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Babbo's Bar & Grille, Uptown: Back from the brink?
Some talk about insurance has customers hoping fire-damaged Babbo’s may reopen after all
Oh no. I’d been hoping that things may be starting up again by now… But Babbo’s Bar and Grille looks as dead as it did last September after a fire and sprinklers ruined the newly moved restaurant. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/apr/04/43199/ This place, …
Industrial Grind, Park Boulevard: This place will wreck your schedule
The talkingest café in Uptown can make you late for the rest of the day
“This is San Diego’s first veteran women-owned and operated café,” says Kathy. We’re in the back patio, looking at a picture of her ship, an LSD (“Landing Ship Docking”) named USS Pearl Harbor. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/apr/03/43176/ “I was a Command Master Chief …
Meat...err, Meet Salt & Cleaver
Hillcrest to receive a combo butcher shop and speakeasy
There’s a real sausage fest coming to Hillcrest. Sorry, had to go there when I heard about Salt & Cleaver (3805 Fifth Avenue, Hillcrest), a venue devoted to house-made meat-in-tube-form scheduled to open this month, likely by April 15. All …
Coronado street taco wars: Costa Azul steps up to the plata!
Getting on-the-spot tacos on Orange Avenue just got easier – on Taco Tuesday
Carla – here for hair – is late. I’m standing outside Bay Books when I hear “Tacos! Tacos! Tacos!” Then a silence. Then “Tacos! Tacos! Tacos!” I head south and here’s this feller Ferrer holding a hand-painted sign. “Los Tacos …
Celebrate National Empanada Day with Papa Luna's in Pacific Beach
In honor of National Empanada Day on April 8, customers will receive a history lesson in food with one free traditional empanada from Papa Luna
Thousands of Argentineans like their empanadas stuffed with chicken. Parts of Colombia pack their empanadas with peanuts and top them with a spicy aji sauce. In El Salvador, people take 'em with plantains and sour cream, while many in Ghana …
Lee's Garden
Chinese seafood, condensed milk drinks, and crazy muzak in Rolando.
Someone described Lee’s Garden (4055 54th Street, Rolando, 619-583-8208) as an Asian wedding destination. I even wrote that down in my notes, “Asian wedding destination,” wondering exactly what that would mean for me as a non-Asian person not shopping for …
La Fachada Logan Heights: Gordita vs. mulita
But what’s with the Health Department shutting down outside cooking at Mexican eateries?
“Used heart for sale,” sing Los Tigres del Norte. “Because I just don’t want to mend it…” Aah. I can relax. Sunset, cocktails, music. Love it. Okay, so the cocktail is guayaba juice (guava, totally delish, $1.80), the appetizer’s gonna …
Dan Diego's
Credible neighborhood bar open for business in Bay Park.
I watched Dan Diego’s get built along Morena Boulevard as I passed by it a couple of times every week. The “coming soon” sign tantalized me, dangling a new restaurant out there. The only thing was that it looked a …
Bistrot l'Escargot in Tijuana
South African chef makes fine French cuisine in Mexico
Baja Med is the cool, edgy sibling of the slow food movement, and it's reserved specifically for the foodie frontier in our own backyard. In T.J., the term is tossed more frequently than an organic spring mix. In San Diego, …
Marine Room: The restaurant that time forgot
Fine dining tradition keeps on keeping on for the better part of a century in La Jolla
The Marine Room doesn't try to keep up with the new kids. This 70-year-old restaurant sees no need to trade in its white tablecloths for reclaimed wood; it has no interest in forgoing its soft white shell sconces for those …
The Lobby: Happy hour in a museum?
This must be the most historic room downtown, and I’m munching $3 fish tacos in here.
You kinda hesitate before you come in here. The building’s this big-arched monumental pile of stone with brass historic plaques, and revolving doors to get in, and a small army of valet parking guys who you're sure are checking you …
The Rocking Tanuki
Mission Valley Japanese restaurant has a cute name, but it's no hidden gem.
I wanted to go to the Rocking Tanuki (6110 Friars Road, 619-294-4404) because I liked the name. “Tanuki” means the Japanese raccoon dog, which looks like a cross between a fox and a raccoon. I don’t know exactly how one …
Baja nights: At Los Cristales you eat while you're riding the wave
The restaurant on the rock serves the rich, the famous, and Ed
I happened on this burger totally accidentally. Never meant to come here. Had never heard if it. I’m way down where the two Californias once divided – between Dominican and Franciscan-ruled lands in their missions of discovery and conversion. I …
Box'd
It's a box! With waffles!
Box’d (430 Carlsbad Village Drive, 442-333-9071) is just that, a box. Actually, it’s more of a shipping crate, cut open and immobilized on a platform in downtown Carlsbad, filled with waffle irons and cash registers, and dedicated to selling waffles …
Swordfish at a gas station? El Venado, Chula Vista
Down by the Otay river, swordfish plays with Ed’s taste buds
I mean, come on. It’s a gas station. So how come I’m eating the most scrumptious swordfish taco I can remember, and right here? This is Mariscos El Venado (3733 Main Street, Chula Vista, 619-476-80710), part of the Cali-Mart gas …
One piece at a time at Sushi Tadokoro
Ordering Edo-style sushi in an Old Town mini-mart at $4/bite is a beautiful thing.
Few would think, “I’ll head down to Old Town and poke around in mini-malls between liquor stores and hair salons. Maybe I’ll find some great Edo-style sushi there.” Nevertheless, that happens in this town sometimes. Barbarella’s discovered that the tapas …
Monkey see, monkey brew: Center City’s Monkey Paw
For Guinness’ sake: Straight burger and no monkey business!
Yeah yeah yeah. It was the Jewel Box and now it’s Monkey Paw. Apart from that, same crowd, same sunset blinding everybody looking out the front door. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/26/42545/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/25/42534/ Big difference: beers. They make half of them right here, in …
Las Morelianas Carnitas Estilo Michoacan
Michoacan-style carnitas in City Heights
Las Morelianas (3645 University Avenue, 619-521-2891) is just into City Heights, but it feels much more removed than that. Everything is rough around the edges, from the construction to the service to the clientele. Not rough as in dangerous, rough …
Little cookies, long story at El Cuervo
Hillcrest taco shop serves shortbread cookies with history baked in.
I don’t usually go to El Cuervo (110 West Washington Street, Hillcrest, 619-295-9713) because it’s very average and on the wrong side of the street. Really, it’s virtually identical to Los Panchos--both restaurants even use the same style of menu …
Snooze you can use: Ping Pong tonight at Snooze, Hillcrest!
The breakfast eatery is staging its 2nd annual ping pong face-off. No food, plenty of booze
Hot news tonite! 5:00 p.m. [Friday 3/22] at Snooze, the pretty-new Hillcrest breakfast place (3940 5th Avenue, Hillcrest, 619-500-3344)... http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/22/42388/ ...they’re holding their Second Annual Ping Pong contest, with a three-foot-tall trophy topped by a table-tennis bat for the winner …