We survived Friday’s downpour. By late afternoon, it turned into occasional showers. Around 4pm, my daughter, Shauna came by. I drove with her to her house and dropped her off. She’s leaving her car with us until Wednesday, while she’s back in Washington, DC. When I came back, Donna’s sister, Sheila had picked her up and they went out to have their nails done.

We had plans to meet up with Chris and Sherry Nirschl for dinner in Ocean Beach. I sent Donna a text asking if I should pick her up in Point Loma at the nail salon so we could make it to the 6:30pm dinner reservation. She texted back telling me Sheila would drop her off. I read this and thought Sheila was driving her back to the RV park and we would drive together.

I was beginning to think we would be tardy for dinner when Donna hadn’t returned by 6:15pm. Then I saw a text from her saying she was arriving at the restaurant early and wanted to know where I was. Oops! Sheila dropped Donna off in Ocean Beach while I was waiting for her to return to the RV park.

I drove to the Ocean Beach Warehouse restaurant and would’ve been only a few minutes late if I could’ve found a parking spot. I circled around Newport Avenue a couple of times before I found an open parking space two blocks west of the restaurant. Of course, when I walked up Newport Avenue, three parking spaces had been vacated right in front of the restaurant.

The Ocean Beach Warehouse restaurant website boasts “Eclectic global cuisine and vintage decor create the perfect casual hangout in the heart of downtown Ocean Beach.” They aren’t just bragging. They back it up with a variety of entrees and 24 local beers on tap. Donna ordered the short rib pappardelle and I had grilled mahi-mahi over garlic smashed potatoes. The food was cooked to perfection. I paired my dish with Belching Beaver IPA. This small brewery is becoming one of my favorites. Their IPA is brewed to style without over-the-top, in-your-face hoppiness.

The best part of the dinner was the company. We hadn’t seen Chris or Sherry since our last visit to San Diego a year ago. We had fun catching up and I really enjoyed the conversations.

Chris, Sherry, me and Donna

In the photo you can see the vintage decor includes the siding from an old Airstream travel trailer on the wall behind us. My hand on Donna’s shoulder looks like it came from the land of the giants!

The skies cleared up on Saturday, but it wasn’t very warm. I don’t think the thermometer climbed much past 60 degrees all weekend. We had another meetup scheduled on Saturday afternoon.

Carole Sue Bringas arranged to meet with us at the Offshore Tavern and Grill and she invited some friends. Carole came down with the flu on Friday and had to cancel. Donna and I went to the Offshore anyway and were pleased when another old friend walked in.

Colette Denning, her daughters Kirsten and Ally and Kirsten’s son Tristan stopped in. I think it’s been about 15 years since I last saw Colette or Kirsten and at least 20 years since I’ve seen Ally. I’ve known Colette since I was in the ninth grade. We’ve stayed in touch over the years and at one time, in the early ’90s, we both lived in western Washington. Our daughters played together when they were kids.

We sat around a table and talked for a while, then Kirsten had a phone call from work. They needed her to come in ASAP. Kirsten lives with Colette in San Clemente. That’s also where she works, about 60 miles away from where we were. Our visit was cut short and I didn’t have a chance for a group photo.

After they left, Donna and I decided to stay and have something to eat. Donna ordered the bruschetta sliders plate and I ordered my favorite dish at Offshore, the poke (PO-key) plate.

Bruschetta sliders

Poke plate

Donna’s sliders were excellent. As soon as I tasted the sushi grade ahi tuna poke, I knew something wasn’t right. After a few bites, my mouth was on  fire! I neutralized it somewhat with the fried won-ton chips and avocado, but I couldn’t understand why the tuna was so spicy. Closer examination revealed a copious amount of dried red chili flakes in the sauce. I’ve never had this on the poke plate before. My face was flush and I was starting to sweat. I asked Donna to try a bite. She said it was awful – the chili flakes totally overpowered the ahi.

We called our server, Stefan, over. I showed him the chili flakes on the poke. I told him I’ve had this dish many times before and it wasn’t like this. Something happened in the kitchen or the chef decided to kick things up a notch. Stefan went back to the kitchen to inquire. He came back  to our table and said it was the new recipe. I had him take the plate away – I couldn’t eat it.

They didn’t charge me for the poke, but they’ve taken what was an excellent dish and changed it for the worse. When I go to get my free football pool drink on Tuesday, I’ll let the owner know what I think of the new poke plate.