Prince St. Pizza’s Spicy Spring pie. | Wonho Frank Lee They will be part of the reconfigured Mission + Garnet food hall A prominent New York-based pizzeria and an iconic Los Angeles burger brand are both expanding to Pacific Beach where they’ll open in late June as part of the Mission + Garnet complex, which landed in 2023 at one of the beach community’s most high-traffic intersections. This will be the second San Diego branch for Prince Street Pizza, following its Gaslamp debut in early 2023. Founded in 2012 in the Manhattan neighborhood of Nolita, the slice shop has since added locations in ..read more

Assorted dishes from the Honey Jam menu. | David Rho Honey Jam Chicken & Beer opens this weekend A new spot serving Korean soul food paired with Korean beer and soju is opening in the University City area this Friday, May 10. The fast-casual Honey Jam Chicken & Beer is the latest addition to the Renaissance Towne Center. Its name, “honey jam”, is a translation of a Korean slang term, “gguljem,” loosely meaning “having a good time.” The restaurant’s menu will feature various flavors of fried chicken, including a rendition with “Honey Jam” seasoning and smoky honey butter sauce and a Sai ..read more

Arlene Ibarra Counterpoint is back after a remodel, with new cocktails A popular hangout in Golden Hill, a neighborhood whose residents include a good number of local hospitality workers, has reemerged after a short closure for a remodel. It was time, says owner Cam Fomby, who opened Counterpoint nearly 15 years ago and still lives in the building behind the 25th Street bar and bistro. Taking the opportunity to improve some of the space’s inefficiencies while retaining the intimate, house party-like atmosphere that keeps regulars coming back time and again, Fomby has expanded the bar to add mo ..read more

The exterior of Leila. | Luke W. Schmuecker Called Leila, the North Park restaurant will open in early summer The follow-up to CH Projects’ blockbuster restoration of the Lafayette Hotel is a quieter but no less ambitious project that is particularly meaningful for the local hospitality group’s co-founder, Arsalun Tafazoli. Scheduled to open later this summer in North Park, Leila is a Middle Eastern restaurant that’s also a personal declaration of culture and family for Tafazoli. Acknowledging that they are bringing this restaurant forth at a wrenching time in the Middle East, Tafazoli says he ..read more

Chef Diego Hernández. | Courtesy photo Chef Diego Hernández is moving into the former Laja space An acclaimed Valle de Guadalupe restaurant that shuttered more than four years ago is coming back to the region where its next iteration will reopen at a site that contributed mightily to the area’s early culinary renaissance. Chef Diego Hernández, who recently opened Parador Mercedes in San Antonio de Las Minas, is continuing a return to his roots by bringing Restaurant Diego Hernández to the former Laja space. Launched 25 years ago by chef Jair Téllez, Laja was one of the handful of early modern ..read more

Rendering of Nima Outpost. | Location Matters Austin Nola by Chef Quinnton Austin is coming to El Cajon Boulevard A new restaurant and bar in the works for North Park is being led by a team of principals behind the nearby Louisiana Purchase. Called Austin Nola, the 2,800-square-foot space will anchor Niima Outpost, a mixed-use development from Hub & Spoke Communities located on El Cajon Boulevard. Working with GTC Design (Coco Maya, Rare Society) and Design Perspectives, owner Pete Cich (Miss B’s Coconut Club, Park 101) is partnering on the project with executive chef Quinnton Austin, a Ne ..read more

A signature burger. | Bonehead Burger Co. Ghost kitchen-based Bonehead Burger Co. will launch its first storefronts this summer A popular burger purveyor that currently operates out of a local ghost kitchen is gearing up to open two dine-in locations in the San Diego area. Bonehead Burger Co., which has been utilizing Barrio Logan’s Barrio Food Hub as a virtual restaurant where it offers online ordering for pickup and delivery, is launching the first storefronts of what its founders hope grows into a national chain. Bonehead was created in 2022 by brothers Kit Wingate and Blake Bone as Sa ..read more

Rendering of the new market. | Zion Market The slate of new restaurants also includes spots specializing in dumplings and udon The relocation of Zion Market to another site in Kearny Mesa after more than a decade in its present-day position is progressing on pace, with Kevin Hwang — whose family operates the Asian grocery store chain — telling Eater that the new 50,000-square-foot is currently scheduled to open this July. While the existing market has a food court, the new Zion Market will not; Paris Baguette is the only outside vendor making the move. Instead, several of the buildings surroun ..read more

Dishes from Pepino’s menu | Sylvie Coulange Viral pop-up Pepino finds a permanent home Joining an influx of new restaurants choosing to bolster La Jolla’s culinary scene is a cafe and bakeshop that started as a neighborhood pop-up. Pepino is the evolution of a pandemic-born pivot from chef Sebastian Becerra, a native of San Diego and alum of La Jolla High School who returned home in 2019 after nearly a decade spent cooking in fine dining kitchens across the country, including Eleven Madison Park in New York City and Coi and Rich Table in San Francisco. Becerra landed at Little Italy’s Herb &am ..read more

A dish from Two Ducks. | Arlene Ibarra Co-founder Dante Romero is also taking over the longstanding bar and restaurant’s kitchen A pop-up that initially signed for a three-month residency at the Lion’s Share has proved so popular that it’s in talks to extend its run there indefinitely. Two Ducks has been operating out of the restaurant’s event venue since March though it’s a return engagement for chef brothers and Calexico natives Danny and Dante Romero who originally launched Tortoise, their previous, pandemic-era pop-up, in the same upstairs space before the duo became part of the opening te ..read more