Grown Up Fun in San Diego: The Lafayette Hotel
February 28, 2024
What a difference a day makes! First of all, we have to thank Kevin who has his finger on the pulse of San Diego. He has been to the Lafayette before for dinner and knew what a cool place this is. And is it cool? Yes.
The lobby and the main bar are excellent. Quirky and strange and fun.
I was assigned room 226 after only a slight delay. The hotel is “eclectic cluttered” flavor, but somehow the design sensibility works. I guess it is possible to make things hang together by building a collage of most everything.
226 is rectangular, but it doesn’t feel like a hamster cage. About the only thing that needs work is the noise level. 226 faces the street and it is a bit noisy (for non city types anyway). The hotel did manage to get super quiet for about four hours around midnight when the power was taken down for construction. The quiet woke me up.
The hotel did its homework and greeted NPS with personalized stationary, a note about birthday, and a bottle of prosecco.
The difference in level of service between this hotel and the previous destination is like night and day. Thet have the NPS demographic nailed here.
I mean, just look at this bar. Apparently there is one of these in each room.
Home negroni? Why not.
Underberg?!
And the shower? Not at all plastic.
It was time to unwind from the meetings and talks. So down to the bar to await the arrival of my dinner companions
An expert-level Negroni with clear huge ice. Yes please.
Dinner at Quixote was very interesting (and expensive but well worth the price). The restaurant is a restructured church moved up from Mexico. Really interesting. The cocktail program is top notch and willing to play. We started with a CR#2 of course and moved on to a Paloma and some fernet.
Dinner is served tapas style. The lamb belly on mole was delicious.
Stringy cheese fondue.
NPS has never had cactus before.
After a brief stop by Heaven we headed to the game room to play some games. Fooseball!
We made a relatively early night of it, stopping in at the pool bar for a Paper Plane nighcap before crashing.
And then it was morning. Enough time for a leisurely breakfast before heading to the airport and back to Virginia.
All in all, we barely scratched the surface of the Lafayette. (We did learn to avoid the road side.) And we tried out a few of the many options here for fun. Suffice it to say, we will be back. Five showerheads and a dip in the pool next time for this excellent hotel.
The Catamaran: The Tired Part of San Diego
February 27, 2024
Back in the mid-’90s we spent a bunch of time in San Diego. One of the first annual trips was a visit to NDSS, a geeky conference always held at the Catamaran hotel. That must have lasted a decade or more. A return in 2024 (some 15 odd years since visiting the Catamaran) shows the toll that time has taken.
You see, the Catamaran has spent more on the common areas (which are very pretty but also just a bit wrong…like, say, a pool area where you are required to wear a wrist band as if you are an untrusted 20 year old) than they have on the rooms. Nobody seems to have considered fixing up the rooms since maybe 1982. Or maybe they spent all of their budget on marketing drones?
So you go from this:
To this:
Hamster cage with no design sensibility and indestructible furnishings. But wait, there’s less. How about the Holiday Inn bathroom console (featuring communal soap)? With a vinyl floor?
But you are here for the shower. Here is a prime example of the worst kind of plastic shower. Oh let us count the ways: lilliputian tub only a foot deep and made of plastic, obesity bar, plastic shower curtain (with a see thru plastic window portal design), and a shower head that does nothing to improve the flaccid water pressure. A big nope.
Here, watch the plastic shower in all of its glorious action…
There are good things about the Catamaran, like friendly staff, a good restaurant, and an espresso bar that knows how to make a real macchiato. And it’s right on the Pacific! But we’re not surfer dudes.
There’s an excellent coffee bar nearby too—pump coffee.
A visit to Ken Sushi Workshop is a great idea. Excellent.
Ultimately, room 218 is so dissatisfying that it was time just to jettison the plan, pack up early (after the morning meeting), and switch hotels. A lowly one showerhead and no more chances for the old Catamaran. It has sprung a fatal leak.
