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This Widder’s Got Her Dander Up About Ralph’s New Checkout Lanes!

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By Judi Curry (aka the Widder Curry)

As the “mother” of my household – put the emphasis wherever you think it should be – I do all of the grocery shopping.  My feet are not anchored in cement, and I shop at a variety of stores – CostCo; Barons; Stumps; Vons; Ralph’s, etc.  I like various things at different stores. (I used to shop at Sprouts until they fired an employee I liked.)

My main shopping store is Ralph’s, for a variety of reasons: I use their pharmacy and all my prescriptions are on file there; the items that I purchase are lower there than at other stores; they have the variety of items that I frequently look for.  I seldom buy my produce there because I think they are over-priced, under-ripe, and outdated. I shop there at least once a week; sometimes twice.

Today, when I did a relatively large shopping trip, I noticed that the checkout area had a new configuration. An annoying one.   [Read more…]

SD For Free: Coffee Cupping at Cafe Virtuoso and Bird Rock Coffee Roasters

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Address:

  • Cafe Virtuoso – 1616 National Ave, San Diego, CA 92113 (Barrio Logan),

Date and Time: Friday mornings at 8:30 and 10:30, respectively

Best For: Sleepy, Happy, Grumpy, and Bashful

San Diego has a number of coffee roasters and you can try their goods at area restaurants, farmers markets, and in the on-site cafes that accompany most of the roasting locations.

Two of my favorite roasters, Cafe Virtuoso in Barrio Logan and Bird Rock Coffee Roasters (BRCR) in Bird Rock, also offering complimentary cuppings on Friday mornings for those interested in learning more about coffee and roasting.   [Read more…]

Restaurant Review: Saigon

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Saigon
4455 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92115
619-284-4215

By Judi Curry

How does one review a restaurant when the menu runs 19 pages?  How does one review a restaurant when there are 8 people eating at the same table and each one orders something else?  This is going to be a challenge.  A lot will be done by pictures.

Five of us arrived at the restaurant early – 7:00 – and decided to order appetizers while waiting for the others to join us.  Our hosts, Anna and Rich, selected an order of Vietnamese egg rolls, (Cha Gio) that were made with tofu, lettuce, and served with a nice fish sauce. The cost for 6 rolls was $4.95. In addition, an order of pork rolls ($3.25) and an order of Shrimp and Pork rolls ($3.25) was ordered.

By the time all of the guests arrived, so had the appetizers and we all delighted in trying everything that was put on the lazy susan in front of us.   [Read more…]

The “Self Appointed Mayor of Golden Hill” Holds Court in the Big Kitchen

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By Jim Miller and Kelly Mayhew

Judy Forman is a Golden Hill institution. Her restaurant, the Big Kitchen Café, has served as a center of community life and activism for many years. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine the neighborhood without her or her place. I first went to the Big Kitchen myself in the eighties when I met with folks involved in the protest movement against Reagan Administration policies in El Salvador and Nicaragua.

More recently, Judy helped Kelly and me out by playing the role of Emma Goldman in the 100-year Anniversary of the San Diego Free Speech Fight when local labor and Occupy folks took over the intersection of 5th and E downtown. Over the years Forman has been active in LGBT politics, helped out with fundraisers for the Center on Policy Initiative’s Students for Economic Justice Internship program, started the New Play Café (a company devoted to helping playwrights develop their work), and offered up her “kitchen,” as she likes to say, to far too many people to name here.

Thus, to make a long story short, Forman has had her hand in much local activism over the past thirty some odd years and the Big Kitchen has always been one of the progressive hubs of San Diego and the heart of the neighborhood. It was our pleasure to interview her for this Golden Hill series.   [Read more…]

Big Food, Big Heart: The Big Kitchen

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The Big Kitchen Café
3003 Grape St.
San Diego, CA 92102
(619) 234-5789
Web: http://bigkitchencafe.com/

Review by Emma Goldman

“Kindness Matters.” The sign tacked above the doorframe leading into the kitchen caught my eye as my 9 year-old and I took a seat at the horseshoe shaped counter that hunkers down in the center of the main dining room of the Big Kitchen Café, a Greater Golden Hill/South Park institution.

As we waited for one of the bevy of young servers to come get our order, we couldn’t keep from scanning the heavily festooned walls—customers’ family photos, progressive bumper stickers, band flyers, necklaces, cartoons, feathers, pastel teapots, mandalas, salt and pepper shakers in funny shapes, kids’ art, magazine covers touting the restaurant, plaques of appreciation, etc.

There is no other place in San Diego like the Big Kitchen, a community center and diner that has anchored Greater Golden Hill since the early-‘70s. And at its helm, of course, is its warm and irrepressible owner, Judy “the Beauty on Duty” Forman, who is the very soul of kindness.   [Read more…]

Restaurant Review: Giorgino’s

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By Judi Curry

Giorgino’s
1237 28th Street
San Diego, CA 92102
619-234-9141

Giorgino’s is run by three brothers – Mario – who has owned the restaurant for 6 years; Giovanni and Gabriel. In addition, friends and other relatives work there at various times during the week, and it is a truly family run business. Unfortunately, Mario was not there this evening.

