Lunch at La Vache

I love to find a fabulous new restaurant (new to me at least)! We have some really great ones that are close to our home, but sometimes I just get tired of going to all of the same places. So last weekend we ventured out to Hillcrest, a super cute and funky neighborhood close to downtown San Diego, to see what we could find.

There were no shortage of restaurants to choose from, but we decided to have lunch at La Vache, a casual french bistro. 

The outside of the restaurant offers patio seating:

But we decided to eat inside:

I love how they cover the tables with paper. They also provided crayons for doodling.

There is a smallish cute bar:

Bar rules:

No Fussin'! No Fightin'! No Whinin'! No Back Talkin'!

Our drinks of choice:

Marc had the chardonnay and I had a bellini. Yum!

Hungry Marc:

Marc is wearing his favorite sweatshirt. Do not be surprised if it appears more than once.

My Lunch:

Caesar salad with salmon, dressing on the side. It was excellent! The salmon was seasoned perfectly and the croutons were really good. I am kind of picky about my croutons.

Marc's Lunch:

Steak sandwich and salad. It looks like it was all bread in this picture but it really wasn't. Marc's steak sandwich was soooooooo good! He let me have a bite. The steak was really tender. 

No picture of me? Marc still has not gotten used to the idea of my "personal blog". He thinks that taking photos in public like this makes us look like tourists. Maybe it does, but who cares!? Oh well, at least he cooperated with me for the most part. He had better get used to it.

There were so many other things on the menu that looked good, I can't wait to go back. Their prices were very fair. I think my salad was $13.50 but the piece of salmon was huge! Marc's sandwich and salad was a special and so it was only $8.50. The sandwich was so big he could hardly finish it. I love finding great restaurants that are new to us. Like I said, I can't wait to go back!

La Vache in Hillcrest, San Diego. This place gets my stamp of approval!

I Heart Hillcrest

I hate parking meters. I hate them with a passion more than you can even understand. It's not because I am cheap, because let me assure you, I am not. It is because I never have much more than a quarter in my wallet. I don't carry cash, I use credit. It's just what works best for me. 

So imagine my shock and horror when I went to Hillcrest the other day to get my hairs cut, to find nothing but pay-for-parking lots and parking meters. I knew better than to even bother with a meter, so I pulled into the first pay-for-parking lot that I saw. I parked, and walked over to the strange yet cute old woman working the guard booth, and asked her if she took credit cards. Nope! 

The next thing she told me was utterly shocking, in a good way. The parking meters take credit. What?! Yup, they do:

See the beautiful Visa/Mastercard logo? Love at first sight. 

Way to go Hillcrest! Parking meters are seriously enough to make me write off a city completely. There are just too many places I can go where I don't have to hassle with them. But since you let me pay the way I want to, with credit, we can be friends. 

The freaking awesome parking meters are just one reason to love Hillcrest. It's a fabulous little urban oasis for me with funky shops and restaurants when the beach towns are just a feelin' little too boring for me. I can't wait to go back! I heart Hillcrest.