13 Vegan and Vegetarian-Friendly Spots with Patio Dining in San Diego

When Rigo Munoz opened a weekends-only taco stand on Market Street in 2018, at first, he was just hoping to sell his tacos to however many customers he could. That low-key, word of mouth approach worked well for a couple years. Very well. 

“Then, the line started,” he laughs. He began to double his sales week after week, until an influencer from Tijuana paid them an undercover visit in 2024. Munoz was hanging out in his backyard the next Monday when his phone started pinging and ringing off the hook. “So I go onto my social media and there, lo and beyond, the video already had 10,000, 12,000 views in like, less than an hour,” he says. The next day, there was a line of customers waiting for him before he opened at 5 p.m. The Chula Tacos revolution sparked there. 

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Now, he’s ready to open his third location on August 1 at 4994 Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach. It wasn’t an easy or straightforward path—the city shut down his original location citing too much noise and traffic. But Munoz was looking ahead, already in talks with a restaurateur to take over his space at 1719 Palm Avenue in the Nestor neighborhood of southeast San Diego. From the time he got shut down to getting the keys of his first brick-and-mortar was less than two days. 

The second location in Chula Vista caught fire on Valentine’s Day and is slated to reopen later this fall (689 H Street). Munoz says he also plans to open a fourth location somewhere between the Ocean Beach and Morena Boulevard areas, but has aspirations for more.

“I’d like to become the In-N-Out of tacos,” he says. He’s actively looking for places that could support either a drive-thru or the typical fast-casual taqueria style, but no matter what, he’s going to keep his menu simple. 

Each location has the same menu, except labio, which are ox lips, and beef intestines. They’re top-sellers at Palm Avenue, but might not translate as well to the OB crowd, he says. But guests can still get their fix of vampiro tacos, tacos de trompo, and from-scratch horchata and jamaica. 

Chula Tacos is best known for its kekas (pronounced keh-kuhs), which are extra-large quesadillas stuffed with your choice of meat. “It’s a hefty thing,” Munoz promises. It’s such a trademark that he filed for a patent, which is still pending. 

Building a taco empire has been a long time coming. Munoz first started making tacos at age 12, and has operated a number of cafes, delis, and other businesses on both sides of the border ever since. “We’re a family business,” he says. He’s been trying to hit that mother lode for years—and all it took was one video to light the fuse.

The newest location of Chula Tacos opens August 1 at 4994 Newport Avenue, Suite A in Ocean Beach. Hours of operation are 11 a.m. to midnight daily.  (Opening date subject to change.) 

San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events

Beth’s Bites

• Everyone (clap) watches (clap, clap) women’s sports! (Thunderous applause!) San Diego’s first women’s sports bar, One of Us, opened this week in the former URBN Pizza space in North Park. I stopped by the preview and can confirm the Big Ass Fan is still there, but now there are tons of TVs lining the walls ready to broadcast women’s soccer, basketball, volleyball, and all the other sports events you could ever dream of. (And yes, they’ll be showing the men’s World Cup on Sunday, because I guess people watch men’s sports, too.) 
• Rolando’s ears must have been burning, because a month after interviewing chef Coral Strong of the now-closed Garden Kitchen, Campus Burgers announced plans to turn the formerly hyperlocal farm-to-table restaurant into a spot for affordable smashburgers. I’m sure the local college kids will appreciate the $1.99 smashburger special—although let’s face it, in today’s expensive times, everyone is ready for a wallet-friendly outing. 
• A few months ago, I gave Navore Market’s farm-to-front door delivery service a try and as a longtime former CSA subscriber, I have to admit it felt nice to leave the produce purchasing to the pros. But as of July 12, you can now head to Navore’s second community pickup hub at Mission Valley YMCA (5505 Friars Road) every Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Having a centralized drop-off point makes it easy for farmers, and buyers don’t have to commit to a subscription—sounds like a farm-to-table win to me. 
• Keeping on with the farm-to-table news, the 4th annual Oceanside Sustainable Food Festival is scheduled for July 25 in downtown Oceanside, bringing 50-plus vendors together for a day of global food and drink, artisan products, home goods, live music, and more. The event usually draws in a couple thousand people, so might I suggest arriving close to the 11 a.m. kickoff for the best chance at maximizing your nom?

