Welcome to SDM’s Guide to San Diego Food + Drink, our new video series dedicated to our favorite food and drink in the city. At the end of the summer, we’re bring many of these restaurants to the Del Mar Wine + Food Festival for a massive party. You should come. San Diego restaurants, local wineries, Food Network chefs… it’s our big dream for 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.
I’ve lived in San Diego for 16 years and still unashamedly love Old Town. What other place in San Diego has so many kitschy shops, ghosts (totally real!), restaurants, breweries, and approximately one thousand different kinds of margaritas? Sure, there are a few obvious tourist traps, but there’s a startling amount of amazing things to eat and drink—from the housemade tortillas at Old Town Mexican Cafe to the sushi at El Sueño.
El Sueño’s sushi is so popular that the owners decided to convert the restaurant’s second story into a brand-new sushi and crudo-focused concept called Tako Vibrant Sushi. It’s slated to soft open at 2836 Juan Street on Tuesday, September 3.
Tako, which means octopus in Japanese, will offer Mexican-Japanese fusion and rotate based on what fish and other seafood are in season. Owner Pietro Busalacchi, who owns Tako, El Sueño, and Trattoria Don Pietro with his father Sal and partner Gustavo Rios, says guests should expect cocktails with an “over the top” presentation, with an emphasis on tequila, sake, and Japanese whisky. He says the food will be just as eye-popping.
Courtesy of Tako Vibrant Sushi
“The crudo and sushi at Tako is fresh, playful and bursting with flavor,” he promises. “As with our other restaurants, we’ll be focusing on quality, service and the full experience.” Head chef Eric Steadman (Hane, Barbusa) is behind Tako’s menu development. “He also developed El Sueño’s popular inaugural crudo menu, which did so well, we decided to expand and let him do his thing,” says Busalacchi.
The 1,100-square-foot space, designed by Busalacchi, features floral and jungle-themed décor, with a DJ booth, a 12-seat bar, and what he says is a small and intimate atmosphere that feels vibrant and fun. “[Tako] feels more like a speakeasy or intimate supper club,” he explains.
Tako’s hours will run Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays from 6 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.; and closed Mondays and Wednesdays. Reservations aren’t open yet, but locals should watch before the tourists catch wind. (No word on whether any of the Whaley ghosts are sushi fans.)
Courtesy of Coasterra
San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events
Coasterra to Host the 21st Annual Harvest for Hope on Sunday, September 22
Since 2003, the Emilio Nares Foundation has helped more than 11,000 families across Southern California who have faced the most dire diagnosis they could receive—their child has cancer. To raise money and awareness for families affected by pediatric cancer, they launched Harvest for Hope, now in its 21st year. Head to Coasterra on Sunday, September 22, for the annual fundraiser and food festival with wine, beer, spirits, and plenty of food from 25 local businesses. Click here for tickets and more details.
The First Taste of College Area Kicks Off Sunday, September 29
College Area’s food selections are firing up. Now, the best of the best will showcase their stuff at the inaugural Taste of College Area on Sunday, September 29. From Ultreya Coffee to Corbin’s Q, taste over 25 local vendors from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Buy your ticket ahead of time and save $5.
I tend to prefer a light Japanese lager with my ramen, but Tajima just launched a new bar program spotlighting a few different drinks, like their spin on a margarita that uses sabe, a tequila-sake blend. That one can be found at Tajima East Village, while their North Park location has a new Sesame Highball, and Convoy has a Matchaholic with hot matcha, sake, and lychee. It sounds like a ramen bar crawl is in order.
There’s a new coffee-slash-surf-shop in Rosarito called Migrant Society. Brothers Erick and Carlos Palacio have done several pop-ups and farmers markets across San Diego, and this new spot features coffee from Danie Brewing, a unique surfboard design by Tyler Voth of Solana Surfboards. San Diego may be next if all goes well with the Baja California location.
Yakitori Tsuta opens this Wednesday in Convoy. The $108 yakitori omakase menu reservations are only available between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m., with à la carte and walk-ins after 8 p.m. I can’t wait to get my hands on chef Tatsuro Tsuchiya’s charcoal-grilled delicacies.
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.
Restaurants are the social lifeblood of a city. They offer a place to commune with friends and strangers alike, build relationships, explore new cultures through flavors, and offer a welcome escape from the reality of our own kitchens. All under the guise of getting something to eat.
