TAHINI-guy-fieri

John Dole

What’s a guy to do with a Harvard Law degree? For Osama Shabaik, the surprising answer was to join forces with good friend Mahmoud (Moody) Barkawi to open up a Middle Eastern street food restaurant—Tahini—and earn the Guy Fieri Triple D stamp of approval.

“We were lamenting over the fact of how inaccessible [Middle Eastern food] was,” Shabaik explains of Tahini. “It’s the food we grew up with and that we always reminisce about. But a bigger part of it was, ‘How can we own a business that we’re proud of in terms of the values that it embodies?’”

What started off as a 10’ x 10’ farmers’ market stand run by two students with one shawarma machine in 2013 turned into a values-driven, brick-and-mortar business in 2017. “For us, there was a fear of going and working for a company or someone where our values may not have aligned. One of the big reasons as to why we went forward with Tahini was to be able to chart our own path,” explains Shabaik.

TAHIHI-pita-falafel

John Dole

It’s easy to see why Tahini is catching the attention of locals (and Fieri) in Kearny Mesa. The casual atmosphere and easily-customizable menu almost downplay the fact that everything is made using top-notch ingredients—such as the antibiotic-free chicken and beef, marinated in more than 10 fresh herbs and spices. Their claim to fame is their chicken shawarma pita (a.k.a. The Esquire) packed with french fries, garlic, Sriracha, tomatoes, and pickled cucumbers.

Little things also count—like their squeaky halloumi cheese sticks. Breaded and fried to crispy, non-oily bites, dip them into a serving of sticky-sweet fig jam. Though the Tahini fries are a loaded, nap-inducing joy, the pickled turnips are the best thing on their menu.

TAHINI-fries

John Dole

Beyond food, Shabaik and Barkawi were determined to create a welcoming space to hire refugees coming from the Middle East. “For folks that may or may not speak English, it’s just one small way to give them a taste of home,” says Shabaik. The duo have also established a working business model, an increasingly hard thing to accomplish in the restaurant industry.

They provide above-minimum wage pay to all staff members, invest in eco-friendly, biodegradable packaging for food items, and commit to halal meats, local produce, and a from-scratch approach for all their menus. As their website says, “When it comes to respecting the earth and the communities that make it up, no price is too high to pay.”

The post Start with Your Values, Then Build Your Business appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

The Feed / Miho Catering Co.

Kevin Ho and his business partner, Juan Miron, were in Vegas at a catering conference when news of the pandemic broke eight months ago (or 60 months or however long ago this started). A flood of cancellations for their MiHo Catering Co. started coming in. Hitting snooze on reality like many of us did, Ho came home to San Diego and went straight to a long-planned beach camping trip with his family.

The intent, as with most modern vacations, was to unplug from the bleeps and bloops and notifications. Not a shot.

“I was in denial a little bit,” says Ho. “But I kept getting blasted by my staff, rightfully so. I told my wife, ‘I need to plug in somewhere because I think the world is ending.’ So I went to a coffee shop and found out, oh… the world is ending.”

Catering hasn’t gotten the big “help” headlines during all this. Most media has focused on saving the restaurants, because they often have higher rent and fixed costs. Catering had been a bright spot in the food world—a US market that went from $58 billion in sales in 2017 to $64 billion in 2019. Restaurants, which operate on tiny margins (three to five percent, on average), were filling their bookkeeping gaps by catering events.

Then, events were canceled. Weddings, holiday parties, retirement parties, birthday parties, baby showers—all gone. Some caterers switched to providing meals for workers on the front lines. They tried doing family-style meals, delivering groceries to clients, tried everything.

MiHo, one of the city’s top caterers, went from over 100 employees to fewer than 30. Instead of competing with restaurants for meal-delivery business, they chose to help companies who had invested big in office culture—kombucha on tap, good coffee, food and drink as a work perk—re-create a little of that magic for their newly remote workforce. They’re also spearheading a movement to include mobile COVID-19 testing as one of their services.

I spoke with Kevin Ho this morning about the view from the catering world:

Troy Johnson: What was the initial effect?

Kevin Ho: On the catering events side, that completely disappeared. We went dark right away. Unfortunately we had to furlough a ton of people. Our staff was bigger than it had ever been; that was such a huge disappointment—to tell that many good, hard-working people they don’t have a job.

How’d you reinvent yourself?

We had to identify what changes would be cyclical and what was a structural, long-lasting change to the industry we know and love. We already had a pretty strong delivery program that we launched in 2017, so thankfully we were always approved by county health guidelines to keep offering delivery. But our bread and butter is corporate, and that fell off the map entirely.

You’ve started doing select events again. How are you pulling it off?

