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Dessert and Speakeasy question:
PiquedinSoCal 2 Reviews 3218 reads
posted

A couple of months ago I raved about a dessert place to impress a date named EXTRAORDINARY DESSERTS located on the west side of Balboa Park off of 5th and Laurel, and one poster (Whose sobriquet I can't seem to remember at this moment) mentioned another place here in town that was similar in ambience(?) and product. What was the place, and WHERE IS IT ?

Here's a tougher question on bars:

Last Friday, after a eight or nine year absense from it, I decided to visit Hamels off of Friars Road near the old Admiral Bakerfield(?) park. Although a bit on the crowded and small side (Don't all popular bars seem this way?), I was impressed by the eclectic diversity it attracted.
Black, white, brown, young, old (I would posit that most of the crowd was in the late 20 to mid 40 range), suits, and t-shirts, combined to make the mirth there work. No pretenses whatsoever that I could detect from anyone there. It also had what I consider to be a very good deejay (I love doing the Electric Slide and suddenly hit by the sounds of Outkast), and -- AND -- there was no cover to boot. Needless to say, I fell in love with the place. When you get to my age, one simply gets tired of rolling the dice when trying out unfamiliar bars. There just isn't enough time to experiment if you know what I mean. :(

Okay, try to check your subjectivity at the keyboard on this one, but can anyone come up with another bar with a similar atmosphere and crowd ? The Silver Fox in Pacific Beach comes at a very distant second, but it lacks a deejay and dancing. Any ideals ?

Thanks in advance for any help on either query. :)

-- Modified on 7/29/2004 12:47:28 AM

LoudEye4713 reads

Here'a alink to the thread that mentions the place you may be referring to:

http://theeroticreview.com/msgBoard/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=25121&boardID=7&page=

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PiquedinSoCal3517 reads


Thanks for saving me all that shoe leather there, LoudEye. My slow computer just wasn't up to the task of perusing through pages, and I had forgotten when it was exactly that I had posted that thread. Thank you again, and the check's in the mail.;)

Don't know any bars to match the criteria I'm looking for, huh ?

... By the way, guys. I went and saw "Catwoman" tonight at the behest of a Halle Berry fan -- and who isn't? -- and all I can say is save your rods, cones, and hard earned nine smackers on this flop. Not even Halle's inmeasurable beauty and fit figure could save this turkey. Mark it as definitely a cure for insomnia as this picture simply sucked!. :(




-- Modified on 7/29/2004 2:04:44 AM

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luckylindsey2732 reads

Hi,

I highly recommend "Just Desserts" in Kensington, at Adams and the 15.  Or is it "Simply Desserts"...?...well, very easy to find since it is on the tiny, main drag of Kensington with a bright orange awning.

For an eclectic bar with a deejay, Shooterz in North Park was recommended to me.  It is known as a "gay" bar but didn't feel like one to me .... I have been there once, on 80's night, which was not to my taste, so I didn't stick around.  But I was very impressed by the variety of "types" there, business folks and goth chics, plus everything in between.  This was the very reason my friends and I chose to hit that club, we were told the scene was unusually eclectic.  I found the vibe to be exciting but casual.  I just didn't find the 80's truly danceable.  I bet there is good music on other nights though.  I am too busy lately to go find out.  Checkout the URL maybe it is more helpful.  Sorry such a slim lead.  Oh well thought it was worth trying, maybe it will help you out.

Good luck, have lotsa fun for everyone, I would love to know if any of this info turns out useful to you.

Related Link: http://www.sdreader.com/ed/calendar/cl/UNDER.HTM

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PiquedinSoCal3323 reads


Judging by the lack of responses to my queries, either everyone in here lives their life behind a keyboard in a never ending quest to find and review that "perfect" escort, thereby not having the time to frequent bars, or they're attending AA meetings. ;)

...No one in here know of a bar with that kind of atmosphere, patrons, and/or deejay ???

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MIKE10103975 reads

I do know that if you go down to any place in PB during the day you will find the 20-60 crowd enjoying each other's company.  If you want that at night you have to find a good neighborhood bar.

These places are in every neighborhood in SD.  One in particular that I can give up is the Alibi in Hillcrest.   There are people ranging from their twenties to their sixties in this bar (they also serve a mean drink!).  This bar is a lot of fun as it is one of the handful of straight bars in Hillcrest.  

There are bars like this in every neighborhood in SD.  You just need to hit them with somebody who likes to have fun.  My favorite bar is the one I'm hanging out in with my friends, new or old, at any time!

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PiquedinSoCal2747 reads

Mike,

I agree about the PB area. I use to hang out at the Tavern on Garnet, eat at the Cass Street Bar and Grill frequently, and would also occasionally shoehorn my way into the Beachcomer on South Mission on weekends. I did mention that the Silver Fox also located in PB pulled up to a distant second to the atmosphere I rediscovered at Hamel's, with the Silver Fox's only shortcoming being the lack of a deejay or dancing, which I enjoy partaking in with the right date. All the aforementioned are great bars, but with the exception of the Beachcomer, they all lack dancing.

Yes, I agee with you about every community having its gems, but I'm looking for one with a good mixture of age, ethnicity, and dancing. Hamel's -- at least on Friday Nights -- has all that. The last thing I want or need is a place like the PB Bar and Grill, where the only thing to keep one my age (mid 40s) entertained is playing TNT trivia games, or watching 21 year olds abusing their first legal drink en masse. That scene gets old really fast. A nursery I don't need.

I also agree with you about any place being okay as long as one is with the right friends. I guess I'm just looking for recommendations where one can take a date that anyone can feel safe and comfortable in because of its diversity, and also not too hardcore or vanilla. Hamel's had all that in my opinion.

Does the Alibi have dancing ?

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luckylindsey3603 reads

No dancing.  Live music.  And once they had an after hours girlie show that kicked butt.  But than you need to have an open-minded date.

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MIKE10102902 reads

I don't think there is dancing there as it is a small neighborhood bar with a few pool tables.  It does have the eclectic mixture of people that you spoke of like Hamels.  It seems to draw the people who have lived in the neighborhood for many years and the black clad crowd equiped with tattoos and piercings.  

The last time I was there I was sitting next to a bunch of neighborhood people over fifty, a guy who looked and sounded like the guy who said "I'm sporting a tremendous woody right now" in the movie Short Cicuit, a tattooed and pierced school teacher and a couple in their early thirties.  The teacher and the nieghborhood guys were buying "tremedous woody" shots just to see what it would do to him as he seemed a bit innocent.  

Every time I have been in there I met some fun and unusual people.  They really do pour an honest drink at a good price too.  A great place to stop for a nightcap after having a great dinner at Busalacchi's.

Another place that seems to have a great mixture of young and old is McGregors during happy hour.  It does get pretty young on weekend nights but it is very mixed at happy hour.  The young people also seem to have more of an upside to them than the young dumb ones you find at the beach.  Most of the young people are professionals of some sort.  They also have the best fish taco in town.  The downside is that prices for things like beer are more than what you pay anywhere else in town.

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