San Diego Magazine Best Of North County Party

You’d think a party that’s sponsored by Unilocal would have more reviews, but I can’t find any other page to write.
My girlfriend got tickets through a discounted website, so I paid $ 65. This was definitely worth it. The Four Seasons, OKAY FINE Park Hyatt (it’ll always be FS to me since I’m a local) is a GORGEOUS hotel. I used to work for the property and they still managed to keep the same philosophy when it comes to pleasing guests, even when they changed ownership.
This event was a blast. My friend and I thought we’d be one of the first 100 to receive a prize bag, but it was immediately packed when we showed up ten minutes early (oops). Lots of people, tons. A lot of older couples, and younger ones, so really the age range was all over the chart. Saw a gal being told to please take her kid home and she looked upset– a drinking event is not the place for a child. Come on.
The vendors I went to were as follows:
–Wilson Creek– GREAT wine, finally got to sample the almond champagne without having to buy a full bottle!
–Vintana– had their lobster macaroni and cheese. Delicious!
–VG Donut– HOLY SHIT your red velvet donut was to die for. I need to come to your store and buy dozens.
–Masters– some kind of gin drink, very tasty and mellow
–Solterra– PAELLA, so scrumptious, been meaning to go back there!
–Stella Artois– not a beer fan at all, but their cider was awesome
–Slaters 50÷50− okay your burger with the fried egg was kind of wonderful, wasn’t expecting that since I didn’t like your food the one time I went there. You may have convinced me to come back…
Deep Eddy Vodka– I’ve had this before but I was pleased to see them here, love their grapefruit concoction. It was one of the last ones I went to but wish I had gone there first!
Those are all I can think of at the moment– but next year I’ll for sure go.
Gotta admit though, Unilocal you were NOWHERE to be found. Didn’t see anything about Unilocal at this event even though they were a sponsor. Nor could I find an event for this through Unilocal event pages. Even though my friend told me about it, I never would have seen word of it on Unilocal myself.
Go next year for 2016 :)

What a great event. A lot of our most popular restraunts in north. Oh try participated and had some really tasty food to taste. I think there was about 7 wineries that had fantastic bottles. Champs, rose’, whites, sweet, dry, cabs, the gamet. There were a couple vodka vendors too. Lots of beer. Dance music which set the tone and made it super fun. Great venue, lush and fairly private, next time I will wear wedges or boots. Heels dig into the grass! Photo booths were fun. They had no host bars in case you didn’t get enough at the tastings? Tix aren’t cheap to this but a really nice night out and I’m really impressed that most of the restraunts had fish, and went that extra mile to put out something that represented them.

We went to the 2015 event this past weekend (Friday) and enjoyed it. The threat of rain was a concern but they (and we) got lucky and the breezes were diminished by being surrounded by buildings and landscaping. Mostly, there were a LOT of wine booths — I wished there had been a few more «substantial» food selections but the ones that WERE there were xln’t for the most part. The sliced filet from the Aviara’s Vivace Room was really good (though the sauce poured over was too-​heavily pronounced with Balsamic vinegar!). The Vintana’s Lobster Mac N’ Cheese was superb and VERY generous with the lobster — amazing. Slater’s ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ generous ¼ of a hamburger was nicely dressed but I thought the meat was heavily compressed and dense, so I didn’t like the texture. The tiny lobster bisque sample from Lobster West was a great disappointment! The minute bits of lobster (size of a grain of rice and there were a total of 3 in my sample) were an embarrassment and the whole sample tasted greatly of being previously frozen — definitely not fresh-​tasting. You’re supposed to be showing off some of your BEST here, aren’t you? Edible Arrangement’s chocolate-​dipped apple slice was of good quality — xln’t chocolate. My favorite? Real Bar and Bistro’s gnocchi with a tomato-​based pork «stew» poured over the tender, little pillows of heaven. Beautiful. There was also an xln’t gelato from Gaia. We’d go again … just PLEASE have more trash bins available and more people to quickly clear off the hi-​top tables for others to use.

My ticket was free – and the event still wasn’t worth the price. Here are the lowlights, friends:
Food: Tiny portions (even by «tasting» or «grazing» standards)…Not enough vendors… too much dessert and not enough «solid» food. [Noticed fellow patrons eating after the event at the hotel bar.]
Booze: No hard likker I could find… wine was bottom-​rung swill, pure dross and then some… beer was below average, typified by stuff like «peanut butter, caramel and pumpkin quasi-​Belgian stout.»
«Music»: Pure garbage – loud, thumping garbage– so damn loud conversation was futile – some sort of techno-schlock-crap…WHO the F chooses this trash? Expensive event purportedly catering to the «sophisticated” – and the soundtrack is 100% aural excrement!
Added «attraction»…Bullshit valet parking tendency in which (not sure who specifies the hierarchy) the most expensive cars are parked prominently in front of the joint – rather than «first come, first served,» which would be logical… what the F IS this crap?
Conclusion: It’s a BULL-​FUCKIN-​SHIT event and it ain’t worth a crap!!!

My friend invited me to SD mag event and the party did not disappoint!
This year the party was held at fabulous Aviara resort in Carlsbad, the venue was beautifully decorated, there were tons of food and beverage vendors as well as live entertainment and photo booths.
It was indeed a memorable evening!

Last night I had my first experience at this event together with a friend and we both enjoyed the whole package: phenomenal venue in Carlsbad –even with the threatening rain– the funny retro, filled with props photobooths, the wine galore, even more craft beer to choose and, ohhh, the food! The both decided that our favorite was that ceviche with watermelon from the Wrench and Rodent seaabasstropub. Now I am so looking forward going to that semi new restaurant! Volterra wine and generous paella did not disappoint either, and neither did Café Secret and the citrusy ceviches that were so refreshing!
Music was very good too, tines for all tastes and everybody dancing and having a good time. I got to know several new spas an beauty salons for me, so the list of new stuff to try grew as much as the warmth in the cold night.
San Diego magazine offered tons of the latest issue, so I got a couple of them to share the joy of our city many beauties with others. Great event overall with plenty of food and drinks forb every body.