kalypso

Ah, MizD, don't ya know...................the absolutely horrid tap water in San Diego is just about the only food item unique to America's Finest City, complete with more minerals and heavy metals than you really want to think about . Your kidney's would probably reach glow-in-the-dark status far quicker on the local water than on the diet delights you've been gulping. I have admit, though, it is fun to mess with the minds on some pretentious waiters by asking for plain old tap water when they all offer bottled or sparkling water.

I'll agree with this. Kirk's blog is terrific and he real is an intrepid eater.

As usually, I was responding a little to quickly and didn't exactly make myself clear The Chichilo I ate was actually prepared by either Roberto Santibanez or Ricardo Munoz as part of a class I was taking at Casa Cerro Segrado. The chile seeds that I watched Susanna Trilling and Abigail Mendoza burn off were for Black Mole. Same process, just a different mole. In any event, the Chichilo and both Mole Negros were all awesome.

Ah, Shelora, what memories you've rekindled. Great photos too, I should do as well with the camera. I've eaten at La Capilla twice. Once with a bunch of food (and quasi-food) people for a feast much like what you had. The second time was on a week day with 3 other folks and we ordered off the regular menu. Though the meals were completely different, both were quite good and throuoghly enjoyable. Totally relaxing place; good food, good drinks and good conversation. I could easily loose several hours there and not even care.

My chichilo recipe comes from either Ricardo Munoz or Roberto Santibanez, can't remember which right off the top of my head. I'll e-mail it to you later on tonight.

Hola MizDucky, or perhaps I should make that welcom to the hood I'm about 4 miles Northeast of your new digs. You will love IMFs. A little spendy, but I've never had a bad piece of meat from them. Here's the skinny on Iowa Meats. Local restauranteur David Cohn is from originally from Souix City, IA. When he moved to SD he opened Iowa Meat Farms and went into the meat business. It was slow at first so he got the idea to open a restaurant to supplement the meat biz. So was birthed the Corvette Diner, a favorite local joint. Both IMFs and the Cohn restaurant empire grew from there. Did you know that the Cohns also own Sisel's Meats in Bay Park as well? Their steaks are good, their pork even better. Try the thick, slab bacon and breakfast sausage. They also have an amazing selection of jarred and bottled sauces of every imaginable variety; probably the widest, most complete selection in SD. Plus, their butchers are knowledgable about how to cook each piece of meat they sell and will gladly give you instructions. A few blocks down the street from IMFs is Farmer's Outlet which is a pretty decent vegetable market with a good choice of Middle Eastern and Mexican ingredients. Mission Gorge Rd. is home to every fast food franchise you can imagine. But tucked away in the sea of strip malls are a few interesting independents. You can get a pretty good sushi fix at Jump Tokoyo, which is right next door to SD Brewing Company, whose beer is pretty good. Happy Chef and Mandarin Szchewan will do for Chinese in a pinch, well actually, the lunch special at Mandarin Szchewan is pretty decent, but you'll never mistake it for Convoy St. For checkered tablecloth style Italian you're less than 5 mintues from 2 of San Diego's oldest establishments, Nicolosi's and Fillipi's. If you go to Fillipi's it's right next door to the seductively named Camel's Breath Inn, and if you go there, I want, no I demand, a full report But for really good Italian, try Trattoria Antica in the Von's shopping center on Lake Murry Blvd. , which will be less than 10 mintues from your door. Or keep driving East on Mission Gorge until you get to Santee and try Trattoria di VI, the best kept dining secret in East County. Oh, and let's not forget Longhorn's for burgers and Troy for Greek, also been around 25+ years or so. You're entering suberbia where real hole in the wall dining does exist, but you're gonna have to ferret it out.

Hi Caarina Chichilo, my favorite of the 7 Oaxaqueno moles, and the one with the deepest, most sophisticated flavor profile The last chichilo I had was in Oaxaca and it was a deep rusty red color. It sounds like you were close with the color. Burning the volatile oils off the chile seeds isn't that difficult, but it does require good ventilation. I've seen both Susanna Trilling and Abigail Mendoza do it and they basically used the same method, i.e. begin toasting on a comal, and then ignite the seeds with a match and allow the fire to burn out. Both burned their seeds outdoors. I've had good luck toasting chile and chile seeds using a wok over the highest heat I can coax out of my poor old electric range. I didn't have to ignite them but discovered that the constant movement around a wok seemed to do the trick pretty well. The gag reflex kind of indicated that the volatile oils were being burned off. This really is something best done outside. Got propane?

