San Diego eats like a border town with an ocean at its back: Baja-style fish tacos, trompo-carved adobada, albacore landed at the harbour and more than 150 breweries. Three days across Barrio Logan, Convoy Street, Ocean Beach and 30th Street.
Saturday's Mercato closes six blocks of Date Street with around 175 stalls: Chino Farm produce, Carlsbad oysters shucked to order, Sicilian arancini and cold-pressed juices. Runs 8am-2pm; a smaller Wednesday market fills India Street.
A 1920s naval commissary in Liberty Station now holds some 30 vendors under one roof — Mastiff Sausage Company, Le Parfait Paris macarons, Fishbone Kitchen poke and Cecilia's Taqueria. Open 11am-7pm daily, with a shaded patio out back.
Convoy Street is San Diego's pan-Asian spine. Zion Market's food court plates Korean bibimbap and soondubu, while Tofu House, Dumpling Inn and a dozen bubble-tea counters fill the surrounding strip malls. Zion trades 8am-10pm.
Barrio Logan's Northgate González Market anchors Mercado del Barrio beside the Chicano Park murals: fresh masa tortillas pressed on site, carnitas sold by the pound and aguas frescas by the litre. Salud! grills tacos two blocks up Logan Avenue.
The University Avenue original turned the smoked fish taco into a citywide staple — grilled mahi, chipotle crema, shredded cabbage — for roughly $4.50. Also worth ordering: the surf-and-turf burrito and the shrimp taco. Counter service only.
A working fish market on the Shelter Island basin since 1963. Order at the counter for a smoked albacore sandwich on house sourdough, a ceviche tostada or fried squid, then eat upstairs watching the sportfishing fleet unload its catch.
The surf-shack burger joint has been flipping since 1969 — licence plates covering every wall, a VW bus front bolted inside, bacon cheeseburgers around $12 with onion rings. Open 11am-9pm; the queue usually runs down Newport Avenue.
Addison is California's only three-Michelin-star restaurant, where chef William Bradley builds a ten-course tasting menu around San Diego County produce and Pacific seafood, paired from a cellar of some 3,600 labels.
Family-run on Logan Avenue since 1933, Las Cuatro Milpas rolls its own tortillas each morning. The queue forms before the doors open for rolled tacos, chorizo con huevo and rice-and-bean plates under $10. Closes mid-afternoon once food runs out.
This Tijuana-style taqueria runs a separate queue for each meat: adobada carved straight off the trompo, suadero, tripa, cabeza and lengua, each taco around $3. You order and pay at the station for the filling you want, then move to the next.
The two-storey North Park tasting room pours Grapefruit Solis and Habitus rye IPA just off 30th Street, the stretch locals call the beer boulevard. Pints run about $8, and Belching Beaver and Fall Brewing sit within four blocks.
Cocktails here come partly from a soda-fountain tap wall of house tonics, sodas and bitters, under a pressed-tin ceiling and marble bar. Expect $14-16 drinks, a proper Ramos gin fizz and a bar menu of fried chicken from the kitchen next door.