The Fish Shops

I rarely (if ever) say no to spending money on food—whether it’s because I want to support small businesses or just prefer not to deal with cooking and cleaning. And let’s be real, I just like to eat. So when given the option to eat a meal that also does some good in the world, I’ll be the first in line.

Enter The Fish Shop. With three locations throughout San Diego, it has only been around for 12 years, but are often regarded as longtime community staples. Owned by OMG Hospitality Group, you can find The Fish Shop in Pacific Beach, Point Loma, and Encinitas.

With their fast-casual approach to SoCal cuisine, dog-friendly atmospheres, no corkage fees, celebration of local beers and fishing vendors, it’s not hard to see why locals love it.

Its owners take special pride in their house-made sauces, salsas, and marinades, their craft cocktail program, and their fresh, sizable seafood offerings. But the real difference here is their commitment to their community. “Ever since we started, the three owners have always been big about giving back to the community with different programs,” says Larry Alva, operations director of The Fish Shop. “We always want to be ingrained in our community.”

When The Fish Shop opened their first location in Pacific Beach, they began partnering with local schools to host “Give Back” nights where 10 percent of sales went to parent-teacher associations for various school projects. During the holidays, The Fish Shop would offer free tacos to anyone who brought in a toy worth $5 or more for gift giving.

As the restaurant continued to grow, charitable efforts became a staple on their menu. “We decided to come up with a taco that, when purchased, provides one nutritious meal for a child in San Diego,” shared Alva.”

With this, the Elote Taco was born—all in the name of giving back. Filled with fresh, grilled Mahi Mahi and marinated with Fish Shop seasoning, it’s topped with cilantro white sauce, cabbage, elote pico, and cotija cheese. And since the introduction of the elote taco, the various locations have donated over 35,000 meals to It’s All About the Kids.

elote taco fish shop

Each location has neighborhood-specific offerings as well so that nearby residents can lend a hand in their own backyards. In Point Loma, the restaurant offers specials that provide donations to the Point Loma Foundation which provides opportunities to raise capital and fund projects in the area through art, historical preservation, education, safe byways, and landscape improvement for visitors.

Not in the mood to eat? You can put your love of wine to good use instead. “We collaborated with our [wine] reps and talked about our cause marketing efforts and wanting to get involved with giving back.” The Fish Shops now carry wines that have ties to various national organizations.

If you purchase a bottle of Chloe, proceeds will be donated to Dress for Success, an organization to empower women to achieve economic independence as well as the National Breast Cancer Foundation which provides help to those affected by breast cancer through early education and support services.

Grab a glass of Cupcake Wine and you’ll be donating to three causes: Direct Relief which is determined to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies; No Kid Hungry, a foundation dedicated to end childhood hunger in the United States; and Pets for Patriots, giving the gifts of fidelity, joy, and love to veterans and pets through companion animal adoption.

Really, it’s a no-brainer. Fresh fish, great wines, beachside cities, and good causes—is there anything more San Diegan?

The post Eating Well to Do Good appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

TAHINI-guy-fieri

John Dole

What’s a guy to do with a Harvard Law degree? For Osama Shabaik, the surprising answer was to join forces with good friend Mahmoud (Moody) Barkawi to open up a Middle Eastern street food restaurant—Tahini—and earn the Guy Fieri Triple D stamp of approval.

“We were lamenting over the fact of how inaccessible [Middle Eastern food] was,” Shabaik explains of Tahini. “It’s the food we grew up with and that we always reminisce about. But a bigger part of it was, ‘How can we own a business that we’re proud of in terms of the values that it embodies?’”

What started off as a 10’ x 10’ farmers’ market stand run by two students with one shawarma machine in 2013 turned into a values-driven, brick-and-mortar business in 2017. “For us, there was a fear of going and working for a company or someone where our values may not have aligned. One of the big reasons as to why we went forward with Tahini was to be able to chart our own path,” explains Shabaik.

