It’s green, with golden wounds spilling poached yolks down over roasted, herbed tomato halves and onto a huge side of toasted sourdough bread. You think Croque Madame. I have to ask. “What is this again?” …

Don't look now Abduction and murder at T.J.’s Camp Campestre Under normal circumstances, it would be difficult not to stare at ten men dressed in black who brandished submachine guns. Under normal circumstances, ten men …

‘When God’s not in heaven, He’s in Jamul,” says Dr. Don. “I know it. I feel it.” This is my 84-year-old bar neighbor, out here on the Campo Road. Just met him. I’ve happened in …

So last week, down in TJ, this cool courtyard, Telefonica Gastro Park, instantly reminded me of our very own Quartyard, that deliberately temporary spot for getting together with a few drinks, a few dogs (they …

Baja is back Hip and delicious. There’s no reason not to get in your car and go. By Elizabeth Salaam, July 24, 2013 | Read full article I was hit with the realization that half …

"Cenosilicaphobia! I’m suffering from Cenosilicaphobia!” I say. “Do something!” Scottish Annie ignores me. She’s scanning Agua Caliente Boulevard like Columbus searching for India. “Ceno...? Och. I canna see a single food truck.” Hmm. Finally I …

Look for the online list of Best Of voting winners soon.We have printed and re-stocked extra copies of this week's print version where the Best Of voting winners are listed.Best place in San Diego for …

“Sobador,” says the hand-painted sign beside me. It gives a phone number. This is on Logan Avenue. I’m standing in the line, as you always do here. Yes, even in these tough times, Las Cuatro …

Between Slurps Hmm…menu has things like “amuse-bouches,” “tartines,” and “baguettes.” Where do I start? The tartines (“open-face toasted sandwiches with melted cheese”)? For eight bucks you get “two of your choice, served on arugula salad.” …

“Man, this is chilly,” says my friend Alison. “You guys in Fall already?” It’s gotta be 75 degrees out. But she’s from Arizona. We’re looking for a breakfast place, here in La Jolla. “Let’s go …

“What does that mean?” I mumble to myself. I’d noticed it when I came out from Ma’s Place, the Muslim Chinese eatery (see last week’s column). This sign across the parking lot: The Golf Bar. …

“OK. What else?” “OK. What else?” “OK. What else?” The gal’s taking a food order at max speed over the phone. She reads all the items back. “OK. Xié xié (thank you)!” She clacks her …

I’m crazily tempted. Me, eating at the Del? Idea has “disaster” written all over it. Except they’ve just opened their completely revamped sun deck. Plus I have two beautiful women with me, expecting me to …

“Dinna fasch yersel,” says Annie (translation: don’t get upset), “but this curry was created in the UK, not India. Scots and Sassanaks (tr: English people) eat more of this than they do fish and chips!” …

It’s that meat slicer. Whirring away. If it hadn’t been for the thin waves of blushing beef it was peeling off, I would have manfully resisted the temptation. Instead, here I am, inside Thorn’s awesome …

Argentina? El Salvador? Empanadas? Pupusas? What’s the difference? I’m wandering, wandering, and wondering as I wander. I’ve just come down from City College. Had this crazy notion that their cafeteria might be open. What I …

National City – a Mayor Daley-type political machine To the south of San Diego, within range of the shadows cast by the Coronado Bridge, lies National City. Frequently described as the “backlot" of San Diego, …

We arrive at six bells. They’re ringing out aboard the Star of India. Love it! (We’re talking 3 pm, landlubber’s time.) Pursuant to our campaign to find places with a ton of fresh air blowing …

Don't look now Under normal circumstances, it would be difficult not to stare at ten men dressed in black who brandished submachine guns. Under normal circumstances, ten men dressed in black who brandished submachine guns …

Wow! I had forgotten this scene. You wind up in Baja on the southbound road through the mountains, until you swing a left and Blatt! The Pacific! A rippling blue carpet way below. It’s quite …

Guess what? Bright orange umbrellas on Orange Avenue. They light up the blue sky near Tenth in Coronado. The gods must’ve been speaking to me this morning. It so happens the scarf I wrapped around …

Why do I always get these cool vibes here? I mean, it’s an area that can be a little scrubby, around 6th and B downtown. Lots of people hanging around the 5th Avenue trolley, specially …

Fresh air! That’s the answer to catching coronavirus (if you believe those 240 scientists who claimed it can be transmitted through the air). And there’s no fresher air than here, half a mile out on …

Smugglersville “The cops mess with us. The thieves mess with us. Everybody messes with us.” I was hobbling back from the store with a liter of milk, when I saw three young men sitting on …

