North Park is one of San Diego’s best neighborhoods for foodies, coffee lovers, and craft beer enthusiasts. With so many options in a compact area, we’ve made it easy to plan your next visit to North Park with our top picks for restaurants, coffee shops, and lively bars to satisfy every craving.
True to its name, this Michelin Bib Gourmand spot serves seafood-focused tapas—including oysters, mussels, and octopus carpaccio—in a cozy, European-inspired space. Order shellfish, obviously, but don’t miss the Spanish tortilla and one (or all) of the restaurant’s three different gin and tonics.
With a menu that combines two American favorites—cheeseburgers and New York–style pizza—this low-key neighborhood spot is a North Park staple. No modifications allowed on the restaurant’s “dirty flag top cheeseburger,” but for $8, who could complain?
Cantina Mayahuel is known for its extensive tequila collection and cocktail menu, which includes weekly drink specials (did someone say $5 shots?). Pair your margarita with a taco or torta, including several vegan options.
Carb lovers come here to linger over glasses of hard-to-find Sicilian wine and plates of cannoli. The pastificio (Italian for “pasta factory”) churns out housemade fresh pasta and signature dishes like the “fritelle”—savory donuts with cacio e pepe foam.
Simmered for hours with quadruple the typical amount of bones, Shank & Bône’s rich and flavorful phô broth is the base for comforting soups featuring a variety of proteins, including a beef-forward option with shank, flank, eye of round steak, oxtail, and bone marrow.
In this tiny, bustling bistro, Tijuanese chef Itze Behar draws upon her Mexican heritage, California produce, and French techniques to deliver shareable small plates. Order the four-course tasting menu to sample a range of bites.
Address: 2591 University Avenue Hours: Wednesday–Saturday, 5–10 p.m.; closed Sunday–Tuesday
Courtesy of The Wise Ox
The Wise Ox
Date night at home? Hit this Jersey-style butcher shop from chef Brad Wise of Trust Restaurant Group for a steak sure to impress your sweetie—or grab one of seven reasonably priced sandos with a side of beef fat fries for an easy park picnic.
Address: 2855 El Cajon Boulevard, Suite 1 Hours: Sunday–Monday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
Wormwood
Meet the green fairy (and a menu of French-inspired bites like a foie macaron, a French onion tart, and steak with bourdelaise) at Wormwood, an absinthe bar laying down approachable and innovative cocktails featuring the anise-flavored spirit.
Address: 4677 30th Street Hours: Wednesday–Thursday, 5 p.m.–9:30 p.m.; Friday, 5–10 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. and 5–10 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. and 5–9:30 p.m.; closed Monday and Tuesday
Louisiana Purchase
Wrangling in southern hospitality and damn-good drinks, Louisiana Purchase has brought New Orleans to North Park. Step into this upscale indoor-outdoor restaurant that mirrors the enchantment of the Bayou to try traditional dishes like gumbo and alligator andouille cheesecake.
Siamo Napoli boasts Southern Italian cuisine specializing in handmade pastas, traditional Napoli food, and Neapolitan-style pizzas baked in a wood-fired oven. The Michelin-recommended locale is helmed by Flavio Piromallo who helped open Buon Appetito and Sogno di Vino in Little Italy. Try the pappardelle con il ragù d’agnello with cabernet-infused pasta and slow braised lamb ragù.
Address: 3959 30th Street, Suite 105 Hours: Sunday and Tuesday–Wednesday, 4–8:30 p.m.; Friday–Saturday, 4–9:30 p.m.
Hanna’s Gourmet
On Sundays only, Hanna’s Gourmet opens for brunch from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. With a rotating menu each week, the restaurant serves dishes like eggs a la Marrakesh alongside chilaquiles and classic American breakfasts. If you can’t wait until Sunday, you can opt for Hanna’s delicious ready-made dinners or catering options available for pre-order by Thursday each week.
Falafel Heights is located inside a small storefront on 30th Ave. in North Park. After years of hosting pop-ups, owner and founder Lialie Ibrahim opened her first brick-and-mortar in 2023. Stop by the unassuming storefront to try Ibrahim’s Palestinian-style falafels, chicken or beef bowl or wrap, generously drizzled in different sauce options from classic hummus to spicy Iraqi mango amba.
Address: 4118 30th Street Hours: Daily, 11 a.m.–8 p.m.
Courtesy of Underbelly North Park
Underbelly
The line between dining in and dining out is blurred at Underbelly, a funky ramen spot that has windows that flip all the way open to invite in that San Diego sun. Chow down on any of the ramens—including one with lobster red curry and a version with oxtail dumplings on top—under the glow of neon lights.
Address: 3000 Upas Street Hours: Daily, 11:30 a.m.–11:30 p.m.