TAHIHI-pita-falafel

John Dole

It’s easy to see why Tahini is catching the attention of locals (and Fieri) in Kearny Mesa. The casual atmosphere and easily-customizable menu almost downplay the fact that everything is made using top-notch ingredients—such as the antibiotic-free chicken and beef, marinated in more than 10 fresh herbs and spices. Their claim to fame is their chicken shawarma pita (a.k.a. The Esquire) packed with french fries, garlic, Sriracha, tomatoes, and pickled cucumbers.

Little things also count—like their squeaky halloumi cheese sticks. Breaded and fried to crispy, non-oily bites, dip them into a serving of sticky-sweet fig jam. Though the Tahini fries are a loaded, nap-inducing joy, the pickled turnips are the best thing on their menu.

TAHINI-fries

John Dole

Beyond food, Shabaik and Barkawi were determined to create a welcoming space to hire refugees coming from the Middle East. “For folks that may or may not speak English, it’s just one small way to give them a taste of home,” says Shabaik. The duo have also established a working business model, an increasingly hard thing to accomplish in the restaurant industry.

They provide above-minimum wage pay to all staff members, invest in eco-friendly, biodegradable packaging for food items, and commit to halal meats, local produce, and a from-scratch approach for all their menus. As their website says, “When it comes to respecting the earth and the communities that make it up, no price is too high to pay.”

The post Start with Your Values, Then Build Your Business appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Cynthia and Khea Pollard, owners of Cafe X in southeast San Diego

Laurie Ganz, San Diego Workforce Partnership

Café X had me at “peach cobbler cinnamon rolls.” But the more I learned about the purpose behind this mother-daughter owned coffee house, the more I liked. Balancing gluttony with a good cause? In my mind, those are net-zero calories. 

In 2016, Khea Pollard completed a community fellowship program that required ideation of a community action project. “At the time, I was really focused on southeast San Diego as that’s where I grew up, that’s where my mom was raised, and we have family that has lived there for years,” Pollard explains. “I knew that at one point in time, there was a really strong Black community there. Economically, there were a lot of businesses that closed for reasons like gentrification and cost of living. I was very adamant about reviving and revitalizing that neighborhood.”

One of the pastries on the menu at Cafe X

Pollard began to envision a communal space that would be reflective of Black culture and values that would help to build economic and entrepreneurial opportunities for the community. “I thought about the way coffee can bring people together,” she says. At the time, there was only a single Starbucks in the neighborhood. Pollard began to shop around the idea of a coffee house that ran as a cooperative—a worker-owned enterprise—to be a hub for arts, culture, and education. “I just had this desire to build something—an asset,” she says. “ It’s not a nonprofit. Even though my background, my master’s is in nonprofit leadership and management, I wanted to really have a business because it is a tool to build wealth and eliminate the idea that it has to be locked into capitalist corporate structure.”

Pollard built out the infrastructure of Café X with her mother, Cynthia. Their first location was shuttered due to the pandemic but now they’ve reopened on Imperial Avenue at 1835 Creative Studios. In addition to hosting workshops, musical events, game nights, and fundraisers, Café X is at its core a celebration of marginalized vendors in San Diego. Diane Brown of Sweet Treats by Thick is the main pastry supplier for Café X. From decadent peach cobbler cinnamon rolls to ‘Ol Skool’ peanut butter chews and a little something called the “Ooey, Gooey, Cheekie” (reminiscent of a crisp-edged blondie with cream cheese and powdered sugar), the offerings are unique, vivacious, and full of soul.

During the pandemic, Café X created a custom blend called the X Factor House Blend. Made with Ethiopian and Papua New Guinea coffee beans, it’s the base of every coffee drink ordered. “This blend is so special,” says Pollard. “It’s rich, but not too rich. It’s light enough to be a breakfast coffee with a medium roast level.” They sell the house blend in the shop as well as online. Cafe X also serves Cafe Moto and is currently developing a partnership with Motherland Coffee Roasters, a San Diego-based company sourcing beans from Africa where the founder was born.

