Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

White Transition

"Go forth!" yells Carla from the rehab place next to the Coronado Hospital. She's stuck here with her mending broken leg. "And don't come back till you can bring me honest reports. Have the Anglos destroyed it all? Is there nothing left of our patrimonio?"

I can see there'll be nothing left of our matrimonio if I don't. Carla has this bee in her bonnet about "what's happening to Old Town," 'cause some new guys ("from Buffalo, New York!") are changing the name of where her great-great-whatever used to live, like, 175 years ago. The Casa de Bandini. It's now gonna be "Hotel Cosmopolitan."

So here I am at Old Town plaza, early evening on a Wednesday. Just starting to cool. Sun's at, oh, about four fingers off the horizon -- Interstate 5, that is. I wander into the Casa de Bandini. Or is it the Cosmopolitan already? Actually, it looks pretty much the same, except I guess the bright colors are gone. Maybe it's the servers, dressed in modest Victorian dresses. People sit 'round in varnished judges' chairs under cream canvas awnings. Just looks a little...duller. My problem is that most of their food costs way more than the jingle I have in my pocket. So I head out and down toward what used to be Bazaar del Mundo. I'm thinking maybe I can create a picnic in the plaza. I stop in first at Alvarado Provisions, one of the throwback stores packed with things like traditional candies. Maureen -- she's wearing a long, sweeping Victorian dress, too (come to think of it, women look nice like this, graceful) -- doesn't do the kind of foods I might eat, like meats. But I buy a scrumptious-looking orange-and-cranberry muffin ($1.50) from her anyway. I'll have that with a coffee, later.

First, I've gotta eat. I walk into the old Bazaar del Mundo. Signs up everywhere say this is now the Plaza del Pasado. Square of the Past. Huh. The shops and cafés here, too, seem, well, less colorful. More planned. Sober. Emptier. Not of people, but of stuff, mainly those crazy-colored things from South America the shops used to have.

Sponsored
Sponsored

I end up back in the main plaza at what had been Rancho El Nopal. Now it's the Jolly Boy Saloon and Restaurant. Basically the same patio, though, with white columns, old bougainvillea and cactus. Alexis the hostess leads me to a varnished table. I notice that the round judges' chairs and the cream canvas awnings are just like the ones in the other places. Juan the waiter brings a big solid menu book. Inside it says that this place reflects the "transition" period between 1846 and 1856. Traditional Mexican food, plus new-style American seafood from the fishing industry that was starting up back then.

I scan it all. Uh, I'll be having something from soups, salads, or, at the top of the budget, an hamburguesa. Most entrée-size stuff's in the teens. But a few make the single-figure list. Tacos de Pollo Verde are $7.95, fish tacos are $9.95, torta de pollo is $8.95 with fries, and the half-pound "fire-roasted" burguesa with fries is $7.95. Chicken Caesar salad is $10.95.

What brought me in here was the albóndigas. Meatball soup. It has an asterisk beside it, which means this is the same soup they were serving back in 1854 when the original Jolly Boy started up. Huh. And, only $4.75.

"Would that be enough, like, to fill me?" I ask Alexis.

"I think so," she says.

"A classic 1850s meatball soup," the menu says. "Chayote, turnips, potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, cumin, and oregano, garnished with mint leaves."

Chayote is that Mexican squash veggie you can put in just about anything.

Juan brings the chips and salsa. Ooh. Salsa's got bite. 'Course these are going to save the day. Can keep chomping them down till I'm full. Plus, I just order water. I chat with Oscar the violinist, one of the two musicians sitting out his break nearby. "They don't have mariachis in the new setup," he says. "Just two or three musicians wandering around."

And it seems like they play "transitional" music. He and his guitarist buddy Ramon launch into "Novillero," a bullfighting song, then hit "Roll Out the Barrel."

Juan brings the albóndigas. Three big meatballs with tons of diced veggies in the soup. Nicely seasoned -- that mint leaf's great -- and I just keep taking chips to add solids. When all's said and done, and the rising tide in my gut leaves me feeling less whiny, this is still a great place. No traffic, beautiful violin playing, folks sauntering -- and that funny-peculiar knowledge that dons, merchants, ruffians, and ranchers all probably sat exactly here, 150 years ago, chomping and slurping on the same-recipe albóndigas, thanking the Lord they'd escaped the Bad Olde World, or grizzling about what a hick pueblo this was, or how those danged gringos just seemed to keep coming and coming.

Light's fading. Grass in the plaza's getting luminous green. I pay up my -- heh heh -- $5.12 and go look for a coffee. Want to sit down in the plaza, where they had all those bullfights and hangings and Judge Roy Bean, uh, hung out, and enjoy Maureen's orange-and-cranberry muffin. Oh, and think of something to get Carla, to soften the blow that, yeah, the gringos have taken Grandpaw's casa back.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

March is typically windy, Sage scents in the foothills

Butterflies may cross the county

"Go forth!" yells Carla from the rehab place next to the Coronado Hospital. She's stuck here with her mending broken leg. "And don't come back till you can bring me honest reports. Have the Anglos destroyed it all? Is there nothing left of our patrimonio?"