Chicken Pie Shop
Established in 1938, the Chicken Pie Shop has been serving comfort food to locals for nearly 90 years. Step inside the retro red and white storefront and into a place frozen in time, where you can still get a chicken pie, veggie, coleslaw, a house roll and dessert for $18.
Sporting a creative menu in both names and tastes, Tribute Pizza is a local favorite paying homage to the greatest pizzas and pizza-makers in the world. The restaurant calls its style “Neo-Neapolitan,” because it features a hybrid of New York and Neapolitan techniques.
Address: 3077 North Park Way Hours: Sunday, 3–9 p.m.; Tuesday–Wednesday, 4–9 p.m.; Thursday–Saturday, 4–10 p.m.
Flora
Start your day with brunch at Flora. This playfully decorated spot offers twists to your favorite brunch staples with dishes like peach compote waffles, breakfast carbonara, and a zucchini blossom frittata.
Address: 3021 University Avenue Hours: Daily, 9 a.m.–3 p.m.
Cocina De Barrio
Cocina De Barrio offers a vast menu of brunch, lunch, and dinner options, along with vegan alternatives to some of its staple dishes, such as a plant-based albondigas soup and tetelas stuffed with beans and cashew-based “cheese.”
We hesitate to call Mediterranean restaurant Leila unmissable—only because it might be nigh-impossible to get a reservation. A critic’s pick for 2025’s best restaurants of the year, Leila serves breads, dips, fire-kissed meats, and cocktails in a dimly lit space styled like a maximalist night market.
Baja icon Drew Deckman brings his sustainable, Michelin-starred cooking to North Park with 31ThirtyOne. Driven by a commitment to local sourcing, the menu leans seafood- and produce-heavy (with some really good steaks, too).
Birria tacos, birria fries, birria tortas, birria everything (including ramen!). Birrieria Enriquez specializes in its namesake meat, of course, but the Mexican restaurant also offers a variety of other menu options and taco meats like shrimp, chicken, and steak.
Get your New York bodega fix at Lou’s Deli, where sandwiches—chopped cheese, hot pastrami, turkey club, and more—are king. Each comes with a complimentary side of the shop’s housemade pickle popcorn, like a new-school salt-and-vinegar chip.
Address: 2940 Lincoln Avenue Hours: Daily, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.
Photo Credit: James Tran Finca
North Park Bars & Breweries
Bivouac Ciderworks
Post-hike, hit Bivouac for a rotating list of brewed-onsite tap ciders, an extensive cocktail menu, and an elevated bar food selection with items like cider-braised carnitas tacos and steak frites. The mural-adorned Adventure Lodge next door offers a coffee bar, a boutique, board games, and an artsy vending machine slinging goodies from local makers.
Address: 3986 30th Street Hours: Sunday and Tuesday–Thursday, 12 p.m.–9 p.m.; Friday–Saturday, 12 p.m.–12 a.m.; closed Monday
If California and Spain had children, Finca would be the favorite. This tapas-style restaurant combines the two cultures with dishes like patatas bravas and swordfish steak al pastor, plus a wine list packed with pours from both countries.
Address: 3066 North Park Way Hours: Tuesday–Thursday, 5–9 p.m.; Friday, 5–10 p.m.; Saturday, 3–10 p.m.; Sunday, 3–9 p.m.; closed Monday
A local haunt, Swan Bar on Adams Ave. is known for its unique cocktails such as the Mahogany & Leather made with gin, vermouth, chili oil, and kimchi onions or the Strawbery Milk Punch Horchata mixed with strawberry rum, overproof white rum, and horchata mix. Inside, a backlit golden bar is surrounded by leather sofa seating and bar stools while outside, guests can enjoy an enclosed patio with wooden slats and green foliage.
Fall Brewing’s North Park outpost is the flagship location of one of San Diego’s most popular breweries. The tasting room’s punk-rock theme extends to many of its on-tap beers, including the Goo Goo Muck IPA.
When the inevitable hunger hits after hours of karaoke singing, Redwing is ready for you. This seven-day-a-week karaoke dive bar and trivia hotspot is the perfect happy-hour destination for a friend group who thinks they’re Fifth Harmony. Enjoy its elevated bar food with items like a spicy Thai pork sandwich and a spiced Paloma on its outdoor patio or next to a microphone, whatever you choose.
Address: 4012 30th Street Hours: Tuesday–Thursday and Sunday, 11 a.m.–1 a.m.; Friday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–2 a.m.; Monday, 4 p.m.–1 a.m.
Modern Times Beer
Local craft brewery Modern Times is a staple in the city, with two locations including its North Park residence. Stop in for a cold one and browse the 20-plus taps, enjoy some local merchandise, and peek at the Yoda made of floppy disks. And, don’t worry, your furry family members are welcome on the patio.
