Something new seems to come out of the kitchen at South Park Brewing Co. every year or so, and with the departure of Tacos La Mezcla to Twisted Taps in North Park (more on that …

The place is familiar, and it turns out I’ve been here before, when it was a low key spot serving hot sandwiches, salads, and bar food. But it looks different now, with cherry blossoms painted …

A couple of years ago, after a decade doing business in Hillcrest, fancy cupcake maker Babycakes moved out of its 5th Street home base to pursue a bigger bakery opportunity out in in Paradise Hills, …

For most of my adult life, the intentional misspelling Xpress has been applied to services including oil changes and dry-cleaning — it certainly hasn’t been a word I associate with crossing international borders. But Cross …

Fun fact: Idaho’s largest brewery is headquartered in Vista, California. That’s because, in 2016, Mother Earth Brew Co. expanded beer production to Nampa, Idaho, a small city about 15 miles outside Boise. San Diego beer …

From a food lover’s perspective at least, good things have been happening in Carmel Mountain Ranch. Frankly, I ignored the place for years, because this is shopping center country, the sort of place populated by …

“This is the kind of place you take your non-vegan friend,” says a woman to her friend as they walk out of Now Sushi, a Mission Beach eatery that makes sushi without the fish. Entirely …

Every time I’ve eaten at a Vietnamese restaurant with a group, deciding on appetizers has become a whole discussion. Should we get spring rolls, or egg rolls? How many? Tofu or pork? Shrimp or sweet …

After seven years in business, Latitude 33 Brewing met a crossroads. Led by flagship beers including Blood Orange IPA and Honey Hips blonde, the Vista beer company had quadrupled beer production in 2016, and doubled …

“Established in 1974 in the neighborhood of Clairemont,” is the first thing that stands about Sandwich Emporium. That makes it about 45 years old, which would have to put it not far down any list …

While exercising my dog last week, I found San Diego’s newest coffee roaster; or should I say the coffee roaster found me? Neff Coffee Roasters isn’t San Diego’s first coffee truck, but it is the …

Just a few years ago, it made a list of “the best cheesesteaks outside Philly” compiled by the Food Network, but when I went looking for Alex’s Brown Bag at its home inside Pacific Beach …

Back in June 2018, a small startup started offering local restaurants a chance to pour their own house beers, using custom-branded, 3-D printed tap handles. In this way, Hopnonymous Brewing Company began as a specialty …

There’s a snazzy looking new sushi restaurant in Kearny Mesa, one that employs early 20th century technology to serve its customers. Mikami Revolving Sushi serves kaiten sushi, better known in the U.S as conveyor belt …

The place opened at 4 pm, and I showed up on the dot. Too late to be first in line though — three other parties were ahead of me. I stopped to snap a couple …

How many times can you drive past a donut shop without going in? That’s the question I ask myself in the waning moments of 2019, as I once again roll past the little pink shop …

I don’t know exactly what to make of the name Make Pizza + Salad. Is it pronounced, “make pizza plus salad,” or, “make pizza and salad?” That’s before I even notice the East Village business …

In previous years, I’ve used this space to reflect on the number of San Diego breweries that have closed the year prior. Sadly, such closures have become such a common part of the industry. Even …

Walking around Old Town last month, I noticed a sandwich board sign advertising afternoon tea at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. That’s the proper, British-style afternoon tea, complete with a big ceramic pot and a three-tier platter …

I never went when it was a Pea Soup Andersen’s, though I’ve been around long enough to remember it. I never went when it was a TGI Fridays, for reasons I hope would be obvious. …

On Wednesday, December 18, Tijuana craft brewer Cerveceria Insurgente resumed making beer in its Zona Rio brewery for the first time since October 5, when municipal authorities abruptly closed the property, reportedly at the behest …

A thousand years ago, when Cambodia’s Angkor empire extended across what is now Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand, its infantry brandished long, piked staffs, sometimes from the back of an elephant. That’s the reference being made …

A feather in Tijuana’s culinary cap since it opened in 2013, farm to table restaurant Verde y Crema closed the doors of its site near the Club Campestre de Tijuana golf course in mid-2018, offering …

Dog on the leash, we were only passing by the little, below the sidewalk café in East Village, with its garden patio and a nifty white bench with a built-in, pop-up center table. A chalkboard …

A December 5 grand opening of Pacific Coast Spirits has officially made the city of Oceanside home to an urban distillery. For the past two years, the craft spirits producer has been transforming the 12,000-square-foot …