Tijuana! It feels like a lifetime. I’m down here checking on when Caesar Hotel’s opening. (They say they’re looking at mid-July.) And, hey hey! There’s my fave cafe, Praga, right across Revolución. It’s not hard …

“Honk for Barbecue,” says the sign outside. And hey, I’ll honk. Or I would, if I weren’t on a bus. Because now I’m curious. I remember this corner where El Cajon Boulevard meets Rolando. An …

We’re at the source here. Where it all began. This is Home Brew Mart, Ballast Point’s original outlet in Morena-Linda Vista, right under the University of San Diego, that Catholic campus on a massif that …

‘Baaa!” bleats the li’l white goat. “Humbug!” I say back to it. He’s stuck in a little corral off Dehesa (“Pasture”) Road. I’m stuck way the heck out here south of Alpine with nothing to …

Between Slurps Hmm…menu has things like “amuse-bouches,” “tartines,” and “baguettes.” Where do I start? The tartines (“open-face toasted sandwiches with melted cheese”)? For eight bucks you get “two of your choice, served on arugula salad.” …

La Mesa, six in the evening. This is 48 hours after “the events.” People are still cleaning up, boarding up, cheering each other up. After the human tsunami that swept through downtown La Mesa, it’s …

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 …

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 …

So last week, when the governor said “Restaurants can open,” did he mean like straightaway? “Let’s go see,” I say to my Scottish friend Annie. “Och,” she says. “Yer bum’s oot the windae!” Translation: You’re …

“On this site in 1897,” says one of those joke plaques, “nothing happened.” “Hey,” says Gary. “On this site in 2020 nothing happened either. This is the lamest Cinco de Mayo I’ve ever been at. …

A group of us sits, staring to the west. “Is that one?” says Kelly. It’s sunset. But we’re not looking for green flashes. We’re looking for white flashes in the blue teeth of the waves. …

“Ninth, Ninth. Walk sign is on to cross Ninth, Ninth.” Listening to this every minutre or so is the one downside to my surprise discovery here on Market. An actual sidewalk cafe where you can …

Short-term rentals thrive in East Village Is the demand for housing suitable to fill the thousands of rental units that have sprung up in downtown's East Village since the mid-2000s, and enough to sustain even …

‘Out! Out! I’m not having my car stunk up with fish and chips!” Sigh. These Scots. One minute they’re all about how they have the best fish and chips — “shark and taties” — in …

The tilapia looks up at me mournfully. He has been battered and fried, but, oh man, he still looks disturbingly like his former self. On the other hand, at $3.99, who am I to refuse …

I can’t believe it. But here’s the sign: “Hancock Street Cafe. Grand Reopening! Under New Management.” I swear. People are opening up all over (see last week’s column) in these worst of times. We’ve got …

Buona Forchetta couldn’t have picked a worse moment to open their new place at 10th and C in Coronado. But in a way, they’re having the best opening you could imagine. I know, because I …

‘Wash your hands!” says Hank. “If he says that one more time, I’m gonna...” growls Jim. No doubt, my buddy’s become a hand-wash missionary. He disappears off into the washrooms. Jim and I head for …

This restaurant-rich patch around Convoy and Balboa is one of my favorite areas in our fair city. So I’m glad to see business up here still looks just fine. Now, at 5 pm on March …

Solana Beach seeks electricity options Last month, Solana Beach announced the hunt for a service provider to help launch the county’s first local power program, which aims to curb greenhouse gases. This month, a war …

Bob Marley is everywhere. His music, his reggae colors, and his face in a picture with Makeda. “He was my friend,” says Makeda. “I produced his concert here in 1978. I was young, but I …

‘It’s on me,” says Hank. “What’ll it be?” “This is a breakfast place, right?” “Closes at two,” says Hank. “Has wicked chilaquiles.” We’ve been hauling down 3rd Avenue into Chula Vista’s Old Town, right by …

A couple of years ago, up in Valley Center, I found this li’l farmhouse where the Twelve Tribes early Christian group had set up their shop and eatery, in the middle of nowhere. Fresh, healthy, …

When it comes to sushi, the Southland is definitely rising. I’m coming out into the sun from the dentist’s office, down here in the Otay area. Feeling a lot better. Ready to tackle — hey …

‘This is going to hurt,” says Dr. Jamie. “Like, for a week.” He has been fighting to haul out a stubborn molar of mine. That was yesterday. Today, in IB, on Palm Avenue, I still …

It’s a crisp, fresh morning on Olde Highway 80. I’m aboard the MTS’s 838 truck/bus heading east, looking for somewhere to break fast. “Mary Etta’s is a morning eatery,” says this lady sitting across from …