I can see there'll be nothing left of our matrimonio if I don't. Carla has this bee in her bonnet about "what's happening to Old Town," 'cause some new guys ("from Buffalo, New York!") are changing the name of where her great-great-whatever used to live, like, 175 years ago. The Casa de Bandini. It's now gonna be "Hotel Cosmopolitan."

So here I am at Old Town plaza, early evening on a Wednesday. Just starting to cool. Sun's at, oh, about four fingers off the horizon -- Interstate 5, that is. I wander into the Casa de Bandini. Or is it the Cosmopolitan already? Actually, it looks pretty much the same, except I guess the bright colors are gone. Maybe it's the servers, dressed in modest Victorian dresses. People sit 'round in varnished judges' chairs under cream canvas awnings. Just looks a little...duller. My problem is that most of their food costs way more than the jingle I have in my pocket. So I head out and down toward what used to be Bazaar del Mundo. I'm thinking maybe I can create a picnic in the plaza. I stop in first at Alvarado Provisions, one of the throwback stores packed with things like traditional candies. Maureen -- she's wearing a long, sweeping Victorian dress, too (come to think of it, women look nice like this, graceful) -- doesn't do the kind of foods I might eat, like meats. But I buy a scrumptious-looking orange-and-cranberry muffin ($1.50) from her anyway. I'll have that with a coffee, later.

First, I've gotta eat. I walk into the old Bazaar del Mundo. Signs up everywhere say this is now the Plaza del Pasado. Square of the Past. Huh. The shops and cafés here, too, seem, well, less colorful. More planned. Sober. Emptier. Not of people, but of stuff, mainly those crazy-colored things from South America the shops used to have.

Sponsored
Sponsored

I end up back in the main plaza at what had been Rancho El Nopal. Now it's the Jolly Boy Saloon and Restaurant. Basically the same patio, though, with white columns, old bougainvillea and cactus. Alexis the hostess leads me to a varnished table. I notice that the round judges' chairs and the cream canvas awnings are just like the ones in the other places. Juan the waiter brings a big solid menu book. Inside it says that this place reflects the "transition" period between 1846 and 1856. Traditional Mexican food, plus new-style American seafood from the fishing industry that was starting up back then.

I scan it all. Uh, I'll be having something from soups, salads, or, at the top of the budget, an hamburguesa. Most entrée-size stuff's in the teens. But a few make the single-figure list. Tacos de Pollo Verde are $7.95, fish tacos are $9.95, torta de pollo is $8.95 with fries, and the half-pound "fire-roasted" burguesa with fries is $7.95. Chicken Caesar salad is $10.95.

What brought me in here was the albóndigas. Meatball soup. It has an asterisk beside it, which means this is the same soup they were serving back in 1854 when the original Jolly Boy started up. Huh. And, only $4.75.

"Would that be enough, like, to fill me?" I ask Alexis.

"I think so," she says.

"A classic 1850s meatball soup," the menu says. "Chayote, turnips, potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, cumin, and oregano, garnished with mint leaves."

Chayote is that Mexican squash veggie you can put in just about anything.

Juan brings the chips and salsa. Ooh. Salsa's got bite. 'Course these are going to save the day. Can keep chomping them down till I'm full. Plus, I just order water. I chat with Oscar the violinist, one of the two musicians sitting out his break nearby. "They don't have mariachis in the new setup," he says. "Just two or three musicians wandering around."

And it seems like they play "transitional" music. He and his guitarist buddy Ramon launch into "Novillero," a bullfighting song, then hit "Roll Out the Barrel."

Juan brings the albóndigas. Three big meatballs with tons of diced veggies in the soup. Nicely seasoned -- that mint leaf's great -- and I just keep taking chips to add solids. When all's said and done, and the rising tide in my gut leaves me feeling less whiny, this is still a great place. No traffic, beautiful violin playing, folks sauntering -- and that funny-peculiar knowledge that dons, merchants, ruffians, and ranchers all probably sat exactly here, 150 years ago, chomping and slurping on the same-recipe albóndigas, thanking the Lord they'd escaped the Bad Olde World, or grizzling about what a hick pueblo this was, or how those danged gringos just seemed to keep coming and coming.

Light's fading. Grass in the plaza's getting luminous green. I pay up my -- heh heh -- $5.12 and go look for a coffee. Want to sit down in the plaza, where they had all those bullfights and hangings and Judge Roy Bean, uh, hung out, and enjoy Maureen's orange-and-cranberry muffin. Oh, and think of something to get Carla, to soften the blow that, yeah, the gringos have taken Grandpaw's casa back.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Didja know I did the first American feature on Jimi Hendrix?

Richard Meltzer goes through the Germs, Blue Oyster Cult, Ray Charles, Elvis, Lavender Hill Mob
Next Article

Melissa Etheridge, The Imaginary Amazon

Events April 1-April 3, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.