I got lucky this time: there were only two people in line. It would still take five or six minutes to reach the front, but considering the near 30-minute wait I found on my last …

It was just one of those mornings everybody and their brother wanted donuts. Out on an early morning errand, I knew I would pass the bustling Solomon Bagels & Donuts on the way home. I …

It wasn’t long before the pandemic started that I first heard of Spoiled Vegans. At the time, the small business had been a pop-up business, serving plant-based breakfast sandwiches and waffles within an East Village …

Miramar brewery 32 North quietly closed this summer. As the pandemic redefines how beer companies can do business, the brewhouse and frequent wedding venue was sold to a symbiotic pair of startups covering a range …

As I stare down at my plate, a pair of doughy eyes stare back at me. Steamed dough eyes, to be exact. Part of a steamed bun shaped and colored to look like a Holstein …

Used to be, whenever I found myself hungry for lunch in the Sports Arena/Loma Portal area, I’d wind up enduring the lines of either In-N-Out Burger or Phil’s BBQ. That changed for the better a …

Eating more take-out this year has meant eating more pizza, and I have, frankly, been amazed how many good pizzas are available around town. Just a couple of weeks ago I wrote about a new …

About 16 years ago, Gaston Martinez moved to San Diego from his native Durango, Mexico. “It’s always been my dream city,” he says, “I came here for a two-week vacation and that was it.” Having …

As dining out is once again restricted to outdoor only, take-out and delivery are back to being crucial to all restaurants’ survival. I plan to curbside pickup what meals as I can, then, when I …

Maybe it was because the purple tier was coming. Maybe we just wanted tabletop Korean BBQ. Whichever it was, we showed up at Dae Jang Keum, a.k.a. DJK Korean BBQ, feeling adventurous. Dae Jang Keum …

Have you ever wondered what happened to all the beer that couldn’t be sold when the ‘rona shut down bar life last March? In San Diego, the answer may be found in a new distillery …

Twenty-dollar bottomless mimosas were behind the decision to go for Saturday brunch in Hillcrest. Everyone had endured four frustrating nights without election results and hoped to temper our collective anxiety. But by time we head …

In search of soul food, I found myself parking in a dark corner of Logan Heights. There were no streetlamps, only the flash of headlights speeding onto the freeway onramp at the end of the …

Open seven days a week, the Kearny Mesa tasting room of Societe Brewing Company has been a bustling hub of San Diego beer for most of its eight-plus years in business. Bolstered by a reputation …

It’s been a little while since I’ve eaten a good bánh mì. So when I heard about a newish spot that had apparently opened during the pandemic, I placed an order online. Then I copied …

I’m used to having leftovers. As someone who writes about food, I’ve long been in the habit of ordering more food than I can eat. And as a bachelor, I could always count on all …

San Diego-based TV chef Sam the Cooking Guy has become Sam the restaurateur guy in the past couple years. First, he opened a Not Not Taco counter in the Little Italy Food Hall, then he …

San Diego saw a hint of autumn weather over the weekend, opening a short window to enjoy the sorts of things we haven’t been able to enjoy during this endless summer of heat waves. Like …

One day at lunch, back when the gabled diner at 2611 El Cajon Boulevard was home to Anthem Vegan, I implored my dining companion: don’t trust the burrito. The menu was huge, and there were …

Look for the online list of Best Of voting winners soon. We have printed and re-stocked extra copies of this week's print version where the Best Of voting winners are listed. Best place in San …

I thought the two-dollar cup of coffee had become a relic of another time, like the handshake, or sushi burritos. I still come across a $2.75 cup on occasion, but for the most part, coffee …

We did not go to the waterfront in search of beef jerky. We thought we’d enjoy a nice stroll along the San Diego Bay Walk, maybe grab something from the Tuna Harbor Fish Market, held …

Anyone who’s eaten at a Greek restaurant the past four decades or so is familiar with gyro meat. At least, the American concept of gyro meat: a spiced, finely ground blend of beef and lamb. …

For the second year in a row, San Diego’s own Lost Cause Meadery has won five medals from the Mazer Cup International Mead Competition, the world’s biggest judged mead contest. The accomplishment further establishes Lost …

“This certainly doesn’t look like beef,” said the boy, before he took a bite. After a few chews, he added, “But it kind of tastes like it.” We were trying out Burger Lounge’s new Flora …

