Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Booming bivalves at the Brig
The Brigantine is generally bustling (doubly so during happy hour),
so order at the oyster bar.
Depending on who you believe, the origins of the Baja-style fish taco will take you two places.
Fans of entrepreneurial success stories will favor the narrative popularized by San Diego restaurant mogul Ralph Rubio, who first tasted the taco that would make him millions on a spring-break jaunt to San Felipe in 1974. Rubio opened his first namesake eatery at a former Mission Valley A&W stand nearly a decade later and the rest, as they say, is suburban McFranchised history.
Foodies with a knack for fusion, however, will prefer the account that dates to the 1930s, when Japanese fishermen living in Ensenada combined their catch of the day with tempura techniques. The delectable batter-fried fish would later be wrapped in a tortilla and garnished with cabbage, tomato, onion, and a white sauce to arrive at the fish taco as we now know it.
Whatever story you choose, the fish taco remains an icon of Baja California cuisine, and to this day there is no shortage of eateries on either side of the border clamoring over who makes them the best.
To catch one of San Diego’s finest, you needn’t look farther than the Brigantine, a local, upscale micro-chain that boasts a daily happy hour, including generous cuts of lightly breaded whitefish with all the fixins plus cheddar cheese and ranch on a corn tortilla for $2.75 a pop, $1.50 oysters on the half-shell, and a boatload of other snack specials.
But so what? We’re here to drink, so let’s start with a disclaimer. If you stick with the happy-hour deals, you’ve got a better chance at catching a buzz from the libido-enlivening mollusks on your dinner plate than the house margarita ($4.75), which is served bellyachingly thick with mixer. The same goes for dollar-off wells. And while you could pace yourself with dollar-off Dos Equis pints, your best bet is to cough up ten bucks for a La Mesa Iced Tea (a local take on the Long Island) or add some boom to your bivalves with a few $2.75 pepper vodka oyster shooters.
However you get there, the Brig’s award-winning ambiance is ideal for dress-up dates or a casual chat with bar mates. The place is generally bustling (doubly so during happy hour), so order at the oyster bar and be sure to take in the enchanting view of rush hour Interstate 8 ebbing and flowing down below.
- Attire: Comfortable captain
- Food: Arrr
- Prices: drafts, $5+; cocktails, $6.50–12
- Hours: Mon–Thur, 11:30 a.m.–11 p.m.; Fri–Sat, 11:30 a.m.–12 a.m.; Sun, 10 a.m.–11 p.m.
- Happy: Sun–Mon, 4–close; Tues–Sat, 4–7 p.m. $1 off pints, wells, select wines; $3.50 sparkling wine; $5 wine; $4.75 margs.
- Max Cap: 420
Here's something you might be interested in.
Booming bivalves at the Brig
Booming bivalves at the Brig
The Brigantine is generally bustling (doubly so during happy hour),
so order at the oyster bar.
Depending on who you believe, the origins of the Baja-style fish taco will take you two places.
Fans of entrepreneurial success stories will favor the narrative popularized by San Diego restaurant mogul Ralph Rubio, who first tasted the taco that would make him millions on a spring-break jaunt to San Felipe in 1974. Rubio opened his first namesake eatery at a former Mission Valley A&W stand nearly a decade later and the rest, as they say, is suburban McFranchised history.
Foodies with a knack for fusion, however, will prefer the account that dates to the 1930s, when Japanese fishermen living in Ensenada combined their catch of the day with tempura techniques. The delectable batter-fried fish would later be wrapped in a tortilla and garnished with cabbage, tomato, onion, and a white sauce to arrive at the fish taco as we now know it.
Whatever story you choose, the fish taco remains an icon of Baja California cuisine, and to this day there is no shortage of eateries on either side of the border clamoring over who makes them the best.
To catch one of San Diego’s finest, you needn’t look farther than the Brigantine, a local, upscale micro-chain that boasts a daily happy hour, including generous cuts of lightly breaded whitefish with all the fixins plus cheddar cheese and ranch on a corn tortilla for $2.75 a pop, $1.50 oysters on the half-shell, and a boatload of other snack specials.
But so what? We’re here to drink, so let’s start with a disclaimer. If you stick with the happy-hour deals, you’ve got a better chance at catching a buzz from the libido-enlivening mollusks on your dinner plate than the house margarita ($4.75), which is served bellyachingly thick with mixer. The same goes for dollar-off wells. And while you could pace yourself with dollar-off Dos Equis pints, your best bet is to cough up ten bucks for a La Mesa Iced Tea (a local take on the Long Island) or add some boom to your bivalves with a few $2.75 pepper vodka oyster shooters.
However you get there, the Brig’s award-winning ambiance is ideal for dress-up dates or a casual chat with bar mates. The place is generally bustling (doubly so during happy hour), so order at the oyster bar and be sure to take in the enchanting view of rush hour Interstate 8 ebbing and flowing down below.
- Attire: Comfortable captain
- Food: Arrr
- Prices: drafts, $5+; cocktails, $6.50–12
- Hours: Mon–Thur, 11:30 a.m.–11 p.m.; Fri–Sat, 11:30 a.m.–12 a.m.; Sun, 10 a.m.–11 p.m.
- Happy: Sun–Mon, 4–close; Tues–Sat, 4–7 p.m. $1 off pints, wells, select wines; $3.50 sparkling wine; $5 wine; $4.75 margs.
- Max Cap: 420