This is Rosemarie’s Burgers in Mission Beach. And that guy right over there is owner Nick, an eminently likable man who will, one way or another, make you his friend. His burger spot is named after his Sicilian grandma, who taught him how to cook.
Nick first visited San Diego and spent a day in O.B., tried the wings over at the Noodle House and he was done for. He immediately moved his young family here, started doing pop-up dinners. Bought a food trailer, painted grandma on it, served sliders next to Harland Brewing using good ingredients and cheffy sauces—90% Wagyu beef (10% chuck), brioche, Kewpie mayo, confiting hundreds of pounds of onions.
It took off. He opened his first brick and mortar in Mission Beach late last year. To decorate it, he, a buddy, and a buddy’s dad drove the alleys of O.B.—which locals know are kind of an unofficial swap meet every weekend, with the oddest of oddities laid out for anyone to give a new home. He DIY’d his dream.
There are pictures of grandpas and grandmas in here. An old typewriter. A Bourdain prayer candle. And always Nick, the likable burger mayor. Every person who walks by seems to pop their head in for a handshake or a hug or a hey-yo.
“I just say hello until they’re like, ‘Who is this nut?’” he says. “There’s an older guy named Mike. He walks by every day and no matter where I am in the restaurant… ‘Hey-yooooo! Mikey!’ He’s never eaten here. So, you know, we just force our way into people’s lives.”
Get the RosieMac. A stack of seared and juicy Wagyu patties, American cheese, special sauce made of Japanese mayo (the very best mayo), pickles, on a brioche bun. Delicious, messy as hell, a friend of cold beer. They call it a slider but this thing looks like it ate a couple sliders on its own.
