The dark side of an alien planet now exists in South Park. You can drink a Mind Killer in it. And you can stare at stalagmites and shooting stars, namedrop L. Ron Hubbard, just utterly detach from reality.
Open the door at the corner of Juniper and 30th Street. The back of that door is covered in a hyper-blue rock formation, both prehistoric and interplanetary, like Land of the Lost on shrooms. I don’t care if it’s light or dark outside or if you have the vision of a bird of prey. You will go momentarily blind. It is so incredibly dark in here. But a few moments later (after you’ve navigated the slight twist of the cave entrance), your eyes will recover, you’ll start to comprehend that you are in the crash-landed restaurant and space lounge, Mothership. One half is what remains of the ship (the bar is the ship’s console). The other half is the barren intergalactic wasteland of your Thursday night out. Alien plant life is snaking and encroaching the hull, pools of psychedelic light occupy crannies. Tiki cocktails are served. Vegan food is native language.
Photo Credit: James Tran
The wild tropical-escapism idea started in 2016 at vegan restaurant, Kindred—a retro-futuristic tiki cocktail pop-up night called “Permanent Vacation.” The night grew and grew and—pandemic pause—grew. Now it has its logical forever home. The fever dream was brought to life by noted designer Ignacio “Notch” Gonzalez, whose company Top Notch Kustoms crafted the famous tiki bar other-worlds in San Francisco (Smuggler’s Cove, Whitechapel) and Seattle (Inside Passage).
“Rather than just be a space bar with random nerdy space things thrown around, we had to start with the story,” says owner Kory Stetina. “We wanted to do this truly immersive experience, so we needed to understand what its story was before we built it. So a ship has crash landed into a light volcano and part of the ship has been broken off into the rocks and plants…”
We could go on. There restaurant comes with its own sci-fi novela that Dune author Frank Herbert could appreciate. But some things—especially this thing—are best left to be experienced.
Photo Credit: James Tran
But we will say that there are easter eggs hidden about (play around with the electronics panel between the bathrooms). Local plant designer Britton Neubacher of Tend Living designed “new species” of plants that seem to be infecting the ship a la the black tentacles in Stranger Things. There is art from Tom Neely, who created the comics Humans and Henry and Glenn Forever. The imaginative fiction of the place got so out of hand that Mothership even has its own OST (original soundtrack), eight-and-a-half hours of luminous space rock from musician Justin Pinkerton, the first part of which has been pressed onto vinyl.
“Justin is a childhood friend, going back to 1983 in Encinitas,” Stetina says. “I once gave him an old synthesizer because it was getting absolutely no use in my place. Didn’t know years later he’d use it to create the Mothership soundtrack.”
That’s the thing about Mothership. While naysayers will nay and say, it’s a collection of friends and makers working toward a far-out idea. “I do think it’s so outrageous that design elites could look at it as being over the top,” admits Stetina. “But that’s kind of the point. Especially right now, I think we all need a little escapism. It’s fun and makes you smile and captures that childlike wonder. And these were a bunch of single maker people who connected through music and art and Kindred and tiki. It’s a lot of independent weirdos giving all they could give.”
Photo Credit: James Tran
On the serious side—cocktails and food are serious. Kindred chef Dylan Craver has created the menu, which intentionally brings all flavors in the universe together—like a potato latke with a Korean twist, or an okonomiyaki. Beverage director David Kinsey and bar manager Juan Castañeda have gone above and beyond to create 17 original tiki cocktails.
“Despite the outrageousness, many of the drinks have inspiration rooted in classic midcentury tiki,” says Stetina. “We spun them into weird terrain and chose garnishes like dried sage, which is our equivalent of the mint garnish. We’ve made gardenias as a nut butter-based mixture that’s in the Pearl Diver cocktail, and made it with a cultured and churned cashew butter. We created three different house orgeats, three grenadines.”
