Greetings from San Diego

Since nobody else is posting anything this week, figured I'd put up a short travelog.  I (Rich) am in San Diego for a couple of days for a conference.  I'm speaking on social media at the National Association of Consumer Shows in about an hour.  It's a beautiful 70F and sunny outside, as it is just about every day between February and November.

Hope all is well in Pittsburgh.  Saw that last night's Bucs-Yankees rubber game was rained out.  Sonja's on lunch today and Melanie tomorrow, so all is well. 

Started off this morning with a cup of the prepackaged Wolfgang Puck coffee they put in the rooms at the Omni.  It was better balanced than most prepackaged filter hotel coffee.  But there wasn't a single flavor note other than roast that you could hang a hat on.  In other words, it's what you'd call emergency coffee - nothing you'd seek out.

I had to find a Kinko's to copy some handouts, and the closest was on C and 5th, which is about half the alphabet from the hotel (L and 6th).  Luckily, the Kinko's was only one block away from Elixir, which is generally acclaimed to be the best espresso spot in the Gaslamp District - or anywhere downtown for that matter.

The doppio macchiato I ordered featured more of a southern Italian style espresso instead of the sweeter northern Italian balance of Black Cat, but it was well done, with a traditional dollop (which they etched) instead of the noveau Pacific style of freepouring small lattes so the barista can show off art skills instead of letting the drink's espresso shine.  It does make a difference in the taste.  I myself once lobbied for the freepours, but the staff and our macchiato-drinking customers convinced me the traditional Italian-style dollop was the way to go.

If you're in San Diego, by all means give Elixir a try.  They've got a beautiful LaMarzocco FB80 three group, beans roasted locally by Calabria, an inviting, if small seating area, a friendly staff and free wireless.

It's so nice here, I might decide to stay awhile.  Had the cod tacos at the Tin Fish yesterday since it was close... it's also good - am going back for more.  Benkovitz should do fish tacos.  It's a great dish sorely lacking in Pittsburgh.  And it's good to know some places still respect pizza here in SoCal.  Wish more places back home had the same reverence.

Comments

[luke]

Penn Avenue Fish (23rd and Penn) has had awesome fish tacos for a while, and their fish sandwiches blow everyone else out of the water (no pun intended).

I also hear there's a place that serves some great free pour macchiato's not too far from there.

Enjoy the nice weather :)

[Rich]

We've heard good things about Penn Ave. Fish but haven't been, so haven't tried their fish tacos. Do they have different fish? I went back a second time to the Tin Fish in SD and had a halibut taco... wow.

We'd also be more inclined to visit anyplace serving a fish taco if we could have our tacos with a nice beer. And an outside table. And a cool ocean breeze. And palm trees... miss being in SD already!

On the macchiato thing, doing the thick spooned dollop for a ~1-1.5oz drink vs. doing more volume of latte milk for a 2+oz demi are completely different drinks tastewise. I was surprised to get a traditional one in San Diego since the milkier art style is so prevalent out West. That they didn't increase the milk volume for a doppio order was even better.

As I mentioned in the op, I was even in favor of freepouring, figuring that the more latte-like art-topped drink would be more palatable to tastebuds here in the 'burbs. But our regular macchiato drinkers wanted no part of the extra milk, so most of our staff were adamant about preserving the dollop (even though they admittedly enjoyed the demi art component), thus we stuck with the traditional Italian style.

Same thing with capps. Even though Belle, John, Sonja and Melanie have done art in the some of the barista competitions, we don't encourage milk art cappuccinos here because they're too latte-like. Not sure why the heck so many competitors do the art as it often gets negative points due to the lighter density of the foam. It'll be interesting to see if that type of capp scores better when the WBCs are in Atlanta next year.

Anyway, it's not like there are hundreds of macchiato drinkers in the South Hills, so we certainly want to keep the ones we have happy.

That two shops in the county are actually talking about macchiatos is a good thing. And those who enjoy macchiatos should be happy to know they have a choice of styles.