As things started to improve, we developed our own health and safety protocols. That was treacherous, because everything was so uncharted and untested. It took us time to embrace the fact that it’s an essential, core responsibility. I truly believe that in larger firms you’ll see executive roles like “chief health and safety officer.’ That’s just part of the job now. We have policies we vote on and amend according to health orders, and training manuals and policies that we agree to with our clients.

What specifically are you asking your clients to agree to?

Our policies are very strict. We’re demanding small guest counts, private residences, single-household. We really look to restaurants. Right now they’re not supposed to be serving guests indoors, so our practices go hand-in-hand. For the most part, people who are still inquiring about events aren’t as inclined to be as safe and health conscious as we would like them to be. There are [caterers] who are more stringent than we are, but a lot of our competitors have abandoned all public health and safety. We lose business to firms who are just going to let people gather without any kind of masks or restrictions. I’m not judging them at all. When I look back, my team and I will be proud of the way we went about it. We’d rather leave money on the table.

And you’re starting to test everyone at your events?

We have created some partnerships with local operators who provide licensed rapid antigen testing. We have registered nurses who we’ll send to clients, or they can do drive-thru testing at our site. They’ll get the results in 15 minutes before we do the event. Testing is just going to become part of everyday life. Even though the testing doesn’t eliminate COVID, it will allow schools and offices and hospitality to conduct their activities with a higher level of assurance.

Is this a moneymaker?

It’s not a moneymaker. We spent so long writing our testing program and I will happily share it with every other operator. It’s crazy—I’m used to talking about food temperatures, and now we’re creating mobile COVID testing units. I hope that every single American can have free access to testing and ideally we can help with that. I hope Amazon starts shipping testing kits to homes. I hope one day I will have tests that my family and I can take at home weekly.

Tell me about re-creating the ultimate company break rooms.

The huge opportunity we saw was, all of these employees are working from home, some very happily and safely. Our corporate clientele tend to be firms that have the same values we do—purpose-driven and really, really appreciate their teams and want to create an environment they’re proud of. So break rooms had kombucha on tap and Topo Chico water and good coffee. I would go to some of our clients’ offices and I’m like, “Dang, can I work here?” So we talked to them and said, “You’re still that kind of company; let us help you create that.”

So you created a mobile version?

We’ll ship packages to their employees to give them those creature comforts and the same pride that went into their office culture. We’ll have locally roasted coffee beans, because you used to roll into work and get free coffee. Handmade snacks. We’re making immunity supplements because wellness is one of our biggest values.

But it goes beyond that?

Yeah, it’s called Concord. It’s basically a single-payer system with individual ordering. So if a client wants to do an employee appreciation lunch or celebrate something, employees can go to our site and order their meal, then we’ll deliver it to their homes across San Diego County. We’re also launching experiences. We have our gastro-truck, so for the bigger occasions, a company can send our food truck to grill grass-fed burgers fresh right in front of someone’s house.

You can’t make money off driving a truck to a single person’s home and cooking them a burger.

Ha. No. There’s no profit for us. What we’re actually creating is a corporate subscription membership where you can subscribe for a monthly fee for each of your employees—you get access to delivery meals, the gastrotruck, multicourse meals, gift boxes for birthdays and anniversaries or hitting certain company goals. We’re also doing multicourse dinners with beer and wine pairings.

Do you see events coming back?

Until people can get together, we’re not going to break the rules and push for this. For me as the owner of this company, I really need catering. That’s what keeps food on my kids’ table. But personally, I don’t think you should have a wedding today. I really hope you call us and we can book one for 2021 or 2022.

Catering hasn’t gotten the press that restaurants have. How’s that hurt you?

To be honest, I’d rather support my local coffee shop and pizza place and burger joint than support MiHo, who’s headquartered in Kearny Mesa. With my $10 for dinner tonight, I want to support the mom-and-pop that I know really needs my business. The headlines and PR and stuff, we don’t want to take that away from them. Obviously we’re getting our ass kicked, but so are other people.

What’s next?

We were thinking about doing a “Save the Dives Tour.” We’ll park the gastrotruck in front of our favorite dive bars in the city, serve food, and help dive bars sell drinks to go.

The post A Catering Company Takes the Lead on Mobile COVID Testing appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Bing Haus Coffee and Dessert

It might be tucked into a corner of a strip mall, but just look for their big electric sign and you can’t miss it. This cozy little spot serves coffee and frozen desserts, including rolled ice cream, soft serve, OB Beans coffee, and melon bingsoo, a popular Korean shaved ice dessert. Get ready to be one of those people who takes pictures of their food, because you won’t be able to resist capturing their watermelon bingsoo, served with snow ice, condensed milk, fruity pebble cereal, mochi, and vanilla soft serve. Even their rolled ice cream is Instagram worthy; it comes in strawberry, green tea, cookies and cream, banana, black sesame, coffee, Thai tea, and cereal.

