Thanks to the proliferation of trend-spotting foodie blogs worldwide, it’s easy to trace the way new food fads spread from city to city. For example, a little googling tells us that fish-shaped ice cream cones …

Add hard kombucha to the list of craft beverage attractions on the Hops Highway. In late April, Local Roots Kombucha opened a spacious and colorful booch tasting room in Vista, taking over over the brewery …

If you’ve grown complacent with tonkotsu ramen, but still want bone broth in your life, check out the latest place adding to the bounty of Korean restaurants in Kearny Mesa. Called Woomiok, its main thing …

Peering into a glass counter filled with seafood, I start talking like I might try the local swordfish. But the fishmonger has a better idea. “That halibut was caught this morning,” he tells me, “right …

Maybe it’s just California, but the açaí bowl concepts appear to be multiplying, especially around Hillcrest. I stumbled upon one with the achingly San Diego appropriate name, Roots Bowls; it serves açaí bowls, smoothies, pressed …

New Zealand hops have been very much a part of San Diego’s beer lore since Alpine Beer Co. introduced Nelson IPA in 2004. The Nelson Sauvin hop used to brew that beer was just one …

Sausage. Steak. Burgers. Those are the kinds of meals beer fans have grown accustomed to eating at craft beer bar Toronado over the past decade or so. But times have changed. When I bellied up …

I can’t explain exactly what led me to attend the Maha Sangkran Festival the third weekend of April. Better known around these parts as the Cambodian New Year, or Khmer New Year, the two day …

If you walk into 619 Spirits without knowing better, it’s easy to mistake the place with any other North Park bar and restaurant. A kitchen turns out dishes including wings, loaded fries, burgers, and wraps. …

Every so often, a meal comes along that is so memorable, it plants a flag in your appetite and becomes a landmark to look back upon and fondly remember for the rest of your life. …

It took family in town for me to catch on to how big boba has gotten. I’ve been walking around under the impression the bubble tea trend peaked 25 years ago. That’s when I recall …

Given a healthy appreciation for good puns, South Asian cuisine, and proximity, I was more than curious when Indian restaurant Curryosity opened close to home in South Park last fall. It gave a good look …

Modern Times Beer made news two years ago when it announced a plan to vest long-term employees with a piece of the company, and this week it announced a plan to further spread its ownership …

One of the hallmarks of 21st century foodie-ism in America has been the reinvention of specialty food shops. In addition to the advent of businesses dedicated to perfecting the likes of cupcakes, pickles, and hot …

The first food story I ever wrote in San Diego covered then newly opened hole in the wall Carnitas Snack Shack. That’s hole in the wall in the original sense: just a window facing the …

Three years ago, former firefighter and LPGA golfer Mary Paulson was a home cider maker who would invite a couple dozen friends to her North Park home for what she called back yard happy hooch …

A sign posted inside Niederfrank's Ice Cream declares, “We make our ice cream by some of the most antique, inefficient, outdated, and expensive process in the world.” Home-made ice cream shops have been cropping up …

All I had planned to do was walk the dog before it got dark. There are a few bars and restaurants we normally walk past, but tonight I thought it would be better to cruise …

When you walk into Simsim Outstanding Shawarma, it’s clear that a lot of thought has gone into the fast casual Mediterranean spot. From detailed interior design elements to the placement of aspirational slogans like, “stand …

The Padres have returned for 2019 and things are going to be different this year. Manny Machado different, sure, but I’m talking pre-game beer different. Since opening day 2018, the craft beer landscape surrounding Petco …

It never closed exactly, but heading into the end of last year, Grant’s Marketplace sure looked like the end was near. The drink coolers dwindled to empty, as did shelves that once held sundry items …

It’s just too easy to make fun of the paleo diet, otherwise known as the paleolithic diet or the stone age diet. Blame whoever started calling it the caveman diet for the jokes. The term …

Carlsbad mainstay Tip Top Meats has been around more than half a century, and remains an incredible deal whether you’re there for the butcher, the market, or the authentic German restaurant. I stop in every …

Launched in November 2017, Lost Cause Meadery has quickly established itself as one of San Diego’s top mead makers. According to the results of this year’s Mazer Cup International Mead Competition, it also ranks among …

Nhà Hàng Chay Hoa Từ Bi Tâm may the toughest restaurant name most of us will ever try to remember, but I’d recommend trying. While the English portion of its sign reads, “Organic-Veggi Restaurant,” only …