Mothership opens Aug. 2 (reminder: “soft openings” are supposed to be a bit of a cluster, so be kind). Sometime within the next week you’ll be able to make reservations for 90-minute experiences. As for Stetina, on the eve of “friends and family” test runs, he says, “Sure, right now I’m ragged and broke. But for better or worse, being able to witness something like this come to life, to give it its best shot, go all in, jump off the cliff, completely leveraged—it’s all worth it.”
Troy Johnson is the magazine’s award-winning food writer and humorist, and a long-standing expert on Food Network. His work has been featured on NatGeo, Travel Channel, NPR, and in Food Matters, a textbook of the best American food writing.
His ascent has been stealth and humble, which fits the man. When Liberty Station was struggling to convince people it existed over a decade ago, Sicilian chef Accursio Lota’s food at Solare Ristorante was a tractor beam for food people who sniff out hidden talent like truffle dogs. In 2017, he won the World Pasta Championship (a legit competition from global pasta brand Barilla) and struck out on his own, opening his and his wife’s from-scratch pasta trattoria in North Park (Cori Pastificio). Gambero Rosso—the Italian version of Michelin, the most respected source—has clamored for the restaurant since it opened, naming it “New Opening of the Year” and this year giving it their highest award, “Tre Forchette” (Three Forks), only knighted on a handful of US restaurants.
So this year, Lota opened his grandest thing—Dora Ristorante—and it pulls everything together. Steps from San Diego’s world-class theater, La Jolla Playhouse, it’s laden with brass and large-format murals, tile work and mosaics—like the one on the wood-burning oven that blisters, chars, and smokes a good portion of the menu. Their housemade focaccia is a new street drug (try it with the puttanesca, his grandmother Dora’s recipe). The olive oil-cured sardines make “sustainable seafood” and ethics not taste like a compromise. Dora might finally be the one to solve the “where do I eat before the world premiere at LJP” dilemma.
The yuzu-colored building that helped build North Park’s modern food culture is alive again. Years ago, the ornate French Quarter–inspired spot on 30th Street was home to chef Matt Gordon’s Urban Solace (duck macaroni and cheese). Then it laid conspicuous and fallow until a few months ago when Bacari took it on. It’s an LA transplant, but they’re proving forgivable of that trespass. Chef and co-founder Lior Hillel cooked at Jean-Georges before opening the first of this Venetian-style restaurant in 2008 with brothers Danny and Robert Kronfi (Bobby started his food venture with a pop-up dinner series in his college apartment at USC).
For dinner, it’s house-baked bread, crudo and shrimp ceviches, Mediterranean street corn, lamb hummus, shawarma, and glazed pork belly. Weekend brunch is bellinis and French toast and burekas (famed Jewish stuffed puff pastry), and chef Noa’s cauliflower (caramelized with chipotle). It’s Italian-ish with a heavy dose of pan-Mediterranean and Middle Eastern. Doesn’t hurt that they left the iconic exterior as is, adding chandelier-farmhouse insides with charm that echoes two of the city’s dearly departed (Jayne’s Gastropub, Cafe Chloe).
Courtesy of TRUST Restaurant Group
À L’ouest
Much tolerance for friends who hate mussels because they look too biological. But if they manage to dislike À L’ouest’s—served over ice with vadouvan curry aioli and chili crisp—then you’ve successfully identified your brokemouth friend and should try bicycling or crafting with them to bond instead of eating in public places. It should be on everyone’s short list for dish of the year.
Chef Brad Wise and his team have earned their rep over multiple concepts—Trust, Fort Oak, Cardellino, Wise Ox, Rare Society. But he’s been eyeing this corner of North Park since before he opened his first (Trust, in 2016). North Park has been rising for a while, and À L’ouest feels like the missing piece—an indoor-outdoor brasserie stunner on the marquee spot of 30th and University, which long sat boarded up and vacant like a neighborhood missing a front tooth.
As with his other concepts, woodpile is king; smoldering red oak boosts the flavor of just about everything. Get the spätzle with braised rabbit, maitake mushroom, secret de compostelle (the famed Basque sheep’s milk cheese), and black truffle. Or the chicken liver parfait with persimmon, fennel aigre-doux (sweet-sour), and chives on toast. Or, like everyone else in there—the steak frites.
