20 MOST ANTICIPATED RESTAURANTS OF 2021
Despite the pandemic, many new eateries in San Diego County are lined up for takeoff this year
While 2021 will most likely be a year of painfully slow recovery for San Diego’s restaurant industry, 20 new restaurant projects are on the horizon countywide. Due to the pandemic, projected opening dates may be delayed by public health orders. But here’s a look at some of the most anticipated projects, in alphabetical order.
Breakfast Republic/Eggies, La Jolla & Hillcrest
San Diego’s Rise & Shine Hospitality Group will open dual-concept breakfast/brunch spots at two new locations this spring. Breakfast Republic, with 10 locations in Southern California, offers sit-down brunch fare and mid-day cocktails. Eggies is a four-store grab-and-go breakfast sandwich and jarred food concept. 637 Pearl St., La Jolla; 416 University Ave., San Diego. breakfastrepublic.com, eggies.com
Callie, East Village
The opening of chef Travis Swikard’s longdelayed project in the former Bottega Americano space was pushed back again last month, with the goal of debuting when both the pandemic and restaurant market stabilize. Formerly the right-hand man to Michelin-starred French chef Daniel Boulud in Manhattan, Swikard returned to his native San Diego in 2018 to open his own restaurant. Cohn Restaurant Group’s David Cohn and chef Deborah Scott have partnered with Swikard on the large-scale project that will be an affordably priced, contemporary California-Mediterranean restaurant. 1195 Island Ave., San Diego. calliesd.com
Cesarina expansion project, Point Loma
The co-founders of Cesarina, a 2-year-old Italian restaurant in Point Loma, are planning to open a yet-to-be-named “brand expansion” project in Point Loma sometime this year. The owners are mum on the new concept, although co-founder and chef Cesarina Mezzoni is widely known for her Italian pastry-making skills. Could a standalone bakery be in her future? New location has not been announced. cesarinarestaurant.com
Fig Tree Cafe, East Village
San Diego’s Rise & Shine Hospitality Group will open its third location of the beachy-vibe breakfast/lunch concept next summer in East Village. The first Fig Tree café opened in 2008 in Pacific Beach. A second opened in Liberty Station in 2013. Since then, the company has focused its expansion efforts on the Breakfast
Republic concept. figtreeeatery.com
695 Sixth Ave., San Diego.
The Hangar, Oceanside
Solana Beach’s Carruth Cellars Urban Winery will open this large-scale production brewery, tasting rooms and beer-and-wine garden
project this spring at its new wine production center near the Oceanside Municipal Airport. The project will include a seven-barrel brewery operated by The Tipping Point Brewing. A restaurant-style kitchen is also planned for onsite food sales. 3229 Roymar Road, Oceanside. carruthcellars.com
HottMess Woodfired Pizza, Barrio Logan
Thorn Brewing Co. will add a pizzeria this year to its new multiconcept diningand-drinking destination at its Barrio Logan brewery. HottMess Woodfired Pizza will serve Neapolitan-style pizza by chef Kenzo Inai made with spent grain from the brewery. It will also have an indoor craft cocktail bar. The pizzeria will join recently opened ReBru Spirits distillery and Sideyard by HottMess, an all-outdoor barbecue eatery.
1735 National Ave.,
San Diego. sdhottmess.com
Kingfisher Cocktail Bar & Eatery, Golden Hill
From the owners of Crab Hut in Mira Mesa, this new Golden Hill restaurant and bar will serve authentic Southeast Asian food with a California sensibility. Specialties of the house will include Vietnamese chicken curry, citrus-cooked rare beef salad and olive oilpoached shrimp salad. Until the restaurant can open in a more stable dining environment, Crab Hut is hosting monthly Kingfisher pop-up dinners. 2469 Broadway, San Diego. kingfishersd.com
La Puerta, Mission Hills
La Puerta Restaurant & Bar, a longtime full-service Mexican eatery in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, will open its second location early this year in the former Patio on Goldfinch space in Mission Hills. Owner Merritte Powell said the new, 4,000-square-foot location will be a neighborhood hangout with a larger food menu and wide selection of Mexican tequila, mezcal and beers. 4020 Goldfinch St., San Diego. lapuertasd.com
La Taverna, Hillcrest
Aiming for a January opening, this new Italian restaurant will be serving an all-organic menu of housemade pastas, pizzas made in a wood-fire brick oven and classic southern Italian dishes. The restaurant will offer a wide menu of Italian wines as well. 3650 Fifth Ave. San Diego. latavernasd.com
Louisiana Charlie’s, Marina District
This 7-year-old Long Beach bayfront restaurant will open its second location next summer in Seaport Village’s carousel district. The 700-square-foot location will serve New Orleans, Cajun and Creole dishes including jambalaya, gumbo fries, po’boys, mesquite BBQ and fresh seafood and shellfish. 849 W. Harbor Drive, San Diego. louisianacharlies.com, seaportvillage.com
Marisi Italiano, La Jolla
San Diego’s Puesto Mexican restaurant com
pany will open its first Italian restaurant in the former Whiskladle space in La Jolla sometime this year. Helmed by chef Patrick Money, formerly of Cesarina and Cucina Enoteca, it will serve house-made pastas, bread and pastries and will have a full bar program led by Puesto’s bar and spirits director, Beau de Bois.
