Seeing as how I’m not a big drinker, I’m not one to get excited about a pub crawl. But a food crawl — where you hop from restaurant to restaurant with a group of strangers-turned-friends — that’s something I could get excited about. So when Dishcrawl invited me to participate in one of their events, which takes diners to four different restaurants in one night, I said, “Yes, please!”
The restaurants are kept secret until the first location is revealed 48 hours before the event; the rest of the food spots are revealed as the night goes on. In the meantime, meals are eaten, connections are made and friendships are formed. I believe wholeheartedly that food is what brings people together best and during Dishcrawl, Eaman and I made some great connections and new friends. Seeing as how we’re still new to the city, it was a wonderful way to meet locals.
Oh, and how was the food, you ask?
Unfortunately it was nothing too exciting, which I suppose should be expected given that our Dishcrawl location was Carlsbad. It’s a lovely beach town but not necessarily a cutting-edge culinary capital.
We started at Italian restaurant Gregorio’s, where we had shrimp linguine, breaded chicken, eggplant Parmesan and fusilli with vodka sauce. This was mass market Italian at its best (worst?), but at least at Olive Garden I could’ve had the so-bad-it’s-so-good salad and breadsticks. That said, it wasn’t a total loss by any means. We sat next to a fascinating couple, Jay and Pamela, who regaled us with stories about adventures abroad — and in the kitchen! (She’s a personal chef.)
Knockout Burger was meant to be stop #2, but when they weren’t ready with our food, and after we waited 30 minutes out front, the group decided to move onto the next location. Only after we got to the third location and finished that meal did we see proof of the burger. Oof, a disappointment it was. What we got was a limp burger and weak fries, both of which seemed of frozen descent. The only positive here was that our lovely Dishcrawl Ambassador, Tinie, was gracious enough to go pick up 40-some sandwiches and walk it all the way over to the third restaurant where we were stationed.
While at the wine bar/restaurant Relm — before the burgers arrived — we sampled a Mediterranean salad, crudite platter and spinach-artichoke dip. That dip was just wonderful, served warm with nice toasty baguette bread to go along with it. Even better was a conversation we had with Tinie’s sister, Stephanie, who when not assisting at the event, told us about her work in Uganda, upbringing in San Diego and dog-walking business.
And then it was time for our final stop, which of course meant dessert. We strolled into Swirlicious, where we were told to go wild. No restrictions and all you can eat. This may not have been the most refined of dessert choices, but it was just right for me. Since moving to California, my love for the omnipresent fro-yo has resurged and I always find myself craving some cool, tart nonfat goodness. Oh, and toppings. The toppings! Gummy bears, caramel cups, Sno-Caps, WHOLE BROWNIE SQUARES — I went to town on the accoutrements. You may think sour gummy worms and caramel cups don’t go well together, but you’d be wrong.
With outposts in nearly every state across the U.S, Dishcrawl is expanding rapidly and bringing strangers together for meals in a different way. Even if the food isn’t five-star, I almost feel like that’s not the point. The point of Dishcrawl is to make new connections, share a little about yourself and learn more about your community. It was a great way for newbies like us to meet people and a way for us to get a peek into life in downtown Carlsbad. For more on Dishcrawl, check out their site here.
This post was sponsored by Dishcrawl. All opinions expressed are my own.
