Studio Diner: San Diego, California

Shout out to my Aunt Rachel who suggested we go to the Studio Diner in San Diego. This diner has been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives which is a television show on the Food Network. We were pretty excited to have an opportunity to go to one of the places featured on that show because the food always looks SO good.

Parking was a bit of a hassle because there are only a handful of spaces right in front of the diner itself, we ended up parking on the side of the street. We were surprised at some of the quirky names on the menu. The "Boob" was something with a chicken breast, and "Jewish Penicillin" was what they called traditional chicken noodle soup. There was a wide variety of food ranging from seafood to more traditional diner food like burgers and breakfast.

Ultimately I decided to go for the Baja Burger with a side of Clam Chowder and Rachel went with the Club Sandwich. As you can see the burger came out with a generous helping of fries. Unfortunately neither the clubhouse or the clam chowder are pictured because the food blog pictures were a bit of an afterthought (we were both hungry). The burger was decent, nothing too special. The guacamole didn't have much flavor and the salsa wasn't of the spicy variety. Rachel's clubhouse sandwich was good, as was the clam chowder.

Overall, if you're looking for a decent place to eat at any hour this is a good place to go. However, if you're looking for a gourmet restaurant you should look elsewhere.

Studio Diner

4701 Ruffin Road
San Diego, CA 92123

The Big Squeeze: San Diego, California

Angle Shot of the Acai Bowl and Extra Granola

Top Shot

I have a number of friends who have attended Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, CA. When we were visiting recently they mentioned that they were going to The Big Squeeze. They couldn't believe I'd never heard of it before. They said I HAD to go when I got a chance.

Well, the other day I finally had the chance. The Big Squeeze is located in the Pacific Beach area. From what I understood this was a local version of Jamba Juice. I found that there is a big difference in quality between the franchise shops (Jamba, Juice-It-Up, etc) and this place. We all ordered Acai bowls. For those that don't know, Acai is an extremely nutritious berry. Acai bowls are frozen berries ground up to a juice consistency. Then chunks of fresh fruit (in this case strawberries, bananas, peaches, and mangoes) are mixed in along with granola. Many people (myself included) also add honey. This treat is a great breakfast and you can feel great about eating it because it is really healthy.

I'm a big fan of Acai bowls in general. This one was particularly tasty. They keep everything nice and cold, I actually got a brain freeze from eating too fast. The fruit was all fresh and tasted really good. As for the granola, well, it was granola. Nothing too exciting other than the fact that it had almonds (I'm allergic). Luckily they were few and far between, otherwise this short trip for breakfast could have turned into a trip to the ER.

Location:

1826 Garnet Ave
(between Kendall St & Lamont St)
San Diego, CA 92109