Photo Credit: Eric Wolfinger
Fleurette
Chef Travis Swikard’s first solo restaurant, Callie in East Village, proved how details can make the most composed of us blubber a little in fine places—from citrus left in ovens overnight to blacken and transform, to the Scripps Oceanographic Institute saltwater he keeps his spot prawns thriving in until ordered, to the days-long fermentation and stone-ground dukkah that turn carrot shavings into a statement piece.
Now, he’s focusing on French food with a fitter, less buttery San Diego heart. Fleurette is his doubling-down, a SoCal riff on the food he learned under mentors Daniel Boulud and Gavin Kaysen. The French gave us the mother sauces, and Fleurette showcases the lightest and brightest evolutions. Like the anchoïade on his beef tartare, which uses famed Italian anchovy sauce colatura di alici, mixed with cured egg yolks over tiny, uniform-sized cubes of raw, USDA Prime Flannery beef.
There is soubise (onion sauce), a sauce vierge (tomatoes and herbs), and a fennel marmalade on the duck liver and bone marrow pâté. Although the structure is stunningly pure glass, Fleurette’s in a location—an office park on the edge of La Jolla, near UTC—that few chefs would be able to pull off. But Swikard’s Michelin-bound house of saucework pulls hard.
The Escondido taqueria from Rosarito-born-and-trained chef Juan González and farmer Megan Strom took the county by storm this year. The married couple started as a popup four years ago, hosting farmside dinners before taking up residency at Vino Carta in Solana Beach. Strom was working a small, 5-acre heirloom bean farm in Valley Center owned by Mike Reeske (aka “The Bean Man”) when he retired and sold them the plot.
The huge bonus was that the sale included Reeske’s famed collection of beans, curated over 20 years. The couple planted other things and now grow much of what they serve in the form of tacos and burritos at a permanent spot in Escondido: Mesa Agrícola.
The menu’s bone simple: housemade tortillas in your choice of taco or burrito norteños (which are smaller, like burritos de hielera) that change constantly and often topped with guisados (Mexican braises or stews) like lamb and garbanzo, birria, chicharrón, mushrooms al ajillo, rajas, you name it. And, of course, some of the best beans honoring the local legend of Reeske.
Courtesy of Lucien
Lucien
San Diego is now the recipient of national food buzz. The dark ages—during which we learned how to sear ahi and asada some carne and called it a day—felt prolonged, and they were. The problem was never ingredients. San Diego County always had the best raw dinner materials (more small farms per capita than any county in the US, seafood right there); it just didn’t have a critical mass of highly trained chefs to do them justice. Easy to understand the chef dearth.
For a very long time, if you wanted to be a serious chef you had to go to the restaurant superplexes of New York, San Francisco, or Chicago (which imported their raw ingredients from places like San Diego). But now—credit farmers or Alice Waters or Dan Barber or Michael Pollain or the reasonable conclusion that food picked right here tastes better than food picked way over there—some of the most talented chefs are moving to the ingredients, not the other way around.
In San Diego, we got Richard Blais, Swikard, and now Elijah Arizmendi, who cut his teeth in Vegas with Joel Robuchon (plus Boulud and Thomas Keller) and was chef de cuisine at NYC’s L’abeille when it got its first Michelin star. His debut restaurant in La Jolla—with partners Brian Hung and Melissa Yang—is a dark, moody multicourse tasting-menu hideaway with one of the best egg dishes in the city.
Troy Johnson is the magazine’s award-winning food writer and humorist, and a long-standing expert on Food Network. His work has been featured on NatGeo, Travel Channel, NPR, and in Food Matters, a textbook of the best American food writing.