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After 10 years of rooftop dining and brewing award-winning beers, OB Brewery is for sale. A local fixture on Newport Avenue, OB Brewery owner Mike Tajran is ready to retire and hand over the reins. “It’s got so much potential,” he says, pointing to the accolades the brewpub has collected throughout the last decade (it’s more than a few).

At the 2017 Great American Beer Festival, OB’s Hidden Gem Dunkelweizen won silver in the German-Style Wheat Ale category, followed by a World Beer Cup silver medal as a South German-Style Dunkel Weizen in 2026. In 2018, GABF named OB Brewery Small Brewpub of the Year, brewer Jim Millea earned Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year, and the B. Right On pale ale nabbed a gold medal in the American-Style Pale Ale category. The Elevator Red IPA also took bronze that year at the San Diego International Beer Festival, and earlier this year, they won gold for Couple’s Therapy chili beer and silver for Rauch Me smoked beer at San Diego County Fair Craft Brew Competition.

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It’s a solid foundation for the right buyer, he says—someone with brewing and business chops ready for a turnkey operation in a favorable location a block from the beach on Ocean Beach’s busiest street. (And while he’s letting go of the brewpub business, he’s also open to selling the building as part of the deal.)

Originally from Iraq, Tajran’s family ran restaurants in Baghdad, but “they were decimated by Saddam Hussein,” he explains. Once in the United States, he launched Giant New York Pizza at 5050 Newport Avenue in 1984, which eventually became Newport Pizza & Ale House. Newport Pizza felt long ahead of its time, proudly proclaiming they served “no crap on tap” years before the craft beer craze caught fire in San Diego. 

When the building’s owners passed away and their son cut his lease short in 2020, Tajran says he was disappointed, but he had a nagging feeling that would happen eventually—which is why he already purchased 5041 Newport Avenue back in 2009 and opened Ocean Beach Brewery in 2016.

“For 42 years, I have been in this location in this area, the same block,” he says with pride. Ocean Beach has gone through some changes since 1984 (the OB farmers market launched in 1992, Starbucks came in 2001 and left in 2022, ADUs crept in, and the iconic OB Pier closed in 2023), but Tajran says the heart of the beachside town has remained the same. 

So has most of his staff. Millea has been brewing since day one, and longtime manager Megan Schuster has worked for Tajran for 19 years, first at Newport, then at OB Brewery. Most of the employees are locals, and Tajran says he doesn’t plan on closing the business until he finds the right buyer to carry on the baton. 

The property itself comes with some unique features for the area—three stories with a rooftop deck and ocean views from every level. And if you’re wondering if those uninterrupted views will remain that way, Tajran assures me they will. Part of his original building purchase included language that prohibits the three buildings between him and the ocean from building up. He also leases space next door, which would allow a new owner to expand brewing capacity with more tanks and fermenters. 

“I just wanted to make sure this goes in good hands,” he says. He and his wife both hope to retire soon in order to spend time with their children. But he’ll make sure his other baby is taken care of first. 

“I love Ocean Beach,” he says. “I can say nothing but thank you, OB.”

OB Brewery is still open at 5041 Newport Avenue. Hours are Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Interested parties should contact Next Wave Commercial.

San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events

Beth’s Bites

• Along the same vein of iconic businesses, Tribute Pizza is celebrating 10 years in North Park this week with different events every night. Good luck getting a reservation if you haven’t already, but you can still take part in the silent auction on behalf of Feeding San Diego. Owner Matt Lyons’ goal is to raise $100,000 for the nonprofit and is offering some pretty sweet stuff to do so—think a full weekend buyout of Tribute, a private event with Lyons and chef Travis Swikard of Callie and Fleurette, a year of access to a VIP hotline for reservations, and even more. Time is ticking away on your chance to bid, so be sure to make your best offer before time runs out.
• La Corriente continues its expansion across San Diego with lucky number three coming to Oceanside. Located next to Tanner’s Prime Burgers and PopUp Bagels, a restaurant rep says that at the rate the restaurant is opening new spaces, it wouldn’t be wild to see a few more pop up along the coast in the future. 
• Kitchens for Good has big plans on the horizon, including their sprawling new Culinary Impact Center coming to Bankers Hill next year. Now, it should be a bit easier to accomplish their (many) goals with the help of a $50,000 grant from the Jacques Pépin Foundation. Kitchens for Good is one of four awardees this year and will receive the funds over the next two years, allowing them to launch their Market Cafe initiative in the new center and continue their mission of hospitality training programs and ending food insecurity across the city. It’s a pretty awesome award, given by a pretty awesome group to another pretty awesome group, so it’s just mega-awesome all the way around. 