I know there aren't a whole lot of we San Diegans here in this forum, but last night kicked off Restaurant Week and I'm curious to know who's been where, how it was and what you thought. A friend and I dined at Arterra last night. I lived in the Bay Area for 10 years and One Market was one of my favorite places. So, I was very interested to see how Bradley Ogden's Southern California outpost in a Marriott hotel rated. I am delighted to say that I walked away happy. The apps for RW were a choice between a Point Reyes Station Blue Cheese Souffle w/ a Frisee Salad w/Pear, Apple and Sugared Nuts or a creamy Celery Root Soup garnished with Creme Fraiche and Meyer Lemon with a Lobster Ravioli floating in it. Both starters were a hit. The blue cheese souffle was etherally light, sharp and tangy, plus it was the perfect enhancement to the small salad. The soup was very subtle and the lobster ravioli provided little bursts of fresh briny flavor to keep it interesting. The two entrees offered were a Miso Glazed Black Cod and Braised Short Ribs Wellington. We both opted to go with the short ribs. A puff pastry shell was filled with an extremely tender and savory melange of roasted mushrooms and rich, braised short ribs and topped off with two crispy strips of lean bacon and a few sprinkles of more of that luscious Point Reyes blue cheese. The bacon was an inspired touch, but the blue cheese seemed a little out of step with the rest of the components of the dish. My dining companion agreed but since we both dearly love blue cheese, it didn't really matter. And besides, as part of a $30 meal, it was a heck of a nice entree. There were some nicely roasted baby vegetables in a balsamic reduction/glaze rounding out the plate. Dessert was a choice of either a Valhrona Chocolate Souffle Tart with Chocolate Tuile and Vanilla/Port Ice Cream, or a Toffee Crunch Date Cake with Coconut and Pear. We both ordered the date cake, but one of each dessert was delivered to the table (the only service bobble of the evening). We decided to keep the chocolate souffle tart so that we could try both desserts. The chocolate was beyond rich and decadent. It was, in fact, so chocolately and intensely, insanely rich that neither one of us could do it justice and we ended up leaving half of it. And the port/vanilla ice cream not so tasty. It had kind of a medicinal taste and didn't really do much to set off the chocolate in the tart. The date cake, otho, was quite good. It was moist, light and not cloyingly sweet as some date confections tend to be. It reminded me a little of the date and macademia cake served by JSix which is really brilliant. Arterra has an interesting wine list composed of almost all domestic wines. There were a couple options from the Valle de Guadalupe in Baja, but everything else was from the U.S. Wine list prices run the gamut from pricey to extraordinarily pricey. Normal menu prices are in the $9-16 range for starters and in the $27-37 range for entrees. The meal accomoplished what RW is supposed to accomplish. It made me want to go back and try the regular menu. Unfortunately, Arterra is in Del Mar and I'm not, and I'm not sure how willing I am to fight traffic to get there. I've got Laurel coming up Thursday and Nine-Ten on Friday. So, any one else, what are your plans for Restaruant Week?

Yep, Ricardo is dedicated to promoting Mexican food as a patrimony. I didn't know about the cups he serves his chocolate in, but I have had his chocolate tamale. In fact, I made chocolate tamales with him last year for a fund raiser . I've had the opportunity to study/cook with him off and on for the last couple of years. Amazing resource. Rick Bayless and Diana Kennedy get all the press, but Ricardo is probably Mexico's best not-so-well-kept cooking secret and Cafe Azul y Oro is one of the real hidden gems of Mexico City dining. I'll be in Florence for a week in May and after reading your previous post, I made a mental note to be sure to try the hot chocolate while I'm there.