Some keep lists of favorite books, of quotes, of enemies whose time shall come. At SDM we keep vast, nuanced, hotly debated lists of the best food and drink in the city. Menus are our smut novels. From Michelin stars to mom and pops, our list constantly evolves over hundreds of new bites tried every year. Here’s the 2026 list from food critic Troy Johnson and 129,000-plus votes from our readers, who really, really know their food.
Scroll down for the full list of Best Restaurant winners
Troy Johnson is the magazine’s award-winning food writer and humorist, and a long-standing expert on Food Network. His work has been featured on NatGeo, Travel Channel, NPR, and in Food Matters, a textbook of the best American food writing.
When Kelsey and Amanda McNair opened North Park Beer Company in 2016—they knew their strengths. Kelsey was an accomplished and award-winning homebrewer several times over (his West Coast IPA Hop-Fu! has won more awards than any IPA in homebrew history). Amanda’s design sensibility and business acumen helped bring the now-signature mid-century aesthetic to life alongside Basile Studio.
They also knew their shortcomings.
“When I leased this location, I knew it had to have food,” explains McNair. But he’d never owned, run, or even worked in a restaurant. Rather than winging it, he partnered with Mastiff Kitchen, who for 10 years provided housemade sausages, giant Bavarian pretzels, chicken wings, and “pig fries” loaded with al pastor sausage, crispy pork belly, slow roasted pork, harissa aioli, cotija cheese, and cilantro.
Now, NP Beer Co’s two satellite tasting rooms have successfully launched their own food programs. In Bankers Hill, you can get one of the best smashburgers in town, plus 24-hour brined crispy chicken wings, twice-fried hand-cut cheesy bacon garlic fries, or a pulled pork sandwich on a toasted Martin’s potato roll. In its Crown Point location, McNair brought his pie obsession to life with New York-style pizza that uses Bianco di Napoli tomatoes and Ezzo pepperoni (the “cuppy” kind).
So when Mastiff’s lease came up for potential renewal, McNair decided it was time to bring the entire operation at NPBC HQ under one umbrella. For the first time, North Park Beer Company will launch its own food program at its flagship location in early June.
Director of culinary ops Sam Navarro says the menu will focus on global pub fare. “If you were going to different parts around the world and drinking beers, what would you be consuming?” he asks. In England, you could wash down a plate of fish and chips with a malty ale. In Japan, crispy chicken karaage goes marvelously with a dry Japanese lager. And tacos also go with beer—any beer.
Courtesy of North Park Beer Co.
Those will all be on the new menu, which is broken into sections for shareables (the huge space draws huge herds), salads, tacos, and mains. Highlights include the chicken karaage on Tokyo fries (Togarashi-seasoned, twice-fried Kennebec potato fries with miso aioli, tonkatsu sauce, sriracha drizzle, and topped with scallions and furikake), coconut curry fries, Nacho-Fu! nachos (with totopos chips, queso fundido, pickled jalapenos and onions, chipotle lime crema, cotija cheese, cilantro, and salsa verde)—plus vegetarian and vegan options.
Tacos range from Baja fish tacos to a traditional conchinita pibil—pork shoulder marinated for a day in its homemade adobo, then wrapped in banana leaves and roasted for a few hours, served with picked red onion, radish, and cilantro. “[We] want to be true to what it is and do it the best way possible we can, so you can take a trip to those locations around the world without leaving San Diego,” he says.
Some of the burgers are previous specials from Bankers Hill that have been “knock it out of the park hits,” says McNair, and now have a permanent place on the North Park menu. The Tokyo Smash features two smashed beef patties with Swiss cheese, ponzu-marinated and seared pork belly, miso aioli, and quick pickled cabbage. Another is the French Onion Smash with a veal-based aioli, caramelized onions, crispy fried onions, and melted cheese.“It’s like taking a bite into French onion soup in a burger,” promises Navarro.
Anyone lamenting the loss of Mastiff’s pork nugs, weep not—they’re still available at Mastiff in La Mesa and NPBC is introducing a shareable Chashu-style pork belly with maple-miso caramel, black sesame seeds, scallions, chili crisp, and pickled vegetables.