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If you’ve ever squeezed yourself into a pair of black skinny jeans with a studded belt, sported a track jacket under a band t-shirt, or swept your Manic Panic-hued hair so far to the side that your part got caught in your cartilage earring, I have good news: Ocean Beach will get a shot of emo and pop-punk nostalgia when Drink 182 opens this July.

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The pop-punk bar and pizza spot comes with bonafide scene points. Co-founder Jay Nightride runs the music production studio Nightride Visuals, has worked with artists like Steve Aoki, Lil Jon, and Fall Out Boy, and also plays in Death Cab for Karaoke, a live karaoke band that performs every month at Soda Bar (among other venues). His partner Tony Jaw is easier to spot—he’s the guy with the sky-high mohawk manning the karaoke booth at Redwing Bar & Grill who’s been in the local bar and hospitality business for over a decade. 

Nightride says he’s had the idea for an emo enclave for years, but it wasn’t until after Covid that he partnered with Jaw and got the funding to move forward. “What I was looking to build was a place that I would want to be, where would I want to go to remember these nostalgic songs,” he says. 

Pending permits and final inspections, Drink 182 is slated to open the second half of July. The vibe will be dive bar meets emo night, with memorabilia from different bands who have supported the project splashed across the walls, plus a few arcade games, TVs, and (I assume) a decent sound system. The hours are still undetermined, but Nightride says they tentatively plan to be open until 2 a.m. on weekends and Wednesdays for the OB Farmers Market. In the mornings, they’ll serve fresh pastries and coffee from the similarly music-aligned James Coffee Company (whose co-owner David Kennedy is a member of Angels & Airwaves with blink-182’s Tom DeLonge).

But it’ll be the pizza that really stands out—or at least, they hope. “We’re doing New England beach pizza… a really niche pizza that not a lot of people would know about, unless you’re from North Shore, Massachusetts,” says Nightride, a former Bostonian. “It’s a thin crust, very sweet sauce, very simple, fast, go-to-the-beach kind of thing.”

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“Beach pizza” is characterized by its rectangular shape, very thin crust, sweet tomato sauce, and slices of Provolone cheese with minimal toppings. Drink 182’s version will feature homemade dough and sauce, as well as freshly sliced Boar’s Head Provolone. And yes, they are aware there are already a lot of pizza options in the area. It won’t be the same, Nightride promises. 

“Everybody’s first reaction when they hear ‘pizza’ is like, ‘Oh great, another pizza place in OB,’” he laughs. “But we’re trying to do something different, just enough to differentiate it and give people another option.” If you’re not keen on the style, try one of their “drunkables,” another nostalgic riff they hope the pop-punk and emo crowd will appreciate. And if you still need a reason to give Drink 182 a try, I have more good news—you don’t actually have to break out your old skinny jeans. (In fact, please don’t.)

Drink 182 opens July 2026 at 5049 Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach.

San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events

Beth’s Bites

• If the steak hype wasn’t hot enough already, The Heritage Steakhouse in Santee just announced Meredith Manée will serve as executive chef of the New York-style steakhouse when it opens in August. Her star-studded kitchen resume spans over 25 years, with stints at the Hotel del Coronado, the Four Seasons, and The Ritz-Carlton Maui, so I think it’s safe to assume we’ll be in good hands. 
• Rather than waste away in Margaritaville, you have the chance to support the San Diego Music Foundation at the annual Jimmy Buffett-inspired Day of Service at Margaritaville Hotel San Diego Gaslamp Quarter. On September 4 starting at 5 p.m., the rooftop bar will be rocking with live music and plenty of flowing cocktails, plus a silent auction and other activations to raise money for the local music education organization. I’ll drink to that. 
• The early bird gets the worm and you can get the early ticket to Celebrate the Craft, the annual culinary festival that takes place at The Lodge at Torrey Pines on October 18. If you snag your ticket before the end of June, you can save $50 (which is nothing to sneeze at), plus you’ll be helping support the San Diego Food Bank. 
• Mani e Grani, the pizza spot from the same people behind Ciccia Osteria, seems to be inching ever closer to opening its doors in Barrio Logan. I know I’m not the only one anxiously awaiting sinking my teeth into some wood-fired, chewy but crispy, hot-from-the-oven, authentic Italian pizza.