4425 Convoy Street, Kearny Mesa | 858-276-9479

Common Theory

When Common Theory says fusion, they mean it, with a menu featuring elements of Korean, Chinese, Mexican, and American cuisines. The Convoy Pork and Shrimp Katsu burger, featured on an episode of Food Network’s Burgers, Brew & ’Que, is a must-try—a fried pork and shrimp patty with pickled onions, butter lettuce, mustard spread, and radish aioli on a brioche bun. Other favorites recently brought back to the menu include the barbecue chicken flatbread and bulgogi rice bowl. While they offer a rotating selection of over 30 craft beers on tap at one time, change things up by participating in their weekly Brew Battle, where two breweries go head-to-head to survive another week on the leaderboard. Right there on the patio, you and your friends can grab a flight consisting of two beers by each brewery in matching styles, blind-test each, and vote for your favorite, labeled A, B, C, and D.

4805 Convoy Street, Kearny Mesa | 858-384-7974

Cross Street Chicken and Beer

Stand aside, Colonel; there’s a new “KFC” in town—the Korean fried chicken at Cross Street. You can never go wrong with the soy garlic wings, a classic Korean duo, but their seasonal garlic butter honey flavor is so popular, they’re thinking of adding it to the menu. If you’re in the mood for spicy, the Seoul Spicy is a house favorite, with a sauce inspired by the Korean home staple gochujang, a red chili paste. Stay awhile in their patio or additional outdoor seating and enjoy a full or half order of wings, boneless tenders, or drumsticks and pair it with your choice from a variety of draft beers.

4403 Convoy Street, Kearny Mesa | 858-430-6001

Dumpling Inn and Shanghai Saloon

This family-owned and operated business is known for being one of the first restaurants in San Diego to offer freshly made xiao long bao, a Chinese soup dumpling. Dumpling Inn also remains dedicated to serving classic Chinese comfort cuisine, such as ma po tofu, honey shrimp, and pork pot stickers. Their extensive parking lot patio can be enjoyed all the more with a cold beer or cocktail.

4625 Convoy Street, Kearny Mesa | 858-268-9638

Friend’s House Korean

This restaurant serves more traditional Korean meals, like their popular soondubu, a spicy Korean tofu soup with egg and a choice of seafood, pork, beef, or kimchi. If you want it even spicier, one of their top menu items is the kimchi jjigae, a spicy kimchi soup with pork, veggies, and sliced tofu. Choose one of five different spice levels to really test how much you can handle. Cool off from your meal in the cozy outdoor patio enclosed by plants galore.

4647 Convoy Street, Kearny Mesa | 858-292-0499

Kura Revolving Sushi Bar

While you may not get to experience the joy of having your food announced in Japanese before seeing it launched to your table on a conveyor belt, Kura’s $2.80 sushi plates—spanning an assortment of salmon, beef, shrimp, eel, scallop, and tuna nigiri, as well as various rolls, hand rolls, and gunkan—are still worth dining outside for. Choose from a selection of over 140 dishes in their extended parking lot patio just out front. Each sushi dish is covered with a plastic top for safety, so the joy of eating good sushi will still be there, even if it’s brought out by a human and not a machine.

4609 Convoy Street, Kearny Mesa | 858-715-4605

Manna BBQ

Manna BBQ is one of Convoy’s most popular all-you-can-eat Korean barbecues. With outdoor seating right out front, you can cook your meat on an electric grill and watch the hustle and bustle of the neighborhood go by. Choose between the pricier A1 set, which has premium meats at $29 per person, and the standard A2 set at $25 per person. Both offer classic menu items like the chadol baegi (beef brisket), bulgogi, and pork belly, as well as sides like gaeran jjim (steamed egg), corn cheese, and thick rice paper.

4428 Convoy Street, Kearny Mesa | 858-278-3300

Olleh Convoy Korean BBQ

See for yourself if Olleh really is the “best Korean BBQ in San Diego.” At $21 per person for lunch and $25 per person for dinner, this all-you-can-eat restaurant offers quite a few marinated options for each type of meat—beef belly, pork belly, brisket, barbecue chicken, bulgogi, and kalbi. Leave just a little room for their popular unlimited sides, like the steamed egg, japchae (stir-fried glass noodles), and kimchi fried rice. Aside from a wide variety of meats and sides and the free shaved-ice dessert, Olleh has a decent-size parking lot, which is just the cherry on top of any Convoy visit. They’ve switched almost everything to be disposable—plates, bowls, utensils, and even bottled water.

