Boom-boom weekend at the Paradise Café
Boom! Ka-Boom! The cannons exchange ear-shattering fire. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/sep/01/30702/ The smoke pours out through gun ports over the waters, the smell of gunpowder drifts past, the warring sail-heavy customs cutters slick past, trying to get in a good position to broadside …
Going crazy at Don Pancho’s
Dunno what came over me. One minute I’m standing outside the order peephole at Don Panchos Taco Shop (690 Highway 75, Imperial Beach, 619-429-7034), thinking I’ll buy a simple $1.99 fish taco. The next, I’ve come away $15.04 poorer with …
Flamingo Fling
How’d I end up here? I zoned out on the 904 bus, the one that trolls Coronado island and takes you to the ferry. That's where I had been heading. Except I dozed, and ended up outside this hotel. Marriott. …
Why Don’t We Have A Conversation Café?
“An hour of conversation is worth a volume of letters.” –Thomas Jefferson to John Adams. This is the starting point for a movement of cafes all over the world where people gather just to slurp, nibble their tapas, and yak …
Lisa: Okra’s Okay
So our neighbor Lisa comes bouncing across - she’s a merry kinda gal - with a couple of green things in her hand. “You’ve gotta eat these darling!” She calls everybody darling. I always listen to her because she’s a …
Now That’s My Cup of Tea
Hidden Gem Alert: My buddy Rick's giving me a ride home from Chula Vista. We're heading up Third Avenue when he cuts into an angle park in that section you might call Old Town. “Gotta pick up supplies,” he says. …
Heure Heureuse comes to Tenth Ave
Café Paris (455 Tenth Avenue, East Village, 619-674-5571) - see this week’s Tin Fork - is starting a happy hour (“heure heureuse” in Paris-speak?). “We will have it 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., seven days,” says Loris Compiano, the owner. …
Late Nite, Hot Food, Cool Place
Here’s a really nifty option for late nite foodies. It was started by a couple of bachelors, brothers, in their East Village loft on 10th Avenue just around when the ballpark was going up. Davin and Cooper McLaughlin still run …
Opening next Monday: Ogawashi, at… Oga Wa Shi?
“In Korean,” says Mr. Yi, “‘Ogawashi’ means ‘5th and C’. Oga means ‘Fifth,’ wa means ‘and,’ and shi means ‘C’.” Which is why Mr. Yi’s calling his new downtown sushi restaurant “Ogawashi”: 5th and C is exactly where it’s located. …
Nearest thing to Paris in the morning?
Paris, San Diego? In my books, it's gotta be Soleil @k, the street level café at the Marriott (660 K Street, Gaslamp quarter, 619-446-6088). It’s got a curvy-railed streetside patio eatery that just feels French. Specially now, around 7:00 a.m. …
Bub's: Flying on 5 Wings
One thing you know: Bub’s is going to be rockin’ tonight. I know, ’cause I was there Wednesday night and it looked like Bub’s @ The Ballpark (715 J Street, 619-546-0815) had sucked the crowd from every other place nearby. …
Torta: America's Next Hamburger?
Things are looking good for Bolillo (Bolillo Tortas, 417 Fourth Avenue, downtown, 619-203-2728), the torta place in the Gaslamp that Mary Beth Abate discovered last December when they were brand new. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/16/29779/ In two months’ time, a year after they …
Guaca: Meet Mole
It's one of those historic downtown buildings. Hundred years old. Gutted, filled up with bars and investment businesses. You figure the bars are here to capture the ballpark crowd, but you wonder how they make out for the other 200 …
Tin Fish: Still the Best Deal, Post-Comic-Con
Sigh. Nothing could compare with the Comic-Con costumed Tin Fish down here at the Gaslamp. The Grimm show’s promoters had dressed this fish and chippery/bar/outdoor café like a forest... http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/15/29667/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/15/29670/ ...where you’d find goblins and vampires. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/15/29671/ It was …
Ice Creams: Last Call At…9:46pm?
“You’ve got oh, about six minutes,” says Sarah. “We close at 9:46.” Sarah Mattinson. It’s her place, so she should know. This was in Mission Beach last night. I’d just popped into the Olive Café (805 Santa Clara Place, at …
At Seaport: Pandaswag?
“Hebrew? It reads from right to left,” says Lev. “Like Arabic?” “Like Arabic.” It’s a strange place to be getting lessons in ancient languages, but that’s Seaport Village. Everybody here seems to be from somewhere else. Turns out “Lev” means …
Stop the Presses! TJ Draft-Craft-Beer Revolution Coming This Friday
Just heard: Opening Friday for the first time in TJ, place with 30 craft beers on tap, including plenty from San Diego and elsewhere in Alta California. But what’s really cool is that a whole bunch is from the burgeoning …
Drinking Black Tears in TJ
“It was a school project,” says Sergio Michel. “That’s how it started.” We’re standing in the stark sunlight of a Tijuana afternoon at the Culinary Art School, looking at a row of beer bottles. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/08/29349/ His beer. Rámuri beer. We've …
The Buddhists Are Coming!
Just in time for the new library... http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/03/29021/ ...a Buddhist bookshop with a cafe attached, Jing Si Books & Cafe, is opening right across from it, at 302-304 11th Avenue, East Village, tomorrow (Saturday, August 4th). http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/03/29020/ Word is they …
Ice Cream Month: Out With A Bang!
“Know what other month we’ve just missed?” says Carla, as we’re crumpling the wrappings of the hot dogs we've just chomped (See “Hot Dog Month”). “Whatever it was, I don’t have room for it,” I say. “No, seriously. It was …