The place is full of bright, clashing colors that seem to work together anyway. Even the coffee cups and saucers are intentionally mismatched. It definitely had a diner feel to it, and I was quite excited to sample their fare. We don't get out to breakfast all that often, so it's a treat when we do. It was also very nice to eat breakfast at a non-chain restaurant.
We ended up ordering a blueberry Belgian waffle to share and each of us got an omelet. The waffle was definitely a compromise, since I really wanted to try the lemon ricotta pancakes or the pumpkin gingerbread pancakes. I'm actually more of a waffle fan, but they were so unusual that I was curious. But Jim wasn't going to help me out if I ordered either, so a Belgian waffle it was. I also ordered the veggie omelet with egg beaters sans cheese and fruit and Jim got a Western Omelet with hash browns and wheat toast and fresh squeezed OJ.
Our food came out reasonably quickly, and I was pretty happy with the meal. My omelet had avocado, mushrooms, and tomatoes, and it came with a decent amount of fruit (which was extra $). Jim's hash browns were way overdone and practically black, which was a bummer, but the four egg omelet was declared yummy by him. The western omelet came with ham, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms and cheddar cheese, and he added Spanish sauce, which was surprisingly spicy. I sampled some of the sauce and preferred Buttercup's. Not that theirs wasn't good; it was simply a preference. The wheat toast was awesome--it was more of a wheat sourdough baguette and super flavorful. The waffle came out plain, but the waiter brought a side of blueberry sauce to make up for it. Neither the waffle nor the blueberries were spectacular, but the waffle was pretty good. I can't remember the last time I ate a waffle, so it was nice.
Overall, it was a pretty good meal, but I think it was way overrated--for whatever reason, there was a massive line out the door waiting for an open table. And I didn't like that they charged for every single addition or substitution. I got charged for the use of egg beaters and subbing fruit cost $3. Jim was dinged for adding Spanish sauce. Even so, with the passport discount, breakfast was a very reasonable price.
After breakfast, we stopped by Starbucks for an iced tea and then headed out to the Port of San Diego, where we walked around for the next couple of hours. We parked in the USS Midway museum lot and ended up walking to the very touristy Seaport Village where we shopped around, buying fudge (way too rich for me) and a Ben and Jerry's waffle cone (way too much money). The creme brulee ice cream was a serious letdown. I was so disappointed at how not good it was. I was expecting amazing, so anything short of that was eh.
We soldiered on to the Gaslamp Quarter, which was way closer than I expected. After driving around a bit, we found FREE parking right outside of Petco Park. I was so excited to see the ballpark and it was absolutely gorgeous. I loved the fact that it was so open to the public in that you could see the field outside of the actual stadium itself. We walked to the Quicksilver store, where I continued my tradition of picking up a Roxy t-shirt and then went to the Hard Rock Cafe for Jim's beer glasses, which he collects.
I was nervous about making our flight, which was at 7 pm. We had 5 pm dinner reservations for Fleming's, a chain steak house that happened to also offer a passport discount. We arrived at 4:45 to try and get through dinner faster and were the only ones in the restaurant for quite a while. Even though the kitchen didn't open until 5, they were very accommodating and still served us. I was impressed.
Instead of bread, we were given a crudite platter with a couple of dips and vegetables. True, there was crostini, but the dips were the centerpiece. One was an olive tapenade-esque dip and the other a creamy cheese-based dip. Neither was super memorable, but both were good.
I ordered the mixed veggie platter steamed and Jim got his filet mignon. We shared the chipotle mac n' cheese, which Jim's co-worker absolutely raved about. The food was brought out surprisingly quickly, and we got down to business. My veggies were veggies. I'm sure they would have been super yummy had they been grilled with EVOO and butter and all that other crap, but I was going for healthy. Don't get me wrong--the veggies were good. They just weren't something to write home about. I had bok choy, button mushrooms, portabello mushrooms, asparagus, parsnips (which I learned I don't like by themselves), and tomatoes (the best out of all of 'em). Combined with the mac n' cheese, I was fine. And the mac n' cheese was really, really good. It had just a hint of smokiness from the chipotle, and it was quite creamy and cheesy with white cheddar. Definitely a roux-based sauce. I want to try and recreate it just for fun. And it came with a panko bread crumb topping that was very nice.
Jim's filet mignon was a little overcooked and came out on the plate completely devoid of any ornamentation whatsoever, even parsley. It was UGLY and quite forlorn sitting by itself on the white plate.
We struggled with whether or not to order dessert, but ultimately caved in to get the creme brulee, which came with strawberries and whipped cream. It was definitely good stuff. I absolutely adore creme brulee. Soooo good. The whipped cream was a very nice added touch.
I think we're going to have to go back to Fleming's sometime soon, even though the one in Walnut Creek doesn't offer the passport discount. I was very impressed with the service. Our waiter was super helpful and friendly without going overboard. He even offered to call a cab to take us to the airport.
Being on time for our flight ended up not being a problem at all. Our flight was delayed, first to 7:30 and then 7:45. And when we landed, we had to wait in line for our turn to deplane. We didn't step foot onto solid ground until after 10.
Later on, Jim discovered that he left his Hard Rock glasses at Fleming's, which absolutely sucked. I guess we're going to have to go back to SD sometime soon.
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