Mission Hills Stories
Esoteric may not be the only word to describe the city’s latest tax-financed public arts project, but it could turn out to be the kindest. Numbers recently posted by San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer’s Open …
A May San Diego County County Grand Jury report accuses officials at the Metropolitan Transit System of refusing to get onboard with the city's bike-sharing program. DecoBike, launched in 2013, has been touted as a …
Although the City of San Diego bought the site for the new Mission Hills/Hillcrest branch library in 2003 for $2.1 million and funding was finally completed in May 2014, construction is not yet ready to …
Residents and business owners from Middletown (south of Mission Hills) showed up angry and worried at a neighborhood meeting held at Joyce Beers Community Center Tuesday night (April 5) to ask why no one told …
From Mission Hills to Kensington, in Heights both Normal and University, and in Parks North and South, UPTOWN residents don't rest on good looks or thick pocketbooks. They thrive on personality and artful presentation. So, …
These days Little Italy offers some of the best food in town, or at least the most photographed. The neighborhood keeps serving up hits, almost eclipsing the tried-and-true eateries that sit between its shiny new …
When the Brew Project set up shop inside Mission Hills wine bar 57 Degrees in 2013, it became the first all-San Diego tap list in town. Now, Project cofounder Beau Schmitt has partnered with former …
A plan to install dedicated bicycle lanes to Uptown communities of Mission Hills, Hillcrest, and Bankers Hill and close University Avenue to traffic in an attempt to make Uptown more pedestrian-friendly has divided the community …
Opened in 1947 as a flyboy-and-gal joint by aviatrix Maryann Prophet, the Aero Club has made its mark for serving whiskey flights like they mean it. “The thing about being a whiskey bartender is that …
Aside from the brilliant and fleeting cherry blossom season, the one thing that makes a Japanophile’s heart warble is an awesome izakaya (the Japanese gastropub). Izakaya Masa in Mission Hills is our favorite izakaya in …
I dine out a lot, and often wonder where the restaurants I visit find their ingredients. For example, where would a chef who's into molecular gastronomy pick up an emulsifying agent like soy lecithin to …
Farm-to-table may be getting stale as a concept, but I for one sincerely hope the American tendency to become dismissive of cultural trends once they become overly familiar doesn't stop new restaurants from going the …
The city is getting ready to spend $280,000 for “artwork design, fabrication, and installation” to decorate the soon-to-be constructed Hillcrest and Mission Hills library. “The budget is all-inclusive and must cover all costs associated with …
Some operations come a long way after initially disappointing. Such is the case with Acoustic Ales Brewing Experiment (1795 Hancock Street, Mission Brewery Plaza, Mission Hills). My first visit to Acoustic’s tasting room was roughly …
There's a shortage of parking in some San Diego communities and the city's community parking district program isn't much help addressing that shortage. In a recent audit, the city auditor's office found holes in the …
It’s no secret that Starlite is one of my major haunts — this remote, hip and chill restaurant in the middle of an industrial strip of India Street is home to my favorite burger, and …
The Whisknladle charcuterie plate might not transport easily, but it’s too good not to take on a picnic. House-cured chorizo, house-made pâté, several types of house-pickled olives.
Combine a few of my favorite things — shaded outdoor patio, fine cheeses, tasty share-able plates, and a variety of dogs to ogle — and you have my new favorite happy hour hangout spot. [The …
Around Father’s Day, I decided to take my father-in-law out for a meal. Just the two of us. He’s a great guy who does a lot of stuff for my kids so I wanted to …
Goldfinch Street in Mission Hills has become quite the dining hub, with restaurants like Brooklyn Girl, Izakaya Masa and the newly opened Patio worth waiting in line for, and the reliably great Lefty's is a …
Brunch. Breakfast + lunch. This simple portmanteau fills me with a mixture of joy and dread. In many ways it's the perfect meal: transitioning seamlessly between savory and sweet dishes; adeptly served by either coffee …
The San Diego City Council on May 20 unanimously accepted $10 million from two donors ($5 million each) to complete funding for the long-overdue Mission Hills/Hillcrest Branch Library. The San Diego Public Library Foundation had …
Every time I walk into Lefty's Chicago Pizzeria, I hear Sean Connery's voice in my head, growling "That's the Chicago way!" Granted, his Untouchables character wasn't talking about deep dish pizza. But then, neither am …
At the nexus of Hillcrest and Mission Hills, on Washington Street, in the generically named Mediterranean Café, a sign reads "Good food takes time." A block over, the fast food franchise Daphne's California Greek doesn't …