A couple of Mexican favorites Valentina, from the state of Jalisco I believe, and readily available here in San Diego. Gold lable is the regular stuff, black lable the very hot stuff. Purepecha brand from a small producer in the state of Michoacan, not available in the U.S., and hard to find outside of Michoacan. This is, without a doubt, the single best chipotle sauce I've ever tasted. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of taking my only bottle to work with me and 15 other people also thought it was the single be chipotle hot sauce they'd ever tasted and we killed the bottle at one lunch testing shrimp tacos

The absolute best hot chocolate I've ever had was at Cafe Azul y Oro on the campus of UNAM in Mexico City. In spite of being a water based version of hot chocolate it was thick, rich, impossibly creamy, utterly delicious and satisfying right down to the toes. Chef/owner Ricardo Munoz Zurita (who Time magazine named as one of the 25 most influencial people in Mexico in 2003) has his chocolate blended to his specifications by a company in Oaxaca. I suspect it may be Mayordomo, but don't quote me on that. There is no comparison to what Ricardo serves as Mexican hot choclate and what you get from using Abuelita or Ibarra. Ricardo's proprietary blend has a wonderful balance of chocolate, sugar, canela and nuts. It is not overly sweet or overly laden with excessive spice. I suspect technique may have also played a part in creating an end product that so beautifully showcases Mexican chocolate. I posted this version of Mexican hot chocolate that I make a few weeks ago in another thread. I use the semi-sweet Mayordomo chocolate which is available through Chocosphere if you can't get to Oaxaca . Add some cloves, chile flakes and a few drops of orange oil (or orange rind) to the milk (or water) while it is heating and steep for about 5-10 minutes. Add the Mayordomo chocolate and dissolve. Remove the cloves and tranfer to a blender. Whip on high speed until frothy. About 10 years ago or so Strabucks had a hot chocolate drink they called the Valencia, which was similar to this except without the chile flakes. Chuao Chocolatiers based in Encinitas, CA also makes a dynamite hot chocolate.

Carolyn This might be kind of a long short for you, but.................If I recall correctly you're in CA, right? Bear with me a sec while I explain. Years ago I did graduate work in Latin American Studies at UCLA. The program is interdisciplinary and you select 3 areas of specialization out of 33 possible ones. I had already been in the food industry about 10 years and knew that I wanted to incorporate that background into my work with Master's. I chose Anthropology, History and Folklore with the idea that I could use "food" and everything related to it as the basis for my papers and research. It actually worked out well and I only had a couple of classes where that wasn't an option. But where this is leading is, the Folklore department turned out to be not only a phenomenal resource but put the idea in my head that food history, culture, anthropology, sociology actually had an academic basis. What you all are referring to as Gastronomy here. UCLA offered both a Master's and PhD in Folklore and had I not been underfunded I would have actually persued the PhD. Dont' be put off by the term "folklore". We're not talking about tales like Hansel & Gretel or Greek Mythology (those are just one small aspect), but rather a whole discipline that looks at the traditions, culture and history of people and socieities from the personal, the day-to-day and a socio/economic/anthropological point of view. It's definitely not what you think. (And try explaining that one to you parents ) The Folklore department was folded into something called World Studies a number of years ago. If you go to the UCLA home page and search for World Studies you'll find the old Folklore department. They even had graduate level classes in food folklore that were wonderful. Most graduate level classes involve a reasonable about of indenpendent research and study. As long as your professor doesn't have a problem with a topic related to food - and in my experience, most didn't - you should be good to go. There is one other option that is a real long shot, but I'm going to mention it anyway. And that is The Pacific Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara. They offer, among other things, an MA and a PhD in Mythological Studies and they recently offered a new degree, an MA in Humanities. PGI is a fully accredited university with WASC, but it's rather alternative in it's approach. It's also home to the archives of both Joseph Campbell and Maria Gimbutas. If you're read any Campbell you know that he recognized the role food plays as more than just a way to sustaining life. Once again, Mythological Studies doesn't mean the study of "myths" per se, but rather what they mean in terms of history, archetypal imprinting and current lifestyles. I'm pretty sure that you could complete a Master's in either Mythological Studies or Humanities by designing your program around gastronomy, in fact, I'm pretty sure they'd even encourage you to do it. I've looked long and hard at Pacific Graduate Institute and the only thing stopping me is that it's very pricey, $19,000/year, and I'm not sure that at my age I want to incur $38,000 worth of debt. They do have significant student loan packages. I have a friend going to PGI right now in one of the MA Psych. programs and she's been extremely happy with her program. At an undergraduate level, yeah, gastronomy would be difficult to make fly. But at the graduate level because of the amount of independent work and research that is done, I'm pretty sure you can earn a degree with gastronomy as the specialty. These are just 2 schools that I'm aware of at which this could be possible. One main stream, the other not.

