One of San Diego County's most recognizable Mexican restaurants is pushing back against unfavorable publicity just weeks before a milestone anniversary celebration, demanding that local news outlet SanDiegoVille retract its reporting of a temporary health department closure. The problem with that demand is that the restaurant's closure, along with the violations that prompted it, appears in the county's own publicly accessible inspection database.
Casa de Pico, the longtime Mexican dining destination founded by celebrated San Diego restaurateur Diane Powers, was ordered closed by the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health and Quality on September 29, 2026, following an inspection that documented major violations involving vermin and improper food cooling. A subsequent inspection on October 2 again resulted in an "Ordered Closed" designation, with inspectors citing a major vermin violation and deficiencies involving floors, walls and ceilings.
The restaurant was approved to reopen on October 3 and received a score of 97, earning an A grade. However, those subsequent developments did not erase the county's earlier findings, which SanDiegoVille accurately included in its October 9 roundup of local restaurant closures and health inspection downgrades.
On October 13, SanDiegoVille received an email from Len Gilman, writing on behalf of Casa de Pico and Bazaar del Mundo, challenging the report and requesting its removal.
"We believe that listing contained misinformation about Casa de Pico and left readers with an inaccurate picture of the restaurant," Gilman wrote.
Gilman attributed the closure to maintenance and construction that had been planned in advance of the restaurant's upcoming 55th anniversary, emphasizing that the establishment had completed its repairs and was once again welcoming customers.
"The county's visit came at the start of long-planned maintenance and construction ahead of Casa de Pico's 55th anniversary," Gilman explained. "Our team closed the restaurant, completed every repair, and reopened with an A grade from the county, which is posted in our window today."
He requested that SanDiegoVille retract or correct its original report and issue an apology. But the official inspection history, which is available to the public through the county's SDFoodInfo.org database, raises a straightforward question: What exactly was inaccurate about reporting a closure that the county itself documented?
The sequence of inspections surrounding Casa de Pico's temporary shutdown is documented in San Diego County's food facility records. On September 29, 2026, county health inspectors conducted a routine inspection of Casa de Pico at 5500 Grossmont Center Drive in La Mesa.
The inspection resulted in an order to close the restaurant after officials documented four categories of violations, including two classified as major. Those violations included improper food cooling, vermin, holding temperature deficiencies and problems involving premises conditions and exclusion measures.
The major vermin designation is particularly noteworthy because California's food safety regulations require establishments to take measures to prevent infestations and contamination associated with pests. The county's classification indicates that inspectors identified a significant violation under that category, although the summary records supplied to SanDiegoVille do not specify the particular pests observed, their number or their location. Obtaining that information requires the filing of a public records request with the county.
The county's separate major violation for proper cooling concerns food safety procedures intended to prevent potentially hazardous foods from remaining at temperatures that can permit bacterial growth. The publicly available summary does not identify the specific foods or temperatures involved in this inspection.
Three days later, on October 2, inspectors returned to the establishment. The result was another closure order. The October 2 reinspection again documented a major vermin violation, along with deficiencies involving floors, walls and ceilings. The county classified the inspection result as "Ordered Closed," the precise designation subsequently reported by SanDiegoVille.
The restaurant was ultimately approved to reopen on October 3, four days after the initial closure order, according to the public records. A separate routine inspection that day resulted in an A grade with a score of 97 out of 100. Inspectors nevertheless documented three additional categories of violations involving food storage, nonfood-contact surface cleanliness and maintenance of warewashing facilities. An October 3 reinspection approving the restaurant to reopen recorded no violations.
These findings establish both that Casa de Pico was ordered closed and that the restaurant subsequently satisfied the county's requirements to resume operations. The two facts are not mutually exclusive.
The September and October 2026 inspections were not the first occasions on which county officials documented food safety problems at Casa de Pico. A review of the restaurant's online inspection history shows that inspectors identified major violations involving food handling and sanitation during multiple previous visits, including inspections in 2023 and 2025.
On May 22, 2025, Casa de Pico received a score of 85 and a B grade following an inspection that documented major violations involving handwashing and proper food cooling. Additional deficiencies were recorded concerning holding temperatures, equipment and utensil storage, ventilation, plumbing, and garbage and refuse handling. The restaurant was subsequently reinspected, and a May 23 routine inspection resulted in an improved score of 99 and an A grade.
Less than three months later, on August 14, 2025, inspectors again documented multiple violations, including a major holding-temperature violation and a minor vermin violation. The restaurant received a score of 90, which still qualified for an A grade. That inspection also identified deficiencies involving nonfood-contact surface cleanliness, equipment and utensil storage, plumbing, and premises conditions.
