Haidilao Hot Pot had me at dancing noodle!

Neighborhood: La Jolla, UTC Mall

Price: $$

Vibe: Lively and welcoming ambience, bustling with diners, dancing noodle dancers and kitty-cat robots zooming up and down the aisles. I suggest you make a reservation if you don’t want to wait – the line can get long in this hip location in the mall. Oh, and if you’re dining alone, they bring a giant stuffed plushie companion to sit in the booth with you, because who wants to eat hot pot alone?

Readers of this blog know that I absolutely LOVE hotpot. It’s spicy, it’s interactive, and you can customize it to your tummy’s delight. So, I was excited to try Haidilao, the new hot pot restaurant situated in the UTC mall in La Jolla, but I was also a little hesitant. Would this place live up to my “go to” hotpot joint, Little Sheep Mongolian HotPot?

Once seated inside, the staff provide a Haidilao-branded apron. Now, I typically wear dark clothing when I dine at hotpot because it’s soup and it drips due to my complete abandonment of decorum with the spicy soup, so the apron was a classy move from my perspective.

The menu is vast with a large variety of ingredients to choose from. Your party must first decide which broth to order. Due to the brilliantly designed vessel within the table, with up to four slots for your desired broths to bubble and froth, you are confronted with the ordeal of choosing between the eight options.

Here’s what we chose starting at the top-left and going clockwise:

• Spicy Pork Bone Soup - this one felt like the most traditional of the soup bases. Similar to other hot pot restaurants in the area, it had a deep and rich pork flavor with a nice level of spice.

• Miso Soup Base – this one had a yummy, deep umami flavor and I really liked how different it was from the other broths.

• Mushroom Soup Base – this one was a pure delight and probably my most-highly recommended broth option. The depth of mushroom flavor is unctuous, and I found myself choosing this one to fill my bowl repeatedly. Try it.

• Regular Mala Spicy Soup Base w/ Vegetable Oil – of the four broth options we tried, this one was the only one not meant to be eaten like a broth. It was a spicy, oil-based broth and I liked cooking the meats, noodles, and veggies in it, but then straining it out a bit before it landed in my personal bowl. It was spicy and delicious!

You must venture to the condiment bar during your visit — so many fun ways to customize your hotpot meal.

Haidilao Hot Pot provides just about any hotpot ingredient one could want from meats to seafood, noodles, vegetables, and the like, but their condiment bar (of which three are located throughout the space!) coaxes Western diners out of their comfort zones with bonito flakes, eggplant, a kaleidoscope of fungi, other pickled items. Though, in addition to the add-ons to the overall meal, one must, and I mean MUST, have the enticing feast for the eyes: The Dancing Noodle. Check out the video of the Dancing Noodle, freshly made and stretched right there at your table.

The meats we chose were the Angus Beef Ribeye, Kobe Beef Belly, Australian Lamb Shoulder (oh my!). Along with the Dancing Noodle, we also got an order of Udon noodles (my fave), Woodear mushrooms, Enoki mushrooms, spinach, Bok choy, Napa cabbage. The tables are designed to easily accommodate all your hotpot ingredients, without spilling out into the aisles or requiring additional tables like other hotpot restaurants. Brilliant!

If you’re lucky, you may get some of your ingredients delivered by the Kitty-cat robot zooming up and down the aisles, which adds to the zaniness of the experience.

You must absolutely try Haidilao Hot Pot. This place blew me away, not only with the wonderful food, but the bustling and lively atmosphere that makes for an incredibly fun meal. And who doesn’t love robot Kitty-cat servers and dancing noodle guys?

Haidilao Hot Pot

4545 La Jolla Village Drive, Suite F9

San Diego, CA 92122

Sugar and Scribe Bakery is Everything You Want in a Brunch Spot

When you visit Sugar and Scribe, you must take a cruise through the bakery inside. The sweets, the cakes and baked goods are a Willy Wonka-style wonderland.

