One year later, Cafe 21 Gaslamp birthday dinner + dessert @ Ocean Pacific Grille

One year later...

we were here at Cafe 21 once more...

Return to Ocean Pacific Grille

[Update - OPG is now closed as of December 2016. Sad panda]

I'd been meaning to post this much earlier but as you have it...

life gets in the way and thus, I have a huge backlog of posts...

A belated Valentine's dinner with the Educator GF's was pushed back to early March...

Pre-Birthday Food Crawl - Stop 4: Dessert @ Le Parfait Paris, downtown

The day started off sunny then got a tiny bit overcast, which was fine with me.

I find that even cloud cover makes for better photos (no harsh shadows as with sunlight). The sun would peek out now and then...

The ladies hadn't been here yet and I was curious to try something new...

KD's Birthday brunch @ Ocean Pacific Grille

[Sadly, Ocean Pacific Grille is now CLOSED, as of December 2016 - Sadness]

Yesterday, the Educator GF's (me, TORC and D) celebrated KD's birthday...

and as they usually do, let me plan the itinerary for today which brought us to the Gaslamp for brunch...

Zymology 21

[Update - This place is CLOSED as of April 2016. However, their booths with the hexagonal quilting live on at Cafe 21 on Adams]

Friday night was date night...

TC was at a youth group retreat and after dropping her off, we headed to the dreaded Gaslamp Quarter.

to give Zymology a try...

Crocevia Coffee plus better coffee AND service at WestBean downtown

Several days ago we had to do a few errands downtown...

If you take the 94 and head west, this is what you'll see at the end...Horton Plaza.

We strategically parked near Nordy's (they have nice bathrooms) and the stairs...

Pre-Birthday Dinner at Cafe 21 + dessert at Le Parfait Paris

Earlier this evening, Bert, TC and I went out for my pre-birthday dinner...

which was at Cafe 21 in the Gaslamp...

Pre-show dessert at Le Parfait Paris

We had more than an hour and a half to kill before the show started so...

we headed over to Le Parfait Paris just a few blocks away.

Thai Time, downtown

A few weeks ago, Bert and I had a very light dinner here...

Thai Time is right around the corner from the Spreckel's Theatre where we would be watching the Nations Dance Festival...

Panera + St. Tropez Bistro, downtown

Our coffees at WestBean were so good, I was already thinking of when we'd come back!

We all didn't really eat breakfast yet, so we headed over to Panera to get TC's first before ours...

Next to Panera by Horton Plaza is this statue of Pete Wilson...

Sultan Baklava is back, Gaslamp Quarter

Last weekend, I met up with Kirbie for lunch...

We were both curious and excited to try the newly opened Sultan Baklava,

after having dined at their previous location in El Cajon in the past. Parking is convenient at nearby Horton Plaza and just a short walk to Sultan which took the place of the old Sammy's Woodfired Pizza...

Return to Le Parfait Paris

TC had dress rehearsal downtown for the big show.

Being downtown meant another opportunity for me to kill time, and visit Le Parfait once more...

Downtown Eats - Panera, The Hub Market and Starbucks

Once again, while TC was doing dress rehearsals, we grabbed a quick bite nearby...

Believe it or not, I've never been to a Panera...

Le Parfait Paris, Gaslamp Quarter

I read online that the downtown location of Le Parfait Paris had finally opened...

which meant a convenient visit, since Bert and I had free time that morning since TC was at dance practice.  If you plan to brave downtown, it's not that bad in the early morning and you can park in the Horton Plaza parking garage...

Happy Hour @ Cafe 21, Gaslamp

As mentioned previously, I would be going out with three gal pals from the gym for yet another belated birthday celebration...this time, in the (dreaded) Gaslamp Quarter.

It actually wasn't so bad, now that Cafe 21 has taken over Croce's spot at the Keating Building. Parking is free (for three hours at least) at Horton Plaza and walkable...

McCormick & Schmick's

We were back to square one, near the Gaslamp Quarter trolley stop...

which was conveniently located next to the Omni Hotel which housed the restaurant for which we would use our gift card...

Trolley Adventure: Part 2 - Cafe Istanbul, the Chinese New Year Festival, & the Gaslamp

So yeah, no visit to Hustler for us!

Bert chose Cafe Istanbul for lunch because he wanted to have something Mediterranean. The other choices were pizza (eh) and Thai (which TC wanted).

miXtape

A few weekends ago, TORC and I went out to see a play that we'd been wanting to see forever, "miXtape"...

We were curious to hear and see how the 80's would be interpreted.

Little did we know that we would run into another type of "retro" that evening...

In fact, this was the last few minutes of the Fall Back Festival, which served two purposes. The "Fall Back" referred to the Daylight Savings Time Change, while it also referred to San Diego's olden days, hence the many folks in period costume. The food and game booths were being taken down as we walked towards the Horton Grand Theater. It was kind of neat to see guys dressed up like cowboys, complete with Wild Bill Hickock style moustaches.

The Almost Groupon and wandering around the East Village in the Gaslamp

Last weekend, Bert and I wanted to use a coupon I got to this wine bar downtown. We even had TC over at her cousin's so that it would just be the two of us...

Here's the view driving west on Harbor approaching downtown...

Getting closer, hey, it's Petco Park!

The trolley just went by...do you see it?

After you pass Petco, you see the Omni Hotel. If I had known ahead of time about our "mishap", I would have brought this giftcard I had from McCormick and Schmick's which is located in the Omni.

We turned off of Harbor and passed under the Gaslamp arch. Forgot the name of the street, but it's the numbered one. Want to say 5th but am not sure.

Hey, it's back! The Old Spaghetti Factory, now sharing space with Dussini.

Street banners...

We finally found parking out in the East Village area. We parked across from these cool condos. Loved the boxy windows and colors. I think this was near J and 11th.

We wanted to check out this place, Toast Enoteca and Cucina, a wine bar.  Unfortunately, the asshole I spoke to on the phone was WRONG. I called a few days before inquiring about their weekend hours since they are not posted on their website. The guy told me they opened at 11:30 am. Well, the fucker must have been on autopilot because those are their weekday hours. There were no hours posted on their door or windows.

When I called the next day, a different person also said they were open at 11:30 on weekend but when I told him, well I was there yesterday and you were closed. He paused and said, "Oh, we are actually open at 4 pm on Saturdays and 5 pm on Sundays".!!!!! That would have been helpful YESTERDAY! So yeah, we were cockblocked by faulty information. The groupon I had was $10 for $25...

So, Bert and I walked over to Petco Park before trying to figure out where we would eat for lunch. Here's a cool statue of Mr. Padre himself, Tony Gwynn.

There's a mini baseball diamond at the Park by the Park. You can see the historic Western Metal Supply Co. building. Now that's where they have the bigwig VIP viewing rooms.

Bricks filled with donors' name...

When I see the words Urban Decay, I am reminded of this makeup brand of the same name. They had this cool nailpolish color I used to wear in the late 90's called Roach. It was a greenish brown metallic color. I think Urban Decay is still around too.

Put it this way, Bert and I got our morning exercise walking from the East Village up to Horton Plaza. We ended up eating at a place on 4th. I was wearing my high heeled boots too! I wanted to take them off and walk barefoot! They hurt that much walking all those blocks!