Tri-Tip Triumph (Don't Forget the Coffee)
Coffee-rubbed beef? Sure, if you’re Michael Karijanian. I’m looking at a menu in his eatery (Sweet & Savory Café, 4614 Mission Boulevard, Pacific Beach, 858-490-9140). A sandwich place, basically. But what sandwiches. The guy’s an inventor. A food-combo inventor. Michael …
Lamb, Mexican Style?
When I was at Bare Back Grill yesterday, I didn’t have the dough to get one of those $12 lamburgers. Mosied round the corner onto Emerald, and guess what? Right next door is this new, bright yellow and orange taco …
Chew Lamburger, Cheer Rugby
Listen up, Rugby World Cup fanatics (and we know who we are): Bare Back Grill, the Kiwi organic burgers 'n beer place in PB (4640 Mission Boulevard, 858-274-7117)... ...will stay open for the final between the New Zealand All Blacks …
O’Hungry’s? O’Deal!
“Malagueña, salerosa!” Krizanto sings his heart out. Krizanto I chomp into my $5 dinner: ribs, carrots, broccoli, blob of mash, bread bun, and butter. I take a slurp of my $1 beer. In Old Town? I had to rub my …
Hot Crumpet in PB
She's English, she makes crumpets like no one else... ...and her Mad Dollies are crumbelicious. Sitting on Emerald Street in PB at the Mad Dogs Café... ...and this lady, Brenda Hollis, is recommending her hazelnut ice cream to a couple …
Surf Sup, in the Gaslamp?
I’ve got one thing to say about JJ’s: steak sliders. For $6.99 you get three of them, little buns with big slabs of steak in them, slippery with grilled onions. Kelsey brings seven-bucks' worth of late-nite heaven With a Miller …
Love Bites
Late-night Gaslamp discovery: heading down F toward Horton Plaza and the buses, thinking about stopping in at Café Lulu for one of their delish coffees with the free chunk of chocolate, when I notice something. Place before Lulu’s, the Indian …
Good Tacos: Patience Is the Essence
Adrian Gonzalez used to come in here after the Padres home games with some of his teammates, such aas Will Venable. “One minute you’d be seeing them playing live on these TV screens, the next minute they’d be in here,” …
Snowflakes on the Run
Eggsploitation? This is no yoke: Somewhere On Coronado, two egg-laying chickens are hiding in a Safe House. OK, Safe Coop. The Snowflakes Their owner, Leslie Crawford has had to spirit them into the hands of underground friends since she discovered …
The King of Pizza Piazza
Piazza Basilone. Little Italy. Dusk. Romantic. You kind of long for some Italian tenor to be singing "E Sole Mio…" I'm also desperate to just sit down at Zia’s Bistro right here on the piazza and sip a cerveza or …
The French (Re-) Connection
Funny thing happens on the way to the trolley. I just miss a Blue Line heading south. Fifteen minutes till the next. Notice the St. Tropez French eatery (600 W. Broadway, downtown, #130, 619-234-2560) still ablaze with lights, even now, …
Psst: Wanna Be a Princess? Eat at McP's
“Prince Harry?” says Ted. “Sat right here.” He plonks himself down by the Seals mural in the smoking area of the patio. I’m at McP’s, the Navy Seal hangout in Coronado (McP’s Irish Pub & Grill, 1107 Orange Avenue, 619-435-5280), …
My New Goat-To (Pizza) Place
It was the three ladies that led me to this moment of bliss. I’d just kinda sidled into Luigi Agostini’s original Pizzeria Luigi (1137 25th Street, 619-233-3309)... ... to catch a whiff of pizza, around nine. And there they were. …
Do Nuttin' in IB...Again
They’re ba-ack! Cliff and Ed Arnold have had their five-week vacation and now -- at last! -- Stardust Donuts (698 State Route 75, Imperial Beach, 619-424-6200), the li’l white box of a place at the edge of town, is up …
Hearty Arty: New Eats in Little Italy
Eat up the art at the newest eatery in Little Italy. La Villa (1646 India Street; 619-255-5221) opened its doors about three weeks ago. La Villa, before the signs went up It's owned by the same people who have that …
The Lake Chapala Hotdog Blues
Carlos Negrete hands me the bacon-wrapped TJ hotdog. I pile on the fixins. Mmm...just like the real thing. Except we’re not in TJ anymore. I’m standing at a little counter you hardly see if you’re zipping by on the #2 …
Pupusa Search: Victory on Imperial!
Still thinking about real pupusas -- okay, dreaming of real pupusas -- so last night I took my own advice: Go to the source. Well, not quite El Salvador itself. But I happened to be up Imperial Avenue way, Grant …
Pupuseria: Nely No More
The Salvadorian Pupuseria Nely (2479 Broadway, at 25th Street) has closed its doors. The place is in the L-shaped shopping strip at 25th and Broadway and has had mixed reviews. Their main thing was pupusas, which are kinda thick corn …
Mulita Class on Golden Hill
Chop chop chop chop… You can hear it all around the crossroads. It’s Danny, chopping up the marinated pork meat they’re going to be grilling right here in the gas station parking lot. Keep coming back here to 25th and …
Ubehebe Dreams
I’m getting the Ubehebes here. I’ve come out on deck from the counter inside, loaded with a coffee ($1.75), here at Krakatoa, the old house-turned-coffee house in Golden Hill (1128 25th Street, 619-230-0272, just up from where 25th and C …