Encinitas, Ca -East

Have a summer's eve Italian feast on Firenze's lantern-lit patio.
Indulge and enjoy the superb filet mignon with crushed peppercorns at La Bonne Bouffe.
Sample from the varied menu of Chinese fare at Q.C. Szechuan.
Go round the world botanically at the Quail Gardens; people can marry there in an unusual setting, or enjoy a summer evening concert amid lush beauty-thus supporting a local treasure.

Quick Tips:

Check the free Reader for coupons for area restaurants. Competition between restaurants means you can often find coupons in newspapers like the free Coast News, which you can pick up in banks and free paper racks in supermarkets.

Best Way To Get Around:

Car is best; busses still run infrequently and with few stops. Hopefully, this service will improve faster than it has in the past because North County San Diego has grown rapidly during the past five years. There are many bike lanes, and busses do accommodate them: if you want to go to a certain section of the city and then bike and explore that section, you can do so if you have sufficient time and secure bus schedules from the North County Transit system.

So you can't get to Florence this summer? No problem: you can dine "for less" at this trendy trattoria located in an upscale shopping center on the fringe of ritzy Rancho Santa Fe. Open for lunch Monday through Saturday from 11:30a.m. to 3:00p.m. and for dinner anytime after 3:00p.m., except on Sundays when they open at 4:30 p.m. In summer this restaurant's inviting fountained and flowered patio is the spot to eat;at night, it's lantern-lit and romantic. At any time, the service is practised and sure and always attentive.

On my first visit, during winter,we ate inside and I really devoured the filet mignon al casino with saffron mashed potatoes($28.95)as a birthday treat. However, the noise level in the room was deafening. Recent remodeling has solved this problem, as a second visit demonstrated.
For starters, the antipasti misto($13.95) is ample enough for two. This time,Taglioni al Limone di Mascarpone ($20.95) proved a yummy choice for a scallops lover,and my husband deemed the Vitello Marsala($22.95) excellent with especially flavorful sauce. There's an extensive array of entrees including Lobster Ravioli with pesto gorgonzola sauce or a vegetarian's Ravioli with Portobello, mushrooms,and ricotta.
Decidedly Northern Italian style,this restaurant has a chef who hails from Milan,not Florence,but close enough for our taste. Wines of Italian and Californian origin comprise a selective wine list and desserts (if you have room enough) include traditional favorites like zabaglione and tiramisu. Wines are served by the glass, or you can order a bottle of a favorite at reasonable cost. Dining at Firenze is an excellent choice for a special occasion.

This replica of a Parisian bistro is the kind of restaurant you hesitate to tell anyone about, for, next time when you want to reserve, they may be all booked up. Small, intimate, with country French furniture and paintings, this store-front in the Town and Country Center has become an "insiders" spot for the last 20 or so years. Its menu is constantly the same and consistently good. Service by the owners and two assistants is cheerful and competent; you often see people you saw the last time you ate there because this place draws a steady, repeat clientele.

Carrot soup-I first enjoyed it here- and enjoy it in winter. Their onion soup is also great. Mussels in broth and laced with garlic is my husband's favorite starter. For "mains," their list is small and selective-roast duck with green peppercorn sauce, tarragon chicken, a lovely boeuf bourguignonne, duck a la orange-all are prepared the same, but almost perfect every time. During winter, on occasion they'll prepare a scrumptious cassoulet, the most elegant bean dish you'll ever have. It takes hours to make; we've done it,a la Julia,many times, so appreciate it when others do the work for us.
Listed on a blackboard with their prices, desserts are invariably good and irresistible, with lemon tart, bavarian cream, and creme brulee the standouts for us.

Selectively, we've recommended the Bonne Bouffe to friends who have later raved about it and thanked us enthusiastically. It's a special "find."

Behind the red door entrance to this strip mall restaurant located a few doors down from a Red Robin chain restaurant that faces the street, this small but well-established restaurant has been on the Encinitas scene for nearly 10 years. Survival has been achieved by offering a diverse menu, reasonable prices, a pleasant atmosphere that is not oppressively ornate as some Chinese restaurants tend to be, efficient and friendly service,and takeout and delivery service. At lunch, served from a flexible 11:30 to 3:00 during the week, all entrees are served with rice, an appetizer and fried wonton and range from $5.75 to $6.50 in price, with most of the items at $5.75. Some of our lunch favorites are the Szechwan Shrimp, Mongolian Beef, and Spicy Honey Chicken.

For dinner, the menu offers hot appetizers like Szechwan Steamed Wontons, Paper Wrapped Chicken (which is very good),and a Flaming PU-PU Platter for 2 which gives 2 of eggrolls, Tempura shrimp, paper chicken, spring rolls, teriyaki chicken sticks, and crispy wontons(just $7.95!). Their vegetarian specials and seafood offerings are extensive. I adore the Sweet & Pungent Scallops($12.95), but the Hunan Scallops are also yummy(same price), and the Cashew Shrimp at $9.50 pleases my husband.

