Hoo-wee! Zingy, but tasty. And this little pot of fire is a meal in itself.
December 31, 2013
Back to profile
Stories by Ed Bedford
Almost hog wild
Is Downtown eating its own?
Croce's is on the way out — of downtown — and on the way in, to Bankers Hill. Like Café Bassam before it, the beloved live music icon had to abandon downtown and retreat up the hill because it had been too successful. It sounds as though Croce's Park West will be pretty much the same, but the Gaslamp won't. A bit more life has just been sapped from it.
December 27, 2013
9/11 is the best thing that ever happened to Baja cuisine
Cool cats from both sides of la linea rip away at Tijuana’s new food.
December 25, 2013
May as well eat
“Sushi chefs’d freak,” says Big John. “We have sushi that we just make up, like our Dr. Eel Good, the Betty, the Joint, the Mary Jane, the O’Beef. That has seared filet mignon on top…” …
December 25, 2013
The making of a taco
Some people express their thoughts by making speeches, joining movements, speaking out, singing protest songs. Guillermo “Oso” Campos Moreno does it through cooking. Cooking tacos with a message. On the street, in Tijuana. Which is …
December 20, 2013
Big bites at Little Oaks
“Over there,” says the bouncer. He points across Highway 101. I’ve just asked him where the best happy hour is around this town. I’m up in Encinitas (“Little Oaks”). He’s nodding towards a low modern-looking …
December 19, 2013
Sidewalk Sicilian
Perfect night for sitting out. If you have a heater. And that makes it a perfect night to be in El Cajon. Because, by my reckoning, the City of the Valley has the best sidewalk …
December 18, 2013
Coronado gets a steak house
Island native David Spatafore and his cousin Leroy Mossel are on the move again. In recent years, the cousins created MooTime Creamery, Leroy's Kitchen, Village Pizzeria, Lil' Piggy's Bar-B-Q, and Coronado Coffee Company, all successful …
December 17, 2013
Lotus Thai Happy Hour: where's the Thai?
"Uncle Jerry was from Baton Rouge," says David. He's at the next stool, sipping his ruby-red Zen of Zin ($5). "He'd make his own seasoning and for the holidays, send it out to our family …
December 9, 2013
Steak and no mistake
“Well you know you can get half-size entrées for half off the normal price during happy hour.”
December 4, 2013
Tri-tips and home-made pickles: Hot!
They're smoking, upstairs above the Tivoli Bar. Smoking tri-tip, that is. JJ and Ashley, his wife. They're the new proprietors of the grill at the far end of the ancient bar, the one with the …
December 3, 2013
Somewhere in India
‘These are the eight elements to a perfect meal,” says Kais. “Sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and umami; then smell, texture, and temperature. Your appreciation of taste and flavor evolves from the basic senses.” Huh. Kais …
November 27, 2013
Is this OB's best food deal?
Chilly night in OB. Just hopped off the 35 at Cable and Santa Monica. Walking down towards the ocean, no particular place to go. The feeling kinda wraps around you as soon as you get …
November 25, 2013
Breakfast, Bonita-style: $5 roast beef and $5 Guinness
"Even you can afford this," says my friend Joe. I've been doing my usual moan about lack of lettuce in the pocket. He turns off Bonita Road and into one of those '70's-style woodsy strip …
November 21, 2013
Fatty, hot, tender
Ed corners the New York on Rye food truck. They can’t leave until he pushes a big sandwich into his face.
November 20, 2013
Little Manila: Eating dinaguan, watching disaster
Typhoon. It's the one thing you think about, down here in Little Manila. In the restaurants, the TVs are tuned to TFC, The Filipino Channel. Telethons are going on between soap operas, reports are coming …
November 15, 2013
Tuna tune-up
My friend Sorin and I have come through the sunny doors of Ryan Bros Coffee here in Barrio Logan. Beautiful place they gutted after taking over from Chuey's old school Mexican bar/eatery/dance spot and transformed …
November 14, 2013
I.B. Pier’s Tin Fish cures Ed’s queasiness
Ed sinks his fangs into some hot Indian food at 8Elements.
November 13, 2013
Farewell, Bulgogi
Sad to see Fat Cat Cafe didn't make it. Saw they were closed, passingly on the trolley. This location, 819 C Street, between 8th and 9th, has been the graveyard of one eatery after another. …
November 12, 2013
Stealing a happy hour at Loews
This place you've gotta come to. Except, be prepared to hike, if you're coming by bus. When you get here, the nearest stop is a quarter mile further south, so you have to walk back …
November 9, 2013
Where beer is liver
“We have the sweetest bananas in the world growing in Somalia. We Somalis have a sweet tooth.”
November 6, 2013
Freebies to keep you downtown after work
Mark this for Friday. I came in here around six last Friday evening, on the hunt for Stone Brewing's November "Enjoy By" beer. It's a series of brews that last for a month and are …
November 5, 2013
Little Italy: Don't knock the gnocchi
I'd heard Ballast Point was open. (See Brandon Hernández' extensive pre-opening report.) Loved the idea that this bunch of guys who started as a home brew outfit in a tiny uncool strip-mall got voted small …
November 1, 2013
Salvation soup
“I spent my whole life in the U.S.,” says this guy Nick. “This is a foreign country to me.”