At the moment, Café X is focused on their internship program in collaboration with the San Diego Workforce Partnership. “We have 16 to 24 interns that we’re training with leadership skills and life skills,” says Pollard. “We’re training them to be baristas, roasters, growers, buyers… there are different elements of the coffee industry that we train on. You just don’t know what the other people will latch on to. We love just training them, whether they stay with us or not. That’s one of the most rewarding things about the organization.”

The post Cafe X: Peach Cobbler Cinnamon Rolls with a Side of Generational Wealth Building appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

I took my first bite of the bright, golden discs on the night before my 30th birthday in Washington, DC. I’ll go ahead and call that a good start to the year. One of six bowls served in CHIKO’s Full Monty Banchan (“banchan” is a term for Korean small plates or side dishes), the turmeric pickled daikon plays the perfect role of palate cleanser for the other fiery flavors in the group: spicy napa cabbage kimchi, steamed rice with luscious furikake butter, the cold heat of a potato-and-egg salad (take a bite to see what I mean), and crisp Sichuan spicy cucumbers. I’ve learned to place two orders for the Full Monty—one for myself and one for the table. Sabrina doesn’t share banchan. I do, however, try to leave myself some leftovers simply so that I can crunch on happiness the day after.

Less fusion and more playful takes, CHIKO (which opened its Encinitas location last November) draws inspiration from Chinese and Korean cuisines to create a menu that feels approachable, but still surprises the palate in the best of ways.

The crispy chicken spring rolls, wok-blistered Chinese broccoli, and pork and kimchi potstickers are no-brainer choices when it comes to the appetizers. They’re excellent staples cooked exceptionally well, setting the bar high for future spring rolls, stir-frys, and potstickers everywhere. The standout of the appetizer section is undeniably the XO garlic shrimp stir-fry. The creamy, textured rice porridge makes an ideal base for plump, succulent shrimp and just the right touch for the umami spice of XO sauce.

The soy-glazed brisket is the ultimate comfort-food dish, served with a generous dollop of furikake butter that melts into a bed of rice that nestles pickled peppers, a soy-glazed egg, and brisket. The brisket is brined, cured, and lightly smoked; then braised with soy, ginger, and bone broth; and glazed with the thickened braising liquid.

For a bold dish that serves up a hit of heat, look no further than the spicy cumin lamb stir-fry. The caramelized shallots and mushrooms play well with the robust cumin and lamb combo, giving a perfect balance of umami and a rush of dining-induced dopamine.

My ultimate advice (in addition to all of the above) is to get an order of the Orange-ish Chicken to go. Made with a crisp yet delightfully airy batter, studded with crispy garlic, and kissed with scallions, it’s ideal for next-day lunch and dinner. The Orange-ish Chicken can be reheated to perfection in the oven or in an air fryer. Plus, the tub of mandarin sauce it comes with provides enough leftover sauce to enjoy all week long. I’ve been known to douse plain rice with it, stir-fry veggies with it and, often, just dip my finger in it like a little kid.

It may not come as a surprise that I’ve never been able to eat dessert at CHIKO because I’m always bursting at the seams by then. I’ll just have to trust that, like the rest of the courses at here, it doesn’t disappoint. 

A sampling of the banchan at CHIKO

The post An Ode to the Pickled Daikons at CHIKO appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

JCubed’s jalapeno cheddar sourdough bread

JCubed began as a way to alleviate boredom during the pandemic. “We started to trade with our friends,” says JJ Wang. “We knew someone who was raising chickens, so we traded for fresh eggs. To exchange homemade food is quite delightful.”

Soon, JJ was baking daily and dreaming about selling her goods at local farmers’ markets. “We didn’t know anyone in the industry or how to go about it,” she says. She began researching cottage food licenses, which authorize individuals to run micro-kitchens from their homes and earn up to $50,000 a year from sales. Each micro-kitchen operator must get certified as a food manager and pass a food handler test. There are also annual inspections and operational limitations. At first, JJ had only a couple of customers via online ordering. Today, you’ll see Clairemont residents lining up around the block to snag her coveted breads and pastries. 

