My Week as Wally, Part 1: San Diego Wine and Food Fest

It was the battle between rain and wine in San Diego last week.  With storm clouds approaching and a dismal weather forecast that gave no hope of a sunny day, San Diego played host to the 7th annual, much anticipated Wine & Food Festival.  Would San Diegan's chicken out and stay home, or would they brave the elements for unlimited wine and bites of gourmet from the city's most popular restaurants?

The answer?  San Diegan's came in droves.  With restaurants as varied as Dicks Last Resort to Donovan's Steak House, the food was good enough to stand in the rain to get.

Here's some clam chowder with crab and scallop on top.  Good?  What do you think?

And this one was super delicious, a bit of surf and turf with steak and scallop and an odd looking swizzle stick.  I know, now that I look at the presentation it's a bit, well, embarrassing when I tell you you were supposed to suck on the swizzle stick to get the juice out.  But people lined up for this one big time.  Look, get your mind out of the gutter!  I know it looks like a miniature sex toy but it was really good!

The idea behind the Wine and Food Fest is that you get to sample lots of wines, lots of beers and spirits, and eat your way through the event.  It's sort of like getting samples at Costco, only the food is incredible, the wines great, and instead of crummy Kirkland frozen pizza it's an ahi poke taco or seared scallops. 

It was like going to the best wedding reception in the world!  Everywhere you turned was delicious food for the taking, and great wines to wash it all down.  Stella beer was handing out free logo'd glasses filled with Stella beer, there were shots of tequila, BBQ's were grilling, and every now and then the sun would peek out to the rousing cheers of the crowd.

Now you guys know I love good wine, but how could I resist Hello Kitty wine?  I mean, are these guys for real?

I wanted to try the Pinot but they clearly knew their audience and served up a pink champagne.  Do you really want me to comment on Hello Kitty wine?  Or can you figure it out for yourself whether this is a serious wine or not?  There were plenty of other wineries there as well, but sadly all I can remember is Hello Kitty wine. Who knows, maybe I'll even buy some to give to my wine snob friends :-)

In the end everyone had a great time in spite of the rain.  Even Santa had a few too many.  He might look jolly but he's really just drunk!  Like the rest of us, he can't wait till next year to do it again.

San Diego is Local Wally, Local Wally is San Diego.  Read more at Local Wally's Guide to San Diego and follow this blog for more cool stories from around town.  And don't forget, Wally knows Napa Valley, too!