Come to the barbie!

This week, Bondi has been involved with Wine Australia in a big event publicising and promoting Australian wines.
We've had special-menu wine dinners on four nights - another one tonight - and yesterday we had a big barbie at the San Diego Wine & Culinary Center (spelling and ampersand correct), on the ground floor of the Harbor Club Towers on Martin Luther King Walk, in what is the prettiest part of the downtown area, right across the trolley tracks from the massive convention centre.

Above: Dave, exec-chef supreme (and father-to-be in September) Chris Behre and I at one of the barbecue stands.

:: While Bondi managed the barbies outside, indoors there were tasting tables and lots of Australian people pouring lots of gorgeous Aussie wines - including fab WA labels like Plantagenet, Leeuwin Estate, Howard Park/Mad Fish, Cullens and Houghtons.
Outside, Bondi super-chefs Chris and Rhy served up plates of extremely tasty morsels like spicy shrimp (we'd call them prawns, but ... you know!), lamb cutlets and homemade sausages, with plenty of salads. there were several hundred people there, and lots of them sauntered over to the Bondi as the sun set, for free beer and dinner. A fab day all round.


Above: Our other chef supremo, Rhy Waddington (left), and 'helper' Mike Cameron manned the second barbecue stand. Mike is one of the three Bondi founders, with Julian and David. But he's a fantastic cook and loves to pitch in.
The whole event was like a sensational afternoon party, with wonderful food, wine and company. You can see the red trolley wizzing past - it does a big loop of the city and goes to Old Town, the Mexican border, and out to Fashion Valley and the big Qualcomm football arena. It's essential public transport on big event days at Qualcomm, where they also hold big rock concerts, and at Petco Park, the baseball park that's just a couple of blocks from Bondi, and four from here.

Above: Rhy and Mike in a rare down-tool moment. Note the size of the convention centre in the background - and this is only about a quarter of it.

Above: A big crowd mulled around the barbies, and there were wine-tastings inside, to the right of this pic.

Above: Me with two of our newest, dearest friends, Karen and Warren Allan. Warren is from Queensland, as you could probably tell from his T-shirt, and is in the yacht business. He first came to San Diego for the America's Cup. Karen is a southern gal, from Louisiana. They both l-o-v-e Bondi, and it's rare to turn up on the weekend and not find them there!