When JJ first came to San Diego in 2008 from China, her knowledge of the English language was sparse at best. She had met her American-born Chinese husband, Jeff, a few years earlier while he was backpacking through Asia (his planned three-month trip around Asia turned into an unplanned one-year stay in China, where he met JJ). 

After moving, she began a course in English and continued to push her studies at home by learning the language through various cookbooks. “I never had the chance to bake stuff before because of the conditions over there,” JJ says, referring to the hot and humid conditions where she grew up. 

“Most of the households in JJ’s hometown don’t have ovens,” Jeff explains. 

I glance at the oven in the sunny kitchen we’re sitting in—I’ve seen bigger. JJ laughs and motions toward the tiny toaster oven perched on the counter. “I use that too!” 

I’m floored.

JCubed’s dark rye tahini chocolate cookies

Despite her lack of commercial equipment, JJ produces around 200 kinds of baked goods from scratch, not including the various types of breads (multigrain, sourdough, jalapeño cheddar, and more). 

Every Saturday, she goes to sleep at 9 p.m. and sets an alarm for midnight. From midnight to around 11 a.m., she bakes. Her goal is to ensure that every customer gets the freshest baked goods. “We like to serve it the way we like to eat it, fresh from the oven,” Jeff says. “I think of what I want to eat. It depends on the season, what ingredients are available, or what kind of flavors I want.” 

JJ’s biggest challenge is managing production. With limited space, non-commercial tools, and her dedication to the freshest and best-quality food, she has to delicately balance her timing and variety of ingredients. “It’s a struggle,” she admits.

The process may be a struggle, but the results are simply sublime. My Sundays now include an early-morning pilgrimage to Jeff and JJ’s home, where I join other devotees in salivating over the display case. Her miso chocolate chip cookies are craggy yet gooey delights that my family members have taken to hiding around the house in an effort not to share. Her flaky cheese-and-chive biscuits are perfection on their own but, when lightly toasted and slathered in butter, they become an unsurpassable Sunday treat. 

As for her newest addition—garlic cream cheese bread—heaven help us all. It’s described on Instagram as “double baked with a crispy shell and a very soft center.” It would be more apt to describe it as “the very thing that will dissolve the peace in your household because you will fight over the last bite and it will get ugly. To the victor go the slightly sweet and divinely garlicky spoils.”

Someone get this woman an investor so she can go national. 

Follow JCubed on Instagram to stay updated on their latest offerings and how to buy. 

The post Warning: JCubed May Cause Intense Arguments over the Last Baked Good appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Little Italy’s Camino Riviera features a unique, in-depth list of small batch mezcals

Joann Van Noy

Planes whoosh loudly overhead as I laze in a wicker chair. The scents of burning wood remind me of childhood days at the fire temple. Something about this crackling aroma in the bright sunshine transports me into a deeply relaxing place. Without overplaying it, it’s vaguely spiritual. On the large wooden table rests a handmade mini-clay pot (copita), holding a thimbleful of clear liquid–the first sip of my foray into the world of nano-batch mezcal.

This urban back patio looks like I’ve just stepped off a plane and come to a kitschy little local spot in Mexico. In reality, I’m at Camino Riviera, SDCM Restaurant Group’s latest venture tucked away on a corner of India St. in Little Italy.

My company for the evening is Stephen O’Halloran, bar manager. His real title should be “mezcal fanatic” but that would be an understatement. The spiritual comparison rings particularly true when O’Halloran speaks of the producers he works with to curate the restaurant’s unique and in-depth mezcal list. There is a reverence.