The Estancia La Jolla: Old School, but Still Classy
December 18, 2022
Way back when, I stayed in the Estancia La Jolla MANY times for MANY years. I have some very fond memories of my time there. Since we were on a quick hit to Qualcomm, it was time to revisit and see how things are going.
The Christmas Nisse was present at the front desk. My dude, you are a long way from Norway!
The thing about room 390 is that it is generic. But the other thing is that the construction is substantial. Heavy, wide doors. Things that keep noise out. It’s true that the architecture is boring, but it is also built properly to last.
Sadly, the shower tub thing. But the tub is low and is very wide. Nonetheless, the hotel needs to put in some glass.
Could be anywhere. Get this, there is a clock! LOL.
But its not! It’s La Jolla. And there is a balcony.
Even in December, everything is green.
A fantastic after lunch coffee post meeting.
And possible one of the worst Negronis ever. The airport bartender measured mediocre ingredients just so and then added a shot of Angostura! LOL. What?! We had a chat.
Extruded ice. Shitty gin. A dry peel improperly squeezed. And an extra shot of bitters. San Diego airport Negroni.
Anyway, four showerheads and warm Christmas thoughts for Estancia La Jolla.
Grande Colonial Inn La Jolla Gets a Facelift
May 15, 2019
What a difference a year makes. Last year the Grande Colonial seemed a bit tired and long in the tooth. It has had a facelift.
View from 102
Though the architecture of the building has not changed, the room layout is much cleaner and more spacious. Even the long skinny bathroom (which remains long and skinny) is better.
Looking in the long skinny bathroom. Hey, the shower is not plastic!
This trend to delete bath tubs and replace them with modern shower spaces is a great trend. Much better use of space, and much more reasonable approach to morning cleanliness.
The best part of this design is that the controls are situated logically. No reason to get wet while you turn on the shower.
The rest of the room has been opened up, repainted, and re-imagined. Nice work.
102 bed
Seating area 102
Look how comfortable
Sadly, the parking lot has not been deleted. The ocean is over there somewhere.
Dinner at Catania was very good for a restaurant group property. Modern italian with a negroni to boot. Recommended.
Early negroni unless you are on East coast time pic.twitter.com/8HheWl4gTq
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) May 15, 2019
Sadly, the bar at Nine Ten (which is a very good restaurant in the hotel) is still sub-par. Gotta hire some hipsters who know what they are doing. The current bar suits the old, monied, and boring demographic of the hotel. Nuff said.
A badly made (poorly measured) negroni?! Ack. @grandecolonial @ninetenlajolla pic.twitter.com/07dkiFkT2k
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) May 16, 2019
George’s at the Cove, a La Jolla establishment of many years still deserving its reputation, still has the best cocktail program in town.
George's at the Cove is still the best cocktail bar in La Jolla pic.twitter.com/El9ddZSYIL
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) May 16, 2019
Joree Weatherly was a top notch barman who served us this cocktail. It has a name, but Joree did not write it down on the recipe I asked for. Lets just call it Trentino Tincture. Actually, it turns out to be named Shiso Piney
1.5 Amaro Junipero gin
.5 Pasubio amaro (from Trentino where I spent a year in 1993)
1 lemon
.75 shiso syrup
2 dashes of pine tincture
top with soda. serve on rocks in a collins glass.
This amaro is from Trentino where I lived in Italy in 1993. Gotta get some for my bar! It has an interesting blueberry note. pic.twitter.com/akuXYUCxCW
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) May 16, 2019
When we returned the next night with a cast of hundreds, Joree made use these great cocktails:
Mezcal Manhattan
1.5 Mezcal
.75 montenegro
.75 Averna
2 dashes mexican spiced bitters
Stir down, serve on a large cube
Negroni Amarillo
1.5 Mezcal
1 pamplemousse
1 suze
2 dashes sage tincture
Stir down, serve up with sage leaf
United upgraded us on the way out. Lets hope that works for the way back too. Global services rock on! Um, nope. No upgrade, and we’re here to tell you, economy sucks!