The menu is very extensive. They boast of the “Best Cheesesteaks in Town” and they feature Amoroso Rolls – so soft an succulent they melt in your mouth; Dietz and Watson Meats and Cheeses, along with John Taylor’s Pork Roll and Wise Chips and Tastybakes. They also have beer on tap. Because there are so many items on the menu, I would like to mention only a few besides those listed above, there are hot sandwiches, pork rolls, cold sandwiches, wings, tenders, burgers and dogs with salads, antipasto, pasta dishes, and desserts. They also do catering.   [Read more…]

Those Uninvited Guests at Your Barbecue

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With most samples of several common store-bought meats testing positive for antibiotic-resistant “superbugs,” factory farming practices must change.

By  / OtherWords

Planning a Memorial Day barbecue? When you buy meat for that festive meal, watch out for some uninvited guests. An alarming amount of American meat harbors not just pathogens, but “superbugs” — antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

For now, you’d better cook your meat well enough to kill the germs (165F is the magic temperature), but there might be hope for safer alternatives in the future. Consumer advocates and lawmakers are trying to push changes that make these superbugs a thing of the past. That’s never been so important because industrialized agriculture delivers efficiency, productivity, and profit at the expense of food safety.   [Read more…]

Desde la Logan: The Ice Cream Man Cometh to Barrio Logan

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Family Owned Tocumbo Ice Cream Opens at Mercado del Barrio

By Brent E. Beltrán

Monday, May 13 was a beautiful, hot day in San Diego. Temperatures broke records throughout the county. But in my community of Barrio Logan things were a lot nicer because Tocumbo Ice Cream opened shop. And neighborhood residents flocked to get their cool ice cream fix.

On May 4, as I was walking to a few community events here in Barrio Logan, I was handed a flyer announcing the opening on May 13. Not only did the flyer announce their opening it also offered a free scoop! Happy happy! Joy joy! The opening was around the corner and I was gonna get a free scoop too!

Tocumbo Ice Cream was founded in 2004 by the Ramirez family which includes patriarch Gerardo Ramirez — who works between 80-100 hours a week doing what he loves, his wife Martha and children Omar, Kelly and Crystal. Grandson Junior also helps out as well as do other family members.   [Read more…]

Restaurant Review: Gloria’s Taco Shop

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Gloria’s Taco Shop
1233  28th St.
San Diego, CA 92102
(619) 239-8093

By Judi Curry

For many months after I joined online dating services, Joe and I went out to try new restaurants in a variety of areas. Although Joe and I have remained good friends, he has another lady friend and I asked the two of them to join me in reviewing  Gloria’s Taco Shop.  

This restaurant is part of the “Golden Hill” area that the San Diego Free Press is highlighting this month.  If you have been reading SDFP this week, you may have noticed that Emma Goldman has also reviewed several restaurants in the area, bordering the same streets as Gloria’s.   [Read more…]

Restaurant Review: Rama Thai

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Rama Thai
327 Fourth Avenue
San Diego, CA. 92101  (Between J & K St.) 
Phone: (619) 501-THAI (8424)

By Judi Curry

What a week this has been.  Out of town guests have prompted me to go out to eat at places I have wanted to try for a long time.  Then comes along a new date – yeah! From an online site, no less, and Mike suggested that we go to one of his favorite Thai restaurants downtown.

So rather than have to fight to find a parking place, he picked me up at my home in OB, drove to his condo near the Santa Fe train station, and then we WALKED the mile or so to the RAMA THAI. (And yes, we walked back, too!)
  [Read more…]

Eating 25th Street in Golden Hill

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Part I: Breakfast

By Emma Goldman

“MOM! I’m hungryyyyy!”

It was 9:00 AM on a Sunday morning. I was still in my Wonder Woman jammies finishing my coffee.

I looked at my nine year-old who was lounging on our couch watching cartoons, clutching his belly, and said: “Golden Hill Café or Los Reyes?

Eggs, bacon, and hash browns? Or a breakfast burrito? Or donuts and pastries at Panchitas? A Wonchi with bacon at Krakatoa? Or we could wait for lunch and get a slice of pizza at Luigi’s or a falafel wrap at the Kabob House….”

You see, we are surrounded by food places where we live in Golden Hill. And more places have been opening up to keep things interesting. Later on, as my son was devouring his massive egg, bacon, potato, and cheese burrito from one of our taco stands, I decided to do a three part series on eating in Golden Hill with a special focus on 25th Street, as that has the greatest concentration of places to go in this historic neighborhood.   [Read more…]

Restaurant Review: Peohe’s (On Mothers Day)

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Peohe’s
1201  First Street
Coronado, CA 92118
619-437-4474

By Judi Curry

Who goes out to eat on Mother’s Day?  And at a restaurant that crowded regardless if it is a holiday or not?

Two of my daughters wanted to take me out for a Mother’s Day brunch.  (My middle daughter had to work today.) Stephanie really enjoys Eggs Benedict and had never been to Peohe’s, so she and Michele decided that would be a good place to go.

The view is fantastic; the surroundings beautiful, and every time Michele has had a meal there it was delightful.    [Read more…]

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