Every culture has its own version of traditional filled pastries—think Spanish empanadas, Polish pierogi, or Chinese dumplings. In Israel’s case, it’s burekas.
Burekas (or bourekas) are pastries filled with ingredients like cheese, potatoes, or mushrooms with a very savory finish. “The consistency of the dough is really important in this,” adds Nirit Wigdor, co-owner of Burekas Box. It has to be crispy and flaky on the outside, but soft like a croissant on the inside, and burekas are generally served with a few savory sides like olives, pickles, hard-boiled eggs, and different dipping sauces. “It’s like a complete meal,” she says.
Wigdor grew up in the Middle East eating burekas, and realized there weren’t many places to get a legit version anywhere in San Diego. So she partnered up with Shalva Mikhelashvili, a sustainability-minded colleague who had, conveniently, received a grant to launch an electric food truck in San Diego.
“He [was] fed up with seeing food trucks with the loud generators that are releasing a ton of emissions into the environment and are just leaking gas everywhere…so his goal is to bring a new concept into the food truck space,” she explains. If we can have electric cars, a San Diego Unified electric cafeteria on wheels, and even Amazon delivery trucks that don’t use fuel, why not a commercial electric food truck?
Burekas Box was born. The duo started the concept last June as a pop-up at Ox Coffee, selling out in two hours and quickly opening a commercial kitchen to start catering and offering pick-up orders. By January 2026, they had enough business to officially launch the electric food truck to show up at festivals, parties, and other private and public events around San Diego. People can order for pickup at its commercial kitchen, and Wigdor publishes its schedule of rotating locations every day on the website.
Burekas Box’s menu generally centers around the traditional savory staples, like the top-selling classic cheese, which is a secret combination of four different cheeses, and the spinach & cheese blend topped with za’atar seasoning. Wigdor says another customer favorite is the caramelized onions & mushrooms. “It’s got a really creamy inside, with the crispiness of the caramelized onion and the pieces of chunky mushroom in there—it’s pretty good,” she promises. They do offer a handful of sweet options like choco-holic burekas, but she hopes to collaborate with local chefs in the future to offer a variety of rotating specials as well.
Eventually, Wigdor says they’d also like to expand to wholesale and open more food trucks to service other parts of Southern California. If anything, she hopes they can show others that in the face of rising oil costs and risks of climate change, a zero-emissions food truck business isn’t just viable. It’s preferable. “It’s going to be a while until we get there, but that’s our vision,” she promises.
Burekas Box is available for pickup Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 8585 Commerce Avenue in Miramar.
Courtesy of Red O
San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events
Very Fancy Mexican Restaurant In A Very Fancy Area Is Closing
Amidst a flurry of openings around UTC, a notable closing is on the horizon. Red O, the upscale Mexican restaurant originally tied to celebrity chef Rick Bayless when it opened in 2017 (but kinda not really much longer after that) is slated to close its doors next month, freeing up 8,300 square feet of pretty high-visibility restaurant space just across from Westfield UTC. There’s quite a bit more culinary competition in the area than there was nine years ago—Fleurette is just a stone’s throw away, and Din Tai Fung is quite literally across the street—but still, no one likes to see a big spot shutter, especially when there are nearly 100 jobs on the line. If you’re really jonesing for $16 guacamole, you can always drive to one of its other locations to get your fix.
Courtesy of The Diamond Room
Beth’s Bites
Gamers, rejoice! On Saturday, March 7, Pizza Port in San Marcos will host a multiplayer competition running all the classics—Halo CE, 2, and 3; Reach—and it’s open to newbies and elites alike. It’s $15 at the door and starts at 4 p.m., with the competition kicking off at 6:30 p.m., so you’ll have plenty of time to fuel up on pizza before the games begin. To all the gamers about to rock, we salute you.
The Diamond Room’s quick takeover of the former City Tacos space next to Petco Park was a tad awkward, but the new cocktail lounge is fully up and running in time for the Padres 2026 season. But before the first pitch on March 26, you can check out the glitzy space on March 7 during a small-group tequila tasting featuring Casa Dragones. From noon to 2 p.m., a bartender will lead the 10-person group through a guided tasting, explaining the differences between Blanco, Reposado, and Añejo tequilas, plus how to make popular tequila cocktails and a light lunch. It’s part of the lounge’s Shaken & Stirred Series, and with a schedule that includes a Tiki class and whiskey tasting, it looks like its gearing up for plenty of spirit-forward events in the near future.
Escondido’s got a brand-new brewery—or will by March 13, when Barley & Sword Brewing Co. officially opens at 800 W. Grand Avenue. It’s a big step up for the former Brewery Igniter tenant, which feels like a rare bright spot in the general malaise surrounding the hospitality industry. If you’re in the mood for a pint of Old World–style beer or a burger from its kitchen partner Big Dawg Burger, pop over to the new spot and give the team a hearty congrats for a successful expansion.
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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.
