Each month brings a slate of exciting new restaurants to San Diego, whether it’s a splashy new restaurant helmed by an iconic chef, a low-key neighborhood spot, or a pop-up settling into a permanent location. Consider this monthly rundown a go-to guide for the newest and boldest debuts across San Diego.
Seaport Village—After a $4 million renovation that lasted over three years, the eagerly-awaited Shorebird Restaurant opened in Seaport Village. This is the fourth Shorebird outpost and the first one in San Diego, backed by Wild Thyme Restaurant Group in Orange, California. The California coastal restaurant replaces the former Pier Café with two levels of dining, offering 360-degree views of the San Diego Bay. While the downstairs floor offers over-the-water dining, the second floor includes a bar and casual seating for a sunset cocktail, meals, or waiting for a table. The menu features dishes like swordfish tacos, steaks, chicken and waffles, Wagyu burgers, sushi, and cheesecake. Pair with cocktails like passionfruit drop or West Coast salty dog with lime vodka, grapefruit juice, and cilantro-lime salt. Validated parking is available in the Seaport Village lot.
Escondido—After a successful residency at Vino Carta in Solana Beach, culinary couple Juan Gonzalez and Megan Strom have settled into a cozy counter-service restaurant on the main strip in North County. Mesa Agricola serves wallet-friendly guisados on house-made corn tortillas or in burritos Norteños on flour tortillas. Using produce from Strom’s farm in Valley Center, Gonzalez serves between seven and 11 types of guisados, or slow-simmering seasoned stews, made each morning. Choices include rajas, calabacitas (a mix of various squashes), shrimp ranchero, cochinita or roasted pork, turkey mole, steak ranchera, and chorizo con nopales; many of the recipes come from dishes Gonzalez grew up with in Rosarito, Mexico. Don’t skip the rotating aqua frescas, such as bougainvillea lima and cucumber lima.
Clairemont—Na Tart, a bakery offering more than a dozen versions of the Portuguese egg tart opened July 4. This is the first West Coast location of Na Tart, which already has two branches in Flushing and Chinatown in New York City. Owner YiBo Wang has been friends with the East Coast restaurateurs for years and agreed to launch an outpost next to his existing restaurant, Pho Hut and Grill. Using premium imported French butter and pastry dough made from scratch each morning, the team churns out 1,300 to 1,400 egg tarts each day, often selling out by the afternoon. Popular flavors include the original Portuguese egg tart, ube cheese, and the sunflower egg tart, which is less custard-y and cupped in scalloped layers of thin, crispy dough. A popular savory option includes the Salty Boy Tart, made with thin, dried chicken floss topping, barbecue seaweed flakes, and house-made milky mochi. Wang tells Eater they’re already looking at opening a second location in Mira Mesa, National City, or Del Mar.
Barrio Logan—Founder of City Tacos and Tour de Tapas, Gerry Tapas is opening a 2,500-square-foot restaurant on the main drag in Barrio Logan. Fonda Del Barrio will showcase ancestral Mexican cuisine with dishes like Oaxacan mole, Mayan achiote rubs, huarache, pescado a la veracruzana, and Yucatan-style octopus. Most of the wallet-friendly menu will be structured as “comida corrida,” or a working-person’s meal, with three courses that include a small soup or salad, entrée, and dessert. All beers and wines will hail from Mexico, and the only coffee served is café de olla. With seating for 90, the space, outfitted with Mexican antiques, includes a dining area and patio on one side of the restaurant and a separate bar and lounge in the adjacent area.
Banker’s Hill—Local coffee connoisseur, Jen Byard, opened her fifth outpost of Communal Coffee with the space designed by architect Jeff Svitak. Anchoring a new mid-rise residential building in Banker’s Hill, the café offers craft coffee, lattes, and kombucha, along with seasonal dishes such as honey prosciutto toast, plant-based frittata sandwich, and spicy turkey avocado sandwich spiked with Sriracha mayo. What helps make Communal so welcoming and special are the eclectic, large tables and comfy couches, surrounded by a shop stocked with flowers and home goods. Guests can also settle into the building’s 60-seat Brazilian-themed lobby or the 20-seat patio next to the city’s new Olive Street Park.
Oceanside—Opening in a historic Queen Anne home built in 1888 and known as the Wetzel House, The Victorian at Hill Street offers easy Californian cuisine. Across the courtyard, they’ll also open the Market, which will have sandwiches, salads, wines, and cheeses for grab-and-go. This is the third venture from Emily and David Rassel, the local couple who also operate Oceanside favorites Frankie’s and South O’s Pour House. Chef de cuisine Lisa Rivera and culinary director Staci Miller oversee the tight menu, created by Juan Gonazlez (Mesa Agricola, Vino Carta), showcasing dishes like house-made laffa with tahini and pistou, heirloom tomato salad, and peri peri chicken. Heavy-hitter cocktail duo Ian and Meghan Ward (Addison, Ponyboy) take care of the spirits menu.