4344 Convoy Street, Kearny Mesa | 858-492-2121

Phuong Trang Restaurant

It may be a little difficult to choose from the more than 100 appetizers, soups, noodle dishes, and main courses on Phuong Trang’s astonishingly large menu. But don’t be put off: Whatever you order, you will still get an authentic Vietnamese dish. The vermicelli noodle bowls—thin rice noodles served cool with shredded lettuce, cucumber, mint, bean sprouts, crushed peanuts, and fish sauce—are one of the most popular orders, and you can add various meats and seafood. You can never go wrong with classics like fried egg rolls and fresh spring rolls filled with pork and shrimp, and both the garlic and glazed wings are popular favorites.

4170 Convoy Street, Kearny Mesa | 858-565-6750

RakiRaki Ramen and Tsukemen

In a new parking-lot setup, RakiRaki has an ample amount of outdoor seating to enjoy your favorite ramen dish in, along with a drink from their selection of local craft beer and sake. If you want a ramen that packs a punch, try their Rikimaru spicy miso tonkotsu ramen, a premium miso tonkotsu broth with noodles, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, a five-spice soy sauce pickled egg, and your choice of organic chicken, chashu (grilled pork), or flame-blistered underbelly. In addition to a wide variety of ramen, RakiRaki serves other authentic Japanese dishes, including tsukemen (dipping noodles), charcoal-fired yakitori, curry, ramen burgers, and specialty sushi rolls.

4646 Convoy Street, Kearny Mesa | 858-573-2400

SomiSomi Soft Serve and Taiyaki

This little shop offers ah-boong, a Korean-inspired dessert with soft serve in a baked, goldfish-shaped waffle cone. They’re not the crunchy cones you get at other ice cream shops. While still crispy, this goldfish cone is softer and chewier, a perfect complement to the creamy goodness of soft serve. Mix and match your soft-serve flavor (milk, ube, black sesame, matcha, or a swirl of two flavors) with your filling (red bean, taro, custard, or Nutella), and top it off with your choice of fruity pebble cereal, Oreo crumbs, rainbow sprinkles, graham crackers, and more. There are a couple of small tables outside, but if you can’t get a table there’s plenty of sidewalk space to spread out on too.

4620 Convoy Street, Kearny Mesa | 858-939-0388

Steamy Piggy

As you make your way down Convoy Street, it’s pretty hard to miss Steamy Piggy’s large wooden signage, with their signature neon pig acting as a beacon for the whole strip. Everything about this place is meant to look good as well as taste good. The modern atmosphere is great for a trendy lunch date, and the vertical garden backdrop on the patio is the perfect photo op. They serve classic dishes from China, Korea, and Japan, including dumplings, bao, rolls, ramen, fried rice, and meat bowls. Their popular dumplings are served fresh every day, but all of their dishes are made for family-style sharing, so don’t stress too much about choosing one thing. And you can’t leave without trying their Kawaii Buns, custard-filled steamed buns in the shape of a little pig. They’re almost too cute to eat. (Almost.)

4681 Convoy Street, Kearny Mesa | 858-492-0401

Tajima

Before diving into a steaming bowl of ramen, start your meal off with their most popular appetizer, the pork gyoza. Then give their house favorite a try, the curry ramen, which comes with an original tonkotsu chicken and pork broth mixed with special spiced curry, egg noodles, half a ramen egg, and your choice of pork or chicken chashu. If you’re thinking of bringing a date, plan for the Tajima Tuesday special: buy one ramen, get one 50 percent off.

4681 Convoy Street, Kearny Mesa | 858-576-7244

Tofu House 

Eui Jong Kim

Tofu House

Their iconic stone-pot-scorched tables have moved outdoors so you can enjoy a nice, piping-hot bowl of tofu soup in the fresh air. Established 1998, what was created to make Korean immigrants feel at home in San Diego with warm and comforting food has grown to become a Convoy staple loved by the community as well as customers from different backgrounds. Be sure to try their iconic tofu soup, like their chef’s special, which comes out hot and bubbling with shrimp, pollack roe, clams, oysters, scallops, and mushrooms in addition to soft tofu. They’re also known for their hot stone crispy rice bowls, which also comes out in a piping-hot stone pot. Pro tip: Don’t ignore that basket of eggs on your table—use the unlimited supply they provide anywhere in the soups, on the hot rice, or as hot meat dip.