1044 Wall St., La Jolla. eatpuesto.com
Mike Hess Brewing & City Tacos, Marina District
North Park’s Mike Hess Brewing aims to open its sixth tasting room location this spring in Seaport Village. The 20-tap bar will share the 1,000-square-foot space with City Tacos, which will offer a full menu. The location will have indoor and outdoor seating on the Village’s boardwalk.
849 W. Harbor Drive, San Diego. mikehessbrewing.com, seaportvillage.com
Pho Ca Dao & Grill, Escondido
This family-owned Vietnamese restaurant chain will open its eighth location this year in Escondido. Founded by Duke Huynh in City Heights in 2001, the restaurant offers sit-down pho noodle dishes as well as a variety of Vietnamese entrees. The Escondido location was supposed to open in October but Huynh temporarily halted construction on the new location due to the pandemic. 609 N. Escondido Blvd.,
Escondido. phocadaogrill.com
Rare Society, Solana Beach
Trust Restaurant Group has announced plans to open a second Rare Society retro steakhouse and bar in the Solana Beach arts district in April or May. The original Rare Society opened in November 2019 in University Heights. The new location will have 90 seats indoors, including 26 at the bar, as well as 36 seats outdoors. It’s slated to open in April or May and will serve lunch and dinner seven days a week. 330 S. Cedros Ave., Suite 104, Solana Beach. raresocietysd.com
The Reading Club/Seneca Restaurant, Downtown
CH Projects plans to open this private social club and public restaurant on the rooftop of the InterContinental Hotel in downtown San Diego later this year. Seneca will be a full-service rooftop restaurant and bar. The adjacent Reading Club will be a members-only intimate place to eat, drink and relax with others. Facilities will include rooms for private meetings, meditation, listening to records and viewing sports games, a library and an onsite wellness director. Membership privileges include gym access and wellness classes at the hotel and benefits at Seneca and other CH restaurant and bar properties. Reading Club memberships will range in price from $2,000 to $2,600 a year. 901 Bayfront Court,
San Diego. thereadingclub.com
Richard Blais signature restaurant, Carlsbad
Richard Blais, the Del Mar celebrity chef who
helped launch Juniper & Ivy and the Crack Shack eateries in Little Italy before moving on a few years ago, will open a yet-to-be-named “vintage” surf-and-turf-style restaurant in March at the Park Hyatt Aviara Resort in Carlsbad. It will replace the hotel’s Argyle Steakhouse overlooking the Batiquitos Lagoon. The menu will feature locally caught seafood and aged steaks, with a good share of its ingredients sourced from West Coast purveyors and farms. 7100 Aviara Resort Drive, Carlsbad. hyatt.com, richardblais.net
Sam Zien expansion project, Marina District
Sam “The Cooking Guy” Zien will expand his culinary partnership with Grain & Grit Collective this year with an as-yet untitled signature restaurant/bar in the former Buster’s Beach House location in Seaport Village. Zien and Grain & Grit’s past collaborations include Not Not Tacos in the Little Italy Food Hall, Graze by Sam restaurant/bar in Little Italy and Eats by Sam, a ghost kitchen concept offering takeout Samburgers and Samwiches from the Buster’s location. 807 W. Harbor Drive, San Diego. eatsbysam.com
Sky Deck, Carmel Valley
The Sky Deck — an upscale food and beverage hall — is scheduled to open in February on the second f loor of the Del Mar Highlands Town Center above the Jimbo’s ... Naturally! supermarket in Carmel Valley. The A-frame hunting lodge-style venue will have up to 10 restaurant vendors and an outdoor Brewer’s Deck bar featuring Northern Pine brewery, Rough
Draft Brewing and a Boochcraft kombucha tasting bar. Among the restaurant tenants signed to occupy the hall are Ambrogio15, Craft House, Urbana Mexican Gastronomy, Kiin Extraordinary Thai, Zizikis Street Food, J at Sky Deck, Marufuku Ramen and Le Parfait Paris. 12925 El Camino Real, San Diego. delmarhigh landstowncenter.com
VAGA, Encinitas
Renowned local chef Claudette Zepeda is the new executive chef for soon-toopen Alila Marea Beach Resort hotel in Encinitas, where she’ll oversee culinary operations for the hotel’s signature restaurant VAGA as well as its The Pocket poolside bar/lounge and the 130-room hotel’s room service operation. The Imperial Beach native calls VAGA her love letter to San Diego, serving her takes on her favorite ethnic dishes she grew up eating in San Diego, including Indian dosa pancakes, soup dumplings on Convoy Street, Filipino pancit noodles and Ethiopian dishes. The hotel will open in March. 2100 N. Coast Highway 101, Encinitas. alilahotels.com, chefclaudettezepeda.com
White Rice, Liberty Station
Renowned National City chef Phillip Esteban will open the first brick-andmortar location of his yearold ghost kitchen concept that serves savory rice bowls inspired by his native Filipino cuisine. It will open inside Liberty Public Market early this year.
2820 Historic Decatur Road, San Diego. ricebowlsforall.com