Looking for camel for dinner
Suqar, beer, ukun for breakfast? That's the choices here at Fatuma, the Somali place up in Little Mogadishu, in City Heights. Guy behind the counter says “suqar” is ground beef, “beer” is liver, and “ukun” …
October 29, 2013
Time Warped
Goody’s Café was Kozak’s Coffee Shop from 1964 till 2000. Briefly a Chaldean restaurant, now they’re serving up classic diner food again. Ed lets greed take over and orders an egg skillet…and biscuit and bacon and coffee and…
Moo Burger: Nutty but nice
Walking down Orange Avenue, on the sceptered isle, waiting for the beautiful Carla to get her hair done, feeling pangs of hunger spiking my gut. Think of dropping into Clayton's coffee shop for a, well, …
October 22, 2013
East Village Chinese, open at last!
Been trawling up and down 12th, Park Boulevard, in the trolley, waiting for the moment. This time I stop and jump out, because yes! "Open," says the sign. It's the Chinese place that's been building …
October 18, 2013
Gorging in the court
Tuesday evening. La Jolla. Swanning along Prospect. Glimpses of the pearly Pacific flashing up from between buildings. That beautiful old pink monster La Valencia Hotel looks like it’s been through quite a makeover. Huh. Bet …
Eating goat like a kid in Little Jamaica
Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble... The two huge ollas, pots, roil and steam away over the flames. Donna takes a big stick and stirs them around, adds more water. "Oxtail," she says. "Getting it ready …
October 16, 2013
Green surprise at the Greyhound
Trotting down Broadway around nine at night, heading to the brick hotel where the Greyhound Depot used to be, at First Avenue. Used to be a pretty shabby corner, too. But recently I'd seen signs …
October 15, 2013
Newest Baja-Med pop-up?
One thing you can pretty much guarantee: when in Coronado you won't see food trucks. Or taco stands. But one guy who has slipped through the City's cracks is John Renison. Found him and his …
October 12, 2013
Grow your own veggies at La Casita
A downtown restaurant growing its own tomatoes, veggies, grapes in its yard? Sure, here at La Casita (1247 C Street, 619-531-0044). It's the li'l place that City College teachers and students have been cramming into …
October 4, 2013
For-real deal on Congress Street
Ed feels guilty for getting a lunch so cheap at Christopher’s on Congress. “You know, that’s the biggest complaint I get,” Chris says. “People say I’m undercharging."
Cheese-grabbing and wine-slurping in Tijuana
Ed visits Tijuana’s La Faraona, grabs cheese, slurps wine, learns about Aunt Lupita, who provides blended wines, homemade cheeses, and bread to her entrepreneurial nieces and nephews.
Some like it cheap
Before Elisha Babcock built the Hotel del Coronado, he reputedly had his carpenters construct a many-sided boathouse as a training exercise. The building survived and recently became another new restaurant — 1887 on the Bay.
Celebrating Mexican independence in Sherman Heights
Ma Eugenia would hear the cry every year. It was the cry of Don Miguel Gregorio Antonio Ignacio Hidalgo-Costilla y Gallaga Mandarte Villaseñor. Okay, Father Hidalgo to you and me. He gave that famous cry …
September 17, 2013
Iron-gut hotshot hits Asia Wok
Ed raves about the offerings at Asia Wok (and the low prices!). Then he goes ahead and dispels the legend of Mongolian barbecue — another dirty lie revealed, kids!
September 11, 2013
Scrumptious nuptials
Ed gets the "dough" part, but what about the "nut"? And why the hole? Our frugal fork finds the answers and a couple of guys who are redesigning the donut.
September 4, 2013
The Bedford files
Boy, so many good places to choose from, from O’side to the Other Side of the line. The major discovery for me has been the incredible bargains you can get in the exploding world of …
September 4, 2013
Witches’ brew in a hotpot
Ed visits a hero's grave in Old Town, gets distracted by the smell of Tom Yum coming from D'O Thai Cottage. C'mon, Ed!
Totally stuffed at Sherman's
Sherman’s Shack offers Ed interesting burgers and tacos… a garlic shrimp and cream cheese–stuffed burger topped with orange sweet & sour, for example.
August 21, 2013
Beautifully rinky-dink
Ed snags a free beer, gobbles among gobblers at Nate’s Garden Grill, on the same property as Bill Tall’s City Farmers Nursery
August 14, 2013
Soft-shell in the wilds of Kearny Mesa
Tarantula? The leggy thing lies on my plate staring up at me. Its ten legs claw out from under a shell of batter and a blob of tartar sauce. At least it’s not staring up …
August 7, 2013
Late-night breakfast at Swami's Cafe
Two things catch my attention: First, the song coming out of this eatery — “You Don’t Own Me.” Leslie Gore. I know it ’cause Carla sings it every time she thinks I’m pushing my weight …
We must be talking bánh mi
At Linda Vista’s Bale Restaurant & Deli (serving Vietnamese, Chinese, and Thai Cuisine), Ed attacks an egg loaf and other morsels.
July 24, 2013
Swordsman gets crowned in Coronado
It was all hack and slash in Spreckels Park over the 4th of July long weekend. Sir Clevwen Bardic and Sir Callon Bryn Corey saluted, then they started hacking away at each other with, well, …
July 8, 2013
Plaza Bar's sixty slices of salami
Ed skips Paris, goes to the Plaza Bar at the Westgate Hotel instead.
July 3, 2013
Secret sushi society?
Ed stumbles upon Sushi on a Roll, gets an education — for example, eat sushi with your fingers, not chopsticks. And by all means, don’t stab sushi with chopsticks (bad luck).
June 26, 2013
Grant Hill: I’ll take my burgers stuffed
Wow. This corner. Market and 25th. Every time I come up and over the hump here, seems like this place has a different eatery. Think it was a tamale place, an Urban Chicken place, an …
June 19, 2013