A sister grocery to Clairemont’s Balboa International Market, the Atlas Market in Poway likewise maintains a soft focus on Persian and Mediterranean foods. However, the supermarket’s food court skews a bit more international, including a …

Because of its plum location across the street from the Convention Center, at the left leg of the gateway arch welcoming visitors to the Gaslamp Quarter, prime steakhouse Lou & Mickey’s struck me as a …

The 16-ounce cans have started to show up at shops here and there, labels depicting an Aztec princess, along with the Spanish, “La chela mas chula.” In beer parlance, a nice cold one. At first …

The name of the restaurant may include the word diner, but don’t go expecting to order a Denver omelet, or anything with a side of hash browns. Okan Diner serves Japanese food, and a fair …

Like most kids growing up in America, I looked forward to sunny weather for the treats it brought: usually popsicles. As I look back now, I realize those popsicles were trash. We should have been …

I like a good pun almost as much as a good bowlful of noodles, so when The Nood Bar opened in North Park a couple months back, I grabbed a stack of one dollar bills …

How Ian Anderson came to the Reader: While visiting the Reader web site a few years back, I noticed it was accepting public submissions of concert reviews. I can't remember what they paid, but it …

You spent last night drinking and clubbing, and now your best bet to escape a hangover is a dose of breakfast food and cocktails. At least that’s the thinking behind The Morning After, a new …

Before the end of this year, local java fans could be paying a premium to drink coffee grown right here in San Diego. At a series of ticketed cuppings last weekend, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters …

We’ve all waited patiently for sunny weather and daylight savings to return, and now that they have, we need to turn our attention back to ice cream. Rather, gelato. Bobboi Natural Gelato, if I’m being …

You’d have to ask the good people of San Marcos how much the arrival of North City has impacted their drinking and dining habits, but I can attest the manufactured neighborhood is trying its darnedest …

The poet Ezra Pound coined the word melopoiea as a way to describe how verses or even individual words may charged with musical properties, bringing their own sense of rhythm and melody to spoken language. …

At the end of February, Iron Fist Brewing Company announced a new list of beers for 2019, highlighting seasonal releases to be introduced in its tasting rooms every month. This might sound like routine, first-quarter …

There’s Mediterranean food in South Park, thanks to the arrival of the Shawarma Guys food truck. For the past month or so, it’s been parked six days per week outside The Bottle House liquor store. …

It didn’t have to be a cold and wet winter for me to seek out a pozeleria, but it hasn’t hurt to have the added motivation. In this case I first found myself driving through …

About 100 new breweries have opened in San Diego over the past five years, posing a significant challenge to any craft beer brand trying to distinguish itself. At least one has proven no slouch at …

When I heard a popular North Park restaurant was opening a location in East County, I imagined something in the La Mesa vicinity. Maybe El Cajon or Santee. Even when told Grand Ole BBQ would …

There’s a little strip mall in Sorrento Valley that’s mostly filled by ten or twelve little counter restaurants; a food court serving all the corporate campuses in the area. It sits about a block south …

Downtown El Cajon may not be the next, Next North Park, but if you look across the parking lot from the Ross Dress For Less, you will spot the city’s newest brewery. Creative Creature Brewing …

A new cookie shop turned up in Pacific Beach at the end of last year. Insomnia Cookies takes up little space on Garnet Avenue, just a hole in the wall about three blocks from Crystal …

It doesn’t look like a restaurant that’s about to close. Four parties have shown up at once during lunch rush, and the staff hustles to turn over red leather booths as they become available. But …

While I’ve been sitting here the past couple years trying to figure out which are my favorite tacos, the rest of the world has apparently become obsessed with Nashville hot chicken. The cayenne-spiced fried chicken …

San Diego’s newest craft spirit maker opened for business in early February, updating a vintage industrial space in East Village. In lieu of tasting room, Storyhouse Spirits offers an appealing bar and restaurant, with a …

It’s late Sunday morning, and there’s a mimosa in my hand, courtesy of Point Loma burger and cocktail spot, Royale. Serious cheeseburger fans will already be familiar with Royale, and its Pulp Fiction-referencing signature sandwich, …

The mixed veggies in my curry look right out of a can or freezer bag: identically chopped sections of green beans, cubes of diced carrot, and faded peas. Like the potato chunks, they’re all fairly …