The previous year, on October 17, 2024, Casa de Pico received an A grade with a score of 91 despite violations involving holding temperatures, hot and cold water, vermin, cleanliness of nonfood-contact surfaces, warewashing facilities and equipment storage.
The county's October 10, 2023 inspection likewise documented a major violation involving proper cooling, along with additional violations concerning holding temperatures, food-contact surfaces, nonfood-contact surface cleanliness and premises conditions. The restaurant received a score of 90 and an A grade.
A subsequent reinspection on October 23, 2023, again recorded a major proper-cooling violation. Taken together, the records show recurring findings in several food safety categories over a three-year period, particularly food temperatures, cooling procedures, vermin and sanitation-related maintenance.
They do not establish that every violation persisted continuously between inspections, nor do they prove that the restaurant was operating under the same conditions after corrective action was taken. They do, however, provide important context for the latest closure and demonstrate that the September 2026 findings were not the first food safety deficiencies documented at the establishment.
Casa de Pico's response places considerable emphasis on the A grade it received after reopening, and the distinction is important for consumers to understand. Under San Diego County's restaurant grading system, an A grade generally reflects a score of 90 to 100 on a scored inspection. A restaurant can therefore receive an A grade while still having violations documented in its inspection report.
Casa de Pico's own inspection history illustrates this distinction. In August 2025, the restaurant received an A grade with a score of 90 despite a major holding-temperature violation and several other documented deficiencies. In October 2024, it received an A with a score of 91 despite multiple violations, including a minor vermin finding.
Its October 3, 2026 score of 97 represents a substantial improvement over the May 2025 score of 85 and confirms that the restaurant earned an A grade following its temporary closure. It does not, however, mean the earlier closure orders were erroneous or that the previous violations never occurred.
A health grade is a record of an establishment's performance during a particular inspection. It is not a retroactive declaration that every prior inspection finding was incorrect. That distinction is central to the disagreement between Casa de Pico and SanDiegoVille.
The dispute comes at an especially sensitive time for Casa de Pico, which is preparing to celebrate 55 years in business and remains one of the most recognizable establishments in San Diego's Mexican restaurant landscape. The restaurant's history dates to 1971, when Diane Powers opened Casa de Pico in San Diego's Old Town State Historic Park. Powers, a San Diego native and interior designer, had developed a vision for a colorful Mexican-inspired marketplace combining restaurants, folk art, shopping and cultural entertainment.
Her original project transformed a deteriorating property associated with the former Casa de Pico Motel into part of Bazaar del Mundo, which would become one of Old Town's defining visitor attractions.
Over the following decades, Bazaar del Mundo became synonymous with vibrant Mexican-inspired architecture, elaborate gardens, fountains, handcrafted decorative features, mariachi performances and festive dining experiences. Casa de Pico emerged as one of its signature restaurants, helping establish the dining and hospitality identity that Powers would later expand across San Diego County.
The business underwent a major transition in 2005 after Powers lost the concession to operate Bazaar del Mundo within Old Town State Historic Park. Rather than abandon the restaurant, she relocated Casa de Pico to Grossmont Center in La Mesa. The new location recreated many of the original restaurant's distinctive features, including hacienda-style architecture, wrought iron fixtures, colorful Mexican folk art and lush landscaping.
Casa de Pico became a popular East County destination known for its spacious patio, handmade tortillas, strolling mariachis and oversized margaritas. The restaurant has received numerous local accolades, including recognition as Best Restaurant in East County by the San Diego Regional East County Chamber of Commerce in 2022.
Powers' broader restaurant portfolio also includes Casa Guadalajara in Old Town and Casa de Bandini in Carlsbad, establishments that have helped define her influence on San Diego's Mexican dining scene. Her contributions to the region's tourism and hospitality industry have been widely recognized, and she has frequently been described as a pioneering figure in the development of modern Old Town.
That history helps explain why Casa de Pico's recent health department closure has attracted attention. The restaurant is not an obscure operation with little public recognition, but a prominent local institution with decades of community goodwill and a reputation built on hospitality.
Casa de Pico's upcoming anniversary festivities are scheduled to begin Wednesday, November 4, with celebrations continuing through Saturday, November 7. The restaurant's planned events will commemorate 55 years since its original 1971 opening and celebrate the cultural traditions that have defined the establishment for generations.