Well that sucks. @united once again fails to execute on a regional upgrade cert. They are pretend and not a perq. Number one on the upgrade list #globalservices
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) May 17, 2019
NPS is impressed. Nice work updating the property! Four showerheads for the Grande Colonial.
A Quick Pit Stop at Solamar San Diego
May 31, 2017
It is gray and overcast in San Diego. I’m pretty sure this never happened before Donald Trump became President.
We’re back for a quick bit of business in San Diego on our multi-city tour. One of the best things about San Diego is the Salomar. Our buddy George has moved over to the Palomar these days and has been replaced by the capable and super nice Kayse Potter. Kayse made sure our welcome was warm and nice and that our shower was non-plastic. Thank you Kayse.
We arrived late due to Virgin America SNAFU apparently involving a crazy lady in an unrelated city. Things you overhear when the flight crews gossip. Anyway, we got our rental car and zoomed over to the Salomar just in time to drop off bags and skeedaddle for our reservation at Noble Experiment. A great time was had by all. Thanks Andrew and crew. The back bar shots of rum and tequila made for a damn fun time.
Drinks that do not suck @NExperiment pic.twitter.com/GgOcXsOHoE
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) May 31, 2017
We slunk back around midnight. Room 834 is a great space but it is on the wrong side of the building for me. Too noisy when there is a game on at the stadium (after the game ends).
Party all night after the game right under my window
The bathroom is particularly nice with the gigantic tub/glass shower thing going strong. It’s time to replace the showerhead though.
NPS Approved
Glass Pod
Functional but out of date
A solid night’s sleep and a nice long shower was topped only by Swedish pancakes at Richard Walker’s.
Oh, one funny thing. The lobby music is driving Q nuts. He is the manager on duty in the front lobby and is forced to listen to an endless loop. We’ll see if we can’t get that fixed for him!
All around way too quick but super solid visit to San Diego. Five showerheads (one of which might need replacement) for the Solamar.
San Diego Solamar: Paradise in Paradise
November 15, 2016
NPS has been to San Diego so many times that the count is lost in the ashes of oblivion. See, that was back before the blog, and that means memory is hazy. This blog is the best prosthetic travel memory ever. Back in the day, we stayed up in La Jolla at the Estancia (highly recommended). Since then, Kimpton has invaded San Diego. And you know how we feel about Kimpton at NPS! So here we are right in the gaslamp quarter.
It took a bit of doing to get here due to San Francisco fog. But Virgin America did its hip thing. Their cross country jaunt in main cabin select is the best in the business.
This is our first visit to the Solamar, and it surely will not be the last. We were greeted by Q at the front desk who was courteous, helpful, and most of all fun. And then we found this in 1003 (a nicely appointed suite):
Cheese! Flowers! Sparkling water! Notes! Kimpton Karma.
This is a very nice way to re-up our Inner Circle status! At least we think that is what is happening??! Who knows, the system is too complicated for NPS.
Anyway, 1003 is very nice.
1103 living area
1003 bedroom
Of course, the bathroom is the coup de grace. Excellent design. Glass showers. Big giant tub. Windows. Yup.
1103 shower cube (approved by NPS)
Just cool
The event we’re in town for is at the Coronado (an old school resort with more flowery wall paper and old carpet than style). That’s why we’re staying here. Later, we’ll figure out the water taxi situation.
Dinner at Kettner Exchange was very good. Their bar is good but not excellent. Go for the food.
Kettner Exchange
Richard Walker’s pancakes (even though it is utterly full of convention goers with little lanyard tags) is quite fabulous.
Swedish deliciousness @richardwalkers pic.twitter.com/mlVpCeQ85J
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) November 15, 2016
Watch a San Diego sunset.
Take the ferry from 5th avenue pier to Coronado island.
