San Diego Magazine’s Best Restaurants Party
WHEN: June 14, 6 p.m.–8:30 p.m.
WHERE: Pirch, 4545 La Jolla Village Dr. #1, Westfield UTC mall
It’s our biggest food issue of the year, and our biggest food party. Readers named their favorites, and I named mine. Come taste dishes from some of the most talented chefs in the city, from restaurants like Addison Del Mar, George’s at the Cove, The Hake, Herb & Wood, Herringbone, Kettner Exchange, Le Parfait Paris, Lionfish, The Marine Room, Mister A’s, Officine Buona Forchetta, The Patio, Puesto, Searsucker, Solare, and Cucina Urbana. The Pirch showroom is pure kitchen dreamstuff, built to look like actual kitchens designed with the world’s best and funkiest stuff.
COST: $60
Neighborhood’s 10-Year Block Party
WHEN: June 17, 1 p.m.–6 p.m.
WHERE: Neighborhood Block, between Market + G Streets, East Village
Ten years ago, a little beer-and-burger bar opened in downtown. Neighborhood was a very different beer bar for the area, in that it only carried craft beers. Craft beer wasn’t the terribly popular juggernaut of liquid culture that it is now. Also, Neighborhood didn’t offer ketchup for their burgers. Lots of people thought the little joint would close due to their myopic craftiness, and their no-ness. Well, a decade passed and the owner of Neighborhood joined with the owners of El Dorado Cocktail Bar to form Consortium Holdings, one of the city’s most successful restaurant groups (Ironside, Polite Provisions, Underbelly, Craft & Commerce, Soda & Swine, Fairweather, False Idol, Rare Form, the upcoming steakhouse Born & Raised). For their 10th anniversary bash, they’ve pulled together all their craft beer friends (Alesmith, Alpine, Coronado, Fall, Green Flash, Lost Abbey, Mikkeller, Modern Times, Pizza Port, Societe, Stone, Thorn Street) and restaurants from around the way (Cowboy Star, Herb & Wood, Ironside, Kindred, Nomad Donuts, Soda & Swine, Supernatural Sandwiches). Plus they’ve tapped Talib Kweli, one of the most criminally underrated rappers of all time.
COST: $45
Animalón
WHEN: June 21, 7 p.m.
WHERE: Bread & Salt Art Gallery, 1955 Julian Ave., Barrio Logan
Jaime Fritsch does memorable things. Two years ago, the local photographer made national news by putting on Death for Food in Mexico. And now he’s teamed with Baja/San Diego chef Javier Plascencia for another event on this side of the border. The event is going to try to evoke what it’s like to cook in the summer with Plascencia in Baja, whether at the paella festival or at Finca Altozano, his ranch in Valle de Guadalupe. Animalón will be the book release for Plascencia’s Soul of Baja, and they’ll be serving rabbit and quail paella, aguachile, a whole pig, plus Fall Brewing, Lomita winery, music, art, and photography. Hosted in an old bread factory turned event space, should be a hell of a night.
COST: $50
June 21: Animalón at Bread & Salt Art Gallery