Neighborhood: La Jolla

Vibe: Adorable European-style sidewalk cafe with seating both inside and outside.

Price: $

I love finding a good brunch spot that not only offers a wide selection of brunch options, but also one that delivers on even the most basic of dishes, like a simple French-style cheese scramble cooked to fluffy perfection. Sugar and Scribe is everything you want in a brunch restaurant and more. Thier wide selection of baked goods is rivaled only by the kitchen, putting out delicious European-inspired cuisine. Oh, and did I mention the coffee? Yum!

This is one of our “go-to” spots on a Saturday or Sunday - but it can indeed get crowded during the summer/touristy months, so beware of the wait time. But the food is well-worth a little wait, especially considering the long lines outside of rival brunch spots like “The Cottage”, that don’t even compare, food-wise. If you do have to wait a bit, go into the bakery and order a coffee and take a little walk around the neighborhood. There are a ton of cute little shops just one street away on Girard, and don’t forget Warwick’s Book Store, which one can easily whittle away a half hour browsing around.

On to the food! I typically order the same thing when I come here — there is nothing I love more than a good simple scramble served with a salad (yes, a salad! It’s very French.) for breakfast. This time during our visit, we tried something new. Sugar and Scribe is inspired by classic bakeries around the world (they serve a full Irish breakfast for those wanting to partake in this specialty), so we decided to try the scotch egg. This is not a menu option you can find in many restaurants, so it was fun to give it a whirl.

Scotch Egg served with house gravy is a fun bite to share!

My favorite dish here that I’ve been hinting about in this blog, is the Sligo Scramble. Eggs scrambled with goat cheese and Irish cheddar with a spring salad. I always order this with the Irish multigrain bread with homemade jam. It may be the most perfect breakfast (says me)!

Sligo Scramble

My brunch mates on this fine day, ordered the Naughty Skillet and the Lobby Roll. The plates and presentation are beautiful.

Naughty Skillet — with roasted potatoes, Irish white cheddar, bbq beef, two eggs and spicy sriracha hollandaise

Lobby Roll —Maine lobster, lemon aioli, celery and parsley on a butter roll

Don’t forget to check out the bakery, it’s truly an enchanting experience and I dare you not to treat yourself to one of these delectable items!

Sugar and Scribe

7660 Fay Avenue, Suite I

La Jolla, CA 92037

American Pizza Mfg. for delicious home-baked pizza

Neighborhood: La Jolla, near Wind and Sea Beach

Price: $

Vibe: This is not a dine-in restaurant, but if you stop in to place your order, they’ll offer you a small glass of wine while you wait

I wasn’t sure about this new take n bake pizza joint that opened up in La Jolla during the pandemic, but I am so glad I gave this place a try! Located right up the street from my favorite neighborhood beach (Marine Street) on La Jolla Blvd. this wonderful little spot is perfect for your next pizza night at home. It’s super easy to place your order online and is usually ready in about 15 minutes to pick up and take home.

I’ve heard some naysayers claim they don’t want to have to “bake it themselves” (the nerve!) but trust me, once you try the crunchy delectable crust, you will be a convert! I now crave this place ahead of any other “already baked” pizza restaurant in the area.

10-15 minutes in the oven at 425 degrees and voila, dinner is served! The pizzas come on parchment paper that you drop right onto the oven rack (no pizza stone or baking sheet required) and the salads are just delicious.

Here’s what we like to order at American Pizza Mfg,:

The Edsel - wild mushrooms, truffle oil drizzle, parmesan sprinkle. We added prosciutto, YUM!

The Flyer - you can’t go wrong with fresh mozzarella and spicy pepperoni.

Fresh garden salad with organic greens, grape tomatoes, artichoke hearts, chevre, garden peppers and balsamic dressing makes my heart happy!

The finished product…..

American Pizza Mfg.

7402 La Jolla Blvd.

La Jolla, CA 92037