With all restaurants do to nourish us, we invite you to give back to them by voting for your Reader’s Choice favorites in several categories.
Vote in as many categories as you like, but you can only cast one vote per category. If the altruistic love of your favorite spot isn’t enough, your vote will enter you to win a $200 gift card to the Catamaran Hotel Resort and Spa.
Winning restaurants earn bragging rights for the entire calendar year—and your continued love and support. So, go on. It’s up to you to decide on our city’s next culinary icon.
Entrepreneurs typically launch businesses because they’re passionate about a product or service, not because they want to manage its finances. While working to carve out a niche in their respective industries and drive their companies forward, many business owners find themselves bogged down by day-to-day accounting. Their existing accounting tools don’t provide the necessary visibility or insight, and they don’t have the time or resources to hire additional staff or a chief financial officer. That’s where NOW CFO comes in.
For more than 20 years, NOW CFO has been pairing businesses across the country with experienced accounting and finance professionals. Its outsourced model allows clients to customize solutions that match their individual needs, size, and financial challenges, whether that’s fractional or interim support, project-based services, or full-time placement.
NOW CFO’s clients range from startups preparing for rapid growth to established companies that need additional financial leadership without the commitment or expense of building an in-house team. However, many of these companies don’t fully understand their needs until they experience a “trigger” event: preparing for an acquisition or capital raise, navigating a first-time audit, or another period of transition. With a team of over 300 consultants nationwide, NOW CFO can start quickly and match the right expert to the right business.
“It’s important for companies to have financial visibility, and we can help them avoid a lot of the potholes that companies often run into,” says Mariah Block, a partner at NOW CFO’s San Diego branch. “Roughly half of our clients have an in-house finance person or department, and we’re resourced for more bandwidth when they need an extra set of hands at the staff or senior accountant level, or the controller or CFO level. Some clients use this a few hours a month and others use multiple people close to full-time. Our model is solution-based and customizable. We’re like a faucet you can turn on and off.”
With NOW CFO, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Solutions are based on the client’s individual goals, challenges, needs, and budget, meaning a client never pays for more than they need. Whether it’s a few hours of executive-level guidance or a full accounting team to support daily operations, NOW CFO meets businesses where they are and grows alongside them.
“We pride ourselves on providing our clients with the right resources at the right rate and being able to evolve as their needs evolve,” says Block.
And clients appreciate on-demand access to cost-effective support designed to improve performance and profitability.
Luxury car storage service Auto Concierge has partnered with NOW CFO to support growth over the past year. The arrangement began with a staff accountant who covered a leave of absence, but as the client’s needs changed, they also added a controller role. This allowed Auto Concierge to put effective processes in place and navigate operational challenges. Lori Church, Auto Concierge’s chief operating officer, says NOW CFO has been an “outstanding resource” and a “true strategic partner.”
“From the controller to the bookkeeper, every professional they’ve placed has brought a high level of expertise, responsiveness, and professionalism to our organization. Their team took the time to understand our business of high-profile clients and needs, adapted quickly to our fast-paced environment, and became a trusted extension of our team,” she says. “As Auto Concierge continues to grow, having a reliable financial partner like NOW CFO has allowed us to strengthen our financial and business operations while remaining focused on delivering exceptional service to our clients.”
Spread the news. Share the poll. Voting ends on February 23, 2024.
You’ve served us delicious food all year, so, sit back and relax, and leave the marketing to us. We’ve crafted all the materials needed to recruit your biggest fans and followers to cast their votes for you. The marketing materials include logos, graphics for email and social media, restaurant signage, and cards to place in your to-go orders. All you need to do is start promoting on February 12.
Promoting & Voting Dates:
Voting: February 12 through February 18 Extended get-out-the-vote week: February 19 – February 23, 2024.
Awards and Bragging Rights:
Winning restaurants will be announced in the Best Restaurants issue of San Diego Magazine this May and will receive “2024 Winner” graphics to plaster anywhere that’s legal.
Winners will also be invited to participate at the Best of San Diego Party on August 2, 2023, where thousands of our readers await the chance to savor the culinary creations that earned you the top spot.
Let’s Get Started:
A series of “Vote for Us” graphics are below. All static marketing materials can be downloaded by clicking on the image. Follow the steps below:
Static “Vote for Us” Graphics:
• Click on the image you want to open Google Drive. • Right-click or double-tap the image to open it larger. • Choose download or click the down arrow on the right side of the opened image. • Download your image.