Freshly back from his 20-something trip to Oaxaca (he lost count), O’Halloran shines as he recalls living in the homes of the region’s mezcaleros, watching them carry on ancestral traditions. O’Halloran had never met some of these mezcaleros before, yet they welcomed him into their sparse homes with open arms, feeding him and allowing him to immerse himself into what it takes to make mezcal. “Some of these people are planting agave knowing that they’ll never see it harvested,” O’Halloran says in awe. “Some of these families have been doing this since the 1800s.”

In most of the areas, technology is nonexistent. In some, there is no running water, and no paved roads. They have their farms, their families, and their mezcal.

Camino Riviera’s bar manager, Stephen O’Halloran, sources mezcal from mezcaleros in Oaxaca who carry on ancestral traditions

The mezcaleros that O’Halloran seeks out are not ones who mass-produce and sell to a multitude of restaurants in the U.S. and elsewhere. Rather, he looks for the ones that produce nano-batches—200 bottles would be a stretch. Every bottle is hand-numbered and, in some cases, can only be obtained if you’re a friend of the family. For these mezcaleros, it’s not about making money, but about respecting their ancestors and carrying on the family’s mezcal legacy.

Like tequila, mezcal is made from the agave plant. Unlike tequila, which is only made from the blue Weber agave species, mezcal can be made from over 30 agave species and varieties. The most popular variey is espadín, as it “only” takes 8-12 years to mature and is easier to harvest. Typically, agave plants take anywhere from 15-25 years to mature and are most commonly grown in the semi-arid desert areas of Oaxaca amongst other crops like corn and beans.

Just as there are multiple varieties of agave plant used to make mezcal, there are many different methods of production. Most are specific to the family’s history. A single village in Oaxaca can house dozens of fábricas (production houses), each using a different method to harvest and cook down the heart of the plant to yield mezcal. Unlike tequila, which is produced industrially, mezcal is small-batch. It can be compared to wines in that the biodiversity of where the agave is grown plays a tremendous role in the flavor profiles, as does the method of production.

“Each bottle is a once in a lifetime experience,” O’Halloran explains. “There’s no standardization. Everything is ‘dependé.’” When it comes to the 50-plus list of mezcals O’Halloran has personally procured for Camino Riviera, each bottle is ethically sourced and produced and no two experiences will ever be the same. His mission is simple: “to cultivate a greater understanding and appreciation for what was the first distilled spirit in the Americas.” Every sip contains history and complexity, making a tasting experience an adventure for any aficionado or beginner. From the mezcals to the copitas they’re served in, O’Halloran ensures that the spotlight shines bright on the families who made them, some of whom have never set foot inside a restaurant that sells their wares.

“There’s the cocktails, there’s the pairings, and there’s this beautiful secret,” O’Halloran teases, speaking of the intimate monthly tasting sessions he hosts. The mezcals are paired with bites from Chef Brian Redzikowski, famed for his whimsical approach to his many culinary menus (Kettner Exchange, Waverly, etc.).

Must-try dishes include Redzikowski’s fine-dining play on a certain fast food chain’s Gordita Crunch, an adaptation of his famous Pig Mac, and a gorgeous rendition of yam enchiladas. His Brentwood corn ice cream is a sweet showstopper. It bears noting that their entire cocktail list can be modified into mocktails and these do not disappoint. Finally, can someone please weigh in on whether it would be rude of me to ask for seconds and thirds of their welcome basket of tajin popcorn?

So far I’ve shown restraint but that’s not likely to last.

The post The Mezcals and Must-Haves at Camino Riviera appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

A selection of dishes at Charminar Indian Restaurant

Madeline Yang

Charminar’s menu is four large, laminated pages long, designed in black and gold. The restaurant itself is sparse, mainly because it opened two days before the COVID shutdowns, so the dining room was immediately converted into a to-go meal prep area. Hanging on the walls are scenes from Hyderabad, a city in the state of Telangana. Most notably, you’ll see images of Charminar, a historic and religious monument and one of Hyderabad’s most popular tourist attractions. The restaurant pays homage not just to the monument but to the famous surrounding local markets, known for their excellent Hyderabadi cuisine.

