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Entries
TJ: Now THIS is a burrito
Not like your bloated versions in El Norte
“This is the true burrito,” says Yanko Quezada. “Not those big fat things you have in San Diego.” It’s nine at night. I’ve just paid Cathy $1 for one of his desebrada burritos... http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/01/44712/ ...here in the tight-packed little TJ …
SD Bacon Fest slated for late August
Upcoming pork festival promises to bring out a few niche products...and a lot of bacon.
I don’t know if I can spend an entire day eating bacon, but I’m willing to try. For science. Yeah. Science! http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/apr/30/44620/ Bacon Fest is going down on August 31st, a day affectionately dubbed “International Bacon Day” by devoted fans …
The Cays: Million dollar view, $6 breakfast
Hanan's Calypso Cafe has wines, sophisticated eating. Or every Joe Blow's breakfasts, at Joe Blow prices. You choose
Shiver me timbers! It’s only 142 days till this year’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day. September 19th, it be. Au quai, that be yet a long stretch, but I be thinkin’ about it today wandering through the cays of …
New chef rocking Bird Rock
Neighborhood eatery Beaumont’s looking good under new chef
I live nowhere near Bird Rock and, though I think it’s a nice little community, it takes a lot for me to venture to that non-freeway-accessible, roundabout-slowed part of town. But one place inspires me to do it time and …
Downtown: Night at the Opera (okay, outside)
Food to make you sing at Aida
What’s this? I’m in the Civic Concourse. Someone’s just switched on the bow-wave fountain of the ship sculpture. Sun’s setting. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/apr/27/44502/ What's new is a bunch of other people have set up tents around the Civic Theater (1200 3rd Avenue, …
High five on Fifth: Toscana delivers sausage, cerveza, sun
Happy hour has limited food options but great Gaslamp location, specially at sunset
“The Lady Is a Tramp” plays on the sound system. That forties-style Sinatra song somehow fits this little piece of Tuscany. Sitting in the one sunny spot on Fifth Avenue. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/apr/25/44426/ We’re outside Toscana Café & Wine Bar (238 5th …
Tijuana's culinary future
If Juan Plasencia is any indication, the next generation of TJ restaurateurs will continue the dining renaissance south of the border.
Right now, high-school senior Juan Plasencia is living in the shadows of his father and uncle, the big names behind Grupo Plasencia’s family of restaurants in Tijuana (Caesar’s, Casa Plasencia, etc.) and San Diego. For a young guy just getting …
Gaslamp: Half price nachos! (Compared with Petco Park)
Ed bargain-hunts on the Street of Dreams
Whew. Made it to the last stool at the bar. This is game day in da Gaslamp. Sit down next to a guy named Travis. “I eat here, because inside Petco Park you’re going to pay at least double,” he …
East Village: Country fried chicken for trolley watchers
Movie of life at 12th and Imp's snack gallery
At 12th and Imperial, switching from one trolley to another. Trouble is there's a third one gets in the way. Too late to jump through. Dang. Meantime my one goes. That's another fifteen minutes I've got to wait. So I …
Snooty Asian open in Hillcrest
Pan-Asian bistro replaces the short-lived Noodle Etc on Fourth Avenue.
I liked Kip’s, mostly because it had some history and they served up tasty frog legs, but with the oversaturation of restaurants in and around that block of Hillcrest it barely registered when Kip’s closed and Noodle Etc temporarily took …
Sips and snaps at Lion's Share
Craft cocktails and exotic fare for hunters of all things hip
I may have waited over a year to check out the Lion's Share, but I'm certainly making up for lost time. Over the past few weeks it's been my go-to location for meeting colleagues for drinks or friends for dinner. …
El Pueblo, salvation on the 5
Knowing about this Cardiff taco shop will come in handy for anybody hungry on the freeway.
Put this one in your back pocket. A gift from me to you. Knowing where El Pueblo is could be the difference between metaphorical starvation and burrito salvation along the freeway. There’s nothing charming about its location in a Valero …
Proud Mary's
New menu for Kearny Mesa southern-style kitchen and bar.
“Southern food” means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. At Proud Mary’s Southern Bar and Grill (inconveniently located at the Kearny Mesa Ramada), it means Louisiana cooking. Back when Proud Mary’s opened, Naomi Wise gave …
The Red House: new name, same sexy flatbread
These happy hour mini pizzas work great when you’ve still got a corner of your gut to fill
So glad these guys changed their name to Red House. Before it was Park Boulevard Wine and Pizza…see? I can’t even remember what it was, last time I came in. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/apr/18/44047/ That was maybe two years back. Now the name …
Strange drinking at D'O Thai
Found a new kind of booze in Old Town, and some average curry too.
I was visiting a friend in Old Town the other day and did not want tacos for dinner. I know, right? I couldn’t spring for Harney, so we popped in to D’O Thai Cottage (2414 San Diego Avenue, 619-683-2506) and …
Cheapest meal in Oceanside – if you like shukkin’ peanuts
Pierview Pub or Pier View Coffee Co.? Choice is peanuts you shuck (free), or BBQ chicken sammies (cheap)
It’s the first thing you notice. When you come up from Oceanside’s pier at Pierview Way, you look to your left, and there’s Pier View Coffee Co (300 Pier View Way, Oceanside, 760-966-1150). http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/apr/17/44007/ To your right, Pierview Pub (301 …
Public Notice RE: FISH PUBLIC
Restaurateur Tracy Borkum turning Kensington Grill to seafood spot
When speaking with local restaurateur Tracy Borkum over a half-decade ago, she was already regarded by many in her industry as one of San Diego’s most driven and with-it eatery owners. At the time, the venues within her Urban Kitchen …
Kabob House: Tabouleh or not tabouleh?
That isn't the only luscious question at Golden Hill's newest kabobbery
Dang. Thought I was pioneering this place. It’s a kinda shrinking violet in the wedge of a strip mall you’d whizz past on your way to the cooler bits of Golden Hill. But jes' been to the dentist. Had some …
Green Flash puts trucks to work
Mira Mesa tasting room takes advantage of food trucks' portability, dispenses with the unreliability.
Now this is the right way to use food trucks! The tasting room at Green Flash Brewery (6550 Mira Mesa Blvd, 858-622-0085) hosts a different food truck every day (except for Mondays when the brewery is closed to the public) …
Café Madrid: Two Austrian gentlemen compare coffees
“Today, it’s not really important”
It’s a “where were you” moment. Me, I was hanging around the Café Madrid coffee cart (1029 Orange Avenue, Coronado), thinking of getting one of their buns to go with my $1.50 medium coffee (one of the best brews on …