dishes we saw on the menu and it sparked our interest, Scallops and what is “Squid Pasta”? The scallops dish simple sounding on the menu but looked amazing and tasted so good. Seared scallops with sauteed mushrooms and sliced asparagus with a peppery savory sauce that brought it all together. I really need to sweet talk Brian into making this at home for me later. The second dish caught our attention and the waiter explained how it is no carb “squid pasta” so instead of wheat or flour based pasta it was sliced squid meat, great! So this dish was pasta type dish inspired but just squid, asparagus, mushrooms and sauce. The squid was not overcooked and chewy but soft like pasta! The sauce for the dish was like a lemony pepper flavor, again another creative dish from Nobu!
I love this squid pasta dish and want Brian to make this for me at home too! The last dish we got was the Yellowtail Collar which was baked and served with the roasted shishito peppers and lemon. Super juicy yellowtail meat and with some squeezed lemon and heat from the pepper this was a perfect finishing coarse for us. Not too full like a food coma but just right to call it a night.
Nobu: 207 5th Ave, San Diego, CA 92101
Sunday morning, we woke up at 4am to get ready for our drive to the Glamis Sand Dunes. We always wanted to go see it ourselves, and decided to make time to drive there to do a photoshoot for ourselves while we were there! It was a 2 hour drive, and rained on our way there. When we got there, it was super windy but had clear skies! It is such a beautiful place to see! It really brought us to a place where we felt like we were not in California anymore!
After our trip back, we took took a long nap, and got up for dessert! We drove to Extraordinary Desserts in Little Italy, and got a box togo to have after dinner! We ordered a Strawberry Danish Parisienne, a Cranberry Cheesecake Coffee Cake, and a Maple Pecan Croissant. The rule for dessert is to have it first or order it first before dinner! We took this back to our room so we had dessert ready for ourselves later in the night after our dinner.
Extraordinary Desserts: 1430 Union St. San Diego, CA 92101
Now that our dessert is secured and chilling in the hotel fridge we can head out to dinner. Still looking for the best seafood places in the area based on yelp and menu pictures we found our dinner location and it was nearby! We walked down Little Italy, and stopped for dinner at the Ironside Fish & Oyster. Daddy to be had a Gin Mojito, and I had a virgin mojito!
We ordered the Ironside “Bigger” Platter! It had 12 oysters, 8 colossal shrimps with old boy cajun seasoning, rock fish ceviche, shrimp aguachille, and a 1/2 lb chilled maine lobster. Lets did into this tower of a dinner!
After we finished the Ironside Bigger Platter Brian wanted to order more oysters or dessert but I had to remind him we had a big box of desserts back in the hotel room. We seemed to be in the restaurant for a short time for just the platter and leave but we were there for more than an hour. This place reminded us of our local oyster bar Fish on Tap in Pasadena, low lights and oysters stacked up. If you are in the Sand Diego are we suggest this place since there was a big menu and everybody should be able to find their favorites.
Ironside Fish and Oyster Bar: 1654 India St. San Diego, CA 92101
We got up Sunday morning, and walked over to the Aquavie Spa in our hotel for prenatal and pre-daddy massages! It was nice and relaxing for the both of us, the best way to end our trip before we headed back home.
On our way home, we decided to stop for lunch at Nonna’s Italian Comfort Food in Little Italy. We wanted to try Morning Glory, but the wait was so long so we walked down India Street, and found this spot that looked and smelled delicious to us! We ordered the Antipasto Misto appetizer plate- which had bruschetta, caprese, fried calamari, salami/proscuitto, and cheese! Also the Bucatini Carbonara, and the Polla PIcata!
I ordered the Bucatini Carbonara since I have been craving that lately and this was an amazing dish, mixing the creamy and flavorful notes of cheese and butter. Brian ordered the Polla Picata to compare to what he normally cooks and pick up some tricks to improve. This Picata was still using lemon and capers but also mushrooms to make it more savory. This was our late breakfast before we drove back home and this place would be great to come back for dinner and explore more of the menu.
Nonna + Zucchero: 1735 India St. San Diego, CA 92101
Looking back out this fun little trip during these crazy days it was well worth it for us. We got out of the house to explore and make so many memories as well. This was a #foodie trip and #napping trip for mommy basically. While we caught up with our busy work lives we had time to work on this blog to share and we had our baby right before Christmas. Check out our Instagram @the_brian_holt and Christmas Baby to see our little bundle of joy!
Thank you and hope you are all doing well!
