Over 16 years of eating through the city, I’ve kept a list of the dishes and drinks and places that floored me—the ones I yammer on about to strangers. For Comic-Con, I thought I’d share 34 of my favorites within striking distance of the comic core: Gaslamp, Barrio Logan, Little Italy, Mission Hills, and one wild place in North Park.
Remember, even if you just ate and you’re a little full, this week is about role playing.
Wolf in the Woods
Sweet Corn & Piñon Soup
So charming it hurts. If an alpaca were a restaurant. Like you’re dining in an ADU built for someone who is loved. Wolf in the Woods is a passion project for Johnny Rivera (Hash House A Go Go) and chef Carmine Lopez, and you can feel that passion. It snuggles you with Spanish wine. The sweet corn and piñon soup might be the best bowl of hot liquid in the city.
Callie
Aleppo Chicken
Callie will bring home San Diego’s next Michelin star, or I will lose all faith in the system. The fermented and pickled carrots with dukkah.. The Aleppo chicken. The everything. Chef Travis Swikard is on another level.
Top of the Hyatt
Cocktails
It’s the view from the top and edge of our world—a glass box of emotion, 40 floors up, looking down on all that water and sunset. Pick a cocktail, any cocktail.
Mister A’s
Maple Leaf Farm Duck Breast
Mister A’s started as a Scorsese-type place where people enjoyed the fruits of some gray-area capitalism with a holy-**** view of the entire urban core. Wave at planes as they land at eye-level and the sun sets over the watery cliff in the distance. Two years ago, longtime owner Bertrand Hug handed the reins to longtime GM (and damn good human) Ryan Thorsen. He’s breathed new life into the place with some key renovations. It’s a bucket worthy of the list. The duck with huckleberry gastrique is chef Stephane Voitzwinkler’s specialty.
Kingfisher
Wild Mushrooms and Chino Farms Corn Congee
This is where you want to go for a Vietnamese-centric but pan-Asian exploration of fish sauce. Get the beef tartare, the whole fried rockfish in ginger sweet-and-sour sauce, and the congee with wild mushrooms.
Born + Raised
Burgundy Snails
An F.-Scott-Fitzgerald-meets-Busta-Rhymes steakhouse from the weirdos of CH Projects. A magic room that feels both alive and haunted. Bone marrow’s a pretty fantastic fat, but it needs flavor. B&R serves it with Burgundy escargot on toasted bread, and the garlic is fantastic.
Basta!
Crispy Cacio e Pepe Gnocchi
Do your will to live a favor. When you have a hankering for fries, ignore that scream from your genes, come in here, and order yourself the fried gnocchi made with pâte à choux pastry (cream puff pastry), dusted with Pecorino, and dipped in cache e pepe aioli. Delicious crimes.
El Sueño
Elote & Cocktails
A hell of a patio in Old Town, run by Pietro Busalacchi, one of the better drinks people in San Diego. The elote is fantastic—half a corn cob grilled; soaked in veggie broth; and seasoned with mayo, melted butter, chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, a touch of sugar, garlic and onion powder, Cotija cheese, and chives. Every drink here is good.
Sushi Tadokoro
Sushi
Phenomenal sushi spot. If you haven’t made reservations, you’re probably not getting in here.
Las Cuatros Milpas
Tacos
Yes, there are designer-ier tacos. But this family’s been serving homemade tacos with fried-before-your-eyes tortillas since the dawn of time. It is the best taco. Cash only.
Cowboy Star
Steaks
“Cozy” and “steakhouse” don’t usually go together. Whereas most steakhouses are airplane hangars of refined carnivore lust, C-Star is intimate enough to feel like a ribeye speakeasy. Garth makes one of the best old-fashioneds in town, and chef Victor Jimenez is a steak whisperer.
J + Tony’s Discount Cured Meats And Negroni Warehouse
Negroni
There’s a massive Godzilla made of sticky notes (that doesn’t sound very impressive written out, but it’s kind of dazzling). There’s Ronald McDonald, arm outstretched, inviting friends and lawsuits. And J + Tony’s has the best damn Negronis and street-side Adorandack sunbathing area. This is where CH Projects dreams.
Kindred
Vegan Snacks
While everyone was trying to cast vegan food in ultra-pure white halos and rooms with hemp furniture and virtue signals, longtime vegan and metal fan Kory Stetina went and built a vegan restaurant that felt like sin. The absolute best spot.
Havana 1920
Cubano
A traditional Cubano usually doesn’t come with a Dagwood amount of slow-roasted pork, but this one does. All due respect to socialist food icons, but I’ll take more of this particular pork than less of it.
Lia’s Lumpia
Ribeye Bistec
Of course, you should get the lumpia—the traditional one, and then whatever creative concoction they’re filling it with that day. But the humble mother-and-son Filipino restaurant in an old house (the duo are pure joy, and they finished second on The Great Food Truck Race) serves a 12-ounce boneless ribeye with caramelized onions in calamansi soy for dinner that knocks socks.
Fort Oak
Hearth Roasted Carrots
Fort Oak turned an old Ford dealership into one of the best restaurants in SD, piling firewood where the old Furlaines used to be. Brad Wise and his team sit over the burning embers and smoke and char various things into submission. Get the roasted carrots with smoked yogurt.
Puesto
Filet Mignon Taco
Groups don’t often get better as they grow; scaling an operation usually means quality dips or even tanks. Not so with San Diego’s family-run Mexican empire Puesto. The last time I had this taco, I had to recognize that it’s one of the best in the city. It’s made with an organic corn tortilla, crispy melted cheese, slices of filet, avocado, and spicy pistachio-serrano salsa.
