Little India. Black Mountain Road. Looking for an Indian grocery outlet. Gotta find my new favorite flavor to swipe on bread. Marmite. Surprise for my friend Annie. She’s Scottish. She let me try some of …

‘Are you sure?” “Piece of cake. We’ll get right back into it. They’ll want us in Cirque du Soleil.” With my friend Annie again. ’Cause she’s usually up for anything. Went for a winter swim …

“Good wine needs no bush,” says Annie. We’re standing at a Mobil gas station, on the corner of 3rd and L in southern Chula Vista. “Say again?” I say. I know I know this phrase. …

We came here for fish, but not this sort of fish. Hank brought his rod to this totally cute little pond surrounded by houses. The lake that gives Eastlake its name, he says. But what …

Crack o’ dawn. Brand new day! Toughest task of new year — to start getting up early — accomplished! On the other hand, not totally together yet. I look up along deserted Sixth Avenue. Right …

First order of the day: Do. Not. Look. In. The. Mirror. Bit too much celebrating lately. So, second order of the day: belly up for a cup of real French coffee at Madeleine’s. Because, well, …

I blame my friend Annie for this. I mean I’ve been around, but she zips about in dizzying circles, social circles, the kind you read about in the glossy magazines. This day, I just had …

I sip my Kyoto Summer. I look down. A steamed burger? It comes out blanched, like a ghostly version of America’s favorite sandwich, but stuffed with a golden-crumbed chicken slab, Swiss cheese, and kimchi, and …

What’s missing? I keep looking at this thing. But nothing’s amiss. It is a complete burger, with slab of meat, slab of red onion, slab of cheese melting over the patty like a Salvador Dali …

The kid stands mesmerized. He watches as Louie picks up his piece of pizza, starts picking off the colorful bits like tomato and cilantro, then crunches at the edges of the crust. Louie’s an Eclectus …

‘I’m from the Northwest,” says Lu Hong. She means Northwest China. “In Xinjiang, people like their food spicy and hot. Same like Szechuan. But this food here is from South-East China. More like Shanghai, where …

Rosemarie is heads-down in her book, Sex, Lies, and Serious Money, by “NYT #1 best-selling author” Stuart Woods. (“Reads like a remake of Family Jewels,” says the dust jacket). She can do what she wants …

What is the difference? I’m sitting here trying to figure it out. Across Park Boulevard, there are two cafes, both smart, cool, new, and library-quiet, except for the piped music. Everyone in the modern building …

Mr. Peabody’s gets right to the point. “Please: No Assholes. No Hookers. No Tweekers.” It’s on signs behind the bar. It’s on the backs of tee shirts the bar crew wear. But up here in …

‘Suck the marrow, drink the beans,” says the guy coming out. “And watch out: the birria squirts.” I’ve just walked the half mile down from the Beyer Blue Line trolley stop. Deepest San Ysidro. I …

Photograph by Matthew SuárezLittle things mean a lot: the first little thing that makes me like this place is the, well, amuse-bouche. Wedges of crisp flatbread stacked vertically like surfboards. They have sesame and other …

Flaco plays the flames like a conductor. He thrusts his hands into them and flips half a dozen patties in short order. Smoke bulges up like a Nevada test cloud. “Sundays are always crazy,” he …

It’s Sunday morning. I’m in this mom and pop diner in downtown Oceanside. My friend Mary told me about it. Said it had won the prize — okay, in 2004 — for best cinnamon bun …

So this young couple slipped into the dimpled red booth. “They sat apart. They were shy,” says Tula. But this is Cafe La Maze. Big portraits of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard and a bunch …

Lost roads of San Diego:Sorrento Rd., Smilax, Edelweis There was also once a Smilax Road in Sorrento Valley, one in a series of short roads named for local flora. It paralleled the railroad tracks on …

These places! They all look right out of Davy Crockett! Where we’re heading is this 1919 lodge 6000 feet up on Mount Laguna, 100 years old this year, actually serving nosh and hauling grog up …

I swear. You blink in Coronado, and something has changed. This time it’s the musical chairs of bars. Suddenly, as of this month, the brand-new and lavishly-built The Henry is open, beaming out lights, with …

‘What is the one dish you would take to a desert island if you had to eat it for the rest of your life?” Interviewers are always throwing this out at celebrity chefs. Tonight, what …

I’m up near Euclid, on University. Looking round, choosing the place that’s gonna fill my belly. Ethiopian? Cambodian? Mexican? Chinese? I swear. This underrated neighborhood has just about any food you could ask for. At …

Heading south again. Blue Line. Chula Vista. Glaring sunny day. Have to transfer at H Street. I cross the tracks. This is when I notice a pop-up tent right between the northbound platform and the …