Another favorite is called Double Happiness and it is: scallops, shrimp and vegetables sauteed in white wine sauce($11.95). The owners use only white breast chicken in all of their chicken dishes, a choice that pleases me as I dislike dark. Pork and beef dishes that are noteworthy include their sweet and sour pork and an excellent szechwan beef, both under $9.00 each. For groups, they have dinners from $9.95 to $15.95 per person and this place is popular with groups because of the reasonable prices and good quality. It's a quiet restaurant that attracts a varied clientele from families to couples to seniors. My reasoning is why go for chain food when a locallly owned specialty restaurant like this one only costs a few dollars more, and you can eat in a tranquil place where you can converse, hear, and be heard, and enjoy the food?

With approximately 30 acres of exotic tropical plants, palms, indigenous California plants, and the largest collection of bamboo in North America, these exceptional gardens draw many visitors year round. Classified carefully by the botanists here, the 24 gardens are manned by docents who can answer questions about the unusual plants or can find an expert to answer your question. For example, there's an Old and a New World Desert, Arid Madagascar, Middle East, Arid South America, Himalayas, Subtropical Forest, Herb Garden, and Canary section, to name a few of the 24. Particularly important in Southern California is a Fire Safety Landscape demonstration area in the gardens, an exhibit that illustrates practical advice for planning one's own landscaping in an area with a history of seriously damaging fires.

After many years of residing in the area, I finally visited these gardens. About ten years ago, a work colleague of mine was married at sunset here, but I was unable to attend. They accrue a steady source of revenue by renting out three select sections of the gardens that can accommodate small to larger numbers of guests for those who wish an outdoor, romantic setting for the special event. Located on a plateau inland, the gardens have Pacific views in many sections.

Another source of funds for these gardens comes from the Summer Concert Series; these concerts cost $20.00 each or $72.00 for the series, and include a light supper, dessert, and coffee. They are more formal than the Moonlight series and people cannot bring the blankets, coolers, food, and drinks that are welcome at the Moonlight Concerts By the Sea. The concerts in the Summer Concert Series feature light jazz, Latin jazz, blues, and old popular music, not more alternative or rock and roll. Tickets for any or all of these concerts can be purchased at the Gift Shop at the Gardens, or by phone with credit card at 760-436-3036, extension 201.

UPDATE: A recently donated addition to the Garden's collection is a "corpse flower," nicknamed "Mr. Stinky" by resident botanists. It's a rare plant from Sumatra that grows rapidly just before it blooms, at which point it emits stench considered by some to be the worst from any plant in the world. Fortunately, this stench remains for a short time, usually three days, and the Quail botanists hope its stench won't "overpower" this Sunday's jazz concert at the Gardens.

UPDATE-April 12-13,2003, the annual Herb Festival features tours, plants for sale, as well as herb sellers, with food available for a days outing. Free parking

Open daily 9-5 p.m. for tours for the public. Telephone number is 760-436-9466. Admission is free for all on the first Tuesday of each month. The Gardens receive no tax money and are totally self-supporting.

Since 1986,when the towns known as Cardiff, Olivenhain and Leucadia became one,as the incorporated city of Encinitas,tourists have often become understandibly confused as to where Encinitas begins and ends.There are,as there were before incorporation,some distinctive differences between these different sections, differences which tourists note and respond to. Most careful to preserve its identity is charming Cardiff, which has its own zip code, town council, elementary school,and chamber of commerce.

Furthermore, since 1986,inland eastern,non-coastal Encinitas has developed as a more "commercial",non-funky section of the city that differs in aura from old, western and coastal Encinitas, though with a recent extensive remodelling and reconstruction -dubbed "Streetscape"- of downtown coastal Encinitas(much to the chagrin of "old" residents there and the closing of several, long-established,off-beat shops and restaurants that were relics of the 1960's), coastal Encinitas is beginning to turn more "commercial", too.

Each section still retains enough differences, particularly in Cardiff and Leucadia, to afford different activity, accommodation and overall visiting experience,to warrant exploring them differently.
In particular, laid-back Leucadia retains the most distinctive 1960's feel- a still funky, off-beat, slightly seedy atmosphere very reminiscent to me of 1960's Venice in Los Angeles before the Marina Del Ray development radically altered the Venice scene. Charming Cardiff represents for me a struggling compromise between the old and new; as this highly stable community's older residents meet their Maker, Cardiff, too,will probably become less restful and non-commercial than it is now. But,in the immediate future, a visitor can still enjoy alternative differences before standardization sets in.

Old Country Olivenhain is mainly a residential area, a middle-class Rancho Santa Fee with large lots per house, dirt side lanes off main roads and an absence of street lights, all an effort to keep the area semi-rural.

However,the Olivenhain Water District's new dam and water recycling plant promises future tours to the public. As locals we were privileged to tour both the plant and the dam on June 1,2002.The dam is absolutely awesome! About 500 locals were transported to the water plant site and were treated to a barbecue lunch following a video-cam viewing of the throwing of the switch to activate the plant. Later,San Diego Water Authority engineers were on site at the dam ,to which we were transported by mini-vans, and answered many questions from a very interested group of citizens who were aware of how the availability of water is of such prime importance in this still growing region.In Ocotober, Olivenhain (pronounced "hine"),celebrates its German heritage with an Octoberfest that's lots of fun. And plans are afoot to restore the still-standing original community meeting house and open a museum there.For details on the other sections, see my journals," Coastal Encinitas-Highway 101," "Laid-Back Leucadia," and "Charming Cardiff."