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FeedThought for Food
This year, as always, the feedback has more to do with the strata of service than the caliber of comestibles. And we can’t help wondering if San Diego’s restaurateurs are paying attention. In this issue, for the first time, we went outside our borders to enlist the comments of a veteran critic from Los Angeles. Ingrid Wilmot spent weeks tasting and testing some of our better restaurants, and in most cases, she found the level of food preparation equal to the best anywhere. Service was another matter. But then you could have told her so.
Charles Correia has had it with “waiters who say ‘You guys.’ ” Noting our “best fast food” category, Duane Grischow thinks we should add a “best slow food” category. T.J. Byers doesn’t mince words. He’s fed up with “idiot servers hired for their looks and not trained.”
Says T. Cecil: “I do not care what the service person’s name is.” “Still too much of the ‘Dude, I’m your waiter’ ” approach to service,” adds our wine writer, Tom Gable. And the beating goes on.
Again this year, the matter of wine is a sticky one. “Wine by the glass is way too expensive,” opines Phil Nichols. “I want more 375-ml bottles (splits). And use real wineglasses,” he adds. Alice Battle has had it with “proprietors who don’t know wine, yet refuse to hire knowledgeable people to offer interesting and affordable wine lists.”
David Hernandez thinks we have too many restaurant options on our ballot. “Some of these categories are ridiculous,” he says. On the other hand, Jan Borkum wants a California cuisine category; Vivienne Bennett wants “best chocolate croissant”; Gil Cabrera wants a “best Cuban” category; and another voter wants a “best buffet for a casino” (he/she would vote for Sycuan). To which Alan Beneveati says, “Buffets suck—guaranteed stomach ache—low-quality food!” But then Alan also loves O.B. Donuts.
And although Desirae Foose writes, “I love nuggets!” we probably won’t be adding a “best nuggets” category anytime soon.
SAN DIEGO SHUFFLE: For those who think some professional sports teams could give more back to the community, it may be that they just give quietly. Case in point: Each Thursday evening, for the past six years, Chargers players, coaches and executives have been making the trek to the downtown Salvation Army to serve dinner to the homeless—without a note of fanfare . . . Yes, the rich are getting richer. But so are some of us. According to the World Wealth Report, the wealth of North American millionaires increased by 8.5 percent last year. Out of just more than a million San Diegans, 37,000 have more than a million in net assets. In the next five years, that number will increase by more than half to 60,000 . . . And yes, millionaires do have more time for golf. VerizonSuperPages.com says San Diego is now the top city in the United States for golf. The ranking is based on golf-related headings that include public and private courses and driving ranges, golf instruction, stores and even miniature golf and disc golf courses.
SWANNEE: The great NFL wide receiver Lynn Swann, following in the staggered footsteps of jocks-turned-politicians Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger, brought his campaign for governor of Pennsylvania to San Diego this summer. Amid fund-raising forays among the local Republican elite, Swann stopped off at the Lincoln Club for a breakfast pep rally and Q&A. And his storytelling was reminiscent of actor-turned-politician Ronald Reagan. When the moderator noted Swann’s mother had enrolled him in ballet classes when he was 8, Swann sighed, “You had to bring that up, huh?” Well, it’s true, he confessed. “I was her third-born son, and she wanted me to be a girl. She didn’t get one, but she named me Lynn anyway.” Coming out of USC, after playing in two Rose Bowl games, Swann says he expected maybe the Rams or 49ers, or even the Chargers might draft him. “But no California team wanted me,” he said. “Instead, I got to go to Pittsburgh. But that’s okay; I look good in gold and black.” Swann, who looks good in just about anything to his Pennsylvania fans, also looks good in the polls. He has the polish of a winning politician. And he’s groomed himself for it. “I didn’t just wake up one day and say, ‘I want to be governor,’ ” he said. “I usually wake up and want to be Bill Gates.”
THE BOTTOM LINE: Pioneering San Diego businessman and Cubic founder Walt Zable, receiving a lifetime achievement award at the Entrepreneur of the Year dinner, had something to say about advancing age. “One thing that happens as you get old is that you lose a lot of good friends,” said Zable, who’s 90. “But then you lose a lot of enemies, too.”
Listen for Tom Blair’s Friday reports on KOGO News Radio (600 AM) at 7:25 a.m. You can also click here to listen to his column.
Items for the magazine or radio may be e-mailed to tblair@sandiegomag.com.
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