Customizable “Vote for Us” Graphics:
• Click the graphic you want. • Canva will open on your browser. If you don’t already have a Canva account, you will be asked to establish a FREE account. • Once you log in, you can upload your photos, and add content to your graphics like the name of your restaurant and the category you aim to win.
Email Blasts:
Download an email blast graphic and send it through your email marketing platform! Don’t forget to link the email to the ballot page: www.sdmag.com/vote2024
Click the image above to download
Custom Email:
Click here to go to Canva and log in (it’s free to join). When you choose the graphic to edit, choose the prompt to “Duplicate” before you start. DO NOT CHOOSE EDIT. In your duplicated version, add your photos and text within the app. Download the type of file your email system requires. Don’t forget to link the email to the ballot page: www.sdmag.com/vote2024
Click here to go to Canva and log in (it’s free to join). When you choose the graphic to edit, choose the prompt to “Duplicate” before you start. DO NOT CHOOSE EDIT. In your duplicated version, add your photos and text within the app. Download the type of file your email system requires. Don’t forget to link the email to the ballot page: www.sdmag.com/vote2024
Instagram GIFY
Official Best Restaurants voting stickers are available in Instagram stories. Search Best Restaurants and add a sticker GIFY to your content. Click on the graphic to go to download. Don’t forget to include a tap-to-vote link in your story: www.sdmag.com/vote2024.
Click the image above to download.
Custom Instagram Story
Click here to go to Canva and log in (it’s free to join). When you choose the graphic to edit, choose the prompt to “Duplicate” before you start. DO NOT CHOOSE EDIT. In your duplicated version, add your photos and text within the app. Download a .png or .jpeg. Don’t forget a tap-to-vote link in your story: www.sdmag.com/vote2024.
Click the image above to download.
To-Go Order QR Cards
Get out the vote by placing one of these cards in all your to-go orders. A convenient QR code that links to voting is on each card. The QR Code will take your customer directly to vote at www.SDMag.com/Vote2024
Click the image above to download.
Poster
Print and hang a poster in your restaurant! The QR Code will take your customer directly to vote at www.SDMag.com/Vote2024
Click the image above to download.
Logos and Icons
Add a logo or icon to your email or website. Don’t forget to include a link to vote: www.SDMag.com/vote2024
Logically, the restaurant scene should’ve been dead-silent this year. Food costs went berserk. Labor costs swelled. We all knew how to cook because we were marooned in our own homes for a few years. And yet San Diego’s food scene unveiled a few dozen more pretty fantastic restaurants in 2023. This is what I love about restaurants and the people behind them. It is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Sure, money is to be Danny Meier’d for the few and the lucky and the ulcered.
But financial analysts who are not sadistic would advise you to put your money into the stock market, into real estate, into off-brand Beanie Babies before putting it into the restaurant industry. That means all you’re left with are people who do it because they have to, or because the dream of creating a hospitable place that makes humans happy is just too compelling to ignore.
Here are the new arrivals that won me over in 2023 and became part of my own personal hit list of the best new restaurants in San Diego.
Photo Credit: James Tran
Kinme
Omakase-only sushi spots took over the whole dang scene (omakase means you eat what chef deigns their best and most creative stuff that day, with no menu to choose from). Azuki in Bankers Hill has long been one of the city’s favorite sushi spots. It was never hype-trained. It just quietly, consistently snuck up on us all, probably because of owner Shihomi Borillo and chef Nao Ichimura’s obsession with the good-food movement.
Kinme is their tiny (900 square feet), 10-seat, omakase-only concept a block up the hill. It’s a mix of Edomae-style sushi and kaiseke, a seasonal, multi-course Japanese meal. The menu changes all the time, but it has included things like grilled corn with koji miso and tomatillo salt, A5 wagyu in ginger shoyu, and chawanmushi, plus Japanese whiskys, rare sake, and top-notch tea to finish.
Courtesy of Fish Guts
Fish Guts
A hell of a fish-taco-and-sammy shop. San Diego born and raised, Pablo Becker helped open some of the bigger Mexican restaurants in the country with his cousin, famed Mexican chef Richard Sandoval. He needed a break, so he moved to Chicago for five years and became a line cook. He was offered management roles, refused. Head down, cooking. Five years.