Official launch will coincide with North Park Beer Company’s 10th anniversary party on Tuesday, June 23 (soft launching beforehand). They’ll bring back some of the original beers for the shindig, including styles they haven’t brewed in eons.
“It feels natural to do this at this point in time,” he says. “This whole thing is really going to complete the vision for this location.”
Even though chef Travis Swikard has made a name for himself as one of the top chefs in the country with Callie, he’s never done a tasting menu in San Diego. He’s changing that at his new La Jolla spot Fleurette this month with Menu du Marché—a seven-course prix fixe experience in Fleurette’s Soleil Room. Based on the already-limited reservations, this one is going to go quick.
Flexibility is key when opening a new business, and who knows better than Victoria O’Bryan? The former wine director for three-star Michelin Addison announced her eagerly awaited wine shop and bar Electric Wines last year. Now they’ve shifted its opening location from Park Boulevard to 4644 30th Street (the former Lovesick Chapel space). Hopefully, this means she’s one step closer to opening, because I am ready to put myself in her expert hands.
North County is about to get a little more caffeinated. Ritzy Roast Coffee Company is opening this summer at 1830 Rancho del Oro, Suite 140 in Oceanside, just a hop and skip away from Frontwave Arena. Its Instagram promises that gelato will also be on the menu.
Listen Now: The Latest in San Diego’s Food and Drink Scene
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].
Beth Demmon is an award-winning writer and podcaster whose work regularly appears in national outlets and San Diego Magazine. Her first book, The Beer Lover's Guide to Cider, is now available. Find out more on bethdemmon.com.
Stake Chophouse & Bar isn’t your average steakhouse. Blue Bridge Hospitality’s Coronado outpost is a modern interpretation of a big-city steakhouse nestled in the heart of the small coastal community. The team at Stake has reimagined the whole steakhouse experience. By prioritizing a seasonal farm-to-table sourcing philosophy, a personalized guest experience, and unique service touches, like a formal steak presentation and a bespoke knife selection process, Stake distinguishes itself in a sea of steakhouses.
Exceptional steaks, including Wagyu from Japan, Australia, and the U.S., and fresh seafood flown in daily form the core of Stake’s culinary identity. The menu features a five-course omakase-style steak experience highlighting house favorites, plus an array of cuts, and classic steakhouse staples—think a wedge salad, baked potato, or pasta carbonara—refined for a contemporary palate without losing their traditional appeal. Stake focuses on seasonal sourcing from the region’s best family farms and specialty purveyors, and incorporates intentionally unexpected touches to create something truly unique.
“I challenge our chefs and myself to take it a step further in sourcing,” says Chef Ronnie Schwandt. “It’s important to us to highlight different farms, unique one-off farms—whether it’s cattle, strawberries, a local fisherman or from anywhere in the United States, we’re always trying to find that niche.”
Beyond the menu, Stake emphasizes outstanding service, says Vinny Spatafore, Director of Hospitality Operations. Staff maintains detailed notes, allowing them to remember guests by name, recall previous orders such as a favorite martini (also memorable for the customer since it’s served in an extra tall, distinctly-shaped glass), and celebrate special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries.
“When you have those points of topic that you remember about a guest, they appreciate that,” he says. “Our servers are really good with that—we have a couple servers who have been here since the beginning and they’ll remember somebody from years ago, their name, their kids’ names, where they live. I’m really thankful to have a great front of house staff.”
Award-winning wines, rare whiskeys, special events, and a complementary black car service that provides transportation for guests throughout Coronado add to Stake’s appeal.
Schwandt stresses that Stake offers more than a meal; they aim to give patrons something unforgettable.
“It starts when you walk up the stairs and are greeted by the hostess—that sets the tone for the night. Then you’re greeted by a server, who may know you by name, and can guide you through the menu and curate as they get to know you,” says Schwandt. “Most people leave kind of blown away; they leave feeling like they just had an experience. That’s the goal, right? Whether you’re serving smash burgers or high-end steak, you want somebody to leave thinking, Wow, that was awesome.”
