San Diego and Temecula Recs

Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum
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My wife is part of a group headed to SD in late 2026 and it’s somehow fallen to me to sketch out a before/or/after trip, hopefully involving wine. The trip is in OCTOBER, so I have a crap ton of time for any reservations needed.

The closest region appears to be Temecula (discussed at Temecula Wineries - #2 by BobMilton), where RENZONI and HALTER RANCH (formerly Hart) got some votes. Both do appear to be surrounded by many other vineries, though not much else.

I saw that Halter Ranch has some group accommodation options (Paso Robles Lodging: Stay on a Vineyard Rich in Wine Country History | Halter Ranch) that may fit the bill, and I’d even have time to join their wine club to get the preferred pricing, but taking some hypothetical dates and assuming 5 couples it’d still come to over $500/night/couple, so alternatives (or airbnb) welcome.

For our time in SD I’m also open to suggestions. Juniper & Ivy gets several Berserker nods, as do taco joints (ex: El Gordo). Eater.com picks near our hotel (The 38 Best Restaurants in San Diego | Eater San Diego) include Callie, Animae, Kettner Exchange and Herb & Wood.

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Highly recommend Callie. It is one of the best restaurants I have found in San Diego. Not the biggest fan of Juniper & Ivy but it is good for San Diego.

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San Diegoian here. Here are my recs:

Cantina Mayahuel - tacos & margs
The Rose - small wine bar with excellent food (for San Diego, lol)
Mabel’s Gone Fishing - Spanish tapas
Kingfisher - Modern Vietnamese
Callie - great Med style food
Yakitori Tsuta - a bit out SD proper, in the Convoy District
Ichifuji - Japanese omakase, also in the Convoy District
Animae - gets a lot of hype, but I wouldn’t say I’ve ever been blown away.
Vino Carta - small wine bar with pop-up food on weekends

I would not recommend going to Temecula (for wine, or any other reason).

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My favorite restaurant by a long shot in San Diego. This restaurant would stand up and be 3x the cost in NYC.

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Love the recs - thanks!

If not Temecula, any other suggestions on a place to hang for a few pre-work acclimation (from EST to PST) days?

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I would suggest Encinitas / Leucadia area to rest and reset. They are beach towns about 30 min drive north of San Diego, and still within San Diego County lines. Lots of natural beauty and plenty to do.

Juanita’s Taco Shop
Hike along ocean cliffs - Torrey Pines
Pizza Port - if you like West Coast style IPAs
Swami’s Beach - excellent views of cliffs, surfers and beach
Atelier Manna - get the Turkish Eggs (TRUST ME)
Moonlight Beach - local surfer beach
Addison - 3* if you are looking for fine dining

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Respectfully as a born and raised Vietnamese, skip Kingfisher if you want good Viet food in SD. We went for some drinks and food and tbh it’s mid. Go to El Cajon for good Viet food and they usually specialize in one dish so the food gonna be bomb. Pho Hoa is ok for me but my non-Viet friends been blown away. Hoai Hue has the best bún bò huế in the county, period.

Omakase: Try snatching Soichi reservations first, then Tadokoro, Ichifuji, Matoi in that order.

Mexican: Tacos El Panson in El Cajon, Tacos El Gordo if you wanna be touristy and don’t mind chaotic line. I ate at El Panson my entire undergrad. Must try a California burrito when in San Diego, trust. The first thing I always do after returning to San Diego from anywhere is fucking up a Cali burrito.

Poke: Hawaiian Fresh Seafood. Quite pricey but omg FRESH AF.

Desserts: Dessert by Clement in PB, best in the county. If you wanna venture to North County then The Cakery in Miramar.

Heavy on Encinitas, nice beach, slow vibes and the meditation garden is really cute for unwinding. I recommend stopping at Del Mar Canyon Preserve lookout to Torrey Pines for sunset view.

