Nerdy in San Diego Day 2

…and back to the West Coast.

Saturday David and I got up fairly early and went to the fabulous Hash House A Go Go.  The place is located in the fabulous Hillcrest section of the city.  I ordered the Rainbow Hash in celebration that it was also Pride Weekend in SD.  I loved how colorful the city was in preparation for the parade later that day.  But, back to the hash.  I continued with my firsts of the weekend and ordered this because I also had never had rabbit before.

Potatoes topped with rabbit, broccoli, and roasted red peppers.  It was insanely good.  I’m not sorry I ate it at all.  Though, I barely finished half of it (the skillet is huge).  Their biscuits are also like having 2 or 3.  Next to us, a couple ordered their flapjacks.  I wish I had taken a picture of them.  I’ve seen a ton of people post pics saying some meal was as big as their head (i.e. large portions).  These literally are the size of your face.  And you only get one in the order.  The dude looked at his pancake, us, then back to the pancake and just inhaled a “let’s do this!”  Nuts.  If you make it to San Diego, GET FOOD THERE.  I heard the line can get huge so make a reservation if possible.

After breakfast, we took our leftovers and loaded up on my brother’s Harley (I’d also never ridden on a motorcycle before).  We zipped through the city over to Cabrillo to get a view of San Diego and also look at the crazy US Veteran Memorial Park there.

Had it not been so overcast that morning, I would have been able to see Mexico off in the horizon.  It’s pretty crazy to visit somewhere and have a whole other country right there.  You don’t get that in the PA region, hah.  After taking in the views, we stopped at Hodad’s and said hi to my brother Thomas for a bit.  We then went back and settled in for some post-breakfast food comas.  A little later I borrowed my brother’s coche and met up with some friends that had recently moved to SD and our other friends drove down from LA to meet up.  Our goal?  BEER.

Our first stop (after doing a mini-tasting) was Toronado. 

You simply cannot go wrong with a sign like that.  I had a mission to complete and I was going to succeed.  Enter, Pliny the Elder.

When Russian River Brewing sends Pliny eastward for the Philly Beer Week fest in June, people.  go.  crazy.  They have special ticketed events to try it.  I’m not sure if it’s pretty easy to get other times of the year, but my guess is maybe not?  Regardless, a friend told me he’d disown me if I visited San Diego and did not have it once.  Being a major IPA lover, I didn’t hesitate to order.  It’s a solid beer.  It didn’t blow my mind or have this insane kick of alcohol (8% abv, I consider above 10% high), but it was a beer you could enjoy the crap out of over and over again.  Unless you don’t like hops.  Because it’s a hoppy brew (100 IBU).  Toronado was an awesome spot.  It’s got the woody feel a lot of east coast pubs have and their beer selection is top notch.  We settled into a booth immediately upon arriving (always a plus on a late Sat afternoon).

After enjoying a couple rounds we walked over to The Linkery.  I tried Stone’s version of the Saison du BUFF and split a pesto pizza.  We then spent the rest of the day wandering back to the apartment, harassing my friend’s cat, and bonding over how much fun Vegas is going to be in Sept (we all realized we can share shoes, the bar is set). 

I went back to my brother’s where I met the owner of Miss Mosey (his roomie was doing a shoot up north) and we made plans to kidnap my brother Thomas from his work (he was done) and bring him back to hang out with us.  We lit a small fire and enjoyed a few too many of the Double Stout from Green Flash Brewing Co.  The beer tasted like a very powerful oatmeal cookie.  Needless to say, I passed out fairly easily that night after a solid second day!