Given a healthy appreciation for good puns, South Asian cuisine, and proximity, I was more than curious when Indian restaurant Curryosity opened close to home in South Park last fall. It gave a good look …

Modern Times Beer made news two years ago when it announced a plan to vest long-term employees with a piece of the company, and this week it announced a plan to further spread its ownership …

One of the hallmarks of 21st century foodie-ism in America has been the reinvention of specialty food shops. In addition to the advent of businesses dedicated to perfecting the likes of cupcakes, pickles, and hot …

The first food story I ever wrote in San Diego covered then newly opened hole in the wall Carnitas Snack Shack. That’s hole in the wall in the original sense: just a window facing the …

Three years ago, former firefighter and LPGA golfer Mary Paulson was a home cider maker who would invite a couple dozen friends to her North Park home for what she called back yard happy hooch …

A sign posted inside Niederfrank's Ice Cream declares, “We make our ice cream by some of the most antique, inefficient, outdated, and expensive process in the world.” Home-made ice cream shops have been cropping up …

All I had planned to do was walk the dog before it got dark. There are a few bars and restaurants we normally walk past, but tonight I thought it would be better to cruise …

When you walk into Simsim Outstanding Shawarma, it’s clear that a lot of thought has gone into the fast casual Mediterranean spot. From detailed interior design elements to the placement of aspirational slogans like, “stand …

The Padres have returned for 2019 and things are going to be different this year. Manny Machado different, sure, but I’m talking pre-game beer different. Since opening day 2018, the craft beer landscape surrounding Petco …

It never closed exactly, but heading into the end of last year, Grant’s Marketplace sure looked like the end was near. The drink coolers dwindled to empty, as did shelves that once held sundry items …

It’s just too easy to make fun of the paleo diet, otherwise known as the paleolithic diet or the stone age diet. Blame whoever started calling it the caveman diet for the jokes. The term …

Carlsbad mainstay Tip Top Meats has been around more than half a century, and remains an incredible deal whether you’re there for the butcher, the market, or the authentic German restaurant. I stop in every …

Launched in November 2017, Lost Cause Meadery has quickly established itself as one of San Diego’s top mead makers. According to the results of this year’s Mazer Cup International Mead Competition, it also ranks among …

Nhà Hàng Chay Hoa Từ Bi Tâm may the toughest restaurant name most of us will ever try to remember, but I’d recommend trying. While the English portion of its sign reads, “Organic-Veggi Restaurant,” only …

A sister grocery to Clairemont’s Balboa International Market, the Atlas Market in Poway likewise maintains a soft focus on Persian and Mediterranean foods. However, the supermarket’s food court skews a bit more international, including a …

Because of its plum location across the street from the Convention Center, at the left leg of the gateway arch welcoming visitors to the Gaslamp Quarter, prime steakhouse Lou & Mickey’s struck me as a …

The 16-ounce cans have started to show up at shops here and there, labels depicting an Aztec princess, along with the Spanish, “La chela mas chula.” In beer parlance, a nice cold one. At first …

The name of the restaurant may include the word diner, but don’t go expecting to order a Denver omelet, or anything with a side of hash browns. Okan Diner serves Japanese food, and a fair …

Like most kids growing up in America, I looked forward to sunny weather for the treats it brought: usually popsicles. As I look back now, I realize those popsicles were trash. We should have been …

I like a good pun almost as much as a good bowlful of noodles, so when The Nood Bar opened in North Park a couple months back, I grabbed a stack of one dollar bills …

How Ian Anderson came to the Reader: While visiting the Reader web site a few years back, I noticed it was accepting public submissions of concert reviews. I can't remember what they paid, but it …

You spent last night drinking and clubbing, and now your best bet to escape a hangover is a dose of breakfast food and cocktails. At least that’s the thinking behind The Morning After, a new …

Before the end of this year, local java fans could be paying a premium to drink coffee grown right here in San Diego. At a series of ticketed cuppings last weekend, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters …

We’ve all waited patiently for sunny weather and daylight savings to return, and now that they have, we need to turn our attention back to ice cream. Rather, gelato. Bobboi Natural Gelato, if I’m being …

You’d have to ask the good people of San Marcos how much the arrival of North City has impacted their drinking and dining habits, but I can attest the manufactured neighborhood is trying its darnedest …

