The talk at the lunch in the exhibition hall today at Expo! Expo!, at least among us newbies to the show, was about the lack of seating for those lunching. There was only one bar-type tabletop at each food station I saw, and much of the food involved cutting with a knife. Which is pretty much impossible to do in polite company while standing up with nowhere to put the chow. People would get a plateful then go stand against the wall, either singly or in small clusters. It was a little strange, and definitely not something I'd seen before (and I'd rather not see it again, thank you). Update: I now hear there were tables somewhere in the expo, behind draped curtains. I never found them, obviously.
There's a new chef at the Omni Hotel right across from the convention center here in San Diego, and he's good. If you're there, try some of the lobster corn dogs and proscuitto-wrapped duck "popsicles"—yum. The Omni also just added a tent to its 6th floor terrace, which makes it a nice, snug meeting space during the cooler winter nights (and it was pretty cool tonight). Thanks to the Omni sales staff for showing off their stuff in style this evening!
And Candelas restaurant on Third is a great spot for fine nouvelle cuisine, Mexican style. Do not miss the black bean soup or the seafood stack appetizer. And try to sit in Tony's section: He's an excellent waiter.
Finally, while I don't normally care much one way or the other about hotel soaps and shampoos, the Manchester Grand Hyatt's white ginger extract shampoo and conditioner smells amazing. I'd buy that in a heartbeat if they sold it at my local CVS.
Hey, it's the little things that count when you're away from home, right?