Somebody pulled a burrito switcheroo in Hillcrest. 86 Sloppy’s Burritos, sub Bearito Republic. Allegedly, Sloppy’s owners decided to move to Utah, and the Bearito crew flipped the place over and changed up the concept, albeit …

Love Boat Fashion Valley is no more. The former K-pop sushi pig-out spot (best known for gargantuan “Love Boat” platters) shut down for a remodel period, and recently reopened as Blue Smoke Sushi Lounge. Ooooh. …

Whether the weathermen decide it’s an El Niño year may be perpetually debated, but with reports of wahoo and blue marlin caught off shore, and the confirmed sighting of a whale shark near Catalina Island, …

San Diego is a fro-yo town. We know this, and we love it. We are a health-conscious people, and the words “fat free” shine like a beacon, drawing in the yoga/gym/triathlon crowd from miles around …

Tucked in the back of Oceanside Bull Taco, Wrench and Rodent is the brainchild of Davin Waite, local sushi guy who came up through the ranks of La Jolla’s Cafe Japengo. The name allegedly means …

Bev-Mo, home of the 5-cent wine sale, stocks plenty of nonalcoholic beverages. Some of those are sodas, and one of those sodas is Moxie, which claims to be the original carbonated soft drink, produced since …

Rakiraki, Kearny Mesa’s hipster noodle house, has an oxtail ramen dinner on the menu that’s an absolute must-grind. The ramen part is more of the same: Rakiraki’s chicken-based ramen, with its light and surprisingly fatty …

Even if we live in a sick, sad world where Hello Kitty isn’t actually a kitty at all, there’s always Angels and Hearts, a new dessert shop in Kearny Mesa, to inject a bit of …

1290 University Avenue has been a half a dozen restaurants in as many years, but the current business has a thing or two going for it. Cali O Burgers takes the basic In n Out …

One does not simply waltz through a perfect food day with nary a care in the world. No, sir. A day of eating requires hard work. Down and dirty stuff, with much elbow grease, and …

Everyone should try Social Experiment’s Negroni in the Rye ($10) at least once. Hints of spicy rye whiskey hang out behind a veil of bitter Campari and Nonino, served with a twist of lemon on …

Gaslamp newcomer, Full Moon Sushi, spent extra time in the buildout phase, but that’s OK, since the restaurant ended up with a very chic look. Mid-century American cues combine with Japanese-ish touches, like the shōji-inspired …

San Diego needs another restaurant serving craft beer and tarted-up pub grub like it needs another mayoral scandal. But there’s one neighborhood that’s remained more or less free from badge logos, kale, and people sticking …

Blush Desserts, new kids in Kearny Mesa, are pushing out cupcakes and French macaroons (all in the $2-$4.50 range) like the end times draw nigh and only a massive influx of glorious, sweet sugar will …

After a protracted remodel, Kato Sushi Hillcrest (a spin-off of the original PB restaurant) opened in time for Pride. The budget-minded sushi joint replaces the failed Pita Jungle, which had already sunk a surprising sum …

“A lack of coziness.” That’s what I identified as Piacere Mio’s “main weakness,” fourteen months ago, when the place was just a coffee shop. Fast-forward through a prolonged closure/remodel, and the place has transformed into …

Eater — armed with nothing but a single, snarky graphic — fairly well explained the collective sigh of resignation so many of us heave on entering a new restaurant: we hope to see something inspired …

It comes as a surprise that North Park didn’t have a hipster ice cream shop before Hammond’s Gourmet Ice Cream opened in the past couple of weeks. But — sporting yet another badge-style logo, minimalist …

I love craft cocktails because they’re the great American drinking innovation and because they make all my lame jokes seem wicked funny. Coin-Op There’s much fun to be had at this arcade/bar, feeding quarters into …

Tom n Tom’s Coffee enjoys minor popularity in LA, where Korean communities opened the door to the originally Korean-owned chain of coffee shops. Now, it’s open in San Diego, in the East Village and at …

North County’s new kid on the block shares space with the luxurious Lofts at Moonlight Beach and the excellent Lofty Coffee Company. Quei Bravi Ragazzi, in addition to being the new cafe’s name, is the …

“We pride ourselves on not being too stuck up,” explained my server before the first course of TBL3, the exclusive tasting menu at George’s California Modern in La Jolla. “If someone wants plain fish with …

Brick-and-mortar location for the formerly farmers' market only cookie business that grew out of 410 Degrees. Some people seem to like the Cravory's cookies (which include flavors like "pancakes and bacon" and "rosemary-balsamic"), but the reality is that they are little more than underbaked sugar bombs. The price is fair enough ($2 for a cookie), and the people who work there are always super nice, but the cookies just aren't that good, more hype than anything else.

Decent wine list. Cool cocktails. Tasty, cold beers. A few inventive dishes, executed with skill, and some more pedestrian fare for the less adventurous. Nice ambiance, though too dark at night. Competent servers. Really, everything about the Patio on Lamont is what you'd look for at the price point. No disappointments. Worth a drive from outside PB, for sure.

