Put that salad on layaway. Get an APR on some fries. This was the year the cost of dining out landed on Mars. Around the time the phrase “supply chain issues” took a hint and deleted our number, inflation slid into our DMs. Food costs bullied chefs, restaurant owners, and diners.
I realize this is a pretty apocalyptic way to introduce our annual celebration of San Diego’s food and drink culture—our bible of the restaurant scene, with its attendant bao bun psalms and birria haikus.
But that lurking doomery only underscores the heights San Diego’s restaurant culture has finally reached. It’s never been harder to operate a restaurant, and yet our food and drink people made national headlines and hype reels again. It has not always been this way. After eras of deep-fried pain, we’re in a far better place.
Why? Because our seafood’s right there. Because our produce is among the best on the planet—and any cook will tell ya that using the world’s best ingredients is like running a 100-yard dash and starting at the 40-yard line. That’s why the top chefs have come. Plus, moms and pops who started cooking furiously four years ago (due to The Terrible Thing) are opening kitchens. The proximity to Mexico’s fire and ash and stew culture never hurts. So many reasons.
This list is a citywide tradition we’re honored to keep. You guys picked your favorites (with 41,000-plus votes, a new record), and I picked mine.
I switched it up a bit. I left out a few that have become institutional and duh-of-course. Once Addison landed three Michelin stars, no one needed to be told to go there. Same with Jeune et Jolie, a pinnacle of Frenchishness. I politely placed them over on Mt. Olympus and made room for other places that deserve that spotlight.
I’ve been lucky enough to document, study, and tell stories about food and drink for almost two decades. I did the math recently and realized I’d been to thousands of restaurants, tried tens of thousands of dishes. It’s been an obscenely obsessive career without complaints.
I know food better than I know myself. That said, I’ll never pretend my list is somehow the only valid take. It’s just mine. It’s the list I keep in my pocket and constantly update as I eat my way through the city and send to friends when they come to town and ask, “What should I eat in San Diego?”
I urge you to make your own. –Troy Johnson
And Now the 2024 Best San Diego Restaurants Winners List…
You voted. Food critic Troy Johnson picked his favorites. We chose the must-try dishes at some of the winning joints and unpacked the people and trends changing SD’s dining scene for the better. Hope you’re hungry, because it’s time to dig in.