Fish Guts is his return home, a small-but-mighty corner spot in Barrio Logan. It serves sandwiches during the day, tacos at night, using almost all sustainable fish from local boats. Get the blackened whitefish with the jalapeño-cabbage slaw, the mushroom taco, or the fantastic Negra Modelo beer–battered lunch sammy with Mexican tartar sauce.
Photo Credit: Cole Novak
MAKE Projects
MAKE Projects is one of the city’s most inspiring food nonprofits, helping low-income refugees and immigrant women learn farming, cooking, and catering skills and earn a living as they acclimate to their new life in the US.
During the weekends, the women cook and sell specialties from their native countries—East African mandazi (they’re like beignets), halloumi with farm veggies, pancakes with Cambodian orange syrup, Afghan chicken tacos with Haitian pikliz—made with ingredients from their urban farm. Now they have a permanent home in North Park.
Lia’s Lumpia
I could hang on this back porch all day, joy-shoveling lumpia with a couple beers. Chef Spencer Hunter’s grandma owned one of the first Filipino restaurants in San Diego decades ago and was famed for her hand-rolled lumpia (being lazy, but real close to accurate, let’s call it the egg roll of the Philippines).
Spencer went to college for sustainable hospitality and cooked in huts in South America, then came home to work through some top-notch kitchens (Searsucker, Waters Fine Foods + Catering). He and his mom, Benelia Santos-Hunter, started doing lumpia pop-ups at festivals, including Coachella. They went on Great Food Truck Race, nearly and probably should’ve won (a contestable second place), and found a permanent spot in Barrio Logan in an old house filled with pop-culture and Filipino cultural knicknacks.
It’s a total work in progress, design-wise. This is two family members ad-hoc’ing a dream, and I like that. Spencer will do seasonal riffs (ramen lumpia, Thanksgiving lumpia), but get “Lola’s Lumpia,” stuffed with a mix of beef and pork marinated in oyster sauce and various things. And don’t miss their ube-coffee ice cream with white chocolate shavings.
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.
If you’re anything like us, it can be easy to get so caught up in taking care of everyone else, that your own needs get lost in the ether. But while this may be a cliché, that doesn’t make it any less true: You can’t give your best self to other people unless you’re taking care of yourself.
Sometimes, that looks like stopping in for your regular acupuncture or chiropractic appointment. Other days, it means giving your body the fresh, organic fuel it needs to truly feel and function at its best. And some other times still, it involves leaving your responsibilities behind for a weekend to pamper yourself at an incredible resort and spa.
Only you can decide what your truly need. We’re just here to help you find the best ways to get it.
Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort & Spa
Island living meets desert luxury at the Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort & Spa in Indian Wells. When you step onto the 11-acre property, you’ll be surrounded by sweeping view of the Santa Rosa Mountains with olive trees and fragrant citrus groves decorating the grounds. In other words, everything about this relaxed but refined resort is primed to help you let go of the stress from home and enjoy easy sun-soaked days and gorgeous starry nights.
The rooms blend calming, woven textures with Tommy Bahama’s signature tropical prints and feature private lanais, making it easy unwind the moment you walk in the door. If you book one of the four Villa Suites, you’ll be treated to exclusive Tommy Bahama furniture and unique personal touches to further that feeling of instant ease.
At the award-winning Spa Rosa, the expert team will help reset and recharge your body and mind using methods and rituals inspired by the desert. The 12,000-square-foot retreat includes outdoor soaking pools, eucalyptus steam rooms, and outdoor cabanas, as well as massages, facials, and body masks—all aimed at creating a day dedicated to you. We’re particularly partial to the Day Long Escape, an indulgent all-day affair of CDBs soaks, renewing scrubs, life changing massages, and transformative facials.
Following your treatment, continue the experience with a meal on the patio at Grapefruit Basil. We love the Hamachi Crudo, a light, citrus-forward dish featuring premium yellowtail, house-made ponzu, creamy avocado, and fresh seasonal garnishes.
Whether you’re strolling the gardens, relaxing beside its saltwater pools, or indulging in a restorative treatment, you’ll be able to escape in style and relax in luxury at the Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort & Spa.
Healcove Chiropractic
There’s no shortage of ways to stay active in San Diego—but if you really want to enjoy everything the city has to offer, you’ve got to make sure you’re giving your body its tune-ups. Enter: Healcove Chiropractic. The board-certified chiropractors and wellness professionals at Healcove are experts at addressing that stage where you’re not injured, exactly, but you’re not at 100%, either. Maybe you’re feeling a bit tense or stressed out. Or it could be that you’re not quite moving the way you want to. Sometimes, it’s just that the accumulation of days, weeks, or even years of daily strain is starting to take a toll. No matter what stage you find yourself at, the Healcove Chiropractic team can provide integrated, preventative care centered on long-term, science-backed approaches that ensure you can always stay active and live the life you want to live pain-free.