This Philadelphia-loving bar is the perfect neighborhood spot to watch sports and have a cold one. However, for those who couldn’t care less about the game, Pretzels & Pints specializes in the art of the soft pretzel, cooking up several different options from the Philly Soft (duh) to the Jumbo Bavarian, all of which are served with beer cheese and mustard.
Address: 3812 Ray Street Hours: Monday–Friday, 12 p.m.–10 p.m.; Saturday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–10 p.m.
Botanica
Botanica is your friendly neighborhood gin joint fused with experiential art, a creative concept dreamt up by Be Saha Hospitality. Indulge in pintxos with bar bites that can be paired with flights of gin or artisanal spirits and cocktails. Like the art on its walls? Guests can take home their favorite pieces or purchase an NFT (with donations to the nonprofit Create Purpose).
Address: 3139 University Avenue Hours: Tuesday–Thursday and Sunday, 5–10 p.m. ; Friday–Saturday, 5 p.m.–12 a.m.; closed Monday
Courtesy of Part Time Lover
Part Time Lover
Influenced by Japanese listening bars, Part Time Lover‘s unassuming façade hides a moody, art deco–inspired ambiance with DJs spinning vinyl on a hi-fi sound system and bartenders shaking up craft cocktails.
Address: 3829 30th Street Hours: Daily, 4 p.m.–2 a.m.
Original 40 Brewing Company
The Original 40 Brewing Company is a beautifully decorated space where you can settle into the comfy seating with one of the 14 house beers on tap and enjoy atypical brewpub eats like baby back adobo ribs, mussels, and strawberry-sage wontons for dessert. Cheers!
San Diego bar industry veterans Eric Johnson and Chris Siglin launched Happy Medium in 2024, slinging creative cocktails and bites both indulgent (fried cheese curds) and angelic (spicy broccolini) in a friendly, laidback space.
Saigon Coffee has mastered the art of slow and steady, thanks to its use of Vietnamese phin filters, which produce a highly concentrated and strong brew over a longer period of time. The menu features classic Vietnamese java and creative specialty drinks like iced coffee topped with egg cream.
Address: 3994 30th Street Hours: Daily, 9 a.m.–3 p.m.
Named Best Ice Cream Shop in America byUSA Today’s 10Best, An’s Dry Cleaning is a charming dessert destination located inside of a former laundry mat. The flagship location features a rotating selection of ice cream flavors named after things you’d find in a dry cleaner’s shop such as vicuna wool, full grain leather, canvas, sandal. Many flavors are also gluten-free and vegan options are available as well.
Coffee & Tea Collective opened in 2010 and features a minimalist design aesthetic inside, making its beverages the star of the show with unique flavor profiles and made-in-house cold brews. Seasonally, the shop also boasts exclusive menu items like a strawberry rose matcha, apricot sage tonic, or the watermelon dill cooler.
Address: 2911 El Cajon Boulevard Hours: Daily, 7 a.m.–4 p.m.
Dark Horse Coffee Roasters is another local favorite for getting your caffeine fix while in North Park. The shop’s coffee beverages boast a darker, bolder flavor, and the team sources direct-trade coffees from around the world. Psst—it also serves incredibly tasty vegan donuts to pair with your cup of joe.
Address: 3794 30th Street Hours: Daily, 6:30 a.m.–4 p.m.
Courtesy of Communal Coffee
Communal Coffee
Perched in the center of University Avenue, Communal Coffee shop offers a variety of caffeine- or booze-boosted drinks for whatever kind of buzz you’re looking for. Enjoy specialty latte flights, summery cocktails, and light bites—or simply snap a pic by the outdoor mural wall for a quick Insta post. You can also buy local goods, merch, or flower arrangements in the onsite shop.
Address: 2335 University Avenue Hours: Daily, 6:30 a.m.–3 p.m.
Courtesy of Caffe Calabria
Caffe Calabria
Stop in to Caffe Calabria for some coffee with house-roasted beans, tea, and fresh pastries by morning and Neopolitan-style pizza, craft cocktails (including several with espresso, naturally), and antipasti by night.
Address: 3140 University Avenue Hours: Daily, 7 a.m.–6 p.m.
James Coffee
This family-owned business features small-batch, handmade coffees, offering its own exclusive blends as well as single-origin coffee. James Coffee is also dedicated to prioritizing sustainability and ethical sourcing and offers a jar exchange program so that guests can drop off their used drink jars to be cleaned and sanitized for the next customer.
Address: 4379 30th Street Hours: Daily, 7 a.m.–5 p.m.
Ten years ago, restaurant design centered around sleek minimalism. Fonts lacked serifs, clean lines dominated, and any manufacturer that made globe-shaped chandeliers must have made an absolute killing.
