Eight local chefs plan ultimate pairing dinner around pork

It’s always fun hanging with chefs. I’ve had the honor and pleasure of interviewing many in my day, but the most enjoyable gastronome intermingling I’ve experienced have been during after-work chef meet-ups. One-on-one interviews are friendly enough, but mostly business-like. …

Hotel Del delivers cocktails, apps for price of a Bud and a couple of burgers

Seeing we’re in Coronado (see Sticker Shock), and seeing we’ve spent, like $35 for burgers…it’s now around seven and Carla suddenly says “Let’s go get you a French and Italian at the Del. Just in time for sunset.” “The…the Del?” …

Beginning the search in City Heights

New mission: to eat at all the Ethiopian restaurants in town and pick a winner. This was partly inspired by Garrett Harris blogging about running, and partly by a friend who asked me which I liked best. I had no …

Around the world in one meal

At the end of a narrow walkway tucked between two shops on Girard Avenue in La Jolla is a sweet little gem of a restaurant called Finch's Bistro and Wine Bar. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/2013/may/27/46366/ I first discovered Finch's a few months ago, …

Venerable bar in Coronado still has "the best burgers." Eat them there, and save

This Memorial Day Weekend, it was kind of appropriate to be swigging a Bud Light here at Danny’s (Danny’s Palm Bar and Grill, 965 Orange Avenue, Coronado, 619-435-3171). http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/28/46390/ The names and photos of Navy Seals who didn’t make it …

Imig’s Kitchen and Bar at the Lafayette Hotel (2232 El Cajon Boulevad, 619-780-0358) has been steadily goofing with their menu since I first went there last fall. For a while now, they were serving a modified bistro menu of smaller …

B.B. Blues Bar H.H. delivers musiculture, cheap booze, and pulled pork to die for

“This joint is dedicated to the memory of Jake Blues.” It’s a gold-lettered sign above this bar, the B.B. Blues Bar. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/25/46309/ Jake Blues? We’re in the belly of the beast here, the venerable (okay only eight years old in …

Mission Hill's sake house of record adds a few tables, makes getting a seat that much easier.

Big news from the world of small restaurants: Izakaya Masa (928 Fort Stockton Drive, 619-542-1354) added a new wing to the dining room that increases the miniature sake house’s seating capacity by about thirty percent. For anyone (like me) who …

Liberty Station fish-to-fork eatery hosts a showdown between some of San Diego's finest craft cocktail innovators.

Craft cocktails are on the rise in San Diego, and with the visionaries have come dozens of late-comers hoping to turn a quick buck off of what may or may not prove to be a passing fad. To showcase the …

New sausage spot in Hillcrest gives Midwestern football food a big-dollar makeover

Salt and Cleaver has been open for a little while, but I hadn’t had a chance to go check it out until just now. The extensive remodel on the building’s interior put a lot of distance between the new restaurant …

Bale Restaurant's special plate has a story

What price broken rice? Was at Bale’s (“Baa-Lay’s”) Restaurant & Deli last night (6925 Linda Vista Road, Suite B, at Ulric Street, Linda Vista, 858-297-2707). Vietnamese. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/23/46156/ Here you expect to find Pho (the French-inspired Vietnamese beef and other broths) …

Local author Jenz Johnson offers a new outlook on the role of mobile devices at meal time.

It this vast and untamed American future, just about everybody carries a mobile device. While most of us have been subjected to impromptu tirades about smartphone etiquette (“not at the dinner table/7-11 checkout/live concert/in public ever”) at the behest of …

The new Queenstown Public House comes with unexpected company in the 1905 house

Hauling up Cedar out of Little Italy, past the Pioneer Hook and Ladder – hey, didn’t that use to be the firehouse museum? - and crossing Columbia when whack! Thar she blows! Former assemblywoman Lori Saldaña’s old HQ. Nice old …

Downtown restaurant's new menu reveals clever sensibilities

The spring menu at Saltbox showed me a few things, chiefly that executive chef Simon Dolinky is a smart guy. I say so because he seems to think outside the box with his dishes. Not in a wild, Wylie Dufresne …

Loris Compiano thought he had the perfect gimmick to get noticed

"So Loris," I say. I've just popped in to his Café Paris (455 10th Avenue, East Village, 619-674-8439) on the way down to Petco Park. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/20/45947/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/20/45946/ I remember him for his luscious little plates to go with his wines …

Felix’s BBQ With Soul, original to Oceanside, has a location on Euclid Ave in Lincoln Park. It will be a bit out of the way for some people, but there’s plenty of parking and the lunchtime specials are off the …

What can Tomás López do with his border snack business, when they change the border?

Spare a thought for Tomás López. We're just inside Mexico, about 9:30 at night, at the western side, near the pedestrian entrance. Or what used to be. It's why Tomás has had his coffee, tea, and soup stall here for …

Ice cream sandwiches...you're doing it right!

Some concepts are so foolishly simple they make me facepalm in disbelief at my own lack of inspiration. The Baked Bear in Pacific Beach is like that. The idea is ridiculously concise: custom-built ice cream sandwiches made with fresh cookies, …

Pacific Beach tapas bar nearly strikes out with food and service. Only the drinks are at all on point.

I hadn’t seen a mandatory service charge at a restaurant in quite a while. Then, I went to The Turquoise Cafe-Bar Europa in Pacific Beach, where a gratuity of 17.5% is automatically added to every bill. Unlike some people, I …

Customers at downtown's newest lunchery are seeing red - trolleys

"Are you indecisive?" says Christina. "I'm not sure," I say. "Can't decide." “Touché,” she says. She leaves me to Manny, who's waiting - and waiting - to get my order. Ok, I have been screwing around hemming and hawing between …