For a restaurant in City Heights, FireBirds Chicken has come up a lot in local foodie conversations over the past three weeks; especially surprising because that’s about how long the place has been open. There’s …

By the end of this story, chances are you’ll forget I’m talking about gluten free food. That’s exclusively what Duck Foot Brewing serves at its East Village restaurant and taproom, where even the beer has …

I heard about a place that uses chicken parmesan as a pizza topping. Lucky I did, because Sisters Pizza operates in a part of Hillcrest I don’t normally go looking for restaurants. It’s a stretch …

Rain. Wind. Cold. Our long summer has finally given way to what passes for winter (for the time being), which has proven the perfect time to visit a new restaurant built around a fondness for …

How did a suburban Chicago nanobrewery wind up buying San Diego’s famous billion dollar craft beer icon? That’s the question that crashed the website of Kings & Convicts Brewing when news broke Tuesday the little …

A Pacific Beach restaurant called Latin Chef closed earlier this year, following a good thirteen in business. I never visited the Peruvian and Brazilian eatery, but it sounds like I missed out — it was …

I recently wrote about how a certain global fast food chain has brought meatless versions of its burgers to the San Diego market, but a more exciting development may be the growth of a 100-percent …

Already the county’s southeasternmost brewery, Novo Brazil Brewing has opened a second location somehow even farther southeast. And it’s not small. The roughly 14-thousand-square-foot brewery and restaurant occupies a corner spot at the upscale Otay …

I don’t know whether San Diego has gone through some sort of culinary looking glass, but we seem to have entered an era where Little Italy is flush with great non-Italian restaurants, while every other …

Pierogi, sambusa, calzone, pupusa: the world has come up with a lot of cool sounding words to describe what the English would call a pasty, and what we here in America might rather mundanely call …

The “Where’s the beef?” commercials of the 1980s popularized the common joke that fast food restaurants skimp on beef in their burgers. Less amusing have been ongoing stories of fast food chains adding food additives …

For several years, the opportunity to sit in a barn drinking hard cider made from locally grown apples has been a charming draw to the little mountain town of Julian. When Julian Ciderworks abruptly announced …

It was a Sunday morning, and following a sunny hour at the Grape Street dog park, I decided a cold brew coffee sounded refreshing (this happens a lot). Conveniently, Seven Seas Roasting Company has its …

A Feeling of Hope in Rancho Bernardo How do I even begin to tell you about the incredible turnaround my neighborhood has taken? I will start here. Hi, my name is Mychal McMahon. I am …

There are two types of diners in the world: those who would absolutely never, under any conditions, order food prepared in the back of a liquor store; and those who will pull over their car …

A little over a year ago, a new San Diego-focused alcohol distributor announced its launch. Scout Distribution boasted a small portfolio of known and emerging local brands including Abnormal Beer, Bivouac Cider, and Juneshine hard …

A lot of new information has come to light since I learned there is a Swedish bakery in Poway. For example, did you know there’s a distinctly Swedish baking tradition? Somehow, in my case, this …

When I grab a seat at the counter, the first question I’m asked is whether I’d like any parmesan to snack on. The correct answer to that question is always yes. It’s especially so when …

From downtown San Diego, the drive to Mexicali took a little over two hours, most of it traveling east. Past the Cuyamacas, past the Jacumba hot springs, past the Desert View Tower and its surrounding …

San Diego’s larger-than-you-think wine industry has emerged from the shadow of craft beer, and it’s primarily thanks to a growing national reputation among fans of natural wines. Among the local wine labels getting notice is …

As I approach what used to be a Starbucks on University Avenue, a corner unit of the historic North Park Theatre building, a sign written in large letters announces a welcome change: it’s now a …

To access Forbidden Cove, you’ll need a carved wooden idol that unlocks a secret doorway leading into a narrow hallway where your own mirror reflection echoes before and behind you into infinity. It’s a simple …

It’s not even two years since The Friendly dusted off an old pizza joint in North Park and started smashing patties for a legion of raving burger fans, but it feels like a lifetime when …

It can be fun to play tourist in your own city, but that doesn’t mean we’re obliged to eat Mexican food when visiting Old Town. While traipsing about the historical park the other day, rather …

Slowly but surely, San Diego’s mead industry is growing. The latest example: Meadiocrity Mead, a brand that, now a little over three years since contract brewing its first mead, has finally opened its own meadery …