Last week I attended my first GBTA convention in San Diego, California. I arrived in San Diego late morning and met up with my colleague, Christyn Pek. I had never been to San Diego before, and we both went to a cute little brunch spot just down the road from our hotel to grab a bite to eat. My favorite part about the brunch? The sheer number of dogs walking around!

After brunch we returned to our hotel and waited for our rooms to be ready. I was tired already as I had been awake since 4:30 a.m., and when my room was ready, I rested for an hour before meeting the rest of the team at the Taste of San Diego opening reception. The event was held on the water with countless food and drink stations.

We lucked out with the weather, as there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the sunset was absolutely beautiful. I ate some amazing pasta, tacos and even soft pretzels, filling up on all of the delicious food served at the reception.

After the reception, we had reservations at nearby Nobu, perhaps one of the most iconic restaurants in the world. I hate to admit I had never had authentic sushi before that day. Before then, the only sushi I had was vegetable, as there was something about the concept of eating raw fish that freaked me out. I always liked cooked fish but had never actually tried sushi with tuna or salmon.

We all sat down and decided to do a group serving of different dishes and sushi. We started off with a plate of yellowtail tuna with jalapeno and a plate of tuna tataki with tosazu. Both were incredible, the tuna tasting so fresh and light. Next came the edamame with truffle salt, and one can never go wrong with that.

Finally, the large platter arrived with an array of different sushi, from soft-shell crab to shrimp tempura to eel to salmon sashimi. I stuck to the salmon sashimi and tuna maki rolls, both of which just melted in my mouth accompanied by bursts of flavor. For someone who had never had true sushi before, Nobu was an excellent place to start, and my standard will remain high now moving forward.

After dinner, we all headed back to our respective hotels for a good night’s rest before our first day of the convention.

— Aoife O’Riordan, associate editor