‘Salad’s the way to flat-belly health,” says Hank. “And I know the perfect place to make that happen.” Half an hour later, we’re in line with a zillion other people, waiting to pick up our …

Okay. Still trying to get on that weight-loss bandwagon. “I have the perfect place,” says my friend Hank. He’s calling from Eastlake. “You’d better be sure,” I say. “Because this is going to be a …

My friend Hank and I are both desperately trying to lose weight. I can’t seem to break 210. That’s why I’m coming to meet Hank at this brekky/lunch place he told me about. It’s a …

One day in Prague, in the Czech Republic, Mary Frese decided to explore a cobblestone alley. She came across a rustic hole-in-the-wall bakery. “It was a place where you leaned in through the window to …

They’re still out there. Places that fill your belly without emptying your wallet. I know, because I’m in one now. Once again, all hail to Hank for the find. This is his territory, south Chula …

Third time’s the charm? I’m hoping so. I’ve come early, around 5:30 pm, to put my name on the iPad outside the front window. It comes right back at me, “Guest #371: Welcome to Kura …

Oceanside’s jamming tonight. Everybody’s out and about. This is Friday, around eight. “Jesus saves!” yells this kid. He’s not alone. A whole bunch of them are making a hullabaloo in the plaza outside the Regal …

Aztec drums thunder out from Chicano Park. Conch shells honk. It’s eight o’clock at night. People dance barefoot. Their ankle rattles sound like sleighbells. Now a woman steps forward with a smoking incense burner. It …

You can see that David’s proud of his dad. “His name’s David, too. He started off not far from here as a dishwasher. He was born and raised in Tijuana, then his parents brought him …

Got to hand it to Hank. He keeps finding these places that give you more gobbles for your greenback. It’s Friday. I ask where he’s going to eat with the money I give him. (Paying …

‘Hey. Feel like trouser legs for lunch?” This is Hank on the honker. Seeing quite a bit of Hank recently. Forgot how much he’s with it when it comes to getting boocoo nosh for nitnoi …

‘Donkey Kong’s at the back left,” says the guy at the welcome podium. “Go for it, brother.” My friend Annie and I head inside, and into the ding-dong cacophony of a hundred different arcade games …

‘How far?” says my friend Annie. “I’m so sick of these crowds I could croak.” We’re in Old Town, Friday night. We’re at the last gasp of Old Town’s Mile of Bars on San Diego …

The debate starts when I come across Henry on the parking lot patio. He’s eating away at a pile of corn tortillas. He peels one off, folds it neatly, eats it. Peels another off. “You …

On top of this little corner of the world Here on Skyline Drive, great swaths of sward stretch out below, springy and green. Here, there are vacant lots littered with possibility, within sight of a …

This was the day Annie and I went mad. She popped by, offering me half the breakfast sandwich she’d just bought. This was like four in the afternoon. I said. “Why don’t we go have …

‘Bobcat!” says Mag. This hairy-tailed thing pads across the Sunrise Highway and up into the trees. Bobcat? Fox? Raccoon? Or just someone’s big hairy pet kitty? Mag and I stare across the gravel lot outside …

‘Let’s have a symposium!” says Annie. Symposium? Takes me a moment. Then, okay, yeah. Just passing an eatery with huge letters on its sidewalk canopy: “GYROS.” And I remember. Symposium’s the ancient Greek word for …

Complications of Tijuana to Tecate to Campo train Ten federal agents waiting at the railway museum are demanding that the train continue onto its last stop in Campo and be cleared through customs before anybody …

It’s Friday night. Left eating till the last moment. Tramping up Congress. Gonna head up toward San Diego Avenue, the glam street of Old Town. Most of everything here on Congress is closed down. Except …

Announcing a new gastronomic experience! A taste sensation you drink! A… OK. Here’s how it happened. I’m in Point Loma. Jes’ walking southwest down Rosecrans. Past the Dick & Jane Waxing Salon, and past, oh …

Aaargh! Second time I’ve tried. This time it’s even worse. I look at the screen beside the “sign in” sign. “Parties waiting: 68. Estimated wait time 03:27.” That’s 3 hours and 27 minutes? No way, …

“Mantiques,” says the sign. “SD Tuff Stuff. The Mancave Store.” This I’ve got to see. We’re on a less-visited stretch of W. Main in El Cajon. Guy’s in the next room, working on a weld. …

Saturday night. East Main’s humming. “Private party,” says the guy at Mezzah. It’s the eatery in that beautiful old wooden house by El Cajon’s downtown park. Bummer. The place is crowded with older Chaldean men …

Annie’s right. I’m greedy. Usually, when I think Hawaiian food, I’m thinking SPAM on rice, hamburger steak on rice drowned in gravy, pork adobo plate with rice and a “salad” of mac and cheese. Delish, …