Selective and careful tinkering of the menu at this massive tasting room has made the food offerings from the local brewer a better match for the atmosphere and style of the cavernous beer hall. Prices run on the steep side considering the small portions, but the food has been dialed in to the point where (instead of making a poorly thought-out bid for sophistication) it makes the best out of being honest bar snacks, burgers, and sandwiches.

After a few months of operation, Lucky Liu’s still hasn’t gotten a license to sell alcohol. Either the ABC is trying for restaurant infanticide, or owner Alex Thao and his associates were overly optimistic about …

Coming from the group behind the Karina’s Mexican Seafood restaurants, Eastlake’s new Savoie Eatery is...interesting, to say the least. Savoie has prime real estate in the Otay Ranch Town Center mall, which puts it in …

Hillcrest’s Voyou Wine Bar is no more. Following a quickie remodel, the restaurant has re-opened as La Bonne Table. Where Voyou aimed at a modern look, the new place looks to evince a kind of …

Well, this is it. All Things BBQ is (for now) at an end, and the results painstakingly analyzed. It was never meant purely as a contest, more as an extended lecture on one of the …

100 Wines looks like it’s going to be OK. The Cohn Restaurant Group has never been afraid to shutter an ailing property — just look at what happened to Kemo Sabe after 15 years — …

All Things BBQ is just about at an end. Here’s a few spots that didn’t get a solo treatment, but bear mentioning as the “best of the rest.” Bull’s Smokin’ BBQ: Good, solid, Texas-style ‘cue. …

What’s a Kamenitza beer, from far-off Bulgaria, doing in Cali Comfort? Long story short, the owner is Bulgarian. The place has been in his family for some time. Used to be a breakfast place, but …

A small-but-vocal contingent of bagel fanciers like to raise their common battle cry: that San Diego has no delicious bagels, and that, if only they were back in NY/DC/Kalamazoo/Boston/Walla Walla/Philly, or wherever their favorite bagel …

What a cool idea is Encore Champagne Bar. Decked out in white leather and crystal chandeliers, it has a vaguely Russian sensibility; the kind of cheesy opulence that’s earnest, retro, fun, and attractive all at …

Sea 180 The view from this bar is so good, it makes IB worth driving to. Happy Hour, which fills the gap between lunch and dinner service, runs 2:30-5:00pm every day. There are half-price cocktails …

Rumors of Shino Sushi + Kappo have percolated up through the usual channels. People say that chef Robert Nakamura —brother of Hane Sushi’s Roger Nakamura — produces elegant and indulgent sushi, having learned a trick …

Eater did a good job of summarizing the recent case against a Yelp user found guilty of defamation for posting fraudulently negative reviews. The case amounted to “nothing done,” as the plaintiff in the case …

It turns out that BBQ 81 isn’t North Park’s only barbecue restaurant. Smitty’s Taste of the Bayou opened up quietly at the end of last year, sharing kitchen space two days a week with the …

Seal-protection activists achieved their main goal February 24 when the San Diego City Council voted 6-3 in favor of closing the La Jolla Children’s Pool between 15 December and 15 May. The ruling, which accommodates …

Scott McGee’s photography exhibition, a collection of dive and dryland photography called “Adventures in a Cafe,” opens at Vinaka Cafe in Carlsbad with a morning reception on March 9th from 8AM to 2PM. McGee’s collected …

Pity about Saltbox at the Hotel Palomar. The place used to have something going for it when Simon Dolinky wore the big hat in the kitchen. His dishes weren’t always mind blowing, but they had …

The Love Boat sushi restaurants aren’t upscale. They’re fun, in an “eat sushi till you drop” kind of way, but there’s nothing special there, and that’s using the word “sushi” in its broadest sense. Blue …

The new installation from Albert Reyes at Low Gallery in North Park pays tongue-in-cheek homage to Valentine’s Day. “Albert and the Black Hearts,” which features a series of illustrations from the artist, is “a celebration …

Where does the line between art and industry lie? Rachel Eva and Shawn Michael, a Hillcrest couple who together make up Work of My Hands, are in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign to fund …

Part of the Valley Farm BBQ Stand’s charm is its utter lack of ambiance. The place is nothing but a shack in a grocery store parking lot, with a few patio tables for “seating.” Hulking …

San Diego author Sarka-Jonae Miller was recently named as a runner-up in the MARSocial Author of the Year contest for her novel, Between Boyfriends. Had she won, her book would have been on the fast …

When the short-lived branch of the Barbecue Pit on University Avenue closed, North Park remained without ‘cue for a good while, until BBQ 81 opened up with the promise of ribs and tri-tip on El …

The Cohn restaurant empire has seen more successes than setbacks in recent memory, and landing the restaurant spot at Imperial Beach’s Pier South Resort fits smartly into the former category. SEA180 — so named for …

Some restaurants open with fireworks and frenzied PR campaigns. Others do so with extreme quietude. Barleyanfigs, a new Greek restaurant near Windansea, chose the latter option after a prolonged period spent refurbishing a former pizza …

“We’re essentially one-third the size of DC Comics, as far as our market share is concerned,” says Chris Ryall, editor-in-chief at San Diego-based IDW Publishing, the fourth-largest comic book publisher in the country . The …