Twenty-One Flavors of Carlsbadistan

The one thing we learned yesterday at the annual Flavors of The Village restaurant tour is that one hour is not enough time to walk (or shuttle) to 23 different Carlsbadistan eateries. And we knew that. We saw the map, we planned ahead, but sometimes Sunday afternoons can sneak up on us.

By the time we’d made it to the corner of State and Grand to purchase our tickets from Christy Johnson it was a little after 5 PM. That should have meant sprint mode. Sadly, we didn’t know how late it was until we tried to get in the door at The Carlsbad Chocolate Bar at about 10 minutes to 6 PM. It was already locked down. And we were bummed.

Not to say that our hour on the streets of The Village was wasted. With what Johnson said were about 200 people ahead of us we found restaurants loaded with lots of good food wherever we went (even if it was occasionally difficult to find).

Follow the jump for the rest of the story and more photos. . .

Encinitas artist Bruce Stewart GM of the Off Track Gallery deciding which wine he’d like to sample at The Wine Spot.

We tried some Big Ass Red wine at The Wine Spot (and wished we tried something else), had delicious Shepherds Pie at Henessey’s reminding us that there’s much more than drinking to be done at Henesseys. The stuffed pretzels and smoothies at Beach City Smoothies made us wish we visited Mary much earlier and more often. We will now.

Pizza Port was no surprise: delicious. Le Passage was out of our favorite (macaroni and cheese) but Chef Bernard Chaze hooked us up with his steaming vegetable soup. Vigilucci’s served us up an entire dinner including Vodka penne, bruchetta, and grilled zucchini and eggplant, and Knockout Pizza and Knockout Burger both let us sample their goods well after the 6 PM cut off. Los Olas had just packed their food away, and Branci’s Caldo Pomodoro was shut.

So, in 55 minutes we were able to hit eight restaurants and fill up on great food. On the way home, we plotted our strategy for next year and it involves pre-ordering tickets and strolling into the first restaurant at 3 PM sharp.

Mary making sure everyone was getting enough smoothies and pretzels.

Singer/songwriter Dixie Maxwell still going strong at 5:45 PM at Beach City Smoothies.


Samantha and Julia serving up the Pizza Port’s other world famous fare: pizza.


Ivan a.k.a Frankie a.k.a. . .??? with what was left of the vodka penne. After three hours of serving he still had a smile on his face.


Kyle slips a few slices under the 6 PM wire and for that we thank him because Knockout Pizza was near the top of our sample list.