We were told that happy hour specials would only be available at the bar. Fair enough: the bar area is large and stylish, and still within view of the boats and harbor. However, I was …

It took nearly eight years and the impact of a pandemic, but Kensington Brewing Company now officially brews beer in its namesake neighborhood. Founded in 2012, the nanobrewery spent years quietly making beer in Grantville …

I remember the day, back in 2015, when the Heart & Trotter brought whole animal butchery to North Park. There was an aura of excitement around its revival of the neighborhood butcher shop. This summer, …

Nearly six years ago, coffee enthusiasts Jason and Sandra Scheller were among the first to bring third-wave coffee to East Village with their shop, Bean Bar. In late September, after six months of pandemic downturn, …

I had my eye on this cake all summer. Friends kept heading into Oceanside to get a piece of it, their every photo set to stun. A 23-layer cake, really a tower of crepes, stacked …

I should be tired of writing about Nashville hot chicken by now, considering some gazillion new hot chicken joints have opened in the past year. So many, the San Diego Chicken guy might want to …

You won’t see it from the street. Samarkand Uzbek Café has an El Cajon Boulevard address (4201 B, El Cajon Boulevard, City Heights), but when we pulled up for dinner, the building was dark. We …

Oktoberfest is canceled in 2020 — that is, the massive, more than two-week-long Munich beer drinking festival that’s taken place since 1810. The spirit of the event has survived the pandemic, however, and a number …

Was it Mariscos Nine Seas or Ocean 97? For many years, there has been a Mexican seafood truck drawing long lines of loyal fans to the Target (née Gala Foods) parking lot in South Park. …

Back in the days of Prohibition, party boats would sit off the coast of San Diego and other California cities, just outside U.S. jurisdiction, where revelers could booze, gamble, and otherwise indulge. “They had free …

On the patio of the Over the Border nightclub, an accordion player in a cowboy hat led his band through a set of norteño music, while a small crowd of fans danced and drank beer, …

I picked up a couple of take-out pizzas from coastal La Jolla a few years back, and though they were cooked at high heat with stellar ingredients, it felt like a race to get back …

“Times are moving fast right now and we are adapting,” read the email from Pure Project. The Miramar-based brewery had originally reached out to let me know it would begin serving beers at its new …

Over the past seven years, I’ve found the Tacos La Mezcla food truck at different locations: parked outside of breweries and bars, slinging tacos at Balboa Park events, and for a while there doing regular …

I missed out on the first iteration of Animae. I was traveling when the lavish, 5.5 million dollar restaurant hosted a media preview, and was still tucking away pennies to splurge on a high-end dinner …

Outside Nolita Hall, a smattering of mid-evening diners met over tables arranged across a hundred feet of sidewalk, trees and garden landscaping weaving between them. The August sunset offered a glowing, turquoise sky and a …

I hadn’t eaten inside a restaurant since June, more than two months. And to be honest, I wasn’t exactly itching to. But, the county decided dining rooms could re-open at 25 percent capacity, and I …

A synthetic voice answered the phone of Fortunate Son, the new Chinese food spot opened by Consortium Holdings, in the Adams Avenue property where the restaurant group used to operate Soda & Swine. Sounding like …

For most of its years in Sorrento Valley, New English brewing has epitomized the classic San Diego craft brewery experience. Its industrial park setting within the city’s tech hub made it a natural place for …

For most of the 27 years Pete Soto has operated his food cart, Brooklyn Dogs, he’s done so by the Civic Center. But since the pandemic has thinned out both foot traffic and the lunch …

Indoor dining has resumed in San Diego, though at a limited (25 percent) capacity, it won’t be enough to keep most restaurants afloat, so outdoor dining and take-out remain crucial to their success. That includes …

I’ll take good news wherever I can get it these days, and if that includes from Domino’s Pizza, so be it. The pizza delivery chain, along with the company it buys pizza boxes from, recently …

Coffee and bourbon fans take note: a new flavored whiskey brand hit the shelves in San Diego in August. First Light Coffee Whiskey debuted in local shops with two bottled flavors of coffee whiskey: original …

We showed up to Stella Jean’s with a couple of kids in tow, having promised ice cream cones. But this was a month ago, and University Heights’ resident small batch ice cream shop wasn’t serving …

When I first started going to North Park’s resident Georgian-Russian restaurant, Pomegranate, it took cash only. That eventually changed, but by time the place took credit cards again, I was established in the habit of …