Marlena, what about roasting/toasting tomatoes, tomatillos and garlic before using? Also, have you included anything, even if it's only anecdotal, on the use of leaves such as avocado and hoja santa as ingredients and flavoring agents? Use of masa as a thickener?

If Kirk's recommendation for Chef City Restaurant Supply doesn't have what you're looking for, there is another Asian restaurant supply store next door to Super Cocina. That would be at the corner of Cherokee and University (around 37th St).

You all might get a chuckle from this review in the San Diego Reader. One of their reviewers actually did a column on hospital meals.

This sounds amazing. Where do you get Mexican hot chocolate? Pam ← You've got a number of options depending upon where you live and how well stocked your local grocery stores are. I travel to Mexico a lot and that's where I buy my chocolate. In the States the 2 most common brands are Ibarra or Abuelita. I prefer Ibarra, but neither one, unfortunately, is really very good. Mexican chocolate itself is a blend of chocolate, sugar, cinnamon and almonds. The proportions vary. Both Ibarra and Abuelita seem to be a little heavy on the sugar. But there is an alternative. Chocosphere sells MayorDomo chocolate from Oaxaca on-line, and it is good chocolate of the Mexican variety. I also picked up a brand called Popular in Monterey last year that I like a lot too. To make the Mexican hot chocolate the way I like it, you put a quart of milk in a sauce pan, add a generous pinch of red chile flakes, 4 or 5 whole cloves and a couple of drops of orange oil, or, lacking orange oil, a couple a swipes across an orange with a zester over the milk will do the trick as well. Slowly bring the milk to a scald. Add one bar of the MayorDomo chocolate and stir until the chocolate and the sugar in it dissolves. Fish out the whole cloves and pour about half the mixture into a blender, loosely put the lid on (or take out the insert in the lid if there is one), an blend until frothy. Pour into mugs. It's pretty easy, the chiles and orange are a nice compliment to the Mexican chocolate

Great topic, especially after the food frenzy of the recent holiday. For me -- Chilaquiles Carnitas Street tacos Caldo de Pollo or Caldo de Res Arroz con Leche Quesadillas made with corn masa not a flour tortilla Mexican hot chocolate made with the addition of a few chile flakes, a few cloves and a few drops of orange oil (yes, there is a trend here ) Also, Risotto Pizza Pho Almost any Asian noodle dish

