San Diego's Culinary Community And Foodie Faithful Unite On Facebook | The Rise Of Eating & Drinking In San Diego

EDSD Founder Edwin Real repping one of his favorite spots

January 13, 2016

The description reads: "Food in Real Time. Open to all passionate eaters and drinkers in San Diego. Share all your tips, all your gossip, all your favorite places in the county." Edwin Real started the Facebook Group Eating and Drinking In San Diego in January 2015 and in a year's time, the group has accumulated over 7,300 members, made up entirely of San Diego residents. It's a place where local chefs, restaurateurs, industry insiders and foodies share photos, recommendations and openly discuss the food trends in San Diego's evolving culinary community. We recently sat down with Edwin and discussed his passion for food, his local favorites and the inspiration behind EDSD.

The Hake Kitchen & Bar To Close For Massive Renovation

January 13, 2016

The Hake Kitchen & Bar in La Jolla is about to undergo a massive renovation that will add 2,000 square feet and 60 seats to the existing restaurant, along with ocean views and a revised menu.

San Diego Symphony May Soon Have A Permanent Waterfront Venue | Board Of Port Commissioners Considering Proposal For Embarcadero Marina Park South Stage

January 12, 2016

Artistic rendering of San Diego Symphony proposed permanent venue

Today the San Diego's Board of Port Commissioners received a presentation from the San Diego Symphony on its proposal to construct a permanent outdoor concert venue in Embarcadero Marina Park South where it has operated a Summer Pops concert series since 2004. The Board voted to direct staff to further explore and study the project, including an environmental review, and to commence negotiations with the Symphony. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer spoke publicly in support of the item at the Board meeting, as did philanthropist Dr. Irwin Jacobs.

San Diego Winter Brew Fest Returns For 4th Year | Save On Passes With SDVILLE & Enter To Win VIP Tickets

January 11, 2016

Escape San Diego's unseasonably cold winter and head into the Hall of Champions in Balboa Park this February 19 & 20, as the San Diego Winter Brew Fest returns for its 4th year, featuring 2 nights of unlimited craft beer samples from some of the country's finest breweries. In addition to offering promo code SDVILLE to save on tickets (limited to the first 100 passes purchased), we are also raffling 2 VIP passes!

Catamaran Resort's Oceana Coastal Kitchen Offers Sea-Inspired Sunday Brunch

January 10, 2016

After being under the weather and cooped up in our apartment for a week, we were in need of a revitalizing, upscale Sunday Brunch, so we headed to Catamaran Resort & Spa in Pacific Beach for a seafood and sushi-dominant buffet featuring bottomless champagne at the hotel's newly-redesigned, bayfront restaurant Oceana Coastal Kitchen. What we didn't know is that we would also come away from brunch with a delicious dinner for later!

Sea & Smoke Closes In Del Mar | Company Behind True Food Kitchen Purchases Space For Healthy Concept

January 10, 2016

After nearly two and a half years in Del Mar's Flower Hill Promenade, Chef Matt Gordon has sold Sea & Smoke. The longtime local restaurateur, who also owns North Park's Urban Solace and Solace & The Moonlight Lounge in Encinitas, made the announcement on the restaurant's Facebook page earlier today and closed the doors to the restaurant after Sunday brunch service. The space will be taken over by Fox Restaurant Concepts, which owns True Food Kitchen, for the opening of Flower Child.

Chef Katherine Humphus Secures Space To Expand Meal Kit Delivery Service | Savory Made Simple Aims For Big Things In 2016

Chef Kat Humphus dropping in from ten thousand feet

January 9, 2016

Chef Katherine Humphus is a bad ass. Many know her as the former executive chef that launched BO-beau in Ocean Beach at age 22. She also helped the Cohn Restaurant Group open a couple other restaurants, including the gigantic BO-beau in Long Beach. She was one vote away from beating Bobby Flay on his television program, aptly named Beat Bobby Flay. She came out victorious on an episode of Guy's Grocery Games. On the last day of 2014, then 26-year-old Kat left her position as executive chef within the Cohn Group to become her own boss. She launched her own cooking website, Kat's Kitchen Collective, the very next day, which she recently evolved into a meal kit delivery company named Savory Made Simple. This week, she secured expansive space in San Diego to grow her company in 2016.

First Female Guru In Nearly Three Centuries To Visit San Diego | World Renowned Spiritual Master Sai Maa To Make Rare Visit To San Diego February 12-14

Her Holiness Sai Maa

January 8, 2016

Spiritual master and humanitarian, Sai Maa, the first female Jagadguru (highest ranking “guru”) in nearly three centuries, will travel to San Diego in February for a 3-day speaking event on wisdom and enlightenment. This is a rare opportunity for San Diegans to see and meet Her Holiness, as this is Sai Maa’s only West Coast appearance scheduled for 2016 (and one of only two U.S. appearances), an event that is expected to draw crowds from around the world.

Biga Now Open On Broadway In Downtown San Diego | Offering Fast-Casual Italian Cuisine Using Fresh Ingredients & An Age Old Process

January 7, 2016

House made mozzarella, traditionally made Italian dough, and many other made-from-scratch ingredients may set San Diego's newest casual Italian eatery ahead of the pack. Right before the new year, a new concept in Italian dining opened for business on the corner of 6th and Broadway in the historic, 1920s-era Samuel Fox Lofts building. BIGA, named after an age-old fermentation process used for Italian breads and pizza doughs, is a celebration of classic Italian cuisine using fresh ingredients readily accessible in San Diego's Mediterranean-like climate. Serving up Neapolitan pies made from their 200-year-old “mother dough,” is just a taste of what is sliding out of their two 5000-pound, wood-fired ovens at this elegant, yet affordable, eatery.

