We were so excited when we got to San Diego! The place we were staying at was just off the freeway in the Gaslamp District in downtown SD, seemed like a great location. Turns out, we were one block from the homeless mecca of California. Wow! We quickly realized we didn't want to be walking around after dark. Jeff even took off his watch on our walk to dinner. Pluses - the place was great, friendly staff, nice room, parking lot, can walk downtown, work out facility, close to Balboa Park. Minuses - not the best location.
Once we were settled in the room, we walked to 5th Avenue, where all the action is. There were lots of restaurants in a row, each with an attractive woman at the front who would try to get you to go to their restaurant by explaining the menu and specials. Kind of like a European vibe, but totally different. The Gaslamp District has a young-beachy-going-out feel to it. It's one step above Pacific Beach in San Diego, which is one step above Isla Vista. And I love it!
After looking at a few different menus, we settled on Panevino, an Italian restaurant that makes their own pasta. I'm a sucker for homemade pasta!
http://www.osteriapanevino.com/
Our server was great. He was from Italy and has a daughter named Eliana. Crazy! He was very helpful and friendly, and immediately brought out bread and avocado for Eliana so she could start her dinner. When I went to put Eliana into her high chair, I bonked her head on the table. She started screaming. This set the mood for the rest of our meal.
Even though almost every appetizer contained mozzarella, Jeff elected for us to share the Bruschetta con Pomodoro - bruschetta with tomatoes and capers. I wasn't impressed. Instead of being done on crustinis, it was done on a grilled flatbread. The bruschetta mixture didn't have a lot of flavor. As bruschetta usually is, it was messy, but because of the large flatbread pieces, it was messier than usual. Why didn't we get a mozzarella appetizer??? Those sounded great.
For my entree, I had Papperdelle con Speck. Speck is a type of pig product, mostly like prosciutto but harder. At least, that's how it was in this dish. There were also artichokes and peas, and it was done in a cream sauce. My dish was good, but it was WAY TOO RICH for me. I ate a third of it, and physically couldn't eat anymore.
Jeff ordered the Lasagna Bolognese. When it came out, it was very plain - just a small piece of lasagna on an otherwise empty plate. It wasn't as thick as I was expecting. I didn't try any, but Jeff thought it was good, much lighter than a traditional lasagna. He unfortunately had to quickly finish his dinner (again) because Eliana was sick and tired of sitting. This actually ended up being our worst night out at dinner for her :( Lots of crying and fussing. I think after the long car ride, she was done.
After dinner, we decided to go to Ghirardelli to give Eliana a treat after all her hard work (and we needed a treat too!!!). Now, we were talking the right language! An unsuccessful dinner turned into a very successful dessert :) When we walked in, they gave me their new flavor of salted caramel chocolate square to try. I recommend it. For ice cream, I had vanilla with dark chocolate fudge - Yum! Eliana had plain vanilla - Yum! Jeff had Rocky Road - Yum! Good ice cream can make everything better. The women who weren't working there weren't overly friendly, but we didn't care. Our evening had taken a turn for the better.
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