The poet Ezra Pound coined the word melopoiea as a way to describe how verses or even individual words may charged with musical properties, bringing their own sense of rhythm and melody to spoken language. …

At the end of February, Iron Fist Brewing Company announced a new list of beers for 2019, highlighting seasonal releases to be introduced in its tasting rooms every month. This might sound like routine, first-quarter …

There’s Mediterranean food in South Park, thanks to the arrival of the Shawarma Guys food truck. For the past month or so, it’s been parked six days per week outside The Bottle House liquor store. …

It didn’t have to be a cold and wet winter for me to seek out a pozeleria, but it hasn’t hurt to have the added motivation. In this case I first found myself driving through …

About 100 new breweries have opened in San Diego over the past five years, posing a significant challenge to any craft beer brand trying to distinguish itself. At least one has proven no slouch at …

When I heard a popular North Park restaurant was opening a location in East County, I imagined something in the La Mesa vicinity. Maybe El Cajon or Santee. Even when told Grand Ole BBQ would …

There’s a little strip mall in Sorrento Valley that’s mostly filled by ten or twelve little counter restaurants; a food court serving all the corporate campuses in the area. It sits about a block south …

Downtown El Cajon may not be the next, Next North Park, but if you look across the parking lot from the Ross Dress For Less, you will spot the city’s newest brewery. Creative Creature Brewing …

A new cookie shop turned up in Pacific Beach at the end of last year. Insomnia Cookies takes up little space on Garnet Avenue, just a hole in the wall about three blocks from Crystal …

It doesn’t look like a restaurant that’s about to close. Four parties have shown up at once during lunch rush, and the staff hustles to turn over red leather booths as they become available. But …

While I’ve been sitting here the past couple years trying to figure out which are my favorite tacos, the rest of the world has apparently become obsessed with Nashville hot chicken. The cayenne-spiced fried chicken …

San Diego’s newest craft spirit maker opened for business in early February, updating a vintage industrial space in East Village. In lieu of tasting room, Storyhouse Spirits offers an appealing bar and restaurant, with a …

It’s late Sunday morning, and there’s a mimosa in my hand, courtesy of Point Loma burger and cocktail spot, Royale. Serious cheeseburger fans will already be familiar with Royale, and its Pulp Fiction-referencing signature sandwich, …

The mixed veggies in my curry look right out of a can or freezer bag: identically chopped sections of green beans, cubes of diced carrot, and faded peas. Like the potato chunks, they’re all fairly …

When I ask the owner and chef why his fish and chips feature rockfish instead of cod, I appreciate the answer. It’s easy to get, locally. That would be Adrian, of Adrian’s Surf n’ Turf …

This past September, National City’s first homebrewing supply shop officially became National City’s first craft brewery. In a number of ways, Embarcadero Brewing and Supply feels like a time capsule out of San Diego craft …

Lunchtime on a Saturday, and a Reserved sign was placed before every seat at the sushi bar at Goody's Sushi & Grill. Sitting nearby, I watched as, all at once, customers trickled in to claim …

I found Duff’s Doggz in the southeast corner of the Carmel Mountain Home Depot parking lot. It’s a shack not even two parking spaces wide, and like most Chicago-style hot dog joints, it’s adorned with …

When the table next to us were told they couldn’t order rice, they decided to leave. “What kind of Chinese restaurant doesn’t serve rice?” they muttered on the way out. The short answer is: duh, …

Casual beer fans don’t often see it, but behind the scenes, the people making a brand’s beers may change often, as brewers bounce from one brewery job to another. For larger businesses with established beer …

I’d never heard of the croissant and muffin hybrid called a cruffin. It seems to be a response to the cronut craze that had online breakfast pastry fans astir back in 2013. But I suppose …

For a week, I’d been eating too much of the American garbage diet: fast food, hot dogs, fried chicken, and many sides of fries. Hearty fare, fit for a Midwest winter freeze perhaps, but far …

Published by St. James's Gate Brewery, maker of Guinness Irish stouts, the Guinness Book of World Records was conceived as a reference book for people debating facts in a pub. In other words, to settle …

As of February 2, Karl Strauss Brewing Company has officially been open for business for 30 years. Karl Strauss Old Columbia Brewery and Grill opened on that date in 1989, serving three house beers: Amber …

Turkey or roast beef. How often do I find myself in this position? I’m visiting The Wild Thyme Table, a newish deli counter in between the train station and the courthouse downtown. There’s a lengthy …