Restaurants in San Diego

Within a classic '50s diner façade, the chefs at California Crepes spread house-made batter thin, creating light, fluffy enclosures for a variety of fresh fruits, savory meats, and breakfast fare. The light treats can be augmented with the shop’s selection of gourmet grilled-cheese sandwiches, gelato, and coffee, offering a decadent lunchtime feast without the hazard of seasoning dishes with gold leaf. Patrons can nibble on the filled sweets during tête-à-têtes in the garden patio or watch the creation process unfold assembly-line-style at catered events.

Nautical Nellies, now in its 15th year of business, is no stranger to recognition— the eatery, which overlooks the city's inner harbour, has topped multiple Open Table Diners' Choice awards in categories including Best Food, Best Seafood, and Best Overall. Fillets of wild Pacific halibut or Vancouver Island ling cod flake beneath forks, and shellfish, lobster, and dungeness crab claws teeter on multi-tiered seafood towers. Diners can sample 10 varieties of oysters and rolls of fusion sushi, many of which come recommended by the Ocean Wise sustainable seafood program. Grass-fed Angus steaks, aged for 35 days, are cooked to any specification, from well done to what chefs term “blue”— seared on the outside, with a cool center and a scrawled-on frowny face.

Thanks to the work of wine director Betty Furneaux and sommelier Lisa Hartery, Nautical Nellies' beverage programs are just as thoughtfully designed as their dining menus. Wine Spectator honoured the eatery's wine list with an Award of Excellence in 2011. Cocktails range from beachy mojitos to the savoury double-prawn caesar with vodka, Clamato juice, and two black tiger prawns. The restaurant also dedicates a menu exclusively to scotch.

Café Paris offers its patrons a taste of France, a place where people step into charmingly uncluttered neighborhood bistros to share plates and wine with friends, dining in an unrushed manner. French native Loris Compiano re-creates that vibe at Café Paris, crafting dishes such as toasted, open-faced baguettes with ingredients such as spicy tuna and curry shrimp, bruschetta topped with goat cheese, and roasted herbed potato with three homemade dipping sauces. He also helps complement meals with a list focused on organic, unsulfured wines from California and France.

When Stuart Davis opened the first City Wok in North Hollywood in 1990, he had already been honing the restaurant’s concept for three years. He envisioned a stylish, casual restaurant where chefs created fresh, healthy versions of authentic Chinese dishes to order in an open kitchen. The problem? Davis lacked a background in traditional Chinese cooking. Enter Hing Fan Chan, a professional chef trained in Kowloon, China. “It was a 50-50 collaboration,” Davis told Restaurant Hospitality magazine in 2003: Chan brought traditional recipes to City Wok, and worked with Davis to create healthy, MSG-free versions of authentic dishes. Their collaboration paid off: in 2011, City Wok earned _Palm Springs Life_’s award for the area’s Best Chinese Restaurant.

Today, flames surge as chefs tend woks in chrome-lined open kitchens. In the dining room, customers relax as they wait for servers to arrive with dishes such as a spicy kung pao combo or house lo mein. A breakfast menu features creative wok scrambles and moo shoo burritos, bringing Chinese flavors to morning meals without the hassle of stealing a Concorde.

The food of one's youth not only nourishes a developing body, it also nutures a nostalgic seed of comfort-food adoration that follows one through life and dimly lit alleys. Today's Groupon serves up $25 worth of Philly-inspired fare and libations at Olde City Grill in Pacific Beach for $10. Lend your cravings the sultry satisfaction of Philly cheesesteaks and fresh East Coast ingredients that will return you to the good ol' days of eating cheesesteaks during a lunch break at the sulfur mine.

High-quality food, all-day breakfast, and a huge outdoor patio make The Boardwalk a great place to take in a game and enjoy some sunny, flavorsome fare. No matter how late you slept off your long night of ventriloquism, snag an a.m. meal such as The Boardwalk’s most popular item, the Short on Cash ($6.95), with two eggs, two pieces of bacon or sausage, and your choice of two pancakes or toast with potatoes. Or try the healthy bestseller, the Acai Bowl ($8.25), served with fresh bananas, berries, and granola. Beach bums can interrupt their skiing fantasies with a selection from the lunch menu, including the Baja Mex-style snapper tacos ($4.25) with rice and beans ($2), and meat masticators can hang a fang on a Boardwalk Burger ($8.95), a ground-on-site sirloin-and-chuck patty topped with tomatoes, grilled onions, and American cheese.