Free San Diego: It’s More Than Just Sea, Sand, And Sun Essay Example

California’s “third city” San Diego is oftentimes forgotten between San Francisco’s foggy weather, Golden Gate Bridge and tech industry connections; and Los Angeles’ sports teams, movie stars, and of course, Hollywood. To be sure, what San Diego is popularly known for, namely its beaches, its great weather, and its zoo, are hardly the attractions that provoke excitement and “must go” desire. Rather, the city’s attractions they seem to focus on rest and relaxation. Indeed, that is probably why San Diego is one of the top cities in the nation for conferences and conventions. Indeed, one of San Diego’s most famous landmarks is its convention center. Despite San Diego’s laid-back style and homey charm, however, is a truly energetic city that is every bit as exciting and interesting as its larger neighbors to the north. To really experience these aspects of San Diego, one should consider trying some of the city’s varied restaurant and culinary offerings. Two restaurants that are illustrative of San Diego’s spirit are The Boiling Crab and Piatti.
If you like seafood, and even if you don’t, The Boiling Crab is the place to go while you are in San Diego. Located in Mira Mesa, which is about five miles northeast of downtown San Diego, to find the restaurant just look for its sign which displays a big red crab on in the middle of a white circle, surrounded by the words, “The Boiling Crab”. Upon entering and being seated, the first point that you will notice is that there are no plates or eating utensils on the table. Instead, as you are busy looking over the menu, the wait staff place a huge sheet of what seems like wax paper over the table and hands you a bib and a thick stack of napkins. When asked for the utensils, the waiter’s simple answer was, “you want need it”. As you later find out, it is true you will not need a plate, knife or fork, because almost everything that is eaten or drunk in the restaurant is served in disposable containers. As for the wax paper on the table, that simply to make it easier for you to eat, because the table it your plate.
Besides the unique eating arrangements, what you will quickly find to be The Boiling Crab’s best aspect is its menu. As mentioned, if you love seafood, you will not be disappointed at The Boiling Crab. The menu offers almost every type of shellfish below sea level including lobster, clams, mussels, shrimp, crawfish, and of course crab. To be sure, including seasonal crab, diners have a choice of no less than five types of crab such as snow crab, Dungeness crab, and king crab. Selecting the type of shellfish, you want to eat, however, is only the beginning. Once selected, diners have a wide choice of styles, flavors and processes to choose from in how they want their choice cooked and served. For instance, you can order crawfish cooked in Cajun sauce and extra spicy or shrimp in garlic sauce without any spices. If you do not like seafood, that is also no problem at the restaurant. They also have an extensive offering of land-based dishes such as sausage, fried chicken, hot wings, as well as French fries, corn, and a selection of soups. All dishes served at the restaurant are sold by the pound.
Most of the food, except for the soups, condiments and fried dishes, are served to dinners in large plastic bags. To eat, you just tear open the bag, pour the contents onto the table and begin feeding yourself using your hands. All in all, The Boiling Crab was an enjoyable meal and experience that is best done in or with a larger group, as that allows for a more diverse choice of foods to eat together.
If The Boiling Crab offers a glimpse into San Diego’s wild side, Piatti allows one to experience its more formal but no less interesting side. Piatti, which is located a few feet from the beach in La Jolla near to the University of California at San Diego, offers traditional Italian cuisine that emphasizes a wide seafood selection. The first point about the restaurant that you notice is that it does not seem like a restaurant at all. To be sure, without it’s big red sign, one might think that it was a private residence on the beach. That is to say, it seems that the restaurant was originally a residential house that was converted to a restaurant.
One of the more interesting aspects of Piatti is its open kitchen, where diners can see the chef and cook staff actually preparing their meals in real time. Not only does this make the dining experience more interesting in that diners can satisfy any curiosities that they may have as to how a dish is made, or what types of ingredients might be included but also helps provide a more “homey” atmosphere to the restaurant, just as if you were eating over at a friend’s house. In addition, it also eliminates the barrier in most restaurants between the chefs and the customers. During, my visit, the chef actually came over to ask how I liked the dish. I also heard him ask another customer how he wanted his dish. What is better than a quality meal cooked to your specifications by the chef himself. In addition, to the open kitchen, the other interesting physical aspect of Piatti is its outdoor dining areas at the entrance and in the rear of the building. The back outdoor area is especially impressive in that it is dominated by a huge tree that provides ample shade for much of the dining area.
As to ordering a meal, Piatti has two main menus; one for lunch and one for dinner, and both of which are quite extensive. The dinner menu, which was the one that I ordered from, offers everything from antipasti to dessert. It includes a number of traditionally known Italian dishes such as spaghetti, lasagna, and linguine. It also offers a number of unique dishes including Cavatappi, which is a pasta dish with sausage, spinach, mushrooms and roasted tomatoes; as well as saffron pappardelle which is also a pasta dish with shrimp, lemon, chili flakes and arugula. Perhaps Piatti’s best known meal, however, is its pizza selection. To be sure, Piatti offers four styles of pizza throughout the day including the traditional Margherita as well as one with a simple topping of mozzarella, garlic pesto, and goat cheese. Piatti’s pizzas are served in the classic single serving pizza style that is common in Italy.
In addition to the two main menus, Piatti also has two smaller menus; one for brunch and one composed entirely of gluten free meals. The brunch menu includes a choice between sweet and savory dishes such as Crostini Francese which is an Italian style “French toast” dish, or Pizza Bismark, which is a pizza topped with pancetta, fried eggs and leeks. The gluten free menu includes such dishes as grilled chicken, Italian artichokes and braised lamb all served with gluten free corn pasta.
In addition to San Diego’s restaurant scene, another way to find out about its exciting backstory is to explore its varied neighborhoods and districts. For example, walking around the Gaslamp Quarter, I found that there is an interesting mix of historic and modern San Diego. As the city center, it is also one of the more crowded areas at any time of the day. That is to say, you would not believe that San Diego is a laid-back city, if you only visited the Gaslamp Quarter. In my opinion, however, San Diego’s most interesting area, is La Jolla, which is about 10 miles to the northwest of the Gaslamp Quarter. Just as in downtown San Diego, but to a better degree, La Jolla seamlessly integrated its urban environment with the natural physical characteristics of its locations which includes, the ocean, the sea coast, and the hills that rise from it. Accordingly, from just about anywhere in the community you can have exhilarating views of the sea. Additionally, there are numerous ways access points throughout the city to its beaches. The La Jolla community also seems to be one of San Diego’s most diverse as a result of the University of California campus being located there.
This review was written for an audience of readers who: like to travel, have not traveled to San Diego previously, but might want to travel there in the future. Accordingly, the criteria for writing the review is to introduce several of the more unique aspects of the city, those aspects that would tend to attract travelers but that are outside of what travelers to the city normally tend to visit.