4646 Convoy Street, Kearny Mesa | 858-576-6433

Yakyudori, Yakitori Taisho, and Hinotez

The menus at these three Japanese restaurants vary, but all are known for their variety of yakitori—bite-sized grilled chicken skewers made from different parts of the bird, such as the breasts, thighs, skin, liver, and other innards, like chicken heart and gizzard. They also offer other grilled skewers like beef tongue, bacon-wrapped asparagus, and quail egg. If you’re not in the mood for yakitori, Yakyudori and Hinotez offer a variety of ramen and donburi (rice bowl) dishes, while Taisho has some deep-fried options to choose from. Although its yakitori selection is smaller than the other two, Hinotez also features sashimi, sushi rolls, and yakisoba.

4898 Convoy St., Kearny Mesa | 858-268-2888

5185 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Kearny Mesa | 858-752-0468

7947 Balboa Ave., Kearny Mesa | 858-565-4244

Common Theory

James Tran

The post 17 Convoy Street Eateries with Patio Dining appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

The answer is almost always Dudley’s Bakery—where for the last 50 years, every San Diegan with an operable sense of smell has stopped for some potato bread on their way to “see snow” in Julian.

Now San Diegans won’t have to drive so far for their fix. Evan Brunye, son of Dudley’s owners Barry and Laurie Brunye, is opening Dudley’s Deli in Kearny Mesa (9119 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.) in the former Chick-A-Deli. Brunye opened the first offshoot of the bakery last year in Santee. This location, which he hopes to open within three weeks, will be the first that isn’t a hell of a drive for us city folk.

Menu standouts include the Strawberry Turkey (that famed potato sheepherder bread with a layer of fresh strawberries and strawberry preserves), the TBA (turkey, bacon and avo on their Western Wheat Bread), and California Roast Beef on jalapeño-cheddar loaf. You can also build your own starting with your favorite Dudley’s bread, then meats and some inventive condiments (cilantro-garlic mayo, Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, crab apple jelly, pico de gallo, peanut butter, etc.). Open from 6AM to 4PM, Dudley’s Deli will bake its own pastries. The bread will be delivered from the mother ship every other day.

“We tried to bake the bread onsite in Santee, and it’s just so much bread,” explains Brunye. “The ovens in Santa Ysabel you can fit 20 people in. We don’t have that kind of space.”

Evan, a mechanical engineer by trade, raised the money for the delis the hard way. Walking at night in Mission Beach in 2011, he was attacked from behind and ultimately stabbed in the leg four times. The police didn’t arrest the attacker, because Brunye had defended himself pretty well and given the attacker a black eye. “So I had to sue the guy, and won enough to start my own business,” explains Brunye, who made a full recovery after a year of rehabilitation. “If it wasn’t for that, I’d probably still be an engineer.”

INCOMING: Dudley’s Deli

The post INCOMING: Dudley’s Deli appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

The answer is almost always Dudley’s Bakery—where for the last 50 years, every San Diegan with an operable sense of smell has stopped for some potato bread on their way to “see snow” in Julian.

Now San Diegans won’t have to drive so far for their fix. Evan Brunye, son of Dudley’s owners Barry and Laurie Brunye, is opening Dudley’s Deli in Kearny Mesa (9119 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.) in the former Chick-A-Deli. Brunye opened the first offshoot of the bakery last year in Santee. This location, which he hopes to open within three weeks, will be the first that isn’t a hell of a drive for us city folk.

Menu standouts include the Strawberry Turkey (that famed potato sheepherder bread with a layer of fresh strawberries and strawberry preserves), the TBA (turkey, bacon and avo on their Western Wheat Bread), and California Roast Beef on jalapeño-cheddar loaf. You can also build your own starting with your favorite Dudley’s bread, then meats and some inventive condiments (cilantro-garlic mayo, Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, crab apple jelly, pico de gallo, peanut butter, etc.). Open from 6AM to 4PM, Dudley’s Deli will bake its own pastries. The bread will be delivered from the mother ship every other day.

“We tried to bake the bread onsite in Santee, and it’s just so much bread,” explains Brunye. “The ovens in Santa Ysabel you can fit 20 people in. We don’t have that kind of space.”

Evan, a mechanical engineer by trade, raised the money for the delis the hard way. Walking at night in Mission Beach in 2011, he was attacked from behind and ultimately stabbed in the leg four times. The police didn’t arrest the attacker, because Brunye had defended himself pretty well and given the attacker a black eye. “So I had to sue the guy, and won enough to start my own business,” explains Brunye, who made a full recovery after a year of rehabilitation. “If it wasn’t for that, I’d probably still be an engineer.”

INCOMING: Dudley’s Deli

The post INCOMING: Dudley’s Deli appeared first on San Diego Magazine.