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Have breaking news, exciting scoops, or great stories about new San Diego restaurants or the city’s food scene? Send your pitches to [email protected].

Anyone who’s lived in San Diego long enough can sense that Ocean Beach just runs on a different vibration. And after launching his sourdough bread business five years ago at the farmers market, David Moore couldn’t imagine going anywhere else to open Sourdough & Moore as a brick-and-mortar bakery with co-owner Emma Gibb.

“I’ve actually lived here for 25 years,” says Moore. “It’s our eclectic beach community.”

Like so many sourdough endeavors, theirs was born out of pandemic boredom. “I got real heavy into a lot of fermentation—kombucha, apple cider vinegar,” explains Moore, who had been working at the Omni San Diego Hotel for 20 years. After an injury kept him back at home longer than he expected, he figured he’d give selling his bread a real shot at the farmers market. 

OB dug it.

“I had to kind of start making decisions—whether or not I was going to be working at the hotel a little more, or doing some baking,” he says. He added the Mission Valley farmers market to his rotation, expanded his repertoire to more breads and bagels, started selling his stuff at Olive Tree Marketplace, and eventually brought on Gibb.

Gibb had long been a hobbyist baker, working in the corporate world to pay the bills until one day, she couldn’t take it anymore. “I just wanted to bake,” she says.

She headed to the Mission Valley farmers market, and started peppering the vendors with questions. “That’s where I met Dave,” she says. He helped her establish a small pastry business and connected her with a few local restaurants to supply their desserts. 

“When the opportunity came for Dave to get the actual storefront here, he asked if I wanted to be involved, and I definitely jumped at the chance,” she laughs. He’d been sharing space in a commissary kitchen in OB, growing big enough that the owners decided to sell it to him. 

OB already has a couple of awesome bakeries: Azucar, Phatties Bake Shop, Desperado Bagels. But Moore thinks they have something unique to add to that—including the 100-year-old sourdough starter that’s the big bang of almost everything they make. 

“I like to think it has some unique flavor,” he says. “It’s a key essential for the bagels, baguettes, focaccia, the bread, croissants…”

Gibb chimes in. “Anything that would require yeast is going to be sourdough. The only things that it’s not in are going to be, like cookies and brownies and like little cakes. ”

Bread loaves range from roasted rosemary garlic to jalapeño cheddar, caramelized onion and cinnamon raisin. For bagels, they’re making an asiago black pepper, roasted fennel and poppyseed, rosemary lemon, and of course everything. Once open, Moore wants to introduce pizza with sourdough crust, plus some breakfast and lunch sandwiches on (you guessed it) sourdough baguettes or focaccia. 

On the pastry side, Gibb plans to keep people guessing with a rotating seasonal menu of different croissants, cinnamon rolls, danishes. But even things like chocolate chip cookies are never quite as simple as they appear to be. “I do a 50 percent chocolate chip ratio to dough, and they’re almost half a pound each,” she says. “All of the pastries are made with organic flour, local eggs [from Hilliker’s Ranch Fresh Eggs in Lakeside], and imported European chocolate.”

The storefront will be open Wednesday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. to start. And they’re going to keep a booth at both the Mission Valley and Ocean Beach farmers markets. 

“We’re really appreciative to this local San Diego community, the people of Ocean Beach,” says Gibb. Moore agrees. “They’re screaming for us to open.”

And if OBecians do one thing especially well, it’s staying loyal to locals.

Sourdough & Moore opens at 4853 Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach on Friday, November 14. On Sunday, November 2, the bakery is collaborating with another OB favorite, An’s Electronics Repair, for a one-day pop-up pre-order pairing with four different options from Sourdough & Moore with three gelatos and three jams from An’s.

San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events

Relic Bakery & Kitchen Is (Finally) Open In East Village

Anyone who’s ever opened a restaurant will tell you it never happens as fast as you think it’s going to. (Just ask the Chick & Hawk guys.) But Samantha Bird and Derek Hadden, the partners behind Relic Bakery & Kitchen, have made it to the finish line and officially opened the doors to their brand spankin’ new cafe at 845 15th Street. It’s been five years in the making, from baking in their apartment to hosting pop-ups to a wholesale business to a brick-and-mortar bakery. “We can’t be more excited to welcome you in,” says Bird. 

