Otay Mesa: Where the bus drivers eat
La Taquiza food truck is a life-saver for night-time drivers like Michelle
It's 9.25 p.m. Michelle brings her 901 bus in right on time. She says goodbye to the last passengers, kills the engine and then jumps out herself. She heads straight through the parking lot to the little island of lights …
IB's Plank: Drinking in history
It's not on the pier, but IB's oldest pub delivers its own atmosphere
Oh man: Eat on the pier, or eat here, at Ye Olde Plank? I’m leaning on IB’s sea wall, looking out at the ocean. And from the far end of that lo-ong pier, lights glow across the angry waters. The …
Tijuana's Caesar Salad: It's show time!
A "Caesoned" professional shows how Caesar’s Salad happens, from coddling the egg to squishing the anchovies
Q: What’s the longest-running argument in the cooking world? A: Who invented the Caesar salad? Was it César Cardini, who it’s named after? Alexander, his brother? Livio Santini, his chef? Beatriz Santini, Livio's mom? A dozen other chefs around LA …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Little Italy: Mezcal, corn dogs rule at Art & Commerce
The 90-year-old art of making corn dogs is revived for the after-work crowd
"St. Germain?" says Christian. "The ketchup of cocktails." So wow. You know you’re in sophisticated circles just from that. He's mixing the yellowish French liqueur in with a bunch of other stuff, including absinthe. Me, I'm happy downing my Old …
Santa Fe Depot: Rush job
Silver Streak has Ramirez, fastest chef in the west
On the road again. Hands are trembling. Heading for that dreaded Coaster ticket machine. There's hair on the platform all around it from people pulling it out in frustration. You need a PhD and 20 minutes to even understand the …
Tilted Kilt: Go for the beans!
Hot spot next to Petco gives Dragon's Den a run for its money
Across the road from Dragon’s Den, and right outside Petco Park’s main eastern gates sits the Tilted Kilt (310 10th Avenue, East Village, 619-814-5458). http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/apr/09/43507/ Not a bad spot to be. On game days anyways. The Kilt’s all about their …
Padres Opening Day: Dragon’s Den Vs. Tilted Kilt
Baseball bar battles: Opening shots (Bourbon or Saktea?)
They’ve closed off J Street between 6th and 10th Avenues for the baseballs season’s opening day block party. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/apr/09/43462/ And the Dragon’s Den (315 10th Avenue, East Village, by Petco Park, 619-358-9332) is using hi-tech to cope with the onrush …
Tater tots and a tipple: Happy hour at downtown’s Beer Co.
Best way to appreciate prize-winners like their “Manhattan Project” beer, is to chomp spudlets, too.
Last time I popped in here to The Beer Company (602 W. 6th Avenue, at Broadway, downtown San Diego, 619-398-0707) I never got beyond their Great American Beer Fest Gold Medal winner, the Manhattan Project. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/apr/07/43370/ Man. What a cerveza. …
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 …