I know there were some old threads, but things change, places close, new places open, etc.

My wife and I will be there for a week starting this Wednesday. We'll be staying sort of downtown close to Gaslamp and all that so my wife can go to a conference. We won't have a car, but I might consider renting one for a day, possibly to go to La Jolla or maybe somewhere else if there's somewhere better we should go. We will also probably go to Coronado because it's fairly close and should be easy enough to get to by walking/mass transit/ferry.

We'll have several days to do stuff together, and I'll be on my own on the weekend to wander around and do dumb stuff like go to record stores.

Any downtown recs for food? Especially anything on the cheaper side? Any out of the way food recs that are totally worth the trouble?

Record stores (anywhere, not necessarily downtown)? Comic book or general book stores?

Any one place in the general area we absolutely have to go?

watching this thread. i may go in the fall for a long weekend.

Keep watching! This thread's about to take off!

Any minute now!

It has been many, many years since I have been there. But when I was, the one time I was there, the 2 things that stand out for me:
• Catch a show at The Casbah. A great little room with excellent sound and good bookings.
• If you are in to sushi, I had some of the best I've ever had at Sushi Ota.

I cannot tell you where either of these places are, but I'm sure you can find them online, if they are even open anymore. This was 15 years ago that I was there.
I hope that they are and I hope that they are both as good as I remember. So, take my recs with a grain of salt and maybe run those ideas past a local.

Never been, but they seem to host an awful lot of conferences, so... it's probably inevitable.

Awesome city, but its been 15 years since I've been there so I'm not much help.

Yeah I went about 7-8 years ago by myself and didn't do much. I made a quick visit to the zoo and other than that just sort of walked around downtown. I spent most of my time in a conference (SIGGRAPH).

Looks like Sushi Ota is still there and has good reviews. We may check it out if we head up to that area. Looks like it's not too far from Ocean Beach, and we may go there.

Looking at the 2009 thread, I'm thinking we definitely need to rent a car at least one of the days and go to Sunset Cliffs, Ocean Beach, La Jolla. Maybe not all in one day. I'm sure we'll head to Balboa park for at least one day, too.

I'm just kinda hoping for some downtown food recs. Everything seems overpriced and not very exciting.

DRANK:
unless you're down for chains or meat market-type joints, leave the gaslamp. not much in the line of cheap (or interesting) eats here. if you want cheap, i suggest taking a short cab ride to Little Italy on India St (natrurally) for some decent boutique-ish italian & some decent dives - Fillipi's is good. also, carnita's snack shack on University is fun, cheap & delicioso. can't go wrong in Old Town either - i used to roll through the mercado to grab a bite on occasion. i may be a bit presumptuous, but i'd imagine you're wife has a hankering for decent seafood while in the area. my wife insists on top of the market - they've their own boat, so everything's incredibly fresh. downstairs is cheaper, no rez's; upstairs is more fine dining, but essentially the same menu. peohe's is polynesian fare - great at sunset. good sushi, but i'd opt for the more unique island grub.
Carnita's Snack Shack
http://www.carnitassnackshack.com/
Top of the Market (The Fish Market):
http://www.thefishmarket.com/topofthemarket.aspx
Peohe’s:
http://www.peohes.com/

Awesome! Perfect. Yes, the wife will want seafood. And so will I. Those look like sure bets.

I stayed at a really cheap place in Little Italy when I went to SD before. I liked it, but I felt like I never really found the good eats. Will try Fillipi's.

Recently I was briefly in SD...for a 12hrs/day conference.
Stayed in the Gaslamp District at the Hard Rock hotel -- decent price from a third party voucher. The atmosphere tries really hard to be dad-rock stripclub to the max.
Every restaurant was solid in terms of food. Overpriced (but still cheaper than the Twin Cities). Nothing was remarkable. But I wasn't disappointed.

Places I goed on foot: Taka: Sushi, Oceanaire (chain): seafood, The Kebab Shop: doner kebabs, Krisp Beverages: extensive but pricey microbrew collection. Randomly picked a tallboy sixer of Pizza Port IPA which was really good.

Cool. Will definitely hit up The Kebab Shop.

If you want seafood downtown, Anthony's is close and in a nice location on the bay next to the Star of India, with the County Administration Bldg just down the street (WPA funded). I don't go to the Gaslamp very often (the "Asslamp" it is often called due to it's meat market rep at night) so can't really give any recommendations on food there. Get some Mexican food, preferably from a small, hole in the wall place. Get a California Burrito (carne asada with french fries) or Carne Asada Fries. Definitely do not go to Fred's in the Gaslamp. If you make it to Old Town, Guadalajara's and Old Town Mexican Cafe are good. Oh, Ballast Point opened a huge restaurant/bar in Little Italy. I haven't been yet but that would be an easy place to try their beer. Some chef from Top Chef or one of those shows also just opened a place in Little Italy, though surely that won't be cheap.

I'm not a fan of Ocean Beach. Your liking may depend on your tolerance for hippies/beach bums, etc. If you do go, there is a Pizza Port. Pacific Beach is even worse. Frat boys and surfers. Bars full of college kids. If you just want to see the beach, La Jolla is a better bet. If you rent a car and want to see more beach, go towards Del Mar up to Encinitas or even Carlsbad.

Lou's Records is in Encinitas. It's half the size it used to be but still okay. Not worth a specific trip though. M-Theory on Washington in Mission Hills. Haven't been since they moved to this location. I wouldn't have high expectations.

if you like 19 yr old androgynous anarcho-vegans dressed like mr. spock go to the che cafe

Phi psi burrito at trujillos near sdsu.

Livewire was a good bar.

"if"?

gonna book a rental car just for this.

Man, Balboa Park is amazing. Maybe this is just the perfect time of year, but I wish we could spend the whole trip there.

What kind of plumbing are we talking?

Thanks for the recs, everybody. The trip was great, and it definitely helped to have a little guidance on what to see and do.

We ate at all of the following places, and all of them were very good:

Richard Walker's Pancake House (reasonable prices, generous portions, really good baked stuff, but long line to get in)
Carnita's Snack Shack
JJ's Sunset Deli by the Bay (Out on the fishing pier behind the convention center. AMAZINGLY good ribeye sandwich, grilled right outside on a gas grill. Total hidden gem. If you ever go to a convention there, you HAVE TO find this place for lunch.)
The Kebab Shop (in Gaslamp)
Girard Gourmet (bakery/deli close to La Jolla Cove. very New York feel)
Stella Italianfare (right near La Jolla Cove, with a very nice view)

We tried to eat at Peohe's on Coronado, but it was a no-go. Service was weird which was maybe my fault because I didn't make a reservation. Still, I thought it wouldn't be a problem to get a table for 2 at 5pm on a Thursday. Guess I didn't account for happy hour, but when the two older couples ahead of us who did have a reservation - according to the mildly condescending host - still hadn't been seated after 15-20 mins, we walked out.

We went to Coronado, Balboa Park, and La Jolla Cove and a had a great time. Great city. Hope we can go back before too long. Actually I wish we could just move there.

Long line to get in to ..the Pancake House? Granted I went on a Tuesday morning and while it was busy, we were seated promptly.
Didn't mention it purposefully because I thought it akin to Perkins -- although how great can pancakes, waffles and eggs really get?
My friend's Apfelpfannkuchen looked ten times better than my waffle.

I'll have to check out the Sunset Deli in 10 years when SD comes back up in the recursive convention city cycle.

Either way, sounds like a worthwhile trip.