Things have changed since then, and Jeff Fink says it’s time for Madison on Park to glow up. On September 7, Madison will temporarily close its doors for a top-to-bottom renovation of the space and concept. Fink hopes to reopen this fall ahead of the busy holiday season, with a new look he calls moody mid-century maximalism.
“We have to take into consideration what’s going on culturally,” he says. When Madison first opened, TikTok wasn’t a thing in the U.S. and craft cocktails felt relatively cutting-edge. Today, he sees a resurgence in the vintage look, handmade goods, and low-to-no ABV drinks dominating menus everywhere.
Courtesy of Madison on Park | Photo Credit: Andy McRory
Fink and his partner Matt Sieve have already dabbled with that sort of motif at Sonny’s Pizza, their Brooklyn-inspired joint around the corner. Fully half of the cocktail menu is made up of spritzes, mocktails, and Negronis. Madison 2.0 will take it further.
The new concept doesn’t have a name yet—Fink says they have to feel out the vibes as they make progress with the design. “The name comes when you see it appear,” he says. But he has a few design elements in mind: things like more artwork and more uplighting. “Not cluttered and overstuffed… I want to keep it intimate, sexy, and immersive.”
Madison rightly earned its rep as one of the best-dressed eateries in San Diego, nabbing an Orchid Award for interior design its first year. The returning designers Anna and David Sindelar originally transformed the space from weird padded walls and fake greenery at Lei Lounge into a mid-century modern wonderland, complete with a signature arched ceiling and geometric patterns aplenty. Michelin-recognized chef Mario Cassineri (Ciccia Osteria, Bice Ristorante) built a menu heavy on Mediterranean flavors mixed with California classics.
The new menu shouldn’t feel completely jarring, but will take cues from Fink’s recent travels in Spain with his family. Expect shareable plates with lighter ingredients. “Americans eat way too much, and our portions are way too big,” he says. “I like the idea of smaller plates, healthier plates, and being creative… I’d rather see 15 items on the menu that are all less than $20 so that I can try different ones.” Bar manager Danny Kuehner will continue developing craft cocktails and mocktails for the new venture, as well as curating a selection of wine from Europe and locally.
Courtesy of Madison on Park | Photo Credit: Haley Hill
This isn’t the only project on their plate. Besides running Sonny’s in University Heights and Madi in Normal Heights, later this fall, Fink and Sieve will also open Josie’s, a modern all-day, Midwestern-style diner inspired by Sieve’s Minnesota roots. Like all their restaurants, it’ll hold a special part of their families’ legacies—something Fink hopes people feel as soon as they enter.
“You walk into Sonny’s, you’re like ‘Oh, Jeff’s at home,’” Fink laughs. “[Josies’] will be ‘Matt’s at home.’” The next version of Madison? We’ll have to wait and see.
Madison on Park will temporarily close on September 7 until October (barring any unexpected delays). Keep up with the newest updates on Madison’s Instagram.
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.
When I was pregnant, my food craving was singular and intense. If I didn’t eat at least one thing doused in cinnamon every day (ideally, more than one), I was—to put it gently—a complete monster.
Since then, my obsession has tempered somewhat. But cinnamon buns still perch high on my top treats list, so I’m always on the lookout for the next great place to indulge. IMO, The Huddle in Mission Hills’ mondo cinnamon roll remains top-tier, but after eyeing the ooey, gooey goodies from Sinner Buns, we might have a contender.
Originally from Ukraine, Daria Nadar had already done everything one can do at a bakery—business operations, wholesale contracts, actually baking, you name it—so during the pandemic, she started dabbling with perfecting her cinnamon rolls. After she got a couple fans over social media, she threw her first pop-up to see how they’d be received. She sold out.
After a few false starts with a couple storefronts and business deals, Nadar officially launched Sinner Buns in October 2025 with her partner Filipe Pazi. After making it through an unexpectedly hectic season stuffed with holiday orders, the team closed temporarily to get everything in line and reopened this April. Business has remained in full swing ever since.
There are only so many ingredients in a cinnamon roll, but “the process is what makes it special,” she says, adding they use fresh yeast rather than powder and a 48-hour process for each batch of brioche dough made to order. (Thus the need for pre-orders.) Customers can preorder until Thursday each week for pickup Friday, Saturday, or Sunday from Sinner Buns’ ghost kitchen at 780 Hollister Street, just east of Imperial Beach.
You can also catch her at various pop-ups around San Diego, the next one taking place on Saturday, August 22 at Infusion Lab Coffee in Pacific Beach. Eventually, Nadar opens to offer nationwide shipping (once she figures out the logistics and quality control) and one day, her own storefront.
But it’ll be on her terms, not the whims of social media. “We already learned how to not only rely on virality of the product, because you go viral and then it fades,” she says. “It’s a slow burner, and I know eventually, it’s going to grow much more.”
