Kearny Mesa Stories
“You gotta keep a constant lookout for black widows. They just love to string their nests under these things.” Fifty-one-year-old Jerry Frude is crouched behind a 1972 Whirlpool washing machine …
The Reader has started this series of its best stories from the past 52 years — 2600 cover stories and some remarkable interior features — to help make up for …
The Reader has started this series of its best stories from the past 52 years — 2600 cover stories and some remarkable interior features — to help make up for …
Push the right buttons, add flavor packets, and stir.That's basically all it takes at Ramen Station, the latest self-serve noodle place to open in greater San Diego. Walk through its …
Kearny Mesa Stories
Tesla made national headlines this week after a jury ruled against the company in a fatal autopilot crash out of state. But recently, Elon Musk's electric cars have been making an impact across San Diego …
Did I want to spice my curry with bhutlah pepper? According to the menu here at The Curry Club, it rated a zesty 1.5 million on Scoville heat index, and the restaurant made you sign …
When it arrived at our table, the cast iron dish bearing our food was so hot, there was a cardboard sleeve wrapped around the thing to keep curious fingers from getting burned. Printed on one …
"More than 2500 Stores in 360 cities," announces a mural on the wall of newly arrived Convoy restaurant Fish With You. That would make San Diego rather late to the welcoming line for this juggernaut …
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: 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 …
WAV College ChurchContact: 4875 Viewridge Ave., San Diego 510-917-2093 www.wavcollege.churchMembership: 110Pastor: John KoAge: 47Born: Olney, MDFormation: University of California-Berkeley; Biola University, La MiradaYears in Full-time Ministry: 7San Diego Reader: What is your favorite subject on …
Video:FEAST!: Hongyuan Kebab takes Korean BBQ for a spinSometimes it feels like half the food I've ever eaten, I tried for the first time in the Convoy District. That was certainly the case when I …
Hundreds of BMX riders and their families, from parents to grandparents, wonder why Chula Vista BMX suddenly shut down just over a week ago. I reached out to the world-renowned BMX (bicycle motocross) track via …
Video:FEAST!: Jomaru Korean Hot Pot offers three meals in oneOur server takes one look at me and decides I will need a bib. What she hands me is more like a plastic smock, or apron: …
The more Kearny Mesa's Convoy District has leaned into its pan-Asian businessplace identity, the more fascinated I've become with those not-pan-Asian restaurants trying to succeed there. Thanks to the excellence of mariscos shop El Viejon …
Video:FEAST! At Flour Atelier, cupcakes are in full bloom“Look at those pretty flowers!” I hear, followed by, “Oh! There are pretty cupcakes too!” I’ll hear some version of this conversation several times in the fifteen …
Video:FEAST!: Angry Pete’s goes from Pop-Up to Drive-ThruStoners be warned. When muscle memory steers your Cheesy Gordita Crunch craving into the drive-thru off Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, you’ll be in for an Angry awakening. The Taco …
San Diego's Koreatown on Convoy StreetIf you walk into a restaurant with Lee Ann Kim, it is a bit like that fabulous and continuous shot by Martin Scorsese in Goodfellas. In the movie, Henry Hill …
Video:Chanis Donuts machineCan you call something a donut if it doesn’t contain nuts? Obviously, the answer is yes. What if you take away milk and eggs? As a proliferation of vegan donuts around San Diego …
San Diegans have logged 458 pothole repair requests to the city in the last two weeks. And they're not all in Mira Mesa, which has the most pothole reports in 2023.According to a study released in …
Video:Preparing a bite of bossamIn San Diego, we’re not supposed to cheer on the arrival of cool, wet weather. But I straight up smiled when that first autumn storm rolled in last week, because I’ve …
Late September is a time of celebration for beer lovers around the world as Oktoberfest gets underway. Making the pilgrimage to Munich each year isn’t realistic for most, but local breweries make it possible to …
“I’m glad you’re here now.”That’s the first thing out of the mouth of a burger fan who works in Kearny Mesa, when he reaches the counter of the new Convoy Street location of North Park …
Indie pop singer-songwriter Tamar Berk grew up playing piano and started writing songs on guitar as a teenager. While living in Chicago, she played in regional bands — like her first, power pop group Starball, …
At some point, we had to stop talking about ramen. I mean, we’re not that many years removed from the days San Diego could count its number of reputable ramen shops on one hand. Then …
I hesitate to admit this, but much of my writing is rooted in dreams. Before your eyes roll back in your head and you start struggling with whether or not to feign interest — you know, …
“I’m repping my shirt today: San Diego State, baby!” exclaimed Kyle Turley to me on April 1. The Aztecs’ men’s basketball team had just come back from 14 points down in the second half against …
