Hitting the G Spot: G Street Deli
Luscious chipotle chicken sandwich and meatball soup for $7.49
Suddenly get the munchies coming out of Office Depot down near the Santa Fe. Instead of heading back to Broadway I jes' carry on towards the trolley line. Seaport Village. And right there on well, G Street is the G …
Pasaje Rodríguez: Papas & Beer & El Muertho
Mamut microbrewery is the scene for eats and arts
“I estimate we have 60 microbreweries in Tijuana now,” says Juan Jose Quesada. “And maybe 20 in Mexicali, and 30 in Ensenada. We’re happening.” He’s happening too. We’re in the Pasaje Rodríguez, between 2nd and 3rd streets, and between Revolución …
The Heart & Trotter: Meet your meat at Alchemy
South Park lounge and restaurant joins Societe Brewing to showcase the farm-to-table flesh of The Heart & Trotter Butchery
A couple years ago, I crashed a party at a home in the hills of Valley Center, where about thirty guests had gathered to take part in the slaughter of two pigs. The local butcher showed up with his 13-year-old …
Natural Style Chicken is cheap and delicious
Point Loma chicken rotisserie and teriyaki is a strip mall hidden gem for cheap lunches and filling dinners.
Natural Style Chicken (3944 W. Point Loma Boulevard, 619-223-9887) is the kind of place you have to stumble upon, unless directed there by someone in the know. The name almost makes it sound "free-range-grass-fed-organic," but in this case it just …
Shot Cabo, a taste revolution on Revolución
El Colegio is a class in Baja-Med cuisine
Up on Revolución, thinking about maybe Chiki Jai for a Spanish snack. But at Fifth, kitty-corner from Caesar's, whoa, brand new eatery. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jul/26/50142/ Has that semi industrial feel of places in Diego like Blind Lady. But all new, with things …
First look at Lucky Bastard Saloon
New bar downtown makes an effort with the comfort food...and the chaps.
Skipping past the juicy but irrelevant PR hype (“ermhagerd it’s owned by a Playboy Playmate!”), the Lucky Bastard saloon at 840 Fifth Avenue looks like its trying harder than most to put food worth eating on the menu. This is …
TJ wine bar with mini-theater, home-grown eats
Place has its own ranch in Guadalupe Valley
I was wandering down Tijuana's Puente Mexico, aka First Street, ten at night. Near the wax museum. Only sign of life: a little low-lit balcony loaded with people. They were drinking wine and chatting quietly away. This is La Faraona …
Taste Baja! in Hillcrest
Whole Foods and 7th Ave Pub host some of Baja's finest food and drink.
Have unpredictable border waits deterred you from crossing south to experience the wines of Valle de Guadalupe, the world-renowned cuisine of Tijuana, or the many burgeoning breweries in Baja? Worry not! From Friday, July 26 through Sunday, July 28, Taste …
Meatball Cucina open for business
Downtown restaurant replaces Sora with an easy, fun concept and good wines by the glass.
Talk about taking something in the opposite direction! Sora, which wasn’t long for this world, tried an elaborate Japanese-Italian fusion concept that hinged on a grip of eccentricities to tie it all together. Meatball Cucina (655 West Broadway, 619-564-7100) replaced …
RA Sushi drops the bomb
Downtown sushi spot debuts bomb cocktail menu, but is it bomb?
Downtown sashimi spot RA Sushi (474 Broadway) recently dropped a new drink menu specializing in – wait for it – sake bombs. The menu offers eight traditional beer and sake bombs (featuring staples such as Sapporo, Orion, Echigo, and Asahi), …
Breakfast at Tobey's 19th Hole Cafe
Restaurant at the Balboa Park Golf Course is a total hidden gem with a killer view and cheap eats.
Golfers know that the municipal golf course in Balboa Park is excellent. As city courses go, it’s one of the better ones. Hipsters know that Tobey’s 19th Hole Cafe, located by the pro shop at 2600 Golf Course Drive, is …
Sweat equity! Pedal off the pounds on your progressive dinner
Aimée Anundsen’s Movable Feast spawns guilt-free gluttony
Progressive dinners may never be da same again. This gal Aimée Anundsen... http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jul/24/49977/ ...has the crazy idea of creating progressive dinners downtown…on a multi-person bike that looks more like a caterpillar. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jul/24/49978/ This manic machine “employs” eight people to sit …
A taste of Tijuana: Javier Plascencia progressive meal
Join Turista Libre on a tour of some of Tijuana's most renowned restaus
Chef Javier Plascencia has become synonymous with new Tijuana cuisine by way of landmark restaus such as the rebirthed Hotel Caesar’s (the OG home of the Cesar salad) and Baja-Med nexus Mision 19. On Saturday, August 3, alternative tour guides …
Crab cakes and heroism
New crab cake food truck was at Ground Zero on 9-11
“We’re the only crab cake food truck in San Diego, or LA,” says Vonniejune Kendall. “And we only use blue crab from back east.” Wow. Suddenly seems like I'm seeing crab cakes all over (See Tin Fish blog). Here in …
Whole Foods opens 7th Ave Pub
Grocery store enters the craft beer bar fray with a surprisingly respectable mini-tavern.
To the best of my knowledge, the Hillcrest Whole Foods (711 University Avenue) is the first grocery store in these parts with a bar inside. The store’s University Ave facade used to be reserved as a dining area for customers …
First Look: Blue Ribbon Rustic Kitchen
Freshly opened in Hillcrest, Blue Ribbon enters the "craft foods" fray short on hype and long on skill.
