Eating on the Job - Happy Hour at La Puerta in San Diego

This past Fall I was fortunate enough to get away from the grey and gloom of Seattle to what I thought would be a few warm and sunny days in San Diego. Unfortunately it seemed the weather followed me down south. Even though the weather wasn't as nice as I was hoping, the food in San Diego didn't disappoint.

When I first started to travel for work there was nothing I hated more than eating by myself. Now it has turned into one of my favorite activities. I'll always prefer a companion to share a meal with, but if I can't find one, no worries! The key is finding good food to fill the void. What I'll do is get a recommendation for a great local spot, hopefully in a fun neighborhood, that has great food and a nice happy hour menu. If the bar has a TV with ESPN even better!

For this trip, I checked out La Puerta and it hit every category on my checklist: cool neighborhood (in the Gaslamp District), great happy hour deals and menu (1/2 off aps and drinks), fun atmosphere, football on TV, and most importantly tasty food, in this case Mexican. You can't go to San Diego and not eat Mexican food.

La Puerta has a daily happy hour from 3-7pm. I definitely appreciated the extra hour. I ordered the Cochinita Quesadilla which was made with a slow cooked, marinated pork, mixture of oozing cheeses and served with a sweet sour cream and pico de gallo. Highly recommended, nothing better than a warm quesadilla and margarita for happy hour.

I also ordered their freshly made quacamole with house chips and pico de gallo on the side. The guac also came with Panela cheese. These were not your every day tortilla chips, but were thick and flaky. I wanted to try more, but was stuffed after eating the chips and my quesadilla.

Definitely a fun spot and great recommendation from my hotel concierge. If you're up for great Mexican food, solid drinks, and a fun time, head down to the Gaslamp and grab happy hour at La Puerta.

- Kyle