Southern California

Sushi Ota modestly calls itself the "premier sushi restaurant in San Diego." They rate the number 52 spot on Yelp’s Top 100 Places to Eat in the US but I didn't know this before. Their adamant fans insist they should have landed higher since the fish is gimmick-free without say, whimsical concoctions. I agree, fusion throws me too. How'd we end up destination dining? It's not easy finding just the right place and it's tough even where I live, let alone somewhere else.

How do you judge great sushi? Eat it everywhere with reason. Reason takes in authentic dining rooms that are busy, hopping even, and for me the longer the line the better. I had the best tuna that dropped from a chef's knife to my plate. We were sitting at the bar in a place whose name I no longer remember in a strip mall in Orinda where you had to show up in the morning to get a seat. Stunningly, West Coast tuna is nothing like what we get on the East Coast; ditto today's salmon and uni.

We start the day shopping for plants. After, we ask the mechanical lady to take us over to Mission Bay Drive. You have to convince her you're no longer in Boston; this takes more than a couple of whacks. Shortly, we all find Sushi Ota tucked beside a 7-Eleven in the far corner of a mini-mall that also houses Planned Parenthood. I get out first to see how it looks.

Here's what I like about California: People think nothing of driving 82 miles for lunch. (In New York, this never happens.) The Thin Man and I are now two of those people as we head out from La Jolla to Plums Cafe in Costa Mesa. We've brought the Boston mechanical lady along to tell us where to get off. She acclimates, more or less, and in no time it's north on the 5. Our LA cousins, who are meeting us, drive 56 miles and they've lived here long enough to get over their New Yorkiness. I guess we have too.

Just in case, The Thin Man prints directions. As it turns out, she not only does not get lost but she sees into the future. Five miles ahead, on the way home, she tells us repeatedly to get off because there's trouble ahead. We don't, there is, but it works out.

How do you define an ideal California lunch? Although I'm no slouch in the lunch department, a perfect lunch will be one I didn't have to make. Ideal is every plate beautifully arranged. Ideal is having to choose. Will it be soup and salad, waffles, chopped or Caesar, greens? Ideal comes with a brother and cousins. Ideal is a chic vibe. Home? If only.

I LOVE breakfast! It’s my favorite meal of the day. How anyone can skip it is a mystery to me. However, the cost of it has gotten a bit out of hand at most places in LA, so we rarely go out to eat it when we’re at home. Plus this is a meal I have a firm grasp on as a cook. While I may not be Top Chef material, I can make a mean chilaquiles, egg mcMuffin or frittata to compete with most diners and dives out there. So when I find myself out of town, I do hard research on where to get the best breakfast - a place with interesting menu options without breaking the bank. It IS the most important meal of the day.  

We don’t go to “The Desert” (a.k.a. Palm Springs, which refers to the whole region despite the various other small cities surrounding it) very often. I mean LA is hot enough, but sometimes you just need to escape to somewhere more relaxed, where wearing a bathing suit all day is de riguer and lounging by the pool a necessity (otherwise you’d die of heat exhaustion). A quick internet search turned up Cheeky’s (the menu had me at cheddar scones), but it was too far from where we were staying and we’d never be able to make it there before 9:00am, a must if you want to beat the breakfast crowd in any city. (I am officially too old to waste time waiting in line for anything, especially something so ordinary as breakfast.) So, we were thrilled when a local friend told us about Louise’s Pantry. She said it was the best and locals always know.