Hailing from Palermo, Italy, chef Ignazio Tagliavia opened his first restaurant in Abruzzo and eventually became a master of the Pizza News School Grandi Molini Italiani in 2016. (It’s like going to the Culinary Institute of America, but just for pizza.) He’s worked in Europe, Egypt, L.A., New York, Miami, and most recently at Elvira in Ocean Beach, so it’s safe to say that he can toss a mean ‘za. And when Bianchi Pizza & Pasta opens at Bahia Resort Hotel in late May, guests and locals can once again chow down on his Neapolitan-style slices and pies.

Bahia has zhuzhed itself up a bit over the past few years, including opening Dockside 1953 in 2023 and undergoing renovations here and there on the 1950s-era property. Bianchi will be another step into the 21st century, with wood-fired pizza and Negronis mixed by food and beverage director Benjamin Dunn served in an indoor/outdoor space designed to emulate an Italian piazza, plus a 12-seat bar and private dining room. 

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The resort’s general manager, Stefan Peroutka, says the menu is intended as a mix of classic Italian techniques and ingredients, but with an approachable feel. Plus, he adds, the drinks are going to be as good as the pizza, with plenty of Italian favorites like spritzes, amaros, and signature cocktails made with Italian liqueurs. There will also be wine, beer, and non-alcoholic cocktail options, all designed to pair with chef Tagliavia’s creations.

The pizza program centers around a wood and gas-fueled Marra Forni Pizza Oven, which uses a traditional brick oven setup with a rotating pizza deck to quick-fire pizzas in 90 seconds—a process that guests can watch first-hand. The menu includes classics like margherita pizzas; rapini and sausage pizza made with fennel sausage, rapini (sometimes called broccoli rabe), mozzarella, stracciatella, cherry tomatoes, and black pepper; plus pastas like a tagliatelle Bolognese with homemade ragù, tomato, parsley and Italian Parmigiano Reggiano; and an Amalfi Coast-inspired seafood salad with squid, shrimp, mussels, potatoes, red onion, fennel, extra virgin olive oil, parsley, and a citrus dressing. 

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Mission Bay is much more known for its watersports than culinary prowess, but with Bianchi, Bahia may be upping the ante. After all, who doesn’t like pizza? And with a bonafide pizza king behind the oven, the area is poised to start offering as much on shore as off. I say—bring on the paddleboards and the pizza.

San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events

It’s Finally Lager’s Year

If you, like me, have been waiting for lager to make a triumphant comeback and vanquish the scourge of Hazy IPAs defiling our land and palates, then it’s time to rejoice—North Park Beer Company’s Lager Day in the Park is back. The third annual event returns to its Bankers Hill taproom on Sunday, June 15 (Father’s Day) with over 30 breweries bringing their best lagers along with them. Lagers aren’t just light yellow beers crushed at barbecues and baseball games. No, no. Lagers can be crisp and refreshing, malt forward or hoppy, fruity, bitter, and everything in between. Come see what all the fuss is about. 

Beth’s Bites

• It’s bagel’s year and it’s just getting started. Soon to join the ranks of San Diego’s best bagel shops is PopUp Bagels, a growing chain known for its “grip, rip, and dip” technique. A PopUp rep says it hopes to open 10 locations across the county in the coming years, with the first one(s) debuting this fall.
• I’ve had tea, and I’ve had cheese, but I can’t say I’ve yet tried cheese tea. Soon, I’ll get my chance when Heytea opens at Westfield UTC. First launched in 2012, the eatery now has over 4,000 stores across the world. Heytea says they invented “new-style” tea, and based on the description alone, I can’t argue with that. 
• I want so much for chef Priscilla Curiel to find her forever home. Her concepts, which include Tuetano Taqueria, Mujer Divina, and now Mujer Divina Brunch Cafe, have moved from San Ysidro to Old Town to Chula Vista, where I hope—I pray—they find stationary success. Her brunch cafe is now open at 214 Third Avenue (next to Mujer Divina Burrito & Coffee House) and based on history, I’d say get it while the gettin’s good. But if all goes well (and it should for this Michelin-recognized talent), I have a feeling everything is staying put. 

Have breaking news, exciting scoops, or great stories about new San Diego restaurants or the city’s food scene? Send your pitches to [email protected].