University Heights Stories
“You know when somebody just wants you gone.”
Madison in University Heights has been open for about a year. My wife and I dined there in February and liked the cocktails, but we felt the food needed more seasoning. Then my wife said …
Local surf rocker Jason Lee and his bandmates are putting the finishing touches on their sophomore release, Monsters and Mai Tais, due out in Spring, 2017. Featuring members from both of his bands — the …
Here in San Diego, we love us some high-concept casual dining. I don't know of a local restaurant this year that's captured more social media attention as the Pop Pie Co. And no, a pie …
Taoist Sanctuary of San Diego Membership: 75-100 Director: Bill Helm Age: 66 Born: Tucson, AZ Formation: Taoist formal training with John Davidson, Share K Lew and Khiegh Alex Dhegh Years ordained (Lawshr): 40 San Diego …
Mid-city residents packed city-council chambers on Tuesday afternoon (October 25) as councilmembers convened to consider long-awaited updates to community plans for North Park and Golden Hill. The most contentious discussion centered around the North Park …
A couple of years ago the rundown section of El Cajon Boulevard in University Heights began a slow journey to rejuvenation. Construction crews have recently picked up the pace. The largest residential project in the …
Though they have been deconstructed into enormous puzzle pieces and are partly wrapped in tarps with the windows boarded up, the two stucco houses on the back lot at the city's Chollas Operations Center remain …
“We recorded our first EP in May at King’s Ransom Studios in Lakeside with Jeff Sers, who’s been fighting cancer for the past couple years,” says Adam Baez, one-third of the grungy goth rock trio …
For those who didn’t catch Barbarella’s take on Et Voilà in June, here’s the TL;DR version: she found the restaurant charming, (i.e. “a ‘nice’ establishment, yet you don’t feel out of place if you happen …
4325 Park Blvd, University Heights Membership: 25–30 Pastor: Dale Huntington Age: 33 Born: Visalia Formation: Grossmont College, El Cajon; Southern California Seminary-San Diego Christian College, San Diego Years Ordained: 5 San Diego Reader: What’s your …
Ever since we first saw the sign announcing a new French bistro named Et Voilà would soon be opening, David and I found ourselves forgoing the freeway to take the longer route down Adams Avenue …
Residents of San Ysidro and Ocean View Hills want to see alcohol banned, and, in University Heights, the residents want an alcohol ban and a curfew. Ocean View Hills, Vista Pacifica, and Cesar Solis parks …
I’m always on the hunt for a spot to enjoy cocktails and shareables with friends. A handful of restaurants have opened within the past year that hit the bull’s-eye, and one of them is Madison. …
Pizzeria Bruno is among my top three go-to places for pizza in San Diego (the others being Isola Pizza Bar in Little Italy and Buona Forchetta in South Park). I think I’m just a sucker …
On Sunday, February 7, parishioners lost their church, and local theater lost a space. After a farewell service in the sanctuary, where each member signed the paper of dissolution, the Swedenborgian Church of San Diego …
In recent years, Little Italy and North Park have become a dining destination. East Village is trying. University Heights seems to be the next big area with the addition last year of Park & Rec …
This small counter shop specializes in Peruvian seafood dishes tiradito (raw fish) and ceviche (raw fish cured in citrus juices). Organic and fresh caught local ingredients are the norm, and all dishes are made to …
The long-closed Coco's restaurant at 2644 El Cajon Boulevard in University Heights is finally scheduled for demolition. The site will become a Starbucks coffee shop. Realtor Mike Clark with Cushman & Wakefield said they “had …
You could have a worse judge than a dog.