John Lennon believed all you need is love, but one restaurant team wants to provide guests with love and magic. This June, Shawn Seaman, Mike Mayaudon, and Ryan Mencik will open Amor y Magia (“love and magic”) next to Little Victory Wine Bar in Carlsbad.
The group has been working on the concept for two years, building a Latin American–inspired menu that takes cues from Mencik’s Filipino and Mayaudon’s Venezuelan heritages, as well as San Diego’s proximity to Mexico.
Spain colonized the Philippines from 1565 to 1898 and Mexico from 1521 to 1821, leaving a deep influence throughout both countries’ cuisines. “I want to balance tradition with creativity by honoring the roots of Latin America and Latin cuisine, but also pushing the boundaries with experimentation,” says Mencik, Amor y Magia’s executive chef.
The group’s past projects, Same Same in Carlsbad and Good Enough Cocktail Club in Little Italy, give a taste of that boundary-pushing ideology. (One is a proudly irreverent technicolor Thai-fusion extravaganza, while the other is a listening bar cosplaying as a tattoo studio and pleasantly affordable cocktail lounge. Both are worth a visit.)
Photo Credit: Maya Seaman
Amor Y Magia’s menu will include a rotating raw bar with fish crudo and ceviche caught by local fishermen, as well as a few salads and sides like elote, pao de queijo (small Brazilian cheese rolls made with Oaxacan cheese, garlic aioli, and chives), and tajadas (fried plantains with nata, a sweet dairy cream, and queso llanero, or “cowboy cheese.)”
Since most Latin American cultures prize the ritual of gathering together as much as the food itself, Mencik says the menu will lean on shareable plates—around seven or eight starters and entrees, a few of which come directly from his and Mayaudon’s childhoods.
“The dish that I’m most excited about is a dish that I grew up eating when I was a kid—and you don’t really find it anywhere around here. It’s called a cachapa,” says managing partner Mayaudon. “A cachapa is like a corn savory pancake, usually topped with queso de mano.” Queso de mano is a soft, fresh cheese from Venezuela with a mild flavor similar to mozzarella.
Over the past two decades or so, people have begun folding the cheese in the middle, but he prefers it the more traditional style—the pancake served flat, with butter and cheese on top. “We’re still working out whether or not we want to add the pork to it, but for me, that’s a great core item.”
Photo Credit: Maya Seaman
Mencik points to the grilled half chicken dish as one of his highlights, served with pickled mango, jalapeño, bell pepper, lime, Merkén (a traditional Chilean spice blend with salt, toasted coriander, and smoked cacho de cabra chili peppers) and humita (an Argentinian corn purée). Despite Merkén’s popularity in Chile, the team hasn’t been able to source the chili peppers in the US. So, they’re currently growing their own—around a 100-day process, he estimates.
Amor Y Magia’s beverage program falls under a similar fusion theme, with plays on traditional cocktails like Jaguar’s Milk, which riffs off a Brazilian Batida de Coco, or house-made Peruvian chicha morada, with purple corn, fruit, spices, and Oaxacan whiskey. Seaman, who will be the general manager as well as a managing partner with Mayaudon, adds they also plan to have a global wine list that extends beyond Spanish and Latin American wines, with selections from California, France, and beyond.
Most of the tables in the gothic, Spanish Revival-inspired restaurant are on the covered patio, which seats 60 guests. Inside, there’s a 12-person bar and four-person chef’s counter. Amor y Magia will feel different from their other projects—intentionally, Seaman says. “Our goal is to open a bunch of different places with different vibes and different settings,” he says. With some luck, and maybe some magic, this is just the start for the team.
Amor Y Magia opens at 505 Oak Avenue, Suite C in mid-June 2026. Initial operating hours will be Monday through Saturday, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. (subject to change).
Listen Now: The Latest in San Diego’s Food and Drink Scene
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].
