"Moore wants more," I would joke to myself.Busy Fingers Are Happy Fingers — Joe DeeganI couldn't find an angle to get my story started, I told her. "Forget all about angles," she then said with …

“Piquenique?” says Larry. “Let me check with Janis. She may be in Venezuela.”He’s exaggerating. But only a little. His wife Janis has this incredible life chasing birds around the world. Where she is depends on …

Five-dollar taco deals? At Comic-Con? Really? I’m still thinking of the second day, the Saturday. We were among thousands of cosplay originals. The two of us felt like visitors from Planet Boring. Around us, everyone …

“Lao food! Lao food!” calls a woman's voice through the loudspeaker. The voice gives a couple of whoops. “Ahan Lao! I’m making Laab Kung Lao. Homage to the OG! Ahan Lao!”In this case, the OG …

The flute-player is around here somewhere. Has to be. I’m on Río Colorado in the Colonia Marrón part of TJ, at the bougainvillea-and-canvas-shaded end of the calle. And ah. A sign. “In the kitchen, as in …

At some point, I let it slip that I’d had oatmeal for lunch. My friend Jacqui flicked a look at me that asked, “Are you really in that much trouble?”Fact is, yes: things have been, …

Satomi and Yoko half-recognize me. I know them from like five years ago, when I just had to stop at their place, because — like now, perfect timing! — this is their generous happy hour. …

First time I came in here, the Night and Day was a true 24-hour greasy spoon. Front door stayed open for half a century, day and night. It’s where you came after you realized you’d …

Video:TIN FORK: A history of Teriyaki at the Japanese Friendship Garden“I’m sick of my nuts and twigs,” says Diane. She’s talking about the macrobiotic meals she’s been serving up (she won’t eat my attempts at …

Video:TIN FORK: Descanso Junction: Unchained lunch near Old Highway 80“Are we there yet?”That’s me. Even though Annella and Adrian are doing the driving, this twisty, hilly trip seems like it’ll never end. For starters, we’ve …

Video:TIN FORK: Dumpling Inn discourse“I’m not into pork,” says Diane.Uh, this as we walk through the doors of The Dumpling Inn, specialists in Xiao Long Bao, steamed pawk dumplings.“You can’t kill pigs,” my true love …

Video:TIN FORK: Pidalo’s elotes greet Ed Bedford after border walk“Asada! Adobada! Chorizo! Buche! Suadero! Campechano!” Pedro’s blasting out from this very first cluster of food carts south of the border. I have just had a …

Video:TIN FORK: 94th Aero Squadron – French farmhouse still worksIt was one of those gifts a cash-strapped cuss like myself always dreams of.I heard about it first in 2013: this crazy eat-drinks place with World …

Video:TIN FORK: A very HOT dogBarrio Logan, I’m thinking, is bound to be a cinch for Yoli, the Mexican lemon-lime soft drink that started in Guerrero a century ago, and tastes like Sprite, only a …

Video:TIN FORK: The pie of the beholder at Queenstown PiesJust back from New Zealand, where I went crazy…on meat pies. (They’re called “pot pies” back here.) If there’s a national dish Down Under, pies are …

Video:TIN FORK: WINSTON GABON, manager of Commi Restaurant in Christchurch, New ZealandIt’s on the walls! That glorious revolutionary time when young idealists marched with flags sweeping over their heads, hope and defiance in their eyes, …

Video:GOLDEN DREAMS: Peter King lives a cell-free lifeNew Zealand is nothing if not tech-forward. Early this year, it recorded 6.84 million cellular mobile connections. That’s 130.3 percent of the population (5.124 million people.) But don’t …

Video:TIN FORK: A taste of America on the other side of the worldSomehow, not being in America, this place feels all the more American. I’m in a diner,, and it feels like a kind of …

Video:Ed Bedford snacks on snailsThis is weird. I’m sitting here looking out over the Port from pretty much exactly where some photographer, back on March 24, 1882, pulled the cap off his giant camera lens …

Video:TIN FORK: Dobson's Bar and RestaurantIt’s not often that a restaurant commissions a song in honor of itself. But Marcos Luciano, the Mexico City-born restaurateur who took over Dobson’s Bar and Restaurant from the man …

Five minutes to midnight. The plane starts backing out. At last. It’s gonna be a 16-hour haul, and I’m already hongry. Just spent three hours at Wolfgang Puck’s WPizza bar in LAX, waiting for this …

Video:TIN FORK: Kiko’s Place gets a new space downtown on C Street. The OG fish taco is still just $3.50.My true love Diane and I have been to Kiko’s Place — the food truck near …

“You ever seen a prettier car show than this?” asks Tim. He’s into cars. We’re walking among antique and vintage classics parked in this brilliant green meadow, under trees, with the smell of wildflowers mixing …

Woah. Lotta high-powered people here. Clinking glasses, laughing over-loudly at jokes, standing with a canapé in one hand and a glass of bubbly in the other, leaning forward to catch inside talk about other people. …

“I tell you,” insists my friend Tim. “He gives the most. He’s the host with the most! He’s worth the trip!”“Uh, to Spring Valley?” I ask.“Hey! I live in Spring Valley. What’s wrong with Spring …

‘Over here!” yells Tim. We’ve split up, trying to find this one eatery. I’m on 26th street, with the naval supply ships at one end shoving their prows over the piers like nosey dogs. Tim’s …