Courtesy of San Diego Spirits Festival
San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events
Beth’s Bites
Get spirited away at the 17th annual San Diego Spirits Festival. If you understood that reference, I regret to inform you that it is not a Studio Ghibli watchathon, but it’s still a win with a bonanza of craft makers pouring libations at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla for two full days. On September 26-27, try sips, glugs, and guzzles from brands like Condesa Gin and Uncle Nearest (with some bites to wash it all down, of course). Could you ask for a more picturesque venue? Spoiler alert: no.
You love to see a longtime employee take the reins of a beloved local institution. That’s exactly what happened at Konito’s Cafe in Pacific Beach, which is currently transitioning to Pablo’s Cafe, which is now under new ownership. (Yes, his name is Pablo.) Will their breakfast sandwich still slap? Guess we’ll have to go find out.
I’ve yet to visit Tigawok, the small California-based chain serving mini bowls like Kung Pao chicken and Mapo tofu. But the latest storefront (and the first in San Diego) is now soft open in La Jolla, and it’s only a matter of time before their Sichuan shredded chicken gets in my belly.
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.
When San Diego launched Micro Enterprise Home Kitchen Operations (MEHKO), it changed everything. Riverside County first established the experimental program in 2019, with San Diego introducing its own countywide pilot program in 2022 and granting it permanent status in 2024. The new category allowed people to launch at-home retail food operations—basically, home restaurants—with special requirements and restrictions to ensure food safety and smooth operations. Over two dozen counties across California have since adopted their own versions with over 1,200 permits issued, around 100 of them in San Diego alone.
Some have a dizzyingly long waitlist (Warung RieRie), others are still getting their name out there (The Hidden Gazebo Eatery), and still others use MEHKO for pickups rather than fully opening their home as an onsite dining facility. Love Pupusas falls into that category.
Yanira Majano came with her family from El Salvador to the United States when she was 11 years old, bringing a love of cooking and desire to share the country’s cuisine along with her. “There’s a lot of similarity [between Salvadoran food and] Central, South America, even Baja Mexico,” she says. Salvadoran cooking tends to be less spicy than some Mexican cuisines, with an emphasis on ingredients like corn, staples like yucca root (cassava), meats like crispy pork (chicharrón), and sides like curtido, a tangy cabbage slaw that’s typically either naturally fermented or vinegar-based.
And of course, the signature dish of El Salvador—pupusas.
In San Diego, Salvadoran food lacks the widespread availability of other Latin American cuisines like Mexican or Peruvian food, but Majano says she’s seen pupusas gain popularity over the past few years. But she likes to think her recipes, which have been passed down by her mother and kitchen partner Martha, contain a certain special something.
Some pupuserías use rice flour to create the handheld stuffed tortillas, but she prefers the more traditional gluten-free corn flour. Still, it’s what’s inside that really counts. “That’s where we put our own touch,” she explains. Most of Majano’s pupusas come with cheese and different fillings like carnitas, black beans, mushrooms, or zucchini, but she also offers vegan options. Every one comes with a side of curtido and salsa, each made fresh daily.
Showing people the magic of home-cooked food might not have been possible without the MEHKO program or The Cook Alliance, a MEHKO support and advocacy coalition. Opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant requires a huge amount of start-up capital—at least six figures, generally. Not exactly pocket change. “But when the MEHKO program started in 2022, I said, ‘Oh my God, this is for me,’” says Majano.
Now with four years under her belt, she says she’d love to bring Love Pupusas to more food festivals, host more pop-ups, and eventually open a food truck to keep serving the humble dish of her homeland, taking pride in every bite. “[I put] a lot of love in everything I do. You see it when you taste the food,” she promises.
Pre-order Love Pupusas for next day pickup in Rancho Peñasquitos between noon and 5 p.m.
It’s not the end of the road for Catalina Offshore Products—just the end of an address. The local family-owned fish market announced that come September, they are moving from their longtime location in the Morena District to The Old San Diego Seafood Building at 1842 McKinley Avenue in National City. Normal business operations will resume in October with the same retail market fully stocked with premium seafood and local catches, so it’s not goodbye, it’s just “see you later.” (And yes, 5202 Lovelock Street is still open until moving day.)
Don’t come at me with complaints about autumnal seasonal creep—I got an email this week about holiday shopping. In August. In comparison, the 2026 release of Karl Strauss Oktoberfest seems right on time. For the 38th year in a row, ahead of the Munich-inspired festivities, the 5 percent ABV malty amber lager is now available in bottles, with draft coming to the brewpubs in September. Despite the lack of chill in the air, there’s no reason why your fridge can’t be stocked with this frosty German delight.
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.
Implementing a farm-to-table model hardly deserves acknowledgement these days. It’s not a stretch. It’s not innovative. “It’s the bare f**king minimum,” says Herb & Sea‘s executive chef Aidan Owens.