A former Wienerschnitzel A-frame building in Chula Vista caught on fire again, marking the tenth reported blaze at a California-based Wienerschnitzel building in the last couple of years. Right before 11:30 am on March 9, …
While noodles, dumplings, and other savory fare draw the most attention to the Convoy District, you could practically fill a guidebook to the neighborhood based solely on singular Asian dessert restaurants. I’ll have to circle …
Call it a case of mistaken identity, but I’ve been sleeping on Tahini. A byproduct of writing about food week after week is that my brain has become a de facto restaurant map, where any …
Anchor Baptist Church Contact: 8245 Ronson Road, Suite D, San Diego 619-804-3413 www.anchorbaptistchurchsd.org Membership: 45 Pastor: David Cajiuat Age: 55 Born: Bajuio, Philippines. Formation: Ambassador Baptist College, Shelby, North Carolina Years Ordained: 15 San Diego …
Musicians worry about money. They worry about gear. They worry about the van. They don’t usually worry about the horn player falling over a cliff. But to hear it from Ryan Hughes of Crucial Blend, …
“Think globally, drink locally,” says this one guy’s T-shirt. And people are sure obeying that law here. Whole long table of mostly guys, back from a sport fishing trip and whooping it up. “That’s one …
Would a donut by any other shape taste as sweet? A new food addition to the Zion Market food court makes the case that’s an emphatic yes. Unless, that is, you prefer it salty and …
On September 19,1959, six of America’s first spacemen settled in at the Kona Kai Club on San Diego’s palm-bedecked Shelter Island for a week designed to feature the Atlas rocket that would blast their Mercury …
What do yakitori, dim sum, soft tofu stew, and mariscos have in common? In general, not a lot. But when you find yourself hungry in San Diego, they have all turned out to be fine …
If a current fundraising effort succeeds, the 805 freeway will get a set of new, city-official signs announcing the offramps to the Convoy Asian Cultural District. Highway signs may not sound like that big a …
It had been a few years since I sought out a certain pad thai farmers market stand to receive a tasty lesson in Thai street food, and I felt overdue for a refresher course. However, …
Perhaps you know that the official beer of the National Football League is Bud Light. The NBA has Michelob ULTRA. Major League Baseball’s official beer is Budweiser, but its official cerveza is Corona. And wrestling? …
It had been well over two years since I last plied my hunger at an offer of all-you-can-eat. Back in the 2010s, friends and I would saunter into a place determined to out-eat such offers. …
A Tesla that recently landed on top of an ambulance in Kearny Mesa stole the thunder from a flying Tesla in Los Angeles days before. Above the Falck Ambulance Service headquarters, before 10 am on …
The Reader’s editorial staff was gratified and frequently delighted by the response we got to our writing contest: 347 non-fiction stories, 31 pieces of fiction, and no less than 199 poems. It’s good to know …
“Chubby, round, and very pretty.” That’s how Google translates gordita redondita y bien bonita, the Spanish words written in pink neon on the wall of Barrio Donas. The shop’s name itself translates to “neighborhood donuts,” …
The Marina District is one of San Diego’s more prestigious addresses. Once consisting mostly of warehouses and vacant lots, the 343-acre area on the west side of Downtown is now a cluster of apartments, high-rise …
The table next to us is large and round, with a lazy susan built into its center. As it rotates, we get a clear view of terrific-looking dishes we might have ordered instead: whole steamed …
There is a lot going on at 4646 Convoy Street, suite 101. I was here just a couple months ago to try the Japanese style fried chicken of Junya’s Crispy Karaage. That counter shop shares …
‘OORAH!” This is Kevin, popping his head through the window. He’s an ex-Marine. Also a neighbor. We’ve started these five o’clock follies, always involving grog, arguments, and lots of snacks, from peanuts to carrot sticks …
When they arrive at the table, the rice paper wraps aren’t pre-made. The ingredients are laid out on separate plates: daikon, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, and pineapple chucks on one; grilled pork topped with peanuts and …
On July 15, two burglars broke into Southern California Comics while a getaway driver stood by outside, less than a mile northwest of the Clairemont Mesa Boulevard/I-163 exit. "They used one of those firemen pry …
There’s a good reason I have been writing about fried chicken over and over in the past year: it’s become more popular than ever. And not only because Nashville hot chicken has been having a …
A plan to bring Kearny Mesa's aging Montgomery Gibbs airport into the 21st century misses the mark on one count. The airport, one of the nation’s busiest, still uses avgas (aviation gas), the only remaining …
To follow through on their plan to open a brewery, Daren Rudy and Alex Kim were prepared to move to Reno, Nevada. “It’s a growing population, annually,” explains Kim, “and also a growing craft beer …