“This is well-known among Powegians,” says my buddy Larry.“‘Powegians’?”“The good burghers of Poway, probably the least-known of all our cities.”“But I hear it’s a city for somewhat fat cats,” I say. “Not somewhere you’d find …

Video:TIN FORK: South Park’s Big Kitchen offers food, love, and politicsJudy the Beauty on Duty throws her head back and laughs. “Tres bien, tres bien!” She says it with a deliberate accent, partly to annoy …

“Stew,” says Kevin.“Pupusa,” I say.“Stew,” says Diane.“Pupusa,” I say. “Come on! There’s a Salvadoreno joint just around the corner.”“Pinoy stew!” says Kevin. “Used to have it off-base at Subic Bay. PI.”“PI?” says Diane.“Philippine Islands,” I …

Video:TIN FORK: Sultan Baklava's Turkish hospitalityIt’s morning in El Cajon. But it could almost be morning in Istanbul. I’m here sipping Turkish coffee among Turkish folk in a gold-trimmed maroon room in the oldest building …

Video:TIN FORK: the uber-cool Chocolat, around the corner at Fifth and University“Please, darling. Not Chinese. Not tonight.”We’re outside the Hong Kong restaurant. The place looks fine to me — but not to the beautiful Diane. …

Video:TIN FORK: Family House of Pancakes’ Persian quiche — the enduring omeletMan, it seems everybody’s going to Lemon Grove these days (See Ian Anderson’s recent <a href="http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2023/dec/12/with-each-location-el-pollo-grill-has-gotten-more-colorful/">El Pollo Grill review</a> from 12/21/23). Me, I’m here …

I'm looking at this dinner table, all laid out and ready for ten guests: there’s even food in the dishes. Tamales, bread, pozole, buñuelos, other things wrapped in corn husks, olives, nopales, frijoles, sweet corn, …

’Tis already the season. And already, I’ve been eating way too much gunge! Need less fat, more fruit, veggies, nuts, twigs. A fresh taste in my mouth.And yet I’ve got that hungry hollow feeling as …

“Sorry, we have none left.”Whu? It’s 1 pm and they’ve run out of lunch already? Maybe they’re out to lunch. And here I had been so looking forward to this Indian curry — for just …

Solana BeachWhat makes Solana Beach interesting for me is not only the Hispanic history, which infuses the area with words of Spanish origin: Rios, Cedros, and Granados (rivers, cedars, and pomegranate trees), but that the …

Sometimes, you’re thankful to just sit down somewhere. You don’t care about the food, the cushions, or the view. This is one of those moments. I collapse onto this bench seat among the ancient native …

A tour of San Diego alleysJack Whalen hands me a beer. “I’m king of this alley,” Whalen says, then points west. “Down there, the king of that next alley is Tom Sweet. He’s 97.” Whalen …

“Arrogant Bastard!” I say.“Arrogant what?” asks Diane, my newly-minted sweetheart.I look at the bubbling brown elixir that is my AB, then up at Diane’s sparkling chocolate eyes flecked with green, and sigh. “Most beautiful lamps …

Sorrento Valley lacks stickiness It’s among the safest of neighborhoods. A glance at crime statistics shows negligible amounts in Sorrento Valley proper (most months: no murder, no rape, 20 nonresidential burglaries). The place is either …

Aahh! San Diego pupusas. And I mean San Diego, the Central American beach twenty-six klicks south of San Salvador, capital of El Salvador. ’Twas there I first ate that country’s national food, the pupusa, introduced …

The Aztec drums echo through the barrio. Even at this distance, you can hear the dancers’ ankle rattles shaking with each foot stomp. Chicano Park on this Monday night tells you better than anywhere else …

“We’re eating British tonight, alright?” says Annie in that voice of hers. It’s been a hard day. We’ve been working together. Both beat. She’s my friend. You’d think she was my wife. But hey, she’s …

Alpine's Secret Valley Here we could raise animals and grow a garden, learn the old arts of canning, butchering, milking, and cheese-making. The '70s provided this back-earth movement, and our few neighbors, like my family, …

“Och, dreich. Ye coulda picked a better night, sailor,” says Annie. “It’s chucking it down.” Annie’s my Scottish friend. She’s right about the rain. Says it takes her back to “Caledonia.” That’s the old name …

I came for yak, the classic mountain meat from the Himalayas. I ended up with tikka masala, the classic Indian dish from, uh, Scotland? But I’m getting ahead of myself. It was the yak that …

“Let me get this right,” I say to this fellow Jeff. “You’re offering me a shot of whiskey and a can of beer for $6. Six bucks?” “Yes, sir, that’s it,” says Jeff. He’s the …

Apostolic Prayer Temple, house of exaltation I came here, to the Apostolic Prayer Temple, a storefront in between a nightclub and a fish market in Encanto, to see the Rev. Tom Shaw in the Gospel …

“How to find the Salk Cafe?” replies this kindly professor type to my query. “And you’re walking? Ha! Head west on Gilman Drive. Turn right onto Mandeville Lane. Turn right onto Muir Lane. Turn left …

It took me years to realize that Welsh rarebit wasn’t eating about bunnies at all. A little while after I learned the truth, I was up in Oceanside — Mission San Luis Rey — at …