Blue Ribbon Rustic Kitchen (530 University Avenue, 619-501-6795) is open in Hillcrest, right where Bayu’s Ethiopian closed up shop months ago. The new restau grew out of successful North County enterprises Blue Ribbon Pizza and the Craftsman Tavern. Branding itself …
Comicon: This place rings my bell
Tin Fish wins as Ed's most atmospheric eatery in Comicon, for the second year.
I tried. Honest, I looked everywhere. But once again, Tin Fish, the eatery at the bottom of Fifth (170 6th Avenue, downtown, 619-238-8100), turned out to be the most Comicon-spirited eatery in the Gaslamp. For me, at least. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jul/19/49493/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jul/19/49500/ …
1887 on the Bay: Happy hour racing ribs!
The renovated Coronado Boathouse gives you front row seats to...San Diego’s America’s Cup?
Man! This is like having bayside bleachers at the America’s Cup. Out on tiny Glorietta Bay, maybe a dozen big yachts — 30-40 footers — cut and weave in between each other as they fight for primo position at the …
First look at Rred Wine Bar
New to Hillcrest, RRed could be a good spot for wine and light noshing if diners can keep the check totals low.
Cafe Delano lasted for almost no time at all before the promising tapas bar shuttered and slipped into limbo. The place looked inactive for a long time until, with little warning, Rred Wine Bar took over at 540 University Avenue …
Felix's BBQ: Eat your tomatoes - green
Ed finds an old "southern" tradition might not be southern after all
Fried Green Tomatoes. That’s why I had to come in. Seen the movie, jes’ had to eat the title. Standing outside Felix’s BBQ With Soul (342 South Euclid Avenue, in the Market Creek Plaza, 619-266-8881). http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jul/16/49208/ Ian Pike had written …
Bassam’s: A glass of wine, a baklava and thou…
Five bucks for a glass of port, $3 for a baklava, your sunset hour is complete.
“Ah. The baklava. Good choice. They have the best here.” The merry-faced lady in purple watches me as I put down the plate with the greeny-topped baklava and the bulging glass of port onto the wooden-slat table. The port’s $5, …
Roseville Cozinha unveils summer cocktail menu
Waiter, there's a shrub in my drink.
Roseville Cozinha in Liberty Station is rolling out their summer cocktail menu on Monday, July 15 featuring anachronistic concoctions prepared with house-made fermented shrubs (banana and blueberry among them) as well as specialty syrups and bitters. “A shrub was essentially …
Asia Wok, where it’s OK to pile your plate as high as you want
At this Market Creek Plaza eatery, if you can fit it in, it’s yours
This gal is an artist. Her medium? The Mongolian Barbecue in Asia Wok here in Market Creek Plaza in Lincoln Park (324 Euclid Avenue, #405, 619-266-8881). http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jul/11/49007/ I’m watching Kimberly pile beef, pineapple, broccoli, green and red bell peppers, onions, …
Goofy Foot? Dad, daughter deliver dee-lish dog
Original taste combos give this truck wings
The yellow lunch truck’s parked in front of Mission Brewery (1441 L Street, at 14th, East Village), not far from Father Joe’s. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jul/09/48794/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jul/09/48795/ Gal sticks her head through the delivery hatch. “Like something?” “It’s a Dog’s World,” says the …
The tortilla ladies: Delivering it fresh and hot on San Diego Avenue
Cafe Coyote's Tourist Central for Fourth July weekend, but the tortillas are still great
Okay, we're in the middle of the day, in the middle of the Fourth of July weekend in the middle of tourist central, Old Town. Cram City. Crowd right here on San Diego Avenue is making a bulge around the …
Southpaw: Wild life behind the batting cage
Petco Park's newest hang-out has East Villagers going wild!
It’s open, at last. Southpaw Social Club (815 J Street, 619-269-2255) has only been in business a few days, but seems to have struck just the right note among those wild and crazy East Villagers. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jul/05/48626/ Where El Vitral, which …
Fat Sandwiches at Fat Sal's Deli
Pacific Beach sub shop puts a little bit of everything between bread.
Rumors of Fat Sal’s Deli (956 Garnet Avenue, 855-682-4373) percolated up to me some time ago, but my perambulations kept me away for far too long. Looking at the menu, I constructed an ideal of the “fat sandwiches.” In my …
Bermuda Triangle claims another victim…in Old Town
Jason West’s Old Town Market Café rolls down its canvas for the last time
“I’ll miss the apple fritters,” sighs Suzie. She’s a guide with Old Town Trolley Tours, the green and orange antique buses that you see hauling around with tourists hanging out of their open sides. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jul/03/48561/ We’re standing outside the Old …
Old Town jerky: Cheap, cheerful Inca-chew
Chomp on jerky and taste, uh, ancestors' gastronomy
Jerky for lunch? I was walking up through Old Town Plaza when I noticed this freshly whitewashed adobe place down by the Fiesta de Reyes part. Next to a silversmith joint. The Old Town House of Jerky & Root Beer …
"Feast" to debut at New Children's Museum in the fall
New exhibition will teach "the art of playing with your food" and offer hungry patrons a chance to dine like *Le Roi Soleil* (for a price, of course).
The New Children’s Museum changes exhibits once every two years. New exhibits spend over a year in development and it takes more than a month of full work days--during which the museum has to close--to put up a new installation, …
Soup, soup, and more soup at Trieu Chau
City Heights restaurant breaks the cycle of chow mein and fried rice with a bevy of delicious soups and stews.
Trieu Chau Restaurant (4653 University Avenue, 619-280-4204) is named after a Chinese linguistic dialect (commonly transliterated as “Teochow”) that’s mostly spoken in the province of Fujian. Maybe that doesn’t add anything to the experience of eating at the blue and …