When I arrive at the Encinitas restaurant, I’m ready to talk sustainability, farm-to-table stuff, with Owens. “Did you see the chin on that?” he says of the extra big jiggly chin on the sheephead that just arrived with the day’s fresh catch. I did. It was Jay Leno adjacent.
I learn quickly that he somehow oozes both charm and stone-cold honesty. Maybe he could construct a new dish with chin goo, like he did when he had a bunch of tuna scraps and voila’d it into a smooth and crowd-pleasing ‘nduja. “I want to know what’s in there,” he says.
Courtesy of Herb & Sea
The instinct to look closer, to dig into what others might discard, says a lot about the chef’s approach. I guide him back to our topic, but he has something else on his mind. “We’re overcomplicating food—what happened to just cooking good food and having fun with it?”
Owens grew up on a farm in Byron Bay, Australia, where sustainability wasn’t a concept you chat about so much as a way of life. Think dirt roads, backyard chickens, pulling vegetables straight from the ground, and a mother who believed that if you couldn’t pronounce the ingredients on a package, you shouldn’t eat what was inside.
Food wasn’t precious or performative. Making it was what you did because you were hungry and that’s still what inspires Owens today. “I like to cook good food because I like to eat good food,” he says.
His approach to sustainability at Herb & Sea began so naturally that it felt just like instinct. “I was just like, ‘Let’s order food from the people who live and work here,’” he says.
Courtesy of Herb & Sea
And why wouldn’t he when lives in San Diego? Cities all over the world vie for our goods. Our tuna is sent overseas. Our spiny lobsters hit dinner plates in China and Japan. Not to mention California’s producing a third of the country’s vegetables and three-quarters of its fruits and nuts.
“Why would we outsource when it’s all here?” Owens asks.
Sustainability, in this context, is about cooking what exists in abundance, nearby, right now. “I love the local fish here. It’s f**king delicious and San Diego citrus, I mean, it is so f**ing good,” he says.
Instead of importing ingredients, Owens also looks for nearby alternatives. “You can find really cool things in the local waters,” he says, pointing out that stingray cheeks taste similar to scallops.
Courtesy of Herb & Sea
Whatever he finds in that sheephead chin might just be the next substitute for marrow. But to make this work, it means getting diners amped up about the slightly unfamiliar.
Tasting menus, where diners are completely in his hands, become an opportunity to gently push boundaries. “I’ll serve mackerel, because people think they hate it,” Owens says, noting that the abundant local fish can have some fishiness. “But when it’s fresh, it’s arguably one of the best fish in the ocean.”
He also tweaks the language on the menu so people might feel more compelled to give dishes a try without preconceived notions. He might use “lengua” instead of “tongue.” “Whelk” instead of “snail.” When he puts “stingray throat” on the menu, he disarmingly calls it “skate.”
To reduce waste, scraps aren’t always discarded but rather turned into something new. Sometimes they’re smoked, cured or fermented. Apples going bad turn into apple ponzu. Lemons turn to marmalade, which stretches their usefulness far beyond peak season. “And it’s super tasty on our pizza,” he says.
What makes the food even richer, is the relationships he’s built with farmers. Though it didn’t always feel natural, Owens sought personal connection first. He recalls approaching a fisherman at the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market. “I was awkward,” he says. “I went up to him and said, ‘I like your fish.’”
Owen’s is now so close to his suppliers—like fishermen Ryan Sebo and Joe Daly—that he gets texted pictures of fresh catches right as they flop on the boat. The messages always ask if he wants first dibs. “I say yes to a lot of fish,” Owens says, noting that Herb & Sea can go through 2,000 pounds of seafood a week.
Courtesy of Herb & Sea
The next evolution of sustainability, in his view, will be chefs working directly with producers such as his alliance with Sebo, cutting out middlemen and purveyors where possible. “It will put more money in the pockets of the people doing the work,” he says.
It will mean that chefs can’t just know their local farmers and producers, but they’ll choose to work with the ones who have the best practices. Dining and sustainability will become much less about the final plate. “It will be more about the impact that plate has on the Earth,” he says.
Ultimately, he believes sustainability doesn’t need to be loud. It doesn’t need hashtags. It just needs to be honest.
“We aren’t saving lives. We’re feeding people good food,” he says.
And yet, in feeding people well—simply, thoughtfully, responsibly—something meaningful happens. Guests leave satisfied. Ingredients are respected. Local ecosystems are supported and food returns to what it has always been at its core: nourishment, pleasure, and a quiet reflection of the place it comes from.
The folks at Kairoa Brewing Company must never be lonely. It seems like there’s always a local pop-up or event at the University Heights space, from Bincho Taco slinging Japanese coal-fired tacos on the rooftop patio every Tuesday to Yipao Coffee serving coffee from a window on the ground floor. Later this year, the New Zealand-inspired brewery will bring yet another resident into the fold—Mon Chourie is launching its first bakery counter service window along Park Blvd.