Have a great old school steak at Lou and Mickey’s.
https://t.co/lXeHGdVi7F pic.twitter.com/nSqpAWfNgT
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) November 16, 2016
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) November 16, 2016
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) November 16, 2016
Drink at Noble Experiment. NPS was seated at the bar and served by Tony Roehr, a very talented bartender indeed. We had some classics and some experiments, including what we will call the Dump Trump
1 oz cocchi americano
1 oz cynar
1 oz gin (sipsmith)
sea salt
dash of chocolate bitters
Stir down. Serve up with a twist of orange peel.
Outragous fun last night @NExperiment. Fancy new menu and same great service. Thanks tony roehr and @lukefordyounce. @WoodfordReserve pic.twitter.com/0mlkyOJonn
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) November 17, 2016
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) November 17, 2016
Also in the house was Woodford Reserve brand ambassador Luke Ford who go everyone destroyed as an accidental side effect. Much fun was had by all, even the frat boy fascists who invaded.
Five showerheads for the Solamar. Tops. Max.
Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel
March 25, 2015
The Bayfront Hilton in San Diego has exceeded NPS expectations and set a new record for Hilton goodness. Lets see why.
One view from 2935
The other view from 2935
Getting here on Virgin was very good indeed and a huge step up over united. On time, relaxed, room to work, wifi. You go Virgin.
Seat 3C (the usual) on @VirginAmerica A320. Main cabin select is great. Hey @united, they have wifi. pic.twitter.com/tCryu8c15Y
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) March 24, 2015
Room 2935 is a hamster cage design, but it has two banks of windows with a gorgeous view of the city. A very nice room indeed.
Windows in 2935
From the door 2935
And the shower is glass. NPS approves.
Hilton has a glass shower.
One of Kimpton’s fun hacks is putting a fish (usually named Walter) in your room for your stay. Hilton is trying to go there by putting virtual fish on the TV. Not quite the same.
And now some good things and bad things about this Hilton.
Real hangers = good
iPod dock = good
Power by bed = good
Water for sale = bad
All in all we’ll give this hotel four showerheads, which is a definite step up for a major chain. Most excellent!
In other San Diego news, El Dorado bar has seriously great cocktails as well as a bunch of antique collection bourbon and rye on hand (real Stagg from multiple years for example). Brionnie Briem made a superb and masterful Sazarac (with Sazarac 18). The experimental cocktail she whipped up was only meh, but hey you can’t have everything!
Experiment
2 oz Rittenhouse Rye
t of fallernum (too sweet!! too sweet!!)
2 dashes Angostura
lemon zest
Lou and Mickey’s is still a great place for a steak. Amazingly, they can handle a group dinner of over 20 without a hitch (perfectly cooked everything). Well done chef!
The secret speakeasy Noble Experiment is an oasis of hip in San Diego. Superb entrance, great skull decor, and best of all seriously good cocktails. My spoiled cocktail geek friends and home brewers all loved it.
We were served by Jesse Ross who was happy to play. Though my friends started with a Nevada (nice to see that on the list), but I went straight for the fun.
Pine and Rye
2 oz sazarac 6 rye
.25 oz sapping (a piney French concoction)
.75 oz Dolin’s dry
heavy dashes of Pernod Absinthe
This drink was so similar to what I have been drinking at home lately (the old 48) that it was a shock! Serve on a big cube with a healthy slice of orange peel. Boozy deliciousness.
Non-cyn Thriller
1.5 oz Whistle pig rye
.75 oz Port
.75 oz Campari
dashes of Chocolate Mole Bitters
We ended the evening with some 2014 George T Stagg. Hotter than the last couple of years, but something unbalanced about it.
The evening was just super fantastic. Do not miss Noble Experiment if you find yourself in San Diego.
Hotel La Jolla Has a Cool Shower
January 12, 2015
Just a few years ago (OK ten) I used to come to San Diego all the time. I stayed at the fabulous Estancia La Jolla so often that they got to know me. But now that Kimpton is, well, Kimpton we figured we could try the Hotel La Jolla on this trip as an alternative. It’s pretty Kimptony!