A recent October 12 article in Spanish-language publication El Latino highlighted the milestone, recounting Powers' original vision and the restaurant's evolution from Old Town to La Mesa. In the anniversary coverage, Powers credited the restaurant's longevity to the employees, families and community members who have contributed to its success. The planned celebration includes mariachi music, handmade tortillas and the restaurant's distinctive Mexican-inspired atmosphere.
Against that celebratory backdrop, the recent closure and subsequent dispute over media coverage have introduced an unwelcome complication. In his email to SanDiegoVille, Gilman emphasized that the restaurant's maintenance and construction work had been planned well before the county's inspection and that all repairs had been completed. SanDiegoVille has not independently reviewed the restaurant's construction schedule, maintenance records or detailed inspector narratives to determine how the planned work intersected with the health department's findings.
Even if the work was planned in advance, however, the county's public records still document the closure orders and violations. Gilman's explanation may provide context for the timing of the shutdown, but it does not establish that the county's findings were inaccurate. The restaurant has not identified a specific error in the October 2 inspection entry reported by SanDiegoVille, nor has it provided documentation showing that the county subsequently rescinded or amended the closure findings.
The controversy also raises broader questions about the role of local news organizations in reporting health inspection results involving well-known restaurants. SanDiegoVille publishes regular roundups of restaurant closures and grade downgrades based on publicly available records maintained by the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health and Quality. The reports identify the establishments, inspection dates, results and violations as documented by county inspectors, providing readers with information that is otherwise available through the county's public database.
Casa de Pico appeared in SanDiegoVille's October 9 roundup covering inspections conducted from October 2 through October 8, 2026. The restaurant also was listed in the October 2 SanDiegoVille list due to its closure ordered on September 29. That descriptions contained in those posts correspond to the county's publicly available and recorded inspection findings.
The restaurant's subsequent reopening is also a matter of public record and deserves to be reported accurately. Casa de Pico is open for business, and its most recent graded inspection resulted in an A with a score of 97.
But the restaurant's request for an apology presents a separate issue from the question of whether its current operating status should be clarified. Accurately reporting a government-documented closure is not misinformation merely because the establishment subsequently corrected the violations and reopened. Similarly, a restaurant's longstanding popularity, celebrated history or approaching anniversary does not change the contents of an official inspection report.
For consumers, the relevant information includes both the violations that prompted the closure and the corrective actions that allowed the establishment to reopen. For Casa de Pico, the latest controversy arrives at a moment when management would understandably prefer to focus public attention on its anniversary rather than its inspection history. The county's records, however, remain available for anyone to review.
The major vermin designation is particularly noteworthy because California's food safety regulations require establishments to take measures to prevent infestations and contamination associated with pests. The county's classification indicates that inspectors identified a significant violation under that category, although the summary records supplied to SanDiegoVille do not specify the particular pests observed, their number or their location. Obtaining that information requires the filing of a public records request with the county.
The county's separate major violation for proper cooling concerns food safety procedures intended to prevent potentially hazardous foods from remaining at temperatures that can permit bacterial growth. The publicly available summary does not identify the specific foods or temperatures involved in this inspection.
Three days later, on October 2, inspectors returned to the establishment. The result was another closure order. The October 2 reinspection again documented a major vermin violation, along with deficiencies involving floors, walls and ceilings. The county classified the inspection result as "Ordered Closed," the precise designation subsequently reported by SanDiegoVille.
The restaurant was ultimately approved to reopen on October 3, four days after the initial closure order, according to the public records. A separate routine inspection that day resulted in an A grade with a score of 97 out of 100. Inspectors nevertheless documented three additional categories of violations involving food storage, nonfood-contact surface cleanliness and maintenance of warewashing facilities. An October 3 reinspection approving the restaurant to reopen recorded no violations.
These findings establish both that Casa de Pico was ordered closed and that the restaurant subsequently satisfied the county's requirements to resume operations. The two facts are not mutually exclusive.
The September and October 2026 inspections were not the first occasions on which county officials documented food safety problems at Casa de Pico. A review of the restaurant's online inspection history shows that inspectors identified major violations involving food handling and sanitation during multiple previous visits, including inspections in 2023 and 2025.
On May 22, 2025, Casa de Pico received a score of 85 and a B grade following an inspection that documented major violations involving handwashing and proper food cooling. Additional deficiencies were recorded concerning holding temperatures, equipment and utensil storage, ventilation, plumbing, and garbage and refuse handling. The restaurant was subsequently reinspected, and a May 23 routine inspection resulted in an improved score of 99 and an A grade.