Highly Anticipated Gelson’s Markets To Celebrate Grand Opening Of First San Diego-Area Store In Del Mar On January 14

January 6, 2016

A favorite Los Angeles supermarket chain of chefs and celebrities is moving south, set to open its first San Diego county store next week. Gelson’s Markets will debut its brand in San Diego at 2707 Via De La Valle in Del Mar at the former Haggen location on January 14, with two other branches set to unveil in America's Finest City later in 2016.

Mardi Gras In The Gaslamp Celebrates 22 Years On Saturday, February 6 | Save On Passes & Enter To Win 2 VIP Tickets

January 5, 2016

The biggest Mardi Gras celebration west of the Mississippi returns to downtown San Diego on Saturday, February 6, from 5pm to midnight, aiming to be bigger and better than ever before. San Diego’s nationally recognized Gaslamp Quarter Mardi Gras Parade and Celebration will bring glitz, glam, floats, beads, vivacious energy, a silent rave, and even a live performance by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony to celebrate its 22nd year, moving to a new day and time to make this extravagant celebration more accessible than ever. We attended last year for the first time and had an absolute blast. It's so much fun to be able to drink and party on the streets of the historic Gaslamp Quarter. As an added benefit to our readers, promo code SDVILLE saves $5 on GA tickets and $10 on VIP passes, and we're also raffling off 2 VIP tickets for one lucky reader. Read on for all the details and be sure to enter.

Exciting Food & Drink Events On The Horizon | Special Dinners, Comedic Dining, A Grilled Cheese Throwdown And More

January 4, 2016

With the new year upon us, San Diego businesses are gearing up and hosting a cornucopia of exciting, entertaining and delicious events to kick off 2016. Here we run down the many epicurean events taking place throughout January and early February. Check them out, grab your tickets, and start marking your calendar with all the fun and delicious happenings around America's Finest City.

San Diego Restaurant Week Celebrates 12 Years Of Price Fixed Meals This January 17-24 | Enter To Win Gift Cards To Enjoy

January 3, 2016

Kick off the new year with San Diego Restaurant Week, this January 17 through 24, offering 8 days of price fixed dining at over 180 restaurants throughout San Diego County! Celebrating 12 years of culinary excellence, San Diego Restaurant Week will be offering delicious discounted dining where foodies will be able to eat their hearts out at a long list of participating restaurants including unbeatable price options and, best part - no reservations necessary! The pricing includes three-course prix-fixe dinner menus for just $20, $30, $40 or $50 per person or two-course prix-fixe lunch menus for only $10, $15 or $20 per person. To feed our loyal readers, we are raffling off gift cards for Il Fornaio and Bali Hai. Read on and be sure to enter!

SanDiegoVille's Best Bites Of 2015 | Evidence Of A Year Well Spent

January 2, 2016

It's that time of year again! Although we had 15+ family members venture to America's Finest City for the holidays, we found some time to sit back and reminisce over our best bites of 2015. From fried chicken to octopus, pancakes to cheesecake, we reveal what tickled our tongues and invoked culinary bliss over the course of a wonderfully delicious year.

SanDiegoVille's New Year's Resolutions For 2016

January 1, 2016

It's the new year and you know what that means - time to set our New Year's resolutions! We're hoping to hit the ground running and take San Diego by storm in 2016. Figuring the best way to stick to resolutions is to broadcast them to the world, we are running down our 5 aspirations for the year ahead.

Where's The New Year's Celebration, San Diego??

January 1, 2016

This is the first time we spent New Year's Eve/Day in San Diego since moving here in 2009 (with my family from the east coast no less), and we had no idea that there was not a live televised celebration akin to the New Year's Eve Ball Drop in New York City's Time Square. We were surprised and felt cheapened that the only televised New Year's event was just a replay of the east coast spectacular. Why is that? Based on my rooftop vantage point in Mission Beach, there was hardly a celebration at all. No SeaWorld fireworks, no giant street party, just some night club and boat bashes murmuring in the distance. The lack of any visual affirmation of the near year in San Diego was all too sad, if you ask me. We're better than that.

New Restaurants Set To Ring In The New Year In San Diego This 2016

December 31, 2015

As we delight in the last day of 2015, it’s time to start looking forward to a new year. With additional locations of classic favorites and some sure-to-be praised newcomers joining the San Diego gastronomy scene, 2016 is going to be a delicious year for San Diegans! Be sure to keep these culinary destinations on your radar as they make their grand entrances in the upcoming year. ​

Refreshed Craft & Commerce To Introduce Tiki-Inspired 'Secret' Bar Concept False Idol | An Interview With Tiki-God Martin Cate

Martin Cate

December 30, 2015

Tapping one of today’s foremost authorities on rum and the current tiki-cocktail movement, Southern California hospitality collective CH Projects (Polite Provisions, Noble Experiment) is partnering with bar owner, educator and author, Martin Cate, to launch bar concept False Idol in San Diego. Secluded within Craft & Commerce restaurant in Little Italy and slated to open doors in spring 2016, False Idol will allow Cate - who built the largest rum selection in the United States at his internationally acclaimed bar, Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco - to spread his passion to an all-new, Polynesian pop inspired tiki temple. In anticipation of the opening of False Idol, we interviewed Cate about his love for tiki, his inspiration to venture into America's Finest City and more!

Duke’s La Jolla Unveils New Lunch And Happy Hour Menus

December 29, 2015

Duke’s La Jolla has introduced the start of its lunch and Pau Hana happy hour menus, which are meant to celebrate the melting pot of cultures and cooking techniques of Hawaii and California. Both menus are available daily and offer some of Duke's top items with a view to match.