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DIM SUM during the week you say? That's not normal (except in Convoy)! But now there's a new restaurant in Hillcrest called French Concession that IS open with your choice of favorite dim sum items from noon to 10pm, any day of the week. The catch... don't expect any servers pushing carts or the typical round tables with lazy susans. Instead, this place has normal table service and a more 'chic' feel.

French Concession - outdoor view

Last Sunday, we headed to Old Town for our third visit in the month of December! We're already breaking our typical 1-2 visits PER YEAR for Old Town! As Dennis and I drove in, we lucked out and got a parking spot very close to the plaza. The moment we left the car, we were enveloped by the inviting scent of tortillas, freshly made every day, which made us even hungrier! After being greeted by the friendly hostress, we were seated.

Mimosa and Margarita at Casa de Reyes in San Diego Old Town

And the Tequila Trail continues from part 1!

Tequila Trail 2013 - El Jimador Tequila

Inside the Cosmopolitan Hotel bar area, they were serving El Jimador, which actually did well in the competition in previous years. It's funny that once you learn about something, all of a sudden it's everywhere! I've been noticing this brand in the stores ever since last year...

The Spirits of Mexico Festival is in its 10th year of production with this being the 3rd year of participation for San Diego. We attended the Tequila Trail 2012 last year and had a blast!

To start, we picked up our tickets at will-call, which was located off San Diego Avenue and Twiggs Street. Just look for the big pop-up tents and workers, then pick up your will-call tickets or purchase them on the spot. Then you can take a look at the printed map and visit any of the locations in any order you please! On the back of the map was a list of restaurants and tequilas and we were pleased to see more than half of the tequilas were new to us! How exciting!

Tequila Trail 2013 - Reqional Tequila

Food and beer... always a great combination! We stopped by Ballast Point brewery to check out their new Taco Tuesdays provided by Root Cellar Catering Company. This new pairing of brewery and caterer started May 28th and will continue every Tuesday between 4pm and 9pm until further notice.

Root Cellar Company chalkboard menu

On Friday, we dined out at Del Mar Rendezvous. It's a beautiful restaurant with modern dark wood tones, asian inspiration, and an extensive wine rack of which we partook later for dinner! Both the Manager Dan and Chef Tony have worked hard to continually make improvements in the experience as well as the food which has won them "best chinese" from San Diego Magazine for the past three years. One big selling point is that they have a separate vegetarian/vegan menu as well as a gluten-free menu, both with over 40 items to choose from, including gluten-free beer! It's fantastic that they are catering to more diners AND it is delicious!

We tried out some of the items that are going to be part of the San Diego Restaurant Week menu below:

Del Mar Rendezvous Sesame Crusted Seared Ahi