Less than three months later, on August 14, 2025, inspectors again documented multiple violations, including a major holding-temperature violation and a minor vermin violation. The restaurant received a score of 90, which still qualified for an A grade. That inspection also identified deficiencies involving nonfood-contact surface cleanliness, equipment and utensil storage, plumbing, and premises conditions.
The previous year, on October 17, 2024, Casa de Pico received an A grade with a score of 91 despite violations involving holding temperatures, hot and cold water, vermin, cleanliness of nonfood-contact surfaces, warewashing facilities and equipment storage.
The county's October 10, 2023 inspection likewise documented a major violation involving proper cooling, along with additional violations concerning holding temperatures, food-contact surfaces, nonfood-contact surface cleanliness and premises conditions. The restaurant received a score of 90 and an A grade.
A subsequent reinspection on October 23, 2023, again recorded a major proper-cooling violation. Taken together, the records show recurring findings in several food safety categories over a three-year period, particularly food temperatures, cooling procedures, vermin and sanitation-related maintenance.
They do not establish that every violation persisted continuously between inspections, nor do they prove that the restaurant was operating under the same conditions after corrective action was taken. They do, however, provide important context for the latest closure and demonstrate that the September 2026 findings were not the first food safety deficiencies documented at the establishment.
Casa de Pico's response places considerable emphasis on the A grade it received after reopening, and the distinction is important for consumers to understand. Under San Diego County's restaurant grading system, an A grade generally reflects a score of 90 to 100 on a scored inspection. A restaurant can therefore receive an A grade while still having violations documented in its inspection report.
Casa de Pico's own inspection history illustrates this distinction. In August 2025, the restaurant received an A grade with a score of 90 despite a major holding-temperature violation and several other documented deficiencies. In October 2024, it received an A with a score of 91 despite multiple violations, including a minor vermin finding.
Its October 3, 2026 score of 97 represents a substantial improvement over the May 2025 score of 85 and confirms that the restaurant earned an A grade following its temporary closure. It does not, however, mean the earlier closure orders were erroneous or that the previous violations never occurred.
A health grade is a record of an establishment's performance during a particular inspection. It is not a retroactive declaration that every prior inspection finding was incorrect. That distinction is central to the disagreement between Casa de Pico and SanDiegoVille.
The dispute comes at an especially sensitive time for Casa de Pico, which is preparing to celebrate 55 years in business and remains one of the most recognizable establishments in San Diego's Mexican restaurant landscape. The restaurant's history dates to 1971, when Diane Powers opened Casa de Pico in San Diego's Old Town State Historic Park. Powers, a San Diego native and interior designer, had developed a vision for a colorful Mexican-inspired marketplace combining restaurants, folk art, shopping and cultural entertainment.
Her original project transformed a deteriorating property associated with the former Casa de Pico Motel into part of Bazaar del Mundo, which would become one of Old Town's defining visitor attractions.
Over the following decades, Bazaar del Mundo became synonymous with vibrant Mexican-inspired architecture, elaborate gardens, fountains, handcrafted decorative features, mariachi performances and festive dining experiences. Casa de Pico emerged as one of its signature restaurants, helping establish the dining and hospitality identity that Powers would later expand across San Diego County.
The business underwent a major transition in 2005 after Powers lost the concession to operate Bazaar del Mundo within Old Town State Historic Park. Rather than abandon the restaurant, she relocated Casa de Pico to Grossmont Center in La Mesa. The new location recreated many of the original restaurant's distinctive features, including hacienda-style architecture, wrought iron fixtures, colorful Mexican folk art and lush landscaping.
Casa de Pico became a popular East County destination known for its spacious patio, handmade tortillas, strolling mariachis and oversized margaritas. The restaurant has received numerous local accolades, including recognition as Best Restaurant in East County by the San Diego Regional East County Chamber of Commerce in 2022.
Powers' broader restaurant portfolio also includes Casa Guadalajara in Old Town and Casa de Bandini in Carlsbad, establishments that have helped define her influence on San Diego's Mexican dining scene. Her contributions to the region's tourism and hospitality industry have been widely recognized, and she has frequently been described as a pioneering figure in the development of modern Old Town.
That history helps explain why Casa de Pico's recent health department closure has attracted attention. The restaurant is not an obscure operation with little public recognition, but a prominent local institution with decades of community goodwill and a reputation built on hospitality.
Casa de Pico's upcoming anniversary festivities are scheduled to begin Wednesday, November 4, with celebrations continuing through Saturday, November 7. The restaurant's planned events will commemorate 55 years since its original 1971 opening and celebrate the cultural traditions that have defined the establishment for generations.
