San Diego: The Healthy Locavore Guide to Eating and Drinking

Eating and Drinking Guide: A Long Weekend in San Diego

Catching up with family and watching San Diego’s food scene improve.

“Unconditional Surrender” at San Diego’s historic aircraft carrier museum: USS Midway

San Francisco may be the town I came from, Honolulu is home now, but San Diego will always be my hometown. Because of that, despite my liberal values, I have always given conservative San Diego – occupied by the navy since 1904 and home to the second largest naval base in the country – a break. In the past, its slow-to-modernize dining scene kept me mostly at the beach, my family’s home or in Mexico during trips back. It used to be that I would only look forward to the border-style rolled tacos and crispy beef tacos from the taquerias of my childhood. My dad would pick me up from the airport, we would stop for a beer at Waterfront Bar & Grill, have lunch at The Fish Market (as per tradition) and the rest of my meals would be eaten at Sombrero’s. 

Ten years ago, I noticed a shift happening in San Diego’s dining scene. With rents forcing locals out of big cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, San Diego welcomed a new demographic that was used to savvier chefs. The still-growing tech scene brought the cash, which afforded big-name restaurateurs who built sleek new places to eat and drink. It also became the place to be for local craft beer and now boasts over 150 independent craft breweries. Every time I return there is one more good restaurant, one more tiki bar, one more third-wave coffee shop and so on. There is even a natural wine bar scene now. 

The Rose Wine Bar and Bottle Shop: A leader in San Diego’s natural wine movement

Neighborhoods range from the trendy South Park and North Park to the lively dining scene of Little Italy to the infamous bar scene of the Gaslamp District to the artsy Chicano Park in Barrio Logan, just to name a few. Hop a trolley to a Padres Game, hang out in Ocean Beach (OB) or spend a leisurely afternoon museum hopping in Balboa Park, it’s all good and the weather hardly ever disappoints. 

Modern Times Beer presents: The Invigatorium, a coffee, breakfast and lunch bar meets natural wine and cocktail bar.

On my recent trip back I spent most of my time on foot in the East Village and Waterfront area of downtown, where my mom lives now. Upon recommendation, we began our first morning at Modern Times Coffee. Mom enjoyed a Lavender-Vanilla Latte and I jazzed up my usual oat milk latte with a shot of cardamom bitters and a brain boost of lion’s mane mushroom powder. Afterward, we took a walk to Seaport Village for tacos with a view at Mike Hess Brewing. While I was munching on carnitas and birria tacos, I started googling “natural wine shops in San Diego” and found at least a half dozen. We decided on one in the South Park neighborhood called The Rose Wine Bar & Bottle Shop, which opened ten years ago with the arrival of the natural wine movement on the west coast. It has a full bar complete with craft cocktails and a 100% natural wine list, plus a natural wine bottle shop. 

Here are the wines we tasted:

  • 2020 Quinta do Ameal (winemaker), Loureiro (grape), Vinho Verde (Lima), Portugal  (white)

  • 2021 Bojo du Luar “doralice” (a collaboration between natural wine importer Savio Soares and biodynamic winemaker Antonio Sousa), Loureiro, Vinho Verde (Lima), Portugal  (amber)

  • 2021 Field Blend “So Far Out,” 36% Nebbiolo/35% Charbono/29% Chenin, Paso Robles, CA (chillable red)

  • 2020 Dry Creek (winemaker), Cabernet Franc, Paso Robles, CA (red)

  • 2019 Maccioca (winemaker) “Terra,” Cesanese (grape), Lazio, Italy (red)

  • 2018 Olivares (Winemaker) “Altos Dela Hoya,” MourvedreMonastrell/Garnacha (grapes), Spain (red)

These are the bottles we brought home:

  • 2020 Quinta do Ameal, Loureiro, Vinho Verde, Portugal  

  • 2019 Domaine de la Tour du Bon, Mourvedre, Bandol, France

Mom and I left The Rose happily buzzed and ready to shop. We both left Thread & Seed inspired to redecorate our homes, Mom picked up a tiki mug for my brother at Bad Madge and I got a pair of earrings at Communal Coffee’s indoor boutique. Later, back in Mom’s ‘hood, I was ready to check out an ice cream shop I had seen earlier: Cali Cream Homemade Ice Cream. I settled on a scoop of Chocolate Almond Joy after a few tastes from a menu boasting over 75 flavors brilliantly categorized into sections such as “with nuts,” “dairy-free,” “for chocolate lovers,” and “for coffee lovers.” The ice cream was crunchy, dense and creamy, held at the exact right temperature and tasted like coconut-chocolate euphoria. I seriously cannot stop thinking about it.

Chocolate Almond Joy at Cali Cream

For dinner that night we went to Top Chef Brian Malarkey’s new restaurant Animae, sister restaurant to Herb & Wood. His Executive Chef Tara Monsod expertly riffs on Filipino, Chinese, Korean, Southeast Asian and Japanese Robata classics. Appetizers such as the Hunan Lamb Chops, A5 Wagyu Tartare, Mantou and Coal Roasted Cabbage particularly stood out. Try the A5 old fashioned or the Yuzu Yu cocktails to start and definitely finish with a plate of Pandan Malasadas.

A5 Wagyu Tartare at Animae

On day two we took the dog for a long walk along the waterfront. This is where you can find San Diego’s famous Navy ships and statues and a string of vendors hawking goods from Mexico. Think Mexican blankets, huaraches, chamoy-flavored drinks and fresh cut fruit seasoned with lime and Tajin. 

Parchita Beach sells frutas picadas – cups of fresh fruit seasoned with lime and Tajin or Chamoy

Everyone in town was talking about the recent cartel violence in Mexico. Although my mom and brother are still taking frequent trips to Baja, we opted out this time around. Ensenada  mezcaleria and restaurant Tahona has a second location in Old Town State historical park – the birthplace of San Diego and California. Before Alonzo Horton developed downtown in the 1860s there was only Old Town, originally home to the Kumeyaay Native Americans for thousands of years before colonizers, led by Father Junipero Serra, arrived in 1769 to build Missions. Here, you can find Adobe homes and historic buildings built around the same time California became a state and San Diego became a city in 1850. Tahona is the place to hang if you want to get away from the tourists and giant margaritas made of cheap tequila. Here, we enjoyed the Old Town Old Fashioned (made with mezcal) and Oaxacan Lady (made with rum and egg white) while snacking on corn croquetas, tacos and empanadas. Rumor has it that the tiki drinks are pretty fantastic inside their speakeasy Oculto 477 – named after the 477 graves the bar is built on top of. 

By the end of the trip I had reconnected with dozens of friends, attended one hell of a family reunion and added seven (new to me) spots to eat and drink in San Diego. I even got my rolled taco fix in. 

[More restaurant recommendations below]

Oaxacan Lady, Corn Croquetas, Garnacha Tostada and Empanadas at Tahona

Bien Picado, made with El Silencio Mezcal, salsa rosa, ginger, mole grenadine, housemade tempache, serrano bitters and lime, at Tahona

San Diego’s oldest cemetery, underneath and around Tahona in Old Town

My perfect day in San Diego:

9:00am - Enjoy a latte and the morning to write (or work) at Better Buzz Coffee in Hillcrest

12:00pm - Lunch at Cafe Gratitude

1:30pm - Ice cream at Cali Cream Homemade Ice Cream

2:00pm - Sip and browse natural wine at The Rose Wine Bar & Bottle Shop

3:30pm - Shop at Thread & Seed, Communal Coffee and Bad Madge in South Park

4:45pm - Have a beer at Waterfront

6:00pm - Stroll the Embarcadero and watch the sunset from Waterfront Park to Petco Park 

7:30pm - Dinner at Animae

The Lion’s Share

Food and beverage recommendations in San Diego:

Coffee Shop recommendations:

Other places of interest:


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