By Mary Bishop
This weekend, Mainstreet Oceanside hosted the sold-out Taste of Oceanside event. It was a great chance to stroll around downtown Oceanside while tasting food and drink samples from 47 local restaurants, breweries, wineries and distilleries. The event kicked off with a VIP Event on Friday night, with a perfect southern California evening at Pierside South rooftop. There were stunning views of the setting sun and the downtown area. Drinks were served up by Senior Grubby’s bartenders and light appetizers were served by Chef Daniel Elliot of LTH. To add to the ambiance, singer songwriter Tralain, performed a soulful acoustic medley and was a perfect addition to the atmosphere.
Saturday’s event was a self-guided walking tour. There were 47 locations with a total of 61 food and drink tastings from local restaurants, breweries, wineries and distilleries. Every participant is provided a map and punch card, and visits each of the locations at their own pace. This was loads of fun for my husband and me since we consider ourselves “foodies”. We enjoyed trying some of the hottest new
restaurants in town, learning about new places, and visiting ones we’ve heard about but never had the chance to frequent.
Signs marked each “Sip Stop” or “Taste Stop” and made it easy to find the participating business. A fun feature was the availability of the Taste Trolley that came up from Old Town San Diego to take people around the designated stops. This provided free access to each area and allowed people a chance to rest their feet. As hard as we tried to check off every single location on the “taste” map, I’m not sure it’s possible. We managed to hit 27 of the 44 which left us very full and happy.
Here are few highlights from our tasting tour:
Piper, located inside the Seabird Resort served a rigatoni Bolognese, made with handmade organic pasta (very nice!), topped with parmesan and basil. They are hyper focused on local seafood and everything organic, and purchase what’s currently available from local farms. This made for a very tasty dish!
The Shore Room, also located inside The Seabird Resort, served up the “Baja Bird” which consisted of aged rum, mezcal, Campari, pineapple, cinnamon and lime. This is their version of the 1970’s Jungle Bird cocktail. It had a smoky flavor which was a unique surprise. Valle, located inside Mission Pacific Hotel served up street tacos and was probably the best carnitas tacos we’ve ever had. They were made with homemade corn tortillas by Chef Roberto Alcocer, who is a renowned chef from Guadalupe Valley, Mexico.
Craft Coast Beer & Tacos, provided a taster of their birria which is a slow-cooked beef in a sauce made with dried chilis, annatto paste, onions, tomatoes and spices. It had LOTS of flavors with a nice kick at the end. Very friendly service and the place was packed as we waited for our sample.
Beach Hut Deli: We were very pleasantly surprised by this place as we’ve never been. It’s not your average sandwich joint. The environment was a fun relaxed beach theme, and they offered four different sandwiches to sample. What we noticed first, is that they didn’t skimp on the meat or any other ingredients such as tomatoes or avocados (both of which are expensive these days). The sandwiches were made on a sweet French roll, but they offer other options to include gluten free wraps and lettuce wraps as well. The samples were large and extremely tasty.
The Lab Collaborative: This was the perfect bite to start off the month of October and to have at any Octoberfest celebration. They served
a savory seasoned pretzel bite with spicy sausage, a homemade beer cheese dipping sauce, over caramelized onions. All of it was delicious! The sausage was just a tad spicy but mellowed as you dipped it into their heavenly creamy beer cheese.
Orfila Tasting Room and Kitchen: Chef Luke Morganstern prepared a creamy Mahi Poke, with roasted corn, cilantro, pognito peppers, Japanese sweet potatoes, a creamy Peruvian sauce called Aji Amarillo that is made from a Peruvian yellow chili pepper. The peppers must have contributed to the mild heat in the dish. This was my favorite poke of the day.
The Space Pad is a hidden speakeasy located behind Kilowatt Brewing. You’ll find yourself transported into space and surrounded by flying saucers and planets. The mixologist responsible for their innovative menu is Cristian Diaz. They offer a few appetizers on their menu, one of which is a halibut ceviche which we tasted. They use locally caught halibut, mango, lime, passionfruit and jalapenos. The featured “sip taste” was a classic Whiskey Sour, that they’ve taken and infused smoke with a dried lemon.
Miss Kim’s That Boy Good, was serving up samples by Miss Kim herself. She offered two items, a homemade mac n’ cheese that could probably win a bunch of contests if it hasn’t already. She served it with a smoked pulled pork that was hickory smoked for nine hours and glazed with their own BBQ sauce.
Taste of Oceanside was a wonderful experience. We enjoyed each stop along the route and found many hidden treasures along the way. This annual event should be on everyone’s calendar. It’s a great opportunity to explore with friends and find local food and drink treasures.