A recent October 12 article in Spanish-language publication El Latino highlighted the milestone, recounting Powers' original vision and the restaurant's evolution from Old Town to La Mesa. In the anniversary coverage, Powers credited the restaurant's longevity to the employees, families and community members who have contributed to its success. The planned celebration includes mariachi music, handmade tortillas and the restaurant's distinctive Mexican-inspired atmosphere.
Against that celebratory backdrop, the recent closure and subsequent dispute over media coverage have introduced an unwelcome complication. In his email to SanDiegoVille, Gilman emphasized that the restaurant's maintenance and construction work had been planned well before the county's inspection and that all repairs had been completed. SanDiegoVille has not independently reviewed the restaurant's construction schedule, maintenance records or detailed inspector narratives to determine how the planned work intersected with the health department's findings.
Even if the work was planned in advance, however, the county's public records still document the closure orders and violations. Gilman's explanation may provide context for the timing of the shutdown, but it does not establish that the county's findings were inaccurate. The restaurant has not identified a specific error in the October 2 inspection entry reported by SanDiegoVille, nor has it provided documentation showing that the county subsequently rescinded or amended the closure findings.
The controversy also raises broader questions about the role of local news organizations in reporting health inspection results involving well-known restaurants. SanDiegoVille publishes regular roundups of restaurant closures and grade downgrades based on publicly available records maintained by the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health and Quality. The reports identify the establishments, inspection dates, results and violations as documented by county inspectors, providing readers with information that is otherwise available through the county's public database.
Casa de Pico appeared in SanDiegoVille's October 9 roundup covering inspections conducted from October 2 through October 8, 2026. The restaurant also was listed in the October 2 SanDiegoVille list due to its closure ordered on September 29. That descriptions contained in those posts correspond to the county's publicly available and recorded inspection findings.
The restaurant's subsequent reopening is also a matter of public record and deserves to be reported accurately. Casa de Pico is open for business, and its most recent graded inspection resulted in an A with a score of 97.
But the restaurant's request for an apology presents a separate issue from the question of whether its current operating status should be clarified. Accurately reporting a government-documented closure is not misinformation merely because the establishment subsequently corrected the violations and reopened. Similarly, a restaurant's longstanding popularity, celebrated history or approaching anniversary does not change the contents of an official inspection report.
For consumers, the relevant information includes both the violations that prompted the closure and the corrective actions that allowed the establishment to reopen. For Casa de Pico, the latest controversy arrives at a moment when management would understandably prefer to focus public attention on its anniversary rather than its inspection history. The county's records, however, remain available for anyone to review.
Casa de Pico has served generations of San Diegans, survived a major relocation and maintained a prominent place in the region's restaurant industry for more than half a century. Its contributions to local hospitality and the cultural legacy of Diane Powers are well established.
The restaurant also deserves recognition for completing the work necessary to secure county approval to reopen on October 3 and earning a 97-point A grade.
Nevertheless, the official record shows that inspectors ordered Casa de Pico closed on September 29 and again on October 2, citing major violations that included vermin and improper food cooling during the initial inspection.
Those findings are not allegations made by SanDiegoVille. They are documented results of inspections conducted by the county agency responsible for enforcing food safety requirements.
As Casa de Pico prepares to celebrate its 55th anniversary, the distinction is worth remembering: a restaurant can have a celebrated history, a loyal following, an A grade in its window and a documented record of serious past health violations. All of those things can be true at the same time.
Casa de Pico is located at 5500 Grossmont Center Drive in La Mesa, California. For more information, visit casadepico.com. Official restaurant inspection information is available through SDFoodInfo.org.
Originally published October 13, 2026.
The restaurant also deserves recognition for completing the work necessary to secure county approval to reopen on October 3 and earning a 97-point A grade.
Nevertheless, the official record shows that inspectors ordered Casa de Pico closed on September 29 and again on October 2, citing major violations that included vermin and improper food cooling during the initial inspection.
Those findings are not allegations made by SanDiegoVille. They are documented results of inspections conducted by the county agency responsible for enforcing food safety requirements.
As Casa de Pico prepares to celebrate its 55th anniversary, the distinction is worth remembering: a restaurant can have a celebrated history, a loyal following, an A grade in its window and a documented record of serious past health violations. All of those things can be true at the same time.
Casa de Pico is located at 5500 Grossmont Center Drive in La Mesa, California. For more information, visit casadepico.com. Official restaurant inspection information is available through SDFoodInfo.org.
Originally published October 13, 2026.
