Her great grandma wanted to be a chef in Belgium, but sexism’s an heirloom form of BS. Women weren’t allowed. So she cooked in private, and taught her family. Three generations and one continent later, Anne-Marie Coulon made good on her dream with Little Lion in Ocean Beach.
Get the Belgian waffle, fermented two days. And the Belgian potatoes, light and ghosty. The passionfruit curd on housemade granola will unbreak what’s broken in you, and pretty sure eating the pesto-and-cashew cream power bowl counts as pilates.
Little Lion’s not fussy. Just top-notch ingredients and simple, delicious food where the sidewalk ends in OB.
You know a place is good when half the people are eating in a dirt alley along the side of the restaurant and seem deeply OK with this.
Anne-Marie’s grandparents owned The Belgian Lion, an OB staple for decades. That kitchen was basically an after-school program for her and her sisters. They’d cut onions and skate the alleys (a mandate for OB youth). Grandfather Don taught Anne-Marie how to cook. Years later, she was deep in the catering grind. Driving over the Coronado Bridge for an event, she slammed on her brakes and the plates flew all over her car.
“I turned around, drove straight to this little smoothie shop with my son in my arms, and asked the owner if she’d ever consider selling. She looked at me kinda crazy, and said, ‘Last night, I decided I wanted to retire.’”
She put the plates from her grandparents’ restaurant on the wall, and built her own.
