Tag Archives: Borderlines

Taste of Downtown Happening this Week

Posted on by
Reply

The food scene in downtown San Diego is eclectic, to say the least.  From sports bars to fine dining, from hot and trendy to long-existing chains, there’s a wide range of flavors and preparations, appealing to tourists and locals alike. Sample a bit of everything at the annual Taste of Downtown, on Thursday, Oct. 2 from 5-9pm, when over 50 restaurants in the Gaslamp Quarter, East Village, Financial district and at The Headquarters at Seaport Village, set out to entice you with bites of their best stuff. Some of the participating eateries include: Comun Kitchen & Tavern, The Blind Burro, Florent, Meze Greek Fusion, Royal India, Whiskey Girl, Zanzibar Café, Dobson’s Bar and Restaurant, and Eddie’V’s Prime Seafood. Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 day of, and available DowntownSanDiego.org.

Spreads & falafel at Meze Greek Fusion

Spreads & falafel at Meze Greek Fusion

Mexican style potstickers at Blind Burro

Mexican style potstickers at Blind Burro

 

Vegetable Samosas at Royal India

Vegetable Samosas at Royal India

Food Without Borders: Culinary Battles at Tijuana Innovadora Conference

Posted on by
Reply

By Wendy Lemlin

TI cover

Come October 18 and 19, there will be some cross-border battles raging in Tijuana— but don’t be alarmed; it’s a very good thing!  In fact you could say a delicious thing, as some of the finest chefs from San Diego and Tijuana compete in three separate Iron Chef-style competitions, or Batallas Culinarias, as part of the biennial Tijuana Innovadora Conference, which showcases innovation in technology, industry and culture. Continue reading →

Bravo for Zarco

Posted on by
Reply

By Wendy Lemlin

zarco

I’d be willing to wager that for most of you reading this, downtown Chula Vista is not the first place you’d think of—or at all— when deciding where to go for a fantastic dinner and amazing wine selection. Yeah, me neither—that is, until my recent visit to Zarco, Cocina De Baja, in the heart of Chula Vista’s 3rd Avenue shopping district. There, among shops whose windows display the most colorful of flouncy quinceanera dresses, Chef Flor Franco has converted the commercial kitchen of her highly successful Indulge Contemporary Catering company into a first rate showcase for her take on the much acclaimed cuisine and wines of Baja California. Continue reading →

Chef Showdown Competition to Raise Funds and Awareness for Center for Community Solutions Programs

Posted on by
Reply

by Wendy Lemlin

Chef Showdown_n

Ingrid Croce and Bernard Guillas will once again judge the culinary creations of competitors in the 10th Annual Chef Showdown.

To see “whose cuisine will reign supreme”, be sure to mark your calendar for the 10th annual Chef Showdown on Thursday, September 18th, when two teams of San Diego’s top chefs and mixologists will once again compete in an Iron Chef-style culinary battle, while an expected 5-600 guests will enjoy delectable tastings from 45 restaurants and specialty food and beverage vendors.  This one-of-a-kind fast paced, intense, and yet friendly competition will benefit the programs and services of Center for Community Solutions, a San Diego nonprofit that provides advocacy, legal support, healing and prevention services for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and elder abuse. Continue reading →

¡Latin Food Fest!

Posted on by
Reply

Latin logo

San Diego Hosts the Largest Latin Food, Wine & Spirits Event in the U.S.

By Wendy Lemlin

    It has passion, it has flavor, and it has sass. You could say it’s downright sexy. Latin cuisine is super hot in the culinary world these days, and we’re not just talking about the chiles that give heat to so many of the dishes.

Here in San Diego, we tend to think of Latin food as “Mexican”. The Latin world, however, is a big one, and the food of Spain is very different from the food of Peru, while Puerto Rican cuisine differs markedly from Argentinean.

To showcase the full diversity of flavors from Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America, on September 11-13, the 2nd annual ¡LATIN FOOD FEST!’s culinary extravaganza will take place in downtown San Diego, featuring some of the world’s best chefs, distillers and vintners, as well as the region’s top Latin restaurants. ¡LATIN FOOD FEST!  will once again educate palates and entertain patrons in high style at six events, including an Opening Party, Educational Seminars, Cocktail Parties, Chef Dinner, Chef Demonstrations on the Celebrity Cooking Stage, Silent Auctions, Culinary Grand Tasting Event, and Wine Reception. Continue reading →

Maui is For Lovers

Posted on by
Reply

by Wendy Lemlin

(Published in San Antonio Express-News, 8/24/14)

At the Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea, couples enjoy a blissful massage together Credit: Fairmont Kea Lani

To be perfectly honest, it’s darn near impossible not to feel romantic on Maui.  Maybe it’s the soft kisses of the tropical tradewinds on your cheeks, enticing with a subtle moistness, languid and energizing at the same time.  Maybe it’s the gentle perfume of plumeria, orchids, frangipani and other island flora, wafting on the breezes from gardens, arrangements on hotel tables, and leis around your neck.   It most definitely has to do with the constant views of multihued blue ocean waters—here a sheltered cove of the quintessential clear turquoise, there a deep indigo, and out there, maybe a few whitecaps on sapphire waves. The humpback whales cavorting between the shore and the horizon are that much more of an added benefit, spouting great sprays of vapor, fluking their enormous tails, and raising massive heads above the surface.  Even they feel the romance—they come to these waters from December to May to reproduce and bear their young, singing their plaintive songs which, if you’re really lucky, might circle around your ears from a distance as you and your honey snorkel hand in hand in the warm waters closer to shore. Continue reading →

The Colors Beyond the Border

Posted on by
Reply

By Wendy Lemlin

mexpottery

When I think of Baja, I think in vivid Technicolor.

COMRosarito stairssm

Vibrant cobalt on glassware rims … intense greens, yellows, blues, and oranges on pottery and tiles …the kaleidoscopic floral designs of textiles adorning pillows and table linens…staircases of geometric tiles…vivid stucco walls…

mexdishes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ropes of crimson chile peppers and white garlic drying in the sun…gardens of red, violet, and pink bougainvillea cascading over ochre courtyard walls… … leafy vines heavy with purple grapes…. The colors of Mexico whirl around my brain like a fiesta of folk dancers.

Continue reading →

Food Indigo: Indigo Grill Reborn

Posted on by

by Wendy Lemlin

IMG_3342

So—you know what it’s like when you run into someone you used to be friends with, but, for one reason or another, haven’t seen in a couple of years, and in the meantime she’s lost 25 pounds, had some major “work” done, colored her hair, completely changed her style of dressing and now, all of a sudden, is bubbling with energy and personality and looking all stylish and hot? On one level, she is still the same friend that you’ve always known and loved, but on another level you’re like, “Damn, who IS this person?”

Well, that’s how I felt when I walked through the new doors of the re-concepted and remodeled Indigo Grill on the corner of India and Cedar Streets in San Diego’s Little Italy for the restaurant’s big reveal party. First opened in 2001, Indigo Grill was one of the earlier collaborations between the Cohn Restaurant Group and Chef Deborah Scott, and for years was the only trendy, non-Italian cuisine eatery in the newly-hip neighborhood. Continue reading