Best Things I Ate This Month: October 2015
Lamb Burger @ Café 21
A couple years ago, the funky vaguely hippie-ish Café 21 took over the old Croce’s spot in the Gaslamp. Would the healthy-ish, pan-global cuisine from the local chef-owner Leyla Javadov, be able to survive in the splashy showroom of San Diego’s main tourist row? The answer is resoundingly yes. The café is always packed. I stopped by recently for a lamb burger. A simple thing, really. Just a generous patty, well seasoned and tasting boldly of lamb, with a garlic aioli on a brioche bun. What a fantastic burger, with the slight goat cheese tang of the aioli. Even better might have been the accompanying potato pancake stuffed with mozzarella. Oh sweet baby jesus.
802 5th Ave., Downtown
Best Things I Ate This Month: October 2015
Vermicelli Noodles @ Sovereign Kitchen
San Diego Asian food restaurateur Alex Thao had a tumultuous month. He announced the closing of three of his restaurants in Downtown (Suja, Lucky Liu’s and Rama). And the top chef from Vietnam that he had partnered with for Sovereign Kitchen announced his departure. Still, Thao’s a longtime restaurateur who knows that he’s doing. And a recent lunch in there, we loved the cold vermicelli noodles with seasoned bo nuong (marinated beef in lemongrass, herbs and soy). Worth a taste.
467 5th Ave., Downtown
Best Things I Ate This Month: October 2015
Ahi Tacos @ The Hake
In the search for this month’s “Very Important Taco” for San Diego Magazine, the physical edition, I sampled a handful. And the VIT came down to two phenomenal inventions. One of them was this, one of the most inventive and refreshing riffs on the fish taco I’ve seen in San Diego. The soft “shell” is made entirely if thinly sliced jicama, so it’s both crunchy and slightly juicy. The interior is ahi tossed in ponzu with cucumber, sriracha and sesame seeds. On a hot fall day by the beach in La Jolla? These are your lunch.
1250 Prospect Street, La Jolla