Welcome to San Diego. With any luck you'll be here for the annual mid-January heat wave The pickin's are a bit slim on the cooking school piece, but San Diego does have a strong argicultural industry. Here are the primary cooking schools Great News is in Pacific Beach at Jewel and Garnett. It is a big cookwares store with a "state-of-the-art" kitchen in back where they hold cooking classes. They have multiple classes everyday on a wide range of topics. Their list of classes is on-line and the more popular classes tend to fill quickly. The Kitchen Witch is located in Encinitas, which is a little closer to Escondido than is Pacific Beach. Sur La Table is located in The Forum at Carlsbad. Sur La Table is also a big cookwares store and the Carlsbad location is just one of many. I believe this is the generic web site for Sur La Table classes, if you have to link to a specific store, click on any link that says Carlsbad and/or San Diego. Balboa Food & Wine Cooking School is in Balboa Park which is in the middle of metropolitan San Diego. The cooking school is above The Prado restaurant and only offers classes at night. The school is small, seats only 16 people and you're pretty much up close and personal with whoever is teaching the class. The Farmer's Market in Escondido is on Tuesday. I, however, am partial to the Wednesday market in Ocean Beach and the Sunday market in Hillcrest, neither of which is really at all close to Escondido. I like the OB market because of the ambiance and interesting people. There is also a cool little wine bar - The Vine - 1 blk. off the market at Bacon and Niagra. I like the Sunday market because you can usually find some weird and wonderful produce, not to mention some weird and wonderful jewelery (a girls gotta get her priorities straight sometimes ) A search on the farmer's market link above will also yield you information on the vaunted Chino Farms, produce purveyor to Alice Waters and Wolfgang Puck. But they sell to the rest of us as well. As far as I have been able to determine, they don't have a web site, but here's the rest of the info; Chino Farms 6123 Calzada del Bosque (off of Via de la Valle, S6) Rancho Santa Fe, CA (858) 756-3184 - for recorded information Tue - Sat: 10 AM - 4 PM Sun - 10 AM - 1 PM Closed on Monday People either love Chino Farms or they hate it, there doesn't seem to be much in between. But if you go, you'll be in the neighorhood of the Aniata Cheese Shop in Del Mar (just off Via de la Valle at the I-5, in the Flower Hill Mall, next to Tony Roma's restaurant). This is probably the best cheese shop in San Diego county and worth a visit. The variety is diverse and the staff patient and knowlegeable. They'll let you taste to your hearts content, plus be able to intelligently discuss each cheese with you that you're tasting. San Diego actually does have a long agricultural tradition having once been (if not still) the worlds largest producer of avocados. Right now SD is the second largest producer of macademia nuts, and you won't be too far from the heart of mac nut production, which is in Fallbrook and Vista. Fallbrook has any number of small producers of almost everything imaginable. You might be interested in checking out La Vigne Enterprises, Inc in Fallbrook. Not only do they produce certified organic exotic fruits they are also certified biodynamic as well as certified Kosher. I can't begin to remember the variety of fruits that they grow, but I know kumquats, kaffir limes and guavas are among them. The folks at La Vigne work with the guys over at Tierra Miguel which is a local CSA, or Community Supported Agricultural farm. Tierra Miguel is also a biodynamic operation and they can give you a much, much better and clearer explanation than I could at this point . CSA is a terrific concept whereby the non-farmers among us can subscribe to a farm's production. The money supports small, local farmers by helping to defray costs and overhead. The subscriber gets a weekly (or bi-monthly) box of the fresh produce the farmer grows. A very cool concept that lets consumers support local agriculture and receive produce that is usually only hours old in return for the support. Riko Bartolome is the chef/owner of Asia-Vous which is located at 417 Grand Ave. in Escondido. Riko is a native San Diegan and strives to support and promote the local farmers and growers. Riko is a CIA grad and has cooked in a number of highly regarded places around town. He put 150 Grand, also in Escondido, on the map before moving to the W Hotel in downtown San Diego, and then eventually back up to Escondido to open Asia-Vous. He's talented, inventive and creative. The restaurant is dark on Monday's, it would be worth contacting him to see if he'd be willing to help you out. He's pretty well plugged in to the food community here in SD, if he can't help you, then perhaps he could refer you to someone else. Enjoy your visit, we're not called America's Finest City for nothing.

When I lived and worked in the Bay Area I frequently used Economy Restaurant Supply, East Bay and Castino. I liked all 3 and got good service and advice from each one. I particularly liked the customer service/design assistance from Economy. I love Montague ovens and won't buy anything else when I'm in the market for a convection oven. A little more expensive than other manufacturers to be sure, but they are exceptionally well built and will last almost forever with very few breakdowns. Montague is located in Hayward, have you investigated buying direct from their manufacturing plant there?

Wow, Russell, thanks for taking the time to enter all those links. Now I feel like a heel for not doing it myself Yes, the dining scene in SD has changed a lot in recent years. It doesn't rival NYC, SF, Chicago or even LA by any stretch of the imagination, but then again, San Diego isn't that kinda town to start with. The Gaslamp is nearly all restaurants. Certainly not all of them are fine dining restaurants, but it's not that difficult now to find a relatively decent meal downtown or in La Jolla. A little judicious selection is all it takes. Thanks again for your efforts in entering my list. And no, I don't think that Maitre 'D has a web page. It's one of those really old school, clubby places where they're happy with their current (well heeled) clientele and do not need to actively solicit additional business.

I have a ton of cookbooks, I've been collecting for FAR too long . Some I got for their research value, some because the photography is food porn and too beautiful to ignore, some because I know the authors, some because I'm interested in the approach and some because I really want to cook from them. Mexican food is my primary focus so I've cooked a lot from Diana Kennedy's Cuisines of Mexico and Authentic Mexican Cooking. I've also cooked a lot from my Rick Bayless cookbooks, particularly Mexican Kitchen, Salsa's that Cook and One Plate at a Time. I am currently working my way through his new one Everyday Mexican which so far has been pretty good. Oddly enough, Salsa's that Cook is my fav of his lot. The reality is that usually I'll check both authors and pick one recipe for the basic concept then modify it with ideas, suggestions, different quantities from the other. For baking, cookies, desserts, etc. I use a 1945 edition of The Better Homes and Garden's, 3-ring cookbook. Definitely not fancy, but the recipes are structurally very sound and work every time. Plus they're easy to modify and make your own. I've also cooked from Charlie Trotter's Kitchen Session and Cooks at Home with moderate success. Other than that, I use most of my cookbooks primarily for inspiration and a little preliminary guidance.