Mon Chourie owner and baker Kelly Kim first started selling her Korean-style cream puffs at farmers markets and places like Pizza Kaiju, Pho Ga Go, and Mixed Grounds, collaborating with a myriad of other makers (like Amor ice cream and Ming Oun’s) before nabbing a regular spot at Michi Michi Bakery every Wednesday. San Diego Magazine readers even voted Mon Chourie the Best Pop-Up for 2026.
In French, the word for an airy puff pastry is “choux,” which is pronounced generally the same way as “syu,” the Korean word for the same item. (Both sound like “shoe.”) Mon Chourie plays with both iterations with a dash of whimsy by referencing the song My Cherie Amour by Stevie Wonder, which translates to “my darling love.”
As long as all the permits and inspections move forward without issue, Mon Chourie should open in Kairoa before the busy holiday season. She’ll continue appearing every Wednesday at Michi Michi and other pop-ups in the meantime. Once open, expect best-selling flavors like the savory potato croquette (a collaboration with Karanchi chili crisp) and a sweet Dubai chocolate choux au craquelin, a version of puff pastry with a delicate cookie crust.
Classic cream puffs are fluffy, softs and often filled with custard cream in the United States. “What makes a difference for us is we use a very light version of diplomat cream, which is my mom’s recipe,” she explains. Diplomat cream is a lighter French pastry cream that uses whipped cream for a lighter, airier end result.
Choux au craquelin’s signature crunchy top comes from adding a thin disc of cookie-like dough on top of the pastry, which crackles as it bakes, leaving a thin layer of crispiness atop the final product. “It contrasts with the creamy, fluffy cream inside, so it gets that better, deeper texture experience,” she says.
Courtesy of Kelly Kim
Along with her popular cream puffs and her bite-sized “mini-choux” options, Kim is also planning on offering more of a newer-to-her item: salt bread, a rich butter pastry topped with sea salt that originated in Japan, but went completely viral in South Korea. There are a few places to get it in Los Angeles and New York, “but I know that a lot of people here are interested in trying out new stuff, or maybe they had it in Korea or Japan, and they came back, but they couldn’t find it anymore,” says Kim. At first, she didn’t really get why it was so popular. Then she tried it in South Korea earlier this year.
“I was in love,” she laughs. “This is what the hype is about.”
Ideally, Mon Chourie will eventually open its own storefront and introduce more events in North County to satisfy demand. “I would also love to have our own drink program that reflects what’s popular in Korea,” she says. And to mark two years of puffy pastry prosperity, Mon Chourie is throwing a two-year anniversary party at Easy Does It (5375 Kearny Villa Rd., Suite 112) on Wednesday, August 25 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. with drink specials like a misugaru latte (a Korean roasted multi-grain powder with espresso), a DJ, photo booths, special ceramic merch created by local ceramicist Whale Tran, and a few other vendors. Get there early.
Mabel’s Gone Fishing has always supported the arts—see their Fishbowl Artist Series—and they’re keeping things going this month with The Studio Table, an immersive dining event on Saturday, August 29 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Barrio Logan-based ceramic studio Tao of Clay. For $160, guests can slurp down oysters and other Spanish-inspired pintxos, Basque ciders, cocktails, and take home a handmade oyster bowl made with reclaimed oyster shells. Gratuity is included for this 21+ event, so be prepared to slow down and enjoy the tangible fruits of nature.
City Tacos keeps moving and shaking, and the restaurant group’s next landing place is Liberty Station. El Punto by City Tacos is slated to open in October in the former El Jardin space (2885 Perry Road, Suite 102). Once destined to become another Lola55 outpost, the space will now become a full-service, family-friendly, and dog-friendly restaurant with seafood, tacos, cocktails, and more.
For as many closings as we’ve seen over the past year, restaurant openings seem to be back on track. The long-awaited Honor Bar finally opened its doors in Del Mar this summer, and Soul Sip in North Park is soft open from 4 p.m. to midnight daily. Still on the way are The Shackhouse by Julian Beer Company (slated to open by Labor Day) and Sprouts Farmers Market plans to open in the former Pancho Villa’s building in North Park this October. (La Mesa is still waiting patiently for Stella Jean’s and Pop Pie to make their debuts.)
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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.
Snacks are the best vacation souvenirs. You get all the novelty of having something to unwrap without any of the burden of keeping random crap around. I’m always game to try some chips from a place I can’t find on a map with ingredients I can’t identify by taste. Gimme that spice mix from that Southern barbecue pit whose wine list consists of light beers from lesser-known appellations. Don’t think I won’t lick the inside wrapper of some chocolate bar homemade by a grandma at a farmers market you stumbled upon in a small Midwestern town best known for giant yarn balls.
