Can you go to Best of San Diego this year? Nope. What about you? Nope. What about us? Nope, we are busy too. For some reason, we kept running into the word “no” when it came to going to Best of San Diego this year. We originally had a trip planned that would have caused us to say no, but due to a fortuitist change in plans (our flight changing), we were able to make it after all!
The bummer was that the early-bird pricing was long gone, and we were scraping the bottom of the barrel with remaining tickets. The event sold out, so we were lucky to even get to be able to go with purchasing tickets this late. In fact, at the event, this strange little man was wandering around asking people to buy an extra ticket. It worked because we saw him at the event.
Instead of the normal crew—it was just Emily, Grant, and me. We took advantage of it just being us three. The first thing that Emily wanted to do was get a bag. The first thing I wanted to do was get water for later in the night. We did both and ended up with more bags and water than what we needed. We started on the left, hit up the usuals like Puesto and Bueno Forchetta, and tried some other things like Grand Ole BBQ and Mezcal. There were so many places serving booze this year in addition to just their normal food. It was refreshing to have Topo Chico there to get a non-alcoholic beverage.
Afterward, we hit the left side. City Tacos, Dirty Birds, Handels Ice Cream, Breakfast Republic, and others that I can’t remember. There was a good Italian food place called Amalfi Cucina Italiana that was giving away bowls of pasta and pizza. One of the highlights of the evening for me. Emily said City Tacos was one of her favorites and I also think Breakfast Republic’s shrimp and grits were on point as well.
Also on that side was Screwball (peanut butter whiskey) and boy did we go back there like 15x for our free half shots. We then went up the middle and there were a few good ones—anyone that served anything on polenta got my votes as being a good restaurant. Two themes were going on this year—watermelon and polenta. This was a nice change from the previous years that were seafood heavy. I think with the costs of meat/seafood they were looking for cheaper alternatives, which worked for me!
After going around a few more times to our favorites – we hit up Cocina 35 for chilaquiles. This place was giving away an entire meal and a coupon for a free meal at their restaurant. We may have gone back there a few times to secure enough coupons for everyone! We then kept going back to Maya’s Cookies and Screwball before giving up and leaving more stuffed than usual…which is saying something.
The next morning – Grant and I were still full. But it was time for another tradition, which is Cinespia’s Slumber Party. I had completely forgotten that we were doing both events and so waking up, checking my calendar, was a nice surprise. I have no idea how I forgot because we had been talking about it the entire week prior. The things that slip your mind somehow.
Lara and Tyler (her new beau) arrived around 10 am to pick us up for the drive up to LA. From there we stopped at Raising Canes to grab a snack, and then made it to the Millennium Biltmore in downtown LA. Home to quite a few movies, it was fun wandering around and sneaking into different rooms at the hotel. They were also having a Labyrinth Costume Ball at our hotel, so it was fun seeing the mythical decorations. The reviews for the hotel were very poor, but the floor we stayed on was comfortable! No complaints from us!
We cleaned up a bit and then went over to RiceBox. On the way up I saw this as a place nearby with good reviews and was listed as a “must stop.” The porchetta they made was good…but probably better 2 hours prior before it sat underneath a heat lamp. Grant didn’t seem to be feeling it, so he went next door to Dickies BBQ. Everyone was happy!
Dinner was at the cemetery, and we stopped by Ralphs to pick up groceries. Meat, cheeses, candy…all the essentials for a good movie in a cemetery. We stopped at Little Caesars and grabbed a pizza. Then we realized we forgot ice. There is no ice in all of Hollywood. For the second year in a row—the hotel did not have ice. We stopped at 711 – no ice! We finally stopped at a Smart and Final—success!
Time was ticking and the gates opened at 6:30. Lara somehow managed to get on the street where the cemetery was able to essentially park on the road until they let us in. They started letting the walkers or people without parking in and left us parkers waiting. The car in front of us was feeling anxious too and someone even got out of the car to complain. My soulmate! As soon as he did, they began letting cars in and we were off.
We checked in and then started going down the path. We crossed right next to the grassy area and Lara had the brilliant idea of dropping one of us off. I grabbed a blanket and dashed off to the middle of the field, in front of the tape, and spread out. We got dead center, and it was the best spot we had ever done. Tyler thinks he was the lucky charm, which may be true! Eventually, Grant, Lara, and Tyler came in and we set ourselves up, passed around Tyler’s homemade sangria, and set up the food. People go all out for this event and this year was no different. I saw this couple bring an entire table and I think we should totally replicate this next year!
First up was Death Becomes Her. Hilarious movie and not having seen it in years made it all that much funnier. The audience seemed to agree because the laughter was loud with this one. Unlike previous years with Pizza Hut Pizza Boys – this year were Fairies with Mocktails that had CBD. We got one and nearly spit it out. It was disgusting. Not going to purchase those anytime soon! The second movie up was Jennifer’s Body. We watched it. I remember it being funnier. It might have been a bit of a letdown just because the first movie was so good. Afterward, we piled everything back into Lara’s car and drove back to the hotel. As soon as I hit the pillow I was out.
The next morning, we went to a restaurant that Tyler knew called Perch. We lucked out because it seemed like we were able to slide in without a reservation. The place was getting full when we got there right when it opened, and people were waiting when we left. I got the eggs benedict and thought it was delicious. We walked back through the seedy streets of downtown LA, checked out of the hotel, down the windy parking garage that would never end, and we were off back to San Diego.
These events are always fun, and we will continue to do them until we can no longer eat or lay in a cemetery! If I continue to eat as much as I do at Best of San Diego, I may not need to ride with Lara next year. I may get the VIP treatment in a Hearse next year to the cemetery!