San Diego Dining, Last Day

Jan. 7
The last day of any convention is still spent hurrying to papers, and also scrambling to see the friends you didn't get to see on previous days. Fortunately, we didn't have to rush back and teach (hearty laugh here for our colleagues who did), so we were able to relax a bit that evening and go out alone together, WITHOUT NETWORKING.
We wanted a hot spot, and Holt had forethoughtfully scanned the web and printed out the reviews. We settled on Café Chloe, again in the Gaslamp district, so walkable. It had a nice buzz even on a Sunday night, with Man Ray photos maintaining the bistro décor of place and people - apparently the well-dressed crowd wears black even in pastel San Diego. The waiters were pleasant and obliging without crawling into your lap. They brought us an appetizer of smoked trout cakes - good idea, that - on a bed of a fennel and Granny Smith apple slaw, with a sauce of crème fraiche, mayonnaise, capers and cornichons. To go with it, a bottle of Bannister Chardonnay 2003, from the Russian River valley, nice and varietal.
For main courses, we had sliced pork tenderloin in prune sauce, with baby green beans and carrots, and lusciously rare steak-frites with sherry butter and asparagus. Of course, the latter needed red wine, so we ordered a glass of Leal Syrah 2003 from San Luis Obispo, probably because the wine list described its overtones as "blueberry pie and dark chocolate." Not so's you'd notice, but that was in its favor. On the whole, we give San Diego a big plus, for food, climate, and everything.