Looks Kimpton-y in 906
You know how we feel about the hamster cage hotel design here at NPS. Hotel La Jolla is what happens when you spiffify and stylize the classic rectangle of doom into a Kimpton property. That means comfortable bedding, cool bathrooms, and nice flooring. But there is only so much you can do with a concrete shell of rectangles, and noise is a problem here at Hotel La Jolla. Like the highway traffic leaks through the door and the building “wakes up” in the morning. Reminds me of living in an apartment in Italy.
On the plus side, you can see the ocean in the morning, and the room is very comfortable in the usual Kimpton way. It feels like a Kimpton.
Then there is the shower! Very cool indeed. A glass cube between the bedroom and the bathroom. We like.
906 rectangle view includes clear shower
A nice note and a welcome amenity of cheese was in the room as a greeting. (Sadly, no crackers!)
Karma welcome
More on that shower, which incidentally has great water pressure too.
Looking in.
Looking out.
And then there is the Pacific ocean.
Night from the balcony.
Day from the balcony
A high four showerheads for Hotel La Jolla.
Well almost. After a really yummy dinner at Herringbone during which we taught the barman Victor how to make a Broken Bike, we headed back to Hotel La Jolla for a nightcap. It was 9:15. The bar was staffed but closed. No service for us and no money for the Kimpton bar program.
So, miffed, we went back to Herringbone bar to close it down with Victor. Turns out it was Victor’s first night ever behind the bar (and not doing backbar). Negroni, Pappy 10, perhaps some Fernet Branca? Nice time.
Pappy 10 new look. @HerringboneEats has zinc. @BuffaloTrace @pappyvanwinkle pic.twitter.com/7mZslFZ5nT
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) January 13, 2015
Morning in La Jolla.
hotel la jolla morning @kimpton https://t.co/GagQMy3Dd1
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) January 13, 2015
Rancho Bernardo Inn = Luxury from the ’70s
March 3, 2011
When I helped to boot up our California practice several years ago, I spent a huge amount of time flying back and forth from San Diego. I’ve probably been to the city 20 times over the years if you count all of the conferences. My favorite place to stay is the Estancia in La Jolla (just north of San Diego). I’ve stayed at some of the crappy hotels on hotel circle and some of the new conference behemoths in the city as well.
I am here for a conference called Hotel Technology Next Generation. Last time I gave a keynote for the HTNG guys it was in Lausanne, Switzerland and I swear that the suite I got at the Beau-Rivage Palace was in a James Bond movie. Anyway, I was wondering how they would top that one. The hotel guys like to roll out the red carpet for each other, so doing a keynote for them can be a good thing indeed.
The answer is to change the scale orthogonally. I had high hopes for the Rancho Bernardo Inn, but I must admit some amount of disappointment, especially with the bathrooms. Maybe it’s that I think golf is a massive waste of both time and way too much of planet earth’s surface?
To show you what I mean by luxury from the ’70s, here is a picture of the bathroom. You can see the “Speaker Boehner” memorial tanning light in the ceiling. As if tanning with UV lightbulb rays directly is a good idea?! Orange was big in the ’70s I guess. The furniture in the room has that ’70s feel to it as well.
I have two copies of the exact same bathroom design in my suite since the sitting room has one copy of its own. The post-it note stuck to the mirror says “Everything looks better after a trip to the Spa”…that would be wishful thinking. In any case, I am happy to report that the water pressure in the shower goes all the way to firehose level. I think I lost an ear in the shower this morning. Invigorating. And quite possibly dangerous.
I do have a very spacious suite with a sitting room and a huge, nicely appointed bed. Here are some pictures. The property itself is very pretty and feels like Disney. (You may recall how I feel about Disney.)
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I was very pleased to have a couple of bottles of wine and a cheese plate arrive shortly after I did. I’m not sure whose idea they were, the HTNG guys or the hotel management, but I do appreciate the sentiment. They were a perfect snack in lieu of yet another meal on the east–>west run.
In the end the Rancho Berrnardo squeeks by with a three showerhead rating. The Estancia continues to be my top San Diego pick.
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