This starts by providing truly individualized care. Every patient can expect a thorough 60-minute consultation session that includes a posture and movement screening. This allows the team to develop a completely personalized plan. That plan might include chiropractic care, acupuncture, or massage therapy, as well as functional fitness training, vibration and sound therapy, and Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization, a clinical rehabilitation method that retrains the body’s stabilization systems. Whatever the team recommends, you can be sure that it’s tailored to meeting your body’s needs today and the future.
There’s a reason that San Diego Magazine named Healcove the “Best Chiropractor in San Diego”—don’t wait until you’re struggling with an injury to find out why. Book an appointment today for holistic, integrated care that helps ground and heal your body before it reaches a crisis point.
Juice Holler
West Coast wellness culture meets the community feel of Southern Appalachia at Juice Holler. Juice Holler’s menu consists of made-to-order smoothies and smoothie bowls, as well as grab-and-go cold-pressed juices, wellness shots, salads, and more. It operates from the blissfully simple premise that fueling up with food and drink that’s guilt-free and good your body should be simple, accessible, and, above all else, delicious. And if you haven’t yet made it out to the Encinitas café, which opened just this year, let us be the first to tell you: Juice Holler delivers on each and every of these fronts.
We love the Supercharger smoothie, a mood-lifting and body-fueling option made with banana, almond butter, blue spirulina, maca, grass-fed whey protein, raw cacao nibs, medjool dates, and coconut milk. We’re also partial to the Thrive Alive smoothie bowl, where avocado, mango, sea moss, spirulina, mint, coconut milk, and agave are mixed and topped with coconut, chia seeds, strawberry, mango, and chocolate drizzle. The wellness shots include the Detoxifier, a cleansing blend of kale, cucumber, lemon and spirulina, plus a shot specially designed to fight inflammation (named, fittingly, Anti-Inflammation). Probiotic overnight oats, lemon turmeric bars, and strawberry shortcake chia pudding are other standouts on the grab-and-go menu.
Much of the vibe feels beachy North County chic—think green tile with orange and pink accents, grounded with greenery and natural wood—but Juice Holler founder Kelly Sergott, a longtime Encinitas local, has also enfused the space with her Kentucky roots. In Appalachia, a holler is small valley between hills and mountains, where nature reigns, community is king, and nourishment comes right from the land. At Juice Holler, Sergott has created a holler for the busy modern times, using local ingredients to create a spot for people to come together and enjoy fresh, fast, feel-good fuel for their day.
Everwell Acupuncture
We’ve all had that experience with a medical professional where we’ve felt rushed, ignored, or misunderstood—and ultimately, like we didn’t get the answers that we needed. But at Everwell, the holistic acupuncture practice located in Solana Beach, the care team wants to transform your understanding of what healthcare can look like.
Patients at Everwell experience care rooted in intentional listening and radical empathy—and trust us, those aren’t just corporate buzzwords. This place actually puts those ideas into practice. You will always be given the time you need to tell your story— initial in-take appointments are two hours long—and you can rest assured that your story will be believed. Every single question and concern will be addressed by a dedicated practitioner who wants to find the specific solutions that work best for you, and you’ll receive care that’s aimed at healing the body, mind, and spirit.
Everwell’s highly trained, doctorate-level practitioners blend evidence-based acupuncture with the practice of classical Chinese medicine. (If you’ve never tried acupuncture before or aren’t sure if the team will be a fit, we’d highly recommended Everwell’s complimentary 20-minute consultations.) Research shows that by stimulating specific points on the body, acupuncture activates a natural healing response in the body, helping to restore balance, regulate the nervous system, and improve overall wellbeing. This allows the practice to address an incredibly wide range of conditions from chronic pain and autoimmune disorders to digestive issues, from stress and burnout to headaches migraines, fertility and postpartum struggles, hormonal imbalances, sleep concerns and more.
At Everwell, you can expect to feel heard, trusted, respected, and cared for. This is a space that doesn’t want to be just another healthcare provider you visit; it wants to provide patients with dedicated partner who will be there for their entire health journey.