Beth Demmon is an award-winning writer and podcaster whose work regularly appears in national outlets and San Diego Magazine. Her first book, The Beer Lover's Guide to Cider, is now available. Find out more on bethdemmon.com.
If you lived in or around San Diego in the early ’90s, there’s a good chance you remember the legendary breadsticks at Pat & Oscar’s. Yes, I’m talking about those warm, glorious, soft, bizarrely addictive breadsticks served fresh to order with a side of dipping sauce that no one could resist. Gluten intolerance be damned.
I’m sure adults of that era ordered reasonable amounts of breadsticks and conducted themselves with at least the appearance of manners. But if you were between middle and high school age, it’s more likely you ripped through heaps of them like a pack of starving piranhas fighting over an abandoned carcass. It’s not like the restaurant was going to run out of them, but what if they did? Worst case scenario.
The breadsticks were the reason many people went to Pat & Oscar’s and what many people remember most after Sizzler bought the concept in 2000 and basically sucked the magic out of the family-owned business.
If your inner breadstick fiend hasn’t felt that same satisfaction in the better part of 30 years, prepare your salivary glands for a walk down memory lane. They still exist, and are ready to be devoured—straight from the Encontro kitchen in North Park.
Around 10 years ago, Encontro chef and owner Jason Hotchkiss catered the 60th anniversary party for Pat and Oscar Sarkisian—yes, that Pat and Oscar. Their son John was Hotchkiss’ business partner (and the original owner of Encontro before Hotchkiss and his sister Linde bought it in 2019) and helped design and set up some of the Sarkisian family restaurants. Rather than relegate Pat & Oscar’s classic recipes to the black hole of restaurant recipes lost in time, John had given some of them to Hotchkiss, who, somewhat nervously, decided to make the breadsticks for the party.
“Oscar’s eating the bread, and he goes, ‘Oh, my God, where’d you get this recipe?’” he recalls. “I said, ‘It’s yours.’ And he said, ‘No, this is much better.’”
Oscar would know—Encontro’s version is (mostly) true to the original in that it’s still all the same ingredients and cooked fresh to order, but pumped up with a bit more yeast, extra sea salt sprinkled on top, and served with a side of truffle or honey butter. But to guests yearning to relive the era of dial-up internet and Beanie Baby mania, Encontro’s golden buttery braid is a welcome (and incredibly close) re-creation.
To this day, Hotchkiss has guests who come in just for the bread and the memories it sparks—things like Little League parties, post-soccer game hangouts, family dinners, dates, and other formative experiences.
“People come in and they’re like, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t believe this. This brings back so many different memories that I have,’” he says. “I love being a part of that.”
Before influencers, foodie culture, and iPhones capturing every meal we eat, family-run restaurants like Pat & Oscar’s were local treasures. This is probably the closest you’ll ever get to those bygone days of breadstick glory. That is, unless you hike up to the only other place you can still find the original breadsticks—the last remaining Sarkisian family business, Oscar’s Brewing Company in Temecula. (Hilariously, the URL breadstick.com literally redirects to the Oscar’s Brewing Company website.) So if you’re ready to time-travel to the past via a portal of buttered, braided bread, Encontro has you covered.
Listen Now: The Latest in San Diego’s Food and Drink Scene
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].
Beth Demmon is an award-winning writer and podcaster whose work regularly appears in national outlets and San Diego Magazine. Her first book, The Beer Lover's Guide to Cider, is now available. Find out more on bethdemmon.com.
While glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agents have been used to treat Type 2 diabetes for more than 20 years, their recent emergence as weight-loss wonder drugs marked a new frontier in medicine. But their effectiveness has left some patients wondering what to do once they’ve reached their goal. Stopping the medication could mean regaining some, if not all, of the weight. A Scripps Clinic internal medicine physician recently conducted a small study of whether GLP-1 patients who had reached their goal weight could maintain that weight by taking their regularly prescribed injection every other week instead of weekly. Spoiler alert: 30 of 34 patients did. Read more about the study here and what that may mean as pharmaceutical companies roll out oral GLP-1s.
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