Fish Guts
De Espada
Pablo Becker’s fish shop. Pablo was born and raised here, and he traveled across the world opening restaurants for his cousin, famed Mexican chef Richard Sandoval. He opened his own in San Diego, and lost it about six years ago. Lowest point of his life. So he went to Chicago and spent five years as a line cook, then came back to open this. They’ve got tacos, yeah, but it’s 90-percent sustainable seafood from fishermen down the street, cooked to order. Get the De Espada, blackened swordfish with jalapeño slaw and spicy aioli.
Parfait Paris
Macarons
A husband and wife from Paris run this real-deal French bakery with a fantastic almond croissant. Parfait Paris made its name with macarons, and it hasn’t crimped ingredients or quality (in fact, it went the opposite way and signed a pastry chef who worked at a Michelin star place and baked for the royal family).
The Lion’s Share
Salt & Pepper Frog Legs + Federal Buffalo Stamp
There’s an instinct to call it a hidden gem because it’s tucked behind a railroad on a little condo street. But The Lion’s Share is a local legend. A dark hobbit hole of world-class cocktails and a hell of a chef in Dante Romero (ex-Wormwood) for a menu that revolves around indie food animals (frog, bison, venison, liver, elk, boar). The tempura-battered frog legs with fried garlic in a chili sauce are yes.
Kinme/Azuki Sushi
Omakase
Kinme is my sushi restaurant of the year. A 10-seat omakase-only spot in Bankers Hill from the people who’ve long run one of the most beloved (and high-quality) sushi spots (Azuki Sushi). Kinme’s gonna be booked, but Azuki’s a couple doors down.
Cucina Urbana
Mascarpone Polenta
Yep, they have newer options. Yes, the kitchen’s one of the city’s top and you’re probably fine ordering other things. But ever since they had the polenta board years ago (discontinued), this has become the place for designer cornmeal. Mascarpone is cheese therapy.
Lionfish
“Angry” Whole Grilled Fish
San Diego chef JoJo Ruiz got a James Beard nod for being one of the most sustainable seafood chefs in the country. There are two things you should get here: The king salmon sashimi with white truffle honey ponzu, chili garlic, and Japanese rice crackers, and the whole grilled snapper with Thai Basil, fermented chili, garlic butter sauce, and bread.
Ciccia Osteria
Mushroom Flan
This dish is why I could go vegetarian, but never vegan. Because cheese and cream are capable of unsurmountable joys. Chef Mario Cassineri soaks porcini mushrooms in milk for 24 hours to make the base for a mornay sauce. It’s solidified into a custard-like texture, given a pecorino butter crust, baked to order, and then—delicious, in a nihilistic way—placed in a small pool of gorgonzola cheese fonduta with a single mint leaf up top (which makes it a salad in creative circles).
The LaFayette Hotel
The Teeming Humanity + Patty Melt
You gotta see it—if you can get in, that is. It’s one of the greatest hotels in the country, an orgy of designs and patterns and vignettes with a bowling alley, a pool, a ridiculously dark gothic restaurant, and a 24-hour diner that sells a billion patty melts every week.
Juniper & Ivy
Whole Duck
Juniper & Ivy has seen a James Beard nomination, a slew of national nods, and a couple chef changes—and it’s still so damn good. Probably because owner Mike Rosen is detail-obsessive. Stark industrial art room, hell of a wine list. Get the whole duck for two (served confit or roasted) with spicy garlic soba, scallion pancake, Szechuan plum jam, and hoisin jus.
Civico 1845
Vegan Italian
Italian brothers moved here a decade ago and opened this little trattoria. The brown butter ravioli are always dangerous, but it was one of the first Italian restaurants in California to have an all-vegan menu.
The Kebab Shop
Lamb and Rice Plate
A grab-and-go spot for those who’re tired of pizza, burgers, and fried chicken sammies. The döner (lathered in all the sauces) is great for a walk-and-chew. But I’m starting to prefer just ordering the lamb kebab meat with saffron rice and then mixing all the sauces in there. You won’t smell right for days, but happiness has a cost.
Pali Wine Co.
Natty Wines & Smoked Jr. Farms Squash
Sit in the back—it’s a massive shaded patio with more laidback barnyard chill than the average Little Italy spot. Pali’s a family-run winery out of Lompoc (Pinot land) specializing in low-intervention and natural wines. Chef Logan Kendall is a farms-spices-fat whiz. Case in point is the smoked burrata with sun gold vinegar, sorrel, and salsa macha.
Herb & Wood
Gnocchi
Gnocchi has been on the menu here since day one, because if you took it off, the people would revolt. Oxtail is the MSG of the butcher shop.
Animae
Shrimp Toast
Chef Tara Monsod and her staff are apexing Filipino food right now (it’s her roots, but not the only part of Asia she explores here). A heavy-curtained, big-dollar spot with soft surfaces that make insider trading secrets disappear. Order pretty much anything, but especially the Baja Asian street corn with kimchee aioli, cotija, and togarashi.
Morning Glory
Souffle Pancakes
The epicenter of all things brunch in Little Italy. Yes, they’re worth the wait. Ask your server if the bartender has any special syrups to put on ’em (the team has been known to send out a ramekin of coconut syrup that is incredible).
Ironside
Lobster Roll
Gloopy lobster rolls are a leading cause of not liking lobster rolls. Ironside treats their knuckle meat with respect, lightly tossing in brown butter mayo, crispy shallots, and chives. One of the best in the city.
El Agave
All the Tequila
Yeah, you can get a margarita the size of your head here, but El Agave is about as deep a collection as you’ll find—2,500 bottles.
