Update - Thanks Again
Back from San Diego - just in time for a big snowstorm, too. Oh boy.
Sorry, this goes on for a bit.
Thanks again to everyone for the restaurant suggestions. For the most part we heeded the suggestion to wander down 5th Ave and pick from the most likely appearing candidates, we did follow up on a couple of specific leads, also. Here's a quick summary of our eating/activities (everything in the Gaslamp District unless otherwise noted):
Tuesday night - Stopped in at La Fiesta for some soup, nachos and a drink. Mostly to keep the eyes open for a while. It was pretty quiet, but we really didn't eat anything that would let us evaluate the food.
Wednesday - Maritime museum in the AM - whale watching, successfully, in the afternoon. Wandered through Little Italy and grabbed a slice of pizza for lunch. Ate dinner at Anthony's Fish Grotto. Beautiful window seat to view the sunset. Food was nothing spectacular and atmosphere was quiet but with crappy 70's - 80's era pop music.
Thursday - All day at Sea World for DW- perhaps her highlight for the trip but not mine. Dinner at Pushkin's, a new Russian/Armenian place. Not impressed. Fantastic dark bread but, sadly, that was the highlight of the meal. This place definitely gave the impression that Russians eat incredibly bland food. Meal started with a fellow diner having a 10 minute cell phone conversation, "I can't talk long. I just flew in from Chicago and I'm snowbirding in San Diego. I just had a crown put on and it hurt when I was on the plane but it's OK now. etc..."
Friday - Balboa Park - Art Museum, Model RR museum. Dinner at Hexagone - a French place on 5th Ave in Banker's Hill. Pretty good food, but not sure about value for the money. Strange mix of music, ranging from modern French pop stuff to Edith Piaf to concertina, just borderline acceptable on the volume.
Saturday - Wandered all over Coronado. Lunch at Spiro's Gyros. Same view of harbor as Peohe's and Candelas but much cheaper and with a totally silent patio, yeah! Dinner was a Subway sandwich in our room before the Symphony concert.
Sunday - Balboa Park again. People watching and the organ concert. Dinner at Operacaffe. Definitely the dining highlight. Food was very good, although maybe not exceptional, but the atmosphere was perfect, nice and quiet. We lingered for a second glass of wine and had a great conversation.
Monday - Zoo all day. Dinner at a small place called Thai Island just a block from the hotel. DW didn't want to walk any farther than that. Just a hole in the wall but pretty good food at a great price point.
Overall we had a fun week. We're glad we tried the downtown approach to San Diego. DW would say that we underutilized our transit passes but I really enjoyed walking 5-7 miles everyday getting where we wanted to go. I'm not sure that we will stay downtown again, however. We clearly aren't the target demographic for the Gaslamp district and there is only so much vomit one wants to see on the street in the morning.