No, Laurel would not be considered too romantic for dinner. In addition to the wonderful suggestions already posted, here a few more (in no particular order) that are closer to downtown. Bertrands at Mister A's Oceanaire Trattoria La Stada Top of the Market at the Fish Market Dobson's Acqua Al 2 The Palm (opened within the last 2 weeks) Blue Point Costal Dakota Grill (can sometimes be spotty) Azzura Point in Coronado at the Loewe's resort Peohe's (a notch, maybe two, down from fine dining, but truly spectacular view and you can take the water taxi over to Coronado and land right on their dock) Parallel 33 - also not fine dining in teh true sense of the phrase, but consistently some of the best and most interesting food in San Diego. A little further north -- Baci on Morena Blvd. off the I-5 Fresh (La Jolla) Donovan's Steak House Maitre'D Restaurant - I have not eaten here but a friend has and said the food is fabulous, impeccable service. I understand that it is a tough reservation to snag and frequented by old-school money. In addition to the above, all the major steakhouse players are represented in downtown San Diego - Flemings, Ruth Chris's, Morton's and, as noted above, The Palm just opened a couple of weeks ago to generally good reviews.

You guys are awesome! This has been a very interesting dicussion and I've been very impressed by the amount of thought each of you put into your comments, even the dissenting ones. This is typcially a topic that has a tendency to polarize people and points of view, particularly since it deals with the politization of food and feeding children. After all, even old Newt Gingrich got blindsided by the school lunch ladies I thought that many, many valid points were made or brought up. And I think as this discussion has demonstrated it isn't just one thing, there are lots of issues all intertwined. And there isn't an easy solution........well, yeah, we could blow it up and start all over again, but why reinvent the wheel. But solutions start with discussion like those that have happened on this thread over the last few days. I'd encourage those of you that feel strongly enough about this topic and the issues raised to raise your voices at the local school level and move the consciousness a little closer to sustainable change. Remember the movie Network - "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more". Same tactic just might work with child nutrition, it's at least worth a try. You guys rock, keep up the great work!!

Geographically San Diego covers a lot of territory, where will you be? Downtown, Mission Valley, La Jolla, Sorrento Valley or other parts north or south? Will you have a car?

How strict a vegetarian are you? San Diego isn't exactly a hotbed of vegetarian dining but I think there are a few pretty good options for you. Are you looking for upscale for dinner or something more moderate before you embark on the celebrating? Also will you have wheels or are you going to be limited to the downtown area? If you're willing hop in a cab and don't mind spending a bit of cash, you might consider Laurel. This link should get you to their menu. You should also be able to access the web page and menu for Chive, which is in the Gaslamp and generally has very good food. Chive and Laurel are owned by the same folks. Terra restaurant in Hillcrest does a really nice job with vegetables and is quite reasonable. Their holiday menus are on their web site as a PDF file and it includes New Year's Eve. There is a notation on their New Year's menu that vegetarian options are available. I'd hop on that one, I sometimes think Terra does vegetables almost better than it does meat! Also a short ride from the downtown area is Parallel 33 which is one of my favorite restaurants in SD. They do not have a web site, but the phone number is (619) 260-0033, you could call and see if they can accommodate a vegetarian. Quality is consistent, prices are fair, service is friendly, relaxed and professional. I was last there in September for a special meal the chef was doing and it was, far and away, the best meal I've had in the 5 years I've been back in San Diego (my home town). Decidedly more downscale......okay a LOT more downscale is Pokez on the fringe of the Gaslamp. It is primarily vegetarian, Mexican vegetarian. People either like it or they don't. Pokez caters to a younger crowd (i.e. under 30) and hosts poetry slams and a wide range of music, most of local and alternative. And I don't know that I'd completely rule out the Westgate. They do a huge NYE party which I think is primarily buffet. Most buffets these days do seem to offer a better selection of vegetarian choices, even in San Diego. BTW, weather today is mild, hazy sun and around 70*