The star? Hyderabadi biryani.

The history of biryani is as complex and rich as the dish itself, with many states in India having their own method of cooking and different primary ingredients. Hyderabadi biryani descends from the Moghul regime and is one of the most popular kinds of biryani. With its yogurt-marinated meat sandwiched into perfectly fluffy rice studded with fried onions, yielding a depth of spice that can come only from patiently steaming for hours on end in clay pots, it’s no wonder that cousins Syed Afzal and Abdul Basith craved it regularly after moving to California to pursue jobs in the tech world.

“We’re from Hyderabad and we were really missing Hyderabadi food,” Afzal says. “The flavors and all, you just couldn’t find it anywhere. So we said, ‘Let’s open a restaurant.’” That restaurant was Tikka Lounge in Poway, a counter-service spot that serves up classic street food favorites, like samosas, pakoras, and chaat, along with heartier entrées like kormas and vindaloos. “We had to keep the spices low because Hyderabadi food has a kick,” Afzal says. Being novices in the restaurant industry, they wanted to serve foods they loved while also making them more approachable.

Syed Afzal, co-owner of Charminar

Madeline Yang

After seeing the success of Tikka Lounge, the duo decided to open Charminar, originally envisioning it as a typical Hyderabadi restaurant with buffet lunch specials for the working crowd in Mira Mesa. The restaurant opened on March 14, 2020 and, by March 16, San Diego shut down. Afzal and Basith invested around half a million dollars to get Charminar up and running, and within days they were scrambling to survive. “We were making $25, sometimes just $30 a day,” Afzal recalls.

Most people in this scenario would’ve clung to their stable day jobs. Not Afzal. He quit his job at Qualcomm to focus full-time on the restaurant. Together, the family launched the Neighborhood Love Program, which donated over 12,000 meals in 2020. They created incentives such as “buy a meal, donate a meal” and began to partner with organizations like the Muslim Leadership Council of San Diego and Telangana Association of San Diego to help with fundraisers and donations for those affected by COVID both locally and in India. Their tremendous community efforts spurred word-of-mouth that began driving business back to the restaurant. “It was really humbling,” Afzal says (humbly). “Bringing communities together is fun. You get to meet new people and help people.”

Charminar – interior

Madeline Yang

One bite of their chicken Chettinad (an aromatic dish featuring chicken cooked in a rich and spicy gravy) tells you everything you need to know about why they became so popular, so quickly. “We wanted to replicate our kitchen food and bring it to a wider population,” Afzal says. Every dish is a recipe developed by family members and brought to life by Indian chefs. All of Charminar’s spices are imported directly from India and their meats are halal. The menu isn’t all Hyderabadi, though—don’t sleep on the Indo-Chinese section—the gobi Manchurian is a go-to favorite of mine. But if you’re keeping things traditional, you can’t go wrong with any of their gravy dishes and a hearty helping of their Hyderabadi biryani. Also, let it go on record that their chicken tikka masala and their butter chicken are the best I’ve had in a long, long time. Worried about spice levels? The restaurant is happy to help you find what works with your palate (and there’s always chilled mango lassi).

Excited? Life’s about to get even better—Charminar just bought the space next door and is converting it into a larger dining room, open for guests this summer. Their existing space will unveil yet a new concept: Dosa Studio, also coming this summer.

The post Charminar Tastes Like Home appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Bencotto, which serves handmate spaghetti served out of a wheel of aged cheese, once tried adding a 3% service charge, which wasn’t well received by customers—so they raised menu prices slightly instead

Courtesy of Chemistry PR

“People don’t understand that a place that services five to seven thousand guests in a month can lose money, even being well run,” Ryan Thorsen, owner of Mister A’s, says to me over the phone. “Costs are changing so fast from one week to the next. You have to be as nimble as you possibly can and yet also sell the items for prices that people are willing to pay, otherwise you’re not moving anything.”