Even though San Diego is best known for our thigh-sized burritos, fish tacos, and craft beers, those travel about as well as room-temp mayo. So we gathered some of the city’s best food souvenirs: snacks, spices, and sauces worth sliding into your carry-on or gifting to a lucky out-of-towner.
Inside Bread & Salt—Barrio Logan’s old Weber Bread Factory turned into one of the city’s most vibrant art, culture, and community spaces—there’s a cafe in front of a giant, now-defunct bread mixer. Mexican-owned specialty brew shop and roastery Provecho! Coffee started as a pop-up in 2020, but its success quickly bricked-and-mortared. Although Provecho! specializes in sourcing and roasting Mexican coffees, its consistency is variety: The lineup changes regularly as Provecho! finds new sources around the world. Get a to-go taste via the coffee bags that range between 250 g and 2 kg.
Courtesy of Superlova!
Sesame Sauce
Superlova!
Superlova!’s Chinese-inspired, seed oil–free sauces are grocery list mainstays for San Diegans. The sesame sauces (Dan Dan is spicy, May May is tame) pair with noodles, dumplings, or any meal that could use a little more oomph. They don’t have tahini, which is de-hulled; they have Chinese sesame paste, which is dark-roasted for a nuttier flavor and packed with fiber and calcium.
Courtesy of JuneShine
Hard Kombucha
JuneShine
San Diego is known for beer, sure. But real locals pour from a different tap. JuneShine’s low-sugar, yet still refreshingly sweet, hard kombucha is an SD favorite. The brand has joined the canned cocktail tidal wave and now sells vodka mules, tequila palomas, and vodka sodas—all with about two shots per can, real juice, and sparkling water. But for a classic food gift, get a variety pack of the booch. Fit it into your checked bag. It’s worth it.
Double entendre is key to hot sauce brand Down To Ferment, aka DTF. (Popular sauces have flavor names like CornHub, Smokin’ Hot Date, and Ghosted.) But it’s no gimmick. The homemade, kombucha-based sauce is seriously good: DTF’s That’s What Shishito Said made it onto Season 30’s lineup on Internet-famous interview show Hot Ones.
Courtesy of Tortilleria Los Reyes
Fresh Tortillas
As discussed, carne asada burritos travel about as well as a toddler with emotional-regulation issues. But the soul of a truly great, San Diego burrito? It’s not the fillings. It’s the tortilla. You can’t go wrong from any locally owned spots, but our favorites are Tortilleria Los Reyes in Vista, Windmill Farms Market in Del Cerro (which uses Pancho Villa’s old tortilla press), Esperanza’s Tortilleria in Escondido, and Tortilleria Lily in City Heights.
Courtesy of Karanchi
Chili Crisp
Karanchi
Handcrafted in small batches, Karanchi’s Sichuan peppercorn–packed chili oil comes in two varieties: original and spicy. The original warms your palate and adds depth to your meal, and the spicy is a form of mealtime masochism. Founder Nguyen Le’s favorite way to eat his garlic-studded chili crisp is on avocado toast—which makes an already San Diego meal even more San Diegan—but it’d make old shoes taste pretty good.
Fresh fish ranks low on society’s acceptable realms of carry-on items. But canned fresh fish straight from local fishermen? You’re the best part of a bruschetta. Every Saturday at the docks behind Seaport Village, fishermen step off their boats and sell what they caught as recently as that morning. While getting yourself some fresh sea urchin and squid, grab a couple cans of locally caught albacore tuna for the tinned-fish lover in your life.
Photo Credit: Salsa Digital Agency
Conchas
Tus Chefs Favoritas
Started as a pandemic baking hobby for BFFs Natalie Rodriguez and Lesly Mendoza, Tus Chefs is now a South County favorite spot for conchas with a twist. The menu is expansive enough to get over a baker’s dozen without any repeats—why not get one of each, anyway?—but if you only have enough space in your carry-on for a few, start with popular “chocolate abuelita,” churro, mazapan, horchata, and brownie conchas.
Emma Veidt is an editor at San Diego Magazine. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from the Missouri School of Journalism. She loves running, hiking, and rock climbing, but really, she mostly loves encounters with the street cats around North Park.
Chemotherapy and radiation have long been considered gold standards of cancer treatment, but they can cause severe side effects. A promising new approach called theranostics—a combination of “therapeutics” and “diagnostics”—could offer patients with certain types of metastatic cancers new hope. It’s a two-step process that uses a drug that binds to specific receptors on cancer cells. Advanced imaging detects this radioisotope, allowing doctors to then use a second radioisotope that binds to the cancer cells and destroys them. Click here to learn more about how specialists at Scripps Cancer Center are using theranostics.
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