Hey there, it's time to update the Eater 38, your answer and ours to any question that begins, "Can you recommend a restaurant...?" This specially selected group covers much of the city, spans myriad cuisines, and aims to collectively satisfy all of your restaurant needs. Every couple of months, we'll be adding worthy restaurants that were omitted, have newly become eligible (restaurants must be open at least six months), or have stepped up their game.
This curated survey of the San Diego food landscape runs the gamut from the farm-to-table icon, A. R. Valentien in La Jolla to a delicious homestyle Mexican restaurant, Super Cocina, in City Heights. There's a good number of Japanese entries (a cuisine that San Diego does pretty well), some standby's (Tender Greens, Cafe Chloe), a new instant classic (Carnitas' Snack Shack) and a few gems that you may not have tried yet (Wine Vault & Bistro, Aqui es Texcoco).
In this installment, we switch out the Mariscos Pescador food truck with The Marine Room. The truck's fish tacos are still the best in the city, but seafood's also the focus at the La Jolla icon, and watching the waves crash from your beachfront table is a quintessential local dining experience. We're also swapping Tacos el Paisa with its neighbor La Fachada; carnitas is our measure of a good taco shop, and La Fachada's are tasting great right now.
Restaurants are listed in no particular order.
If your favorite restaurant isn't on list, send us a note nominating it for inclusion; we'll be posting updated versions of the Eater 38 map throughout the year.
04/09/13: Added: The Marine Room, La Fachada