Last week, we talked about how the rising costs of raw materials led to a drastic increase in pricing for food across the board, especially beef. Necessity is the mother of invention, and it’s heartening to see how restaurants have come together to minimize waste and utilize every item. But what happens when creativity just isn’t enough? Well, we’re already seeing it on our checks. At Mister A’s, it’s a 4% “surcharge.” 

“It’s a line item that doesn’t even hit our P&L,” Thorsen says. “It’s literally an amount that we cut against our payroll expenses. We look at our own internal costs outside of that so we can see what it’s like to actually run the business. We saw it as [a way to] be transparent with our guests and say, ‘Hey, this is a cost that we’ve incurred.’” 

Mister A’s first incorporated a surcharge in 2017 when minimum wage saw a roughly 40% increase. “It’s very interesting, because so many industries on earth have rolled out additional charges that you don’t see in the package pricing. But with restaurants, it was seen as something totally different. A lot of people don’t realize that our margins are shockingly thin. People expect fine dining to be different, but our operating costs are way higher.”

For Kim Phan, co-owner of Crab Hut and new hit Kingfisher (go—and by God, whatever you do, don’t skip the beef tartare), it was important to ensure fair tipping. “A large percentage of our guests weren’t even tipping 10% even though they said they liked the food and the service,” she says about the downtown Crab Hut location. “We want to protect our servers from being hurt through the traditional tip out system.” An 18% service charge was enforced at Crab Hut prior to the pandemic and, when Kingfisher opened, they made a 20% service charge a part of their standard business model. This service charge allows for tips to be equitably distributed among the servers, host, and back-of-house staff. It does not contribute toward the health insurance that Phan has always provided her employees. 

Over at Trust Restaurant Group, chef-owner Brad Wise has enforced a 4% surcharge referred to as a “living wage” charge. “It benefits both our front-of-house and back-of-house staff. We use this to provide health benefits to all full-time employees, and it allows us to keep our wages competitive across the board.” Unlike a traditional surcharge or service charge, however, this 4% is completely optional. If guests choose, they may request to remove it. Some have. Most don’t. 

Over a heavenly mountain of handmade spaghetti, bathed in a creamy lobster bisque sauce and served straight from a 60-pound cheese wheel at Little Italy’s Bencotto, I learned that owner Guido Nistri tried a 3% surcharge a few years ago and found that his customers weren’t in favor of it. “A lot of customers don’t want to hear about it…they like to engage the staff in political conversations.” The effort lasted only a few days, after which they decided to remove the cost from checks and instead raise menu prices by a small margin. Pam Schwartz of Ranch 45 attests to having a similar experience. 

San Diego’s restaurant scene isn’t the only one that’s divided on how to address rising costs to build fairer workplace models. Until direction comes from state or federal governments, it’s in the hands of every owner to come up with the solution they deem the fairest. In the meantime, here’s a handy guide for us dining devotees on how to handle the recommended standard 20% tip in these circumstances:

• Surcharge = tip still encouraged

• Service charge = technically considered a gratuity but, if you’ve had a stellar experience, you may tip an additional amount

• Living wage = if listed as optional, tip at your discretion

The post What’s That Charge? appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Over the past year, the price of beef has risen roughly 16 percent.

Tavahi Owen

Some people live by the mantra “carpe diem,”which is honorable. More often, I find myself a “seize the craving” gal. Recently, I had a hankering for steak. But not just any steak would do. I wanted—I mean, yearned, with an old-fashioned urgency—for a Denver steak, the melt-in-your-mouth, well-marbled cut that comes from under the shoulder blade. It took little convincing to get my husband in the car and over to one of our favorite date spots, Rare Society. I promptly put in my standard order for an old-fashioned and began scanning the menu. And scanning… and scanning…

No Denver steak.

The steaks have never been lower.

