Pechanga Summit event center: The cavernous convention/wedding/trade show/concert hall has been doubled in size and feels like all of Comic-Con could fit in there. The delicate but not dainty vanilla cream-filled raspberry macaron could easily be shared by three. The truly standout dishes included a flavorful organic beet salad with a manchego mousse, granola and watercress, a creative sesame cone filled with tuna poke and yuzu aioli, a perfectly sous-vide-then-grilled medium rare hangar steak, with homemade French fries, plump scallops on a parmesan-Brussels sprout purée, with roasted enoki and oyster mushrooms and fennel pickled in apple juice.
Lobby Bar: Chef Jose Mendoza cooked up samples from the farm-to-table bistro’s menu to whet people’s appetite. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune )