Went to tribute pizza today. Their pizzas are great, salads were awesome. NY pie was weakesf due to crust being flabby. Favorite pizza was the you knew this was coming. Their soft serve is better than leopardo. The Nancy’s chopped salad is better than mozza nancys version which I find pretty funny.
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Amardeen. Very well executed lebabness food. Their whipped garlic sauce is to die for.
Best LA analog I can think of is carousel or raffis but better.
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Pho cow cali express my go to pho spot in San Diego. Would not be out of place in garden grove.
They also have excellent service. Constantly cleaning and refilling sauce bottles and clearing tables which I feel is rarer to find for pho restaurants.
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El viejon
Mariscos spot in the convoy corridor mixed in with all the Asian restaurants. Despite its location the quality of the ceviche and fish tacos are noticeable. We went Sunday and it was packed with Latinos. Bonus they were pumping reggaeton which made the vibes higher.
Had fried and grilled fish tacos, their smoked taco marlin, and a mixed tostada. Pura calidad great mix of flavors. Need to go back to try their seafood tower.
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Tribute was already on my list but next time we are in SD we are going. Looks great. Why was the NY pizza crust flabby? Is the NY pizza the first pic? Looks pretty crunchy on the top half.
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I think they need to adjust the cook time for the middle of the crust probably due to how much volume they are running since they are probably opening and closing their ovens a lot. I think another issues is construction, they layer the meat on there with a generous helping of sauce but I think that creates too much of a moisture barrier to properly crisp the bottom for how large the pizza is. I think in this case less is definitely more.
I would do neo neopolitan or ask for extra crispy if I were asking for new york
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Brekkie burrito from Colima jr. A mainstay in sd. B+ burrito. Large well constructed with solid salsa and a very nice flour tortilla. The tortilla was the best part. Only 9 bucks for a giant size one. Not top tier but definitley could do worse
Saigon coffee in north park hipsterized viet iced coffee. Their claim to fame is brewing everything in a Phin but I feel like a lot of viet places do that. Way too sweet. I guess these hipsters never had real viet coffee. Not even close to places like phin smith.
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Izola bakery. I think we have reached peak post capitalist croissant. Over 10 dollars for a chocolate croissant. In their defense it is a very good croissant and it is large/shareable. Also baked small batch one dozen at a time.
But damn over 10 bucks in this economy lol.
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Fish guts. Barrio Logan fish tacos top tier, well cooked top tier ingredients. Great flavors without overwhelming the flavor of the fish. Tortillas was pliant and had great chew. Best corn tortilla I’ve had in sd.
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Hawaiian fresh seafood. Huge line every day. Their cooked fish is very goo specifically their butter and caper salmon not pictured. Their fish quality is quite high but I would say their flavors for poke are weak with their spicy salmon being their best.
Jus poke in LA is much better
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Mashups of seemingly Middle East/asian influenced pastries.
Highlights were the zataar cream cheese croissant and hoja Santa Kougin Aman. Although all their laminated pastries were quite good
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Whaaaaaaat? Really? I love this place and their poke flavors change daily.
Never been to Jus poke in LA so can’t compare.
You are definitely making the rounds in SD. Happy eating!
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I was not aware that their flavors change daily. But I thought the regular tuna poke was too salty and their spicy had a gochu flavor that isn’t super typical and I thought muddled the flavor of the salmon.
Maybe I’ll try again I liked their fish quality for sure, but that line is killer lol
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Any additional recommendations? I’m always up for a little food hunting.
One plus for san diego is that most places are basically within 20 minutes. I can’t even get to the freeway from my house in LA sometimes in 20 minutes.
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I have some suggestions. Ordinarily I’d ask where you were based but you are hounding all over so I don’t think that’s an issue. Also, take the reccs with a big grain of salt. I think LA has the best food in the country so the best of SD will likely fall below that mark no matter what lots of San Diegans believe.
If you haven’t already been,
Ed Fernandez birrieria (near Chula Vista)
De Cabeza el Unico (Chula vista)
TJ tacos (Escondido, same concept at Tacos El Gordo)
Mi rancho (lengua and al pastor, Escondido)
Puras papas (food truck, birria, San Marcos)
Vamos a texcoco (Vista)
Pozoleria Dona Elena (Vista)
Pizza Standard (Tierrasanta)
Tribute
Wayfarer
Whether you make it to any or not, looks like you’re having fun!
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Stop by Kawamata (in Capistrano Beach, Camino De Las Estrellas exit on the 5-Fwy) on your way back to LA for some killer poke…
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I love kawamata.
Thanks for the recs @RedDevil I’ll bookmark these!
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Some shan xi noodle action. Some Chinese jjm and beef noodle soup. I’ve always preferred Chinese jjm over Korean. Korean once in a while is great but such a greasy gut bomb at times. This place rocks!
I realized I didn’t post my previous visit some cooked dishes too. A choy and youpo mian
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Lucky bolt bakery sourdough. This sourdough is delightful, strong fermented sourdough flavor with a toothsome exterior that becomes perfectly crunchy when lightly toasted and a soft pillowy interior. Much better than Tommy and Atticus.
Great for toast, breakfast sandwich, to eat as a slice of bread, or dipping in soup or eggs.
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