The overall index of food prices has risen 8.8% in March from last year, the largest annual increase since MTV and mullets made their debut. The price of beef has risen roughly 16% over the past year. These jumps are due to a multitude of factors—the war in Ukraine, parts and labor shortages, absurdly high gas prices, rising costs for raw materials, crop supplies, and much more. “Right now in my inventory book there’s nothing going down and no reason for it to go down,” says Derek Stephens, a sales representative with West Coast Prime Meats. “People got out of a pandemic, had a little bit of money saved up and all of a sudden, everyone developed this taste for really high-end meat. That’s a trend that’s going to last until we hit some crazy recession.”

“I feel like the demand is still there,” concurs Brian Smith, owner of The Butchery. “As prices continue to climb, demand will slow simply because people can’t afford it anymore. And that’s the checks and balances in the system.”

Stephens goes on to explain that the cost of rearing animals has also increased, causing a ripple effect through the industry. “Demand is up a little bit and supply is flat, so people are competing for products and it’s driving pricing up as well as the input cost.”

Chef Brad Wise (Trust, Fort Oak, Rare Society, Cardellino), puts it in primal terms. “When you cut an entire cow, you get the left side and the right side; there’s two rib-eye lines and two primals. So you’re getting two pieces.” The competition for these prime cuts extends globally to include restaurants and butchers in countries like China and Japan, who are willing to pay more for beef. Wise says it’s not just a supply issue—he can still purchase any cut of meat he chooses—it’s a ripple effect from the last two years. Where prices used to fluctuate $1 to $2, in November 2021 the price of some items increased 40 to 60 percent, which is unheard of.

This old fashioned—featuring dry-aged fat-washed bourbon with rosemary oleo and bitters—is one example of how Rare Society is eliminating waste in light of the rising beef prices

Matt Furman

For butcheries, absorbing some of these costs is part of the game they have to play. For restaurants, absorbing those costs is a different story; restaurant customers are highly sensitive to price increases, especially when they’re steep as this. “When you’re backed up into a wall, you gotta get a little more creative,” says Wise. “This is one of those things where prices aren’t going down, so now we really need to have zero waste.” Trust Restaurant Group has figured out an internal system to ensure a zero-waste approach to their beef, from using beef fat in cocktails (their dry-aged fat-washed bourbon with rosemary oleo and bitters is a must-try) to making custom ground beef blends, beef butters, tallow-fat fries, and more.

Restaurants that aren’t part of a group are also finding ways to band together for zero-waste endeavors. For instance, Davin and Jessica Waite of Wrench and Rodent Seabasstropub use their dry-aging lockers to make wagyu beef fat lardo from excess trim that chef William Eick of Matsu sends them. The folks over at Ranch 45 are taking things one step further by using beef fat to make their own soap.

“The number-one topic of conversation in the restaurant is trying to figure out at what point raising prices is going to price us out of the market,” says owner and manager Pam Schwartz. Ranch 45 raised prices across the board by $0.50 (“It really should’ve been $1.50,” Schwartz says) while also finding ways to get creative with the menu, like using beef fat for cooking, rendering it down for tallow, and selling it in jars. “We’re using it in brownies, ice cream, caramel sauces. We’re experimenting with different cuts of meat right now, cuts that are in abundant supply and aren’t as expensive. We’re trying things like a pulled beef sandwich and barbacoa tacos.”

Schwartz describes adamantly encouraging her kitchen staff to scrape out every last drop of beef fat from containers. “The way I look at it is that every single thing that goes in the trash amounts to revenue. So how do we keep everything out of the trash and turn it into something we can use to make a profit?”

Despite the increase in prices being nominal and portion sizes remaining the same, Schwartz reports pushback from customers who expect the higher cost to mean more value. “We have this very small restaurant and we try to support our local farmers and local community,” she says, listing Brandt Beef and Chino Farms as two of her top suppliers. “You’re getting high-quality products that you’re not going to get at a better value price. We’re trying to keep everything local and trying to keep other people in business as well. That’s what our customers don’t see.”

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