Little Italy has a bustling dining scene

More culture is on tap in Old Town, where Mexican mole meets mezcal (this close to Mexico, it’s spelled with a ‘z’ instead of an ‘s’). Here you’ll find traditional tacos but also modern, contemporary dishes. At Tahona, you can dabble in Oaxacan-inspired dishes such as the flight of mole or mix and match tacos filled with pork belly or tempura of squash blossom. It’s a small but complex menu crafted to complement its extensive mezcal selection. In April, it will join the speakeasy crowd when it opens Oculto 477, a tiny bar in a backroom named for the number of graves in the cemetery next door. It will also be lit by 477 candles. A bustling new dining scene has also exploded in Little Italy, a multiblock stretch close to the waterfront that boasts four-star restaurants, sidewalk tacos and even a celebrated roast chicken joint with a giant plastic rooster on the patio. The dining revolution here began with two Top Chef contestants, says Robert Arends, PR manager with San Diego Tourism Authority. “The arrival of Top Chef veterans like Brian Malarkey and Richard Blais not only helped put San Diego on the culinary map nationally, but also helped elevate the dining scene in neighbourhoods like Little Italy.” Arends said that helped attract other up-and-coming chefs to the city and spurred locals to be creative with their menus. Malarkey operates a number of restaurants in the city including the expansive Herb and Wood, where you can catch the celebrity chef overseeing operations in his glass-fronted kitchen. Dishes are inventive, including roasted branzino with olive-chili tapenade and speck or orecchiette in broccoli pesto with garlic confit, calabrian chili, almond and pecorino toscano. Just down the block is Blais’s gem, Juniper and Ivy, which has earned accolades such as San Diego’s Restaurant of the Year and one of Zagat’s 15 Hottest Restaurant Openings Around the U.S. There has always been fine dining in San Diego — George’s at the Cove in La Jolla was named one of the World’s Top 10 Restaurants by Fodor’s Choice. And for good reason: Acclaimed chef Trey Foshee has presided over the modern Californian menu here since 1998. But the surge in San Diego cuisine really started less than a decade ago, becoming the newest chapter in San Diego’s story which began 250 years ago. From those Spanish missionary roots, and with the heavy influence of its Mexican neighbour, drinking and dining in San Diego has become a worldly experience. Check out sandiego250.com or sandiego.org.