If you lived in Japan, any local place you can think of with the words "Public House" in its name would be called an izakaya instead. The relatively casual type of Japanese restaurant may basically …
Just when you thought it was safe to throw out that old cassette deck, it appears as if magnetic tape is making a comeback. Nestled in a nook in the southwest corner of M-Theory Music …
Current owner: Thomas & Sylvia Vecchione Listing price: $5,000,000 Beds: 8 Baths: 8 This classic Italianate villa–styled home is introduced in listing materials as “Downton Abbey in Mission Hills.” The 7805-square-foot home, built in 1921, …
I spent a disproportionate number of my high school days eating katsu from a small, family-owned restaurant just outside the gate of a military base on Okinawa. Attempts to replicate the experience in San Diego …
Current Owner: Deborah Szekely Listing Price: $1,945,000 Beds: 5 | Baths: 5 This week’s property is hidden in Mission Hills, tucked away along a dead-end street and shielded by a wall of towering bamboo interrupted …
It was back in October that I learned the Red Door Restaurant & Wine Bar had acquired a new executive chef: Karrie Hills, a graduate of the California Culinary Academy. Chef Hills spent most of …
San Diegans reserve a special sort of judgment for Mexican food — one where quality is less associated with fine dining as it is a feeling that the food could have been wrapped up and …
The beers of Acoustic Ales Brewing Experiment (1718 Hancock Street, Mission Hills) have been available at local bars and restaurants for much of the past year, but it took the company a long time to …
San Diego Originals: In the beginning, there was but a handful of fledgling operations bringing craft beer to locals. For one day, beer bar The High Dive will celebrate those innovators with special beers from …
In April, I shared details on the installation of the San Diego Brew Project inside wine storage and retail emporium 57 Degrees (1735 Hancock Street, Five Points). As far as new beer-centric spots go, it …
Whew. Just hiked up West Washington from the Washington Street trolley. Quite a climb. Crazy traffic. No sidewalk. Then I spot this beautiful li’l French bistro. I know I shouldn’t go in. Too sophisticated, too …
Ed unhinges his jaw and attacks a sandwich at Rubicon Deli. One of the most popular, says Caesar, is called the “Rich Boy.” (“Like a Po’ Boy, but better.”)
Even if it weren’t my job to go out and look for new places to eat, I still wouldn’t be able to eat the same thing over and over again. I rarely visit any place …
Nowadays, I spend much of my time eating in restaurants or locked up in my office documenting those experiences. But before I wrote my first word about food, most of my time was spent in …
The Aero Club on India Street offers 600 whiskeys and 1 apple-pie moonshine.
I grimaced at the tiny slip of paper in my hand. “I think this one’s written in German,” I groaned. “How am I supposed to give clues or act it out if I don’t even …
It was an odd time and place for us to be having breakfast. Our norm is Greek honey yogurt with blueberries, sliced banana, and crushed almonds at around 9 a.m. But because of a particularly …
The party was on a Saturday night in Mission Hills. Celebrants were all members of the graduate school that’s part of the High Tech charter-school system that has branches in Point Loma and Chula Vista. …
Brooklyn Girl in Mission Hills has been packed since opening.
Pierogies and banh mi — two specialty delicacies sold off San Diego food trucks.
Wine Vault and Bistro is one door south of Saffron, up three short levels of stairs. It opened in 2005, mainly as a wine shop, with tastings of wine and cheese. Then it expanded into …
The Lamplighter feels like it’s been around forever. Its heady booze stink and retro aesthetic attest to a tradition of transgression, which often seizes the unwitting patron like a phantom and invokes all manner of …
Membership: 275 Pastor: Scott Landis Age: 55 Born: Souderton, Penn. Formation: Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pa.; Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ Years Ordained: 31 San Diego Reader: How long do you spend writing your …
At 4:00 a.m. on April 15, people lined up outside the Vons at 450 W. University Avenue. A sale had been announced that would precede a renovation of the grocery store. (To say it was …
Residents of a canyon that separates the 1600 and 1590 block of Guy and Linwood streets got a surprise on the evening of January 19. A little before 8 p.m., a large eucalyptus tree came …
My friend Charlie Perry (now food writer for the L.A. Times and various food-scholar magazines) used to live about a mile from me in San Francisco. Both of us were ambitious, striving cooks (we eventually …
In May 2009, councilmembers Kevin Faulconer and Todd Gloria sent a letter to Carol Schultz, executive director of Uptown Partnership, the agency responsible for increasing the parking supply, enhancing pedestrian use, and easing traffic flow …