Little Italy Stories
“Nothing demoralizes an aspiring escoffier faster than requiring him to cook eggs over easy.” That’s Anthony Bourdain, quoted on the menu I’m looking at. Happily, I can see that this ...
The last time I met with Rob McShea, he was showing me how to smoke a cocktail using a cloche at Louisiana Purchase. Now I’m visiting him at the newly ...
On the two date nights a month that we customarily keep, my wife and I typically go out to eat, drink, and talk. But recently, we decided to take a ...
Twenty-year-old Alyssa Angulo did not set out to become an influencer. Neither did 22-year-old Dax Newman. And yet, social media has afforded both of them the luxury of forgoing the ...
Little Italy Stories
Andrew Cassidy arrived in San Diego in 1853. He was part of a team of engineers who were tasked with building a self-recording tidal gauge station at La Playa near Ballast Point in Point Loma ...
Trombone virtuoso and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Matt Hall is poised, after a Covid-caused two-year delay, to release his first album on the noted independent label Summit Records, one that features an all-star lineup of ...
It’s a fish taco so long, it comes wrapped in two corn tortillas, laid end to end. So blackened by squid ink tempura, you might never guess that impeccably cooked white fish lies within. So ...
“Berries and cream, berries and cream, I’m a wee little lad who loves berries and cream,” sang a colleague of Nick Gergen’s when he told her about the strawberries-and-cream-flavored cocktail he was creating for Juniper ...
We’re all lawbreakers. Each of us. Every one of us. Ever go over the speed limit on the freeway? Then you broke the law. Walk your dog on the Oceanside Pier, or let your puppy ...
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 ...
It’s the cold night of January 28. Outside the Mexican consulate in Little Italy, a bunch of journalists, maybe half of them American, half of them Mexican, gather for a vigil. We’re paying tribute to ...
Founded in Chula Vista, rock trio Los Saints features first-generation Mexican-Americans, including frontman Angel Mariscal, guitarist Gianluca Exposito, and drummer Emiliano Garcia. Their debut singles “I’m In Need” and “As Bad As the First” were ...
Needed some company. Little Italy had plenty of people, but there was no real action at the Happy Hour places. Somehow ended up on Kettner. Somehow ended up opposite the Waterfront. Huh. No big mention ...
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 ...
Claire Sexton Kettner Exchange 2001 Kettner Boulevard Little Italy “It’s like a Thin Mint Girl Scout cookie,” says Claire Sexton, Bar Director at Kettner Exchange, about her cocktail, the Scouts Honor. The recipe was partially ...
However much I might like a restaurant these days, it’s tough to achieve regular customer status with a food writing gig that always has me on the lookout for new and different. But when Underbelly ...
If there’s one thing I knew for certain heading into Burgeon Beer Company’s new downtown tasting room, it’s that the beer would be fantastic. That’s been the case with Burgeon beers, pretty much across the ...
It used to be a Grab & Go Subs shop, conveniently located between the freeway and the airport, making it easy to pick up sandwiches on your way to catch a flight. Now it’s a ...
A couple of youngsters I know were on spring break and asked if they could go out for a special treat. Muffins. Granted, I haven’t been a kid for quite a while now, but I ...
The sun came out, making the return of outdoor dining a hot ticket all over town. At least, as we drove across town, we saw packed patios and parklets all over, and lines forming at ...
The family of a 79-year-old Chinese immigrant who was struck and killed by a speeding Amtrak train near Little Italy in February of this year has filed legal claims against MTS, the city and county. ...
It’s been a hell of a year, and it’s not over yet. First, in San Diego County as elsewhere in these Divided States, we’ve been treated to a masquerade ball, courtesy of a generous host. ...
"Detectives in northern division received a report regarding a theft near 5700 Santa Fe St.," posted the San Diego Police Department on social media on October 26. "They were able to find [a] video showing ...
As little Italy adds condos and shops, its centerpiece, Our Lady of the Rosary Church, has undergone a restoration. On the corner of State and Date streets, the church is noted as a place guaranteed ...
The restaurant business, as Bette Davis once said about growing old, ain’t no place for sissies. The hours are long; the profit margins, razor-thin. Customers are notoriously fickle, and a few bad Yelp reviews can ...
A shudder passed through San Diego’s sandwich-loving community this week when news spread of a suspected arson attempt at San Diego’s old school Italian deli, Mona Lisa Italian Foods. In as perilous a year as ...
There’s something familiar about the creepy clown sitting at the middle table, like I’ve seen him before. I’m pretty sure last I saw him, he was giving off his too shiny, too smiley vibe to ...
