Nerdie Foodies loves! It’s been a heck of a few weeks! But what a blast it has been in making the annual trek to the mecca of all cons: San Diego Comic Con (SDCC). This year, we checked out some new places while visiting some old ones. Mainly new ones. Let’s get to it!
Patron’s Corner
$5 mimosas anyone? We came here on Day 1 of our San Diego trip to grab a little snack/lunch post flight before heading out to meet up with the rest of the FuTangClan. This turned out to be the pre-meet up to the pre-meet up to the actual meet up. Yep, that’s right we went all out for Day 1. Service was decent and we did order a couple appies to satisfy our stomachs before dinner at Hodad’s burger joint. We had the ceviche and the chicken skewers. The ceviche was delicious and the chicken skewers were tasty and even had a bit of kick to it. And the mimosas are still on point. For more of their menu selection, check out their website here!
Hodad’s
I was super excited about having my first burger at Hodad’s. This place has been on my foodie bucket list for a very long time. I knew their burgers were going to be huge and outrageously delicious thanks to their feature on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. This place was our pre-meet up spot for dinner before the meet up for drinks at The Smoking Gun (more on that next). So, I went with the mini burger with fries. And let me tell you I am so glad I went with the mini burger instead of the regular sized burger because the mini is the size of a regular burger. And it was divine. Next time we come here, I want to try one of their giant shakes. Check out their site here for all three of their locations and the menu!
The Smoking Gun
This bar in Gaslamp kindly let our blogging Nerd Family to take over almost half of the establishment for a good few hours for our annual reunion/meet up. Aside from the yummy drinks, we got to taste some of the tapas that they had circulating around. The sliders were okay, but the seared ahi tuna and the roasted Brussel sprouts were delicious! I even took seconds of those two. And to top off the evening, they brought out double chocolate bourbon snack pack cups. Whomever came up with taking the chocolate snack pack pudding cups and mixing in just enough bourbon to give it a slight warm kick is a genius. I’ll never look at chocolate pudding cups the same way again. Check out their options here!
Old Gallery Coffee House
This place is worth coming back to. The food is cheap, fresh, and they had yummy fruit smoothies! And a bonus, the locals come here in the morning for breakfast and their morning coffee, so you know that the place is legit. And even better, the coffee is good (according to one of our friends) and the Mexican food is delicious and authentic. Stop by this place if you have the chance! Check out their menu selection here!
Donut Bar
We went back to the Donut Bar this year because we had just missed out on all the nerdy donuts last year. And how can you not like a bakery shop that has a Deadpool wrapped car parked out front? We came here on “Preview Night” day for a morning snack before all the hoards of nerds descended upon San Diego and all the nerdy donuts are gone and all that is potentially left are their regular donuts. Between the Conan donut, the comic donut and the unicorn donut, I had to go with the unicorn donut. No contest. And what’s even cooler is that throughout the weekend, they had set up a pop-up stand further closer to the convention centre with some of the nerdy donut selections that were being sold in the shop. Check out their delicious selections here!
Brian’s 24
This place was recommended by our Lyft driver. When your Lyft driver has lived in the area for over 40 years, you know they know all the good eating spots. And if they say “the best chicken and waffles” and “24hr joint” in the same sentence, you know you gotta check that place out. It was 1 am and we were starving after one of the offsite events, so we decided since Brian’s was just around the corner from where we were coming from, we might as well get our chicken and waffles. Turns out those chicken and waffles are award-winning. And not only that, you really could order it 24/7. Highly recommend ordering the chicken with the bone and throw in a little extra for the real maple syrup. Check out the rest of their menu here! Just a side note, the portion sizes at this joint are big and the prices are pretty reasonable.
(Photo Credit: Jen)
Roy’s
We decided to actually walk into this place after walking past it every time we are at SDCC. Best decision ever, even though we totally did not check the menu to see what kind of dishes they offered. Can’t go wrong with Hawaiian fusion, right? Overall, each dish we ordered was delicious and I would go back again, even though it was on the pricier side. Plus it is attached to the Marriott Marquis Marina hotel. Check out their full menu here!
The Broken Yolk Café
When you are meeting up with your Nerd Family for breakfast and you have no idea how many people will show up, you choose the closest breakfast place to the convention centre and have a ridiculous early morning meet up time. Again, this place serves huge portions, but still pretty yummy and with reasonable prices. Check out their menu here!
Tin Roof
The place where our NerdHQ Nerd Family officially met up for drinks and of course the inevitable karaoke singalong to the live band inside the bar. Aside from our favourite karaoke pastime, the food here (again, for a bar) was pretty dang tasty. We had the Candy Pig Mac & Cheese…that stuff is filling for such a small portion size yet completely addicting. The cornbread was denser and cake-like (I prefer my cornbread to be crumblier and less dense) and the coleslaw was okay. But that mac & cheese definitely stole the show! Check out the entire grub and drink list here!
(Photo Credit: Jen)
FOX Sports San Diego Grill
For a quick bite to eat that is at the pulse of SDCC, we stopped by FOX Sports San Diego Grill that is at the Hilton Bayfront hotel. If you’re a big eater, or you want to split a larger plate with someone, this spot is a good contender. It was quick service; the food was tasty and they brought it out fresh to our table. And not only was it an air-conditioned space (hallelujah!) but the food was actually really good. Pretty sure I needed more salsa with our fries and since I was sharing the fish tacos with Rach, they bring out the dish already split up on two separate plates for you! Talk about service. Check out the rest of their eats here!
(Photo Credit: Jen)
Sweet Things
And finally, we ended SDCC at Sweet Things because that is where you get to redeem your Good Place experience card for free fro-yo! Well okay, so it’s was only free for the first 4 oz of frozen yogurt with toppings. The rest of the weight of this refreshing dessert you will have to pay for yourself. It’s not a lot of fro-yo if you want to add a ton of toppings. On the other hand, it is quite a bit of fro-yo if you have practically no toppings at all. I got mine in just slightly over 4 oz and had to pay 98 cents for the rest of the weight! Score! Mine ended up being Mud Pie fro-yo as my base, topped with Skor-like candy, mini dark chocolate chips, and Sno-Caps candies. The experience is a mix of Menchies and Pinkberry. It’s a self-serve type of place when it comes to the frozen yogurt. Otherwise, all their other items the employees make on your behalf. Check it out here!
Did you visit any of these places? If so, what are your thoughts? Are there any other places we should check out next time we’re in San Diego? Let us know in the comments below! We’d love to hear from you!
‘Til next time,
Stay nerdalicious!