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30 + year Encinitas/Carlsbad resident here. Its one of the nicest parts of SD

Juanita’s is one of my go to’s for Mexican. Love the carnitas. The soup is a meal in and of itself. Go there many times a year. Dont be scared by appearance

L’especial del Norte if you want soup. they have several versions of tortilla soup all great

Leu Leu is a funky laidback cool place with solid food. Relatively new and have some decent wines.

Drinks at The Perch at Alila Marea is a great spot for a cocktail with a killer view

Pizza Port is a pass. Screaming kids and lousy pizza is not worth the beer

Swami’s is a beautiful overlook beach. It is the preminent surfing beach and called out in Surfin USA. There will eb people out surfing there at all times. Worth seeing but will take about 10 -20 minutes

Moonlight is a nice beach to spend a day on. Its my local beach. Not a surfing beach its a family beach with bathrooms, showers and plenty of parking.

Note: October has some of the warmest water we get all year and it can be spectacularly beautiful warm and uncrowded on the beaches. We call it Local’s Summer

Annie’s Canyon is a great cool hike in Solana Beach

Belly Up - check the line up and if anyone you are remotely interested in is playing there go. It is one of the best small music venues in America. You’ll thank me

Addison is a 3* but when it was a 2* I went and didnt think it was up to that level.

Carlsbad has two Michelin * restaurants. Both are in Carlsbad Village which is the Northernmost part of Carlsbad

Jeune et Jolie - been several times and very very good. One star
Lilo - new and got a star within a month (same owner as above) but havent been. One star

They also own Campfire which is solid and Wildland which is a casual breakfast/lunch/dinner spot good for breakfast or lunch. All four are within one block

Id skip Temecula as overpriced mediocre wine. there are plenty of places to get good wine around here. Id go to Carruth Cellars which is an urban winery that buys grapes from all over CA and makes wine before driving to Temecula. They have locations in Carlsbad and Solana Beach. maybe Little Italy also

And a KhaN is correct. A California Burrito is a must quintessential experience. Any time of day the later the better with alcohol involvement not being a bad thing

LOL for calling Miramar North County. I guess it is to some but to people from North County its San Diego proper

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IMO anything above 52 is North County culture wise.

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Gotcha it’s just funny to me. I guess where you stand depends upon where you sit. Up here we consider the dividing line the 56.

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Lots of great recs and more reaffirmation of the “no wine country on this trip” - thanks! I’ll look for abnb options in Carlsbad/Encinas and the surrounding area. Beaches, unexpectedly warm ocean water in October, and some cool music venues should help me on a first draft. Also a legoland nearby :wink:

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If you’d like to share something great while you’re out here, let me know and I’d be happy to bring something by

This is my church and I go all the time. This time of year it’s mostly cover bands, but in the fall, there will be a bunch of original artists coming through. It only holds about 600 people. The stage is 30 inches high with no separation from the audience. It’s as intimate venue as you will ever find and the sound is amazing. Oh yeah cheap drinks and one of the Carruth Cellars locations is across the street

FYI, they also booked for the sound which is about a 1500 person auditorium in del mar also cool. And the music box in downtown San Diego. so you will see those shows advertised on their website also

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The chef/owner of Callie just opened a new spot in the UTC area - Fleurette. We went last night. Memorable!!

We’ve been to Callie too. Fleurette gets my nod.

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I’ve had a number of guests stay in these places, and they have all loved it. It is a low density gated community of large townhomes on the oceanfront with private steps down to the beach.

Oct is a bit of an off-season and rates should be lower than primetime

You can do a lot worse than staying here. Rates vary based on whether you are oceanfront, Ocean view were non-view. Either way you’re less than 100 yards from the beach.

https://seabluffe.com/

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Wait a minute @David_Baum . Is that BIG DOM in your profile? Love it. I’m also an Eagles fan - I’m from NJ shore/Philly. GO BIRDS.

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I grew up in Cherry Hill but been here since 92

Spent lots of time in Atlantic City, Ventor, Margate and Longport. My best friend family owned the last house on the island in Longport. Drank a lot of great wine there.

I live right across the street from the forum shoppes for last 26 years