It was a good night for the restaurants, I have no doubt. On Saturday, June 13, Little Italy closed streets to car traffic and allowed restaurants to extend their seating out onto the asphalt. The ...
Zinqué. Guess I just like the crazy French name. It’s what French hipsters call a sidewalk bar where you can stop, slurp a beer standing at the counter, and carry on with your day. Now ...
This week in Unreal Estate, we’re exploring a property perfect for the aspiring real estate mogul who also needs a place to stay in downtown’s trendy Little Italy neighborhood. Sure, you get the 7000-square-foot penthouse ...
Word got out this morning. “Today’s the day!” This was last Thursday. Everybody was talking about the reopening of restaurants for sit-down. So hey, I decided just to hop on the Orange Line, ride it ...
This spring was supposed to be sort of a moment for vegan sushi in San Diego, a reminder that — minus the fish — rice, rice vinegar, and seaweed fit well within the plant-based ethos. ...
Normally, a late morning visit to the James Coffee co-op in Little Italy would mean searching for a place to park, bumping into someone I know on the street, standing in line for a pour ...
Tiny rooms in Little Italy On a Little Italy plot where a Victorian house stood for more than a century, construction of tiny apartments is underway. The house, built in the 1890s at the corner ...
When ballyhooed East Coast burger chain Shake Shack made its way west a few years ago, all we loyal Southern California burger fans rushed to say how much we still prefer In-N-Out. And yet, somehow, ...
On Christmas weekend, I looked for Spin motorized scooters to test drive; I hopped onto the Spin app, and noticed two were closeby at City College. I strolled and jogged around the campus, between the ...
I’ve got a love/hate relationship with poke. The love is based on trips to Hawaii, where a simple poke salad of raw fish, sliced onions, sesame oil, and maybe some chili spice turns out to ...
Part of my ritual for dropping friends off at the San Diego Airport includes a stop at James Coffee Co. in Little Italy. Tucked away in a transformed warehouse at the very end of the ...
“If you want, I’ll give you a hug,” a tall man with silver hair says to a seated congregant. “I give man hugs,” the silver-haired man says after the two have bro-hugged. It’s noon on ...
‘Why did the cow jump over the moon?” asks this black felt letterboard. “Because the farmer didn’t warm his hands.” I’m outside at The Farmer’s Table, the newest eatery to open on Piazza della Famiglia ...
Last weekend brought good tidings for fans of saucy seafood sandwiches in the downtown area, namely me: Supernatural Sandwiches held its grand opening in Little Italy. When I first got hooked on Supernatural, it was ...
On a Little Italy plot where a Victorian house stood for more than a century, construction of tiny apartments is underway. The house, built in the 1890s at the corner of Union and Cedar, was ...
India Street is typically thronged on a Saturday night, its city best restaurant scene luring every manner of date night, birthday celebration, and — is that a bachelorette party? I’m forced to wonder, what is ...
There are plenty of items I expect to find on a Mexican restaurant menu, but here’s one that I don’t: fried rice. I’m at King and Queen Cantina, the upscale casual restaurant that took over ...
The best part of a cinnamon roll is the gooey center portion, shielded just enough by the outer rolls that it doesn’t quite bake through, so instead of crusting up, it remains entirely soft and ...
Catching up for a quick lunch with a friend, I found myself back at the Little Italy Food Hall, scanning its several restaurant counters for something we can agree on. As often happens in such ...
Attempts to make food halls viable in San Diego have come and gone over the past five years, and when I heard about Nolita Hall opening recently at the north end of Little Italy, I ...
If your tongue is quiet enough, it can taste the whisper of Japanese whisky folded gently into the other spirits that Herb & Wood’s cocktail curator Meghan Balser puts into her Vodka & Lavender. “I ...
After years of construction, Little Italy’s pedestrian-friendly Piazza Della Famiglia has opened, and the ten-thousand square foot, Euro-styled plaza has proven an ideal venue for the neighborhood’s Saturday farmers market. When I showed up on ...
The Cloak & Petal’s bar manager Faisal Asseri explains that the name for Little Italy’s Japanese-inspired restaurant blends opposites to form a new whole. “Cloak” communicates mystery and intrigue, and “Petal” is a rough English ...
Whether the original members of As I Lay Dying should or should not get back together with Tim Lambesis is now only a philosophical question. The five internationally famous metalcore bandmates are in fact reuniting ...
It’s the free blankets. A whole wicker basket filled with them, all rolled up. Mexican blankets, waiting for patio customers to grab ‘em and warm themselves up. April 16th, opening day, on the patio of ...