I never had anything against going to Plumeria. I always knew I’d get around to going. I knew it was a vegetarian and vegan restaurant, and as an omnivore of convenience I suppose I was …
Tanya Barfield’s Bright Half Life revolves around the lives of Erica and Vicky, two women who meet at work and eventually begin dating. Over the course of the play they fall in love, get married, …
Diversionary Theatre has converted its old rehearsal space into an intimate blackbox theater. There are still some bugs to work out, sightlines in particular. But hey: any new performing space in San Diego’s a cause …
Hitler called Leni Riefenstahl “my perfect German woman.” The first time she saw him, in 1932, she said “I feel very happy that such a man has come.” Riefenstahl opened the movie camera’s eye. In …
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, …
It was a happy coincidence that within a week of enjoying a dinnertime meal at the Georgian restaurant Pomegranate I happened by the similarly exotic menu at Café 21, just to learn that the owners …
Tucked into a row of nondescript storefronts along the industrial main drag of El Cajon Boulevard is a Georgian-cuisine gem called Pomegranate, but you wouldn’t know that from standing outside. The sign outside simply reads, …
What do we mean when we say A New Brain at Diversionary Theatre? We mean a show that’s mostly sung, a show about gay men and the woes connected to one man’s brain surgery, and …
Clarice Starling: “Most serial killers keep some sort of trophies from their victims.” Hannibal Lecter: “I didn’t.” Clarice: “No. You ate yours.” Jonathan Demme’s Silence of the Lambs can be funny, in a ghoulish sort …
Oedipus El Rey, San Diego Rep. This isn’t Sophocles’ Oedipus, its playwright Luis Alfaro’s Oedipus Gomez. He rises from prison to become a Scarface-like, L.A. drug lord who has faith only in himself (“God’s ego’s …
I lost count of how many friends, aware of my proclivity for kink, told me I just had to go to S&M Sausage & Meat. I don’t think being a dominatrix gives anyone authority to …
White bassinet, spot-lit center stage. Surrounding darkness makes it seem whiter, even more innocent. John and Helen, the parents howling over the child, couldn’t be more menacing if they sucked on crack-pipes and wielded chainsaws. …
When I find myself with a pocket of time on a warm San Diego afternoon, I crave a quiet spot to sip a refreshing margarita. Quiet is easy to find in the slow-restaurant hours between …
Hanna Tesfamichael has been cooking for San Diegans for over ten years via her catering company. It was three years ago that she opened a small storefront, and six months ago that she expanded the …
Would you look at that. Insects are popping up just everywhere! The Reader’s other Ian gagged on some crickets at Tacos Perla over the summer. Recently, little fried bugs crawled onto the specials board at …
“I’m a writer, and I use everything. Did all those people think I was just there to entertain them?”
Tempting as it is to mourn the Farm House Cafe’s departure from Adams Avenue until the prophesied reappearance of Olivier and Rochelle Bioteau’s restaurant in larger quarters somewhere far from University Heights, uptown diners ought …
While the renovated Lafayette Hotel on El Cajon Boulevard in University Heights has raised the bar, commercial properties nearby haven’t been so successful. Going west on El Cajon Boulevard from Louisiana Street to Florida Street, …
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 …
Somehow D.J. Sullivan wrangled Tim Firth’s script for Calendar Girls from Samuel French — dispensers (and often hoarders) of the rights — and has staged the local premiere. For a “small” theater to land the …
Carnivores don't exactly have a tough time finding good places to eat in this town. Still, you name a place Sausage & Meat, and you'd better be prepared to nourish those craving the flesh of …
These shows must close this Sunday, November 2 — aka “Black Sunday,” given their high quality. The Royale, Old Globe Theatre One of the year’s best directed shows is so well done you’d think Marco …
You’d think Tibby has it all. Husband Jack’s a mover/shaker attorney. They have a posh-plus, Upper East Side apartment (which, in Matt Scott’s fine set for Diversionary, looks down on Manhattan). Daughter Spencer’s an up …
La Mesa is not known for its food, but it’s a great place to raise a family and there are plenty of good places for tasty, reasonably priced food for my perfect food day. For …
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.
As if Adams Avenue didn’t already have enough good dinner spots. Now Hanna’s Gourmet, long a popular weekend brunch spot, is serving dinner — and it's good. Hanna’s has been expanded from its original use …
I'm not sure what's more disturbing, that I hold every fish taco I eat up to the standards set by a greasy street cart selling them for 85 centavos apiece on some desolate stretch of …
Over the past few years, the food and drink corridor of 30th Street has grown beyond its University Avenue origins to extend past El Cajon Boulevard and clear through BeHe up to Adams. Locales such …
Leopold and Loeb: the dark-eyed, slick-haired, “thrill killers” of 1924 could have posed for Arrow shirt ads. Nathan Leopold, 19, and Richard Loeb, 18, were intelligent lawyers-to-be. Leopold had a 210 IQ and claimed to …
Some of the most enjoyable salads I've eaten have come from the kitchen of Soltan Banoo, a Persian restaurant maintaining a low key presence on Park Blvd in University Heights. The place never seems to …
It looks like a fast food restaurant, and operates like a fast food chain, but it focuses almost exclusively on wings, by all rights a bar food. Yes they serve beer and have a TV on, but the place would never work as a sports bar, and doesn't actually serve food quickly enough to qualify as convenient. It is extremely cheap though.