About a year ago, San Diego Cooks (2024, Figure 1) finally made it out into the world. It is a collection of recipes from the region’s chefs, from Oceanside to La Mesa and everywhere in between. It is my first book, and defining myself as a published author still feels strange, like trying to identify something you’ve just tasted—that flavor, a spice or some other ingredient, is vaguely familiar, but you can’t quite place it.
San Diego Cooks took five years to complete. It’s made for the home cook, meaning if you don’t need Michelin-worthy culinary skills to make the recipes in this book. But if you are up for a cooking challenge, those recipes are also included.
With the holidays sprinting toward us, I hope you’ll consider the cook book as a gift idea for some of your favorite people in your life, whether they’re a self-proclaimed foodie or not.
I’m grateful to the local and regional publications and broadcast programs who have helped share word of the book’s launch last fall, including:
If you’ve been following the daily White House press briefings, you may have caught Dr. Deborah Birx’s earnest call to non-action. “This is the moment to not be going to the grocery store, not going to the pharmacy, but doing everything you can to keep your family and your friends safe,” she said over the weekend. And while grocery stores and pharmacies remain open as essential businesses, the point experts at all levels of governments have emphasized these last several weeks is to limit contact with people who aren’t our family members, or members of the same household to slow the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus.
With this in mind, if you’re looking for a way to get fresh, local produce and products, a number of established companies and newly formed offerings are selling farm boxes for delivery or pick-up across San Diego County. I signed up for Imperfect Produce a few weeks ago myself. They are––understandably––running a few weeks behind schedule, so I appreciate that I am still in a position (at the moment) to support local farms while minimizing exposure to others.
Elsewhere, check out these other food boxes available for delivery or pick-up around San Diego:
Behneman Farm
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that this Valley Center-based farm recently began offering farm boxes for delivery. While it appears they don’t have a website, their Instagram page shows that they’ve been delivering everything from avocados, oranges, to salad mix.
Craft Box SD
Also through Instagram, I learned about Craft Box SD via fellow food writer Michelle Stansbury. For $50, you can get a box of local products delivered to your door. Products include: Maestoso Roman pinsa crust, cassava flour tortillas from Coyotas, Surf’s Up salsa, coffee from Seven Seas Roasting, tempeh from San Diego Tempeh, and more.
Daily Harvest farm boxes are packed with fruits and vegetables from a number of small local farms, like Sundial and Stehly farms. Delivery within San Diego County is free with a $25 order. Choose a one-time delivery, or sign up for a weekly or bi-weekly subscription, which also includes options to add eggs and cheeses, pasture-fed beef, bread and tortillas, and snacks.
Imperfect Foods
Misshapen produce need love too. Sign up for a conventional or organic delivery box from Imperfect Foods, which works with local farms. You can shop for your box several days before scheduled delivery, and add or remove items each time.
Market Box
In addition to selling produce online a la carte, Market Box’s weekly harvest box includes 11 items of the week for $40. Organic produce from JR Organics range from kale to apples, cilantro to broccolini. Local photographer and friend Alina Mendoza captured a gorgeous look at one of the boxes below:
Pre-packaged weekly produce boxes from Schaner Farms are sold on a first come, first served basis at Prager Bros. in Carlsbad, or by pre-order via Instagram DM or emailing annemarie@thefishery at The Fishery in Pacific Beach.
Specialty Produce
Pre-order a $20 Farmers Market box from Specialty Produce for pick-up Thursday–Saturday at their front desk. Add ons include eggs, honey, jams, and cheese.
Weekly CSA farm box deliveries from Yasukochi Family Farm are available throughout San Diego County (except Temecula, Jamul, Alpine, and Valley Center, according to its website) in two sizes. Boxes begin at $25 and $35, and delivery dates are grouped by zipcode. For example, Oceanside and Carlsbad receive boxes on Mondays; San Marcos, Vista, Escondido and Fallbrook receive boxes on Tuesdays, while Wednesday and Thursday are reserved for San Diego and coastal cities deliveries.
If you know of or represent other farm boxes for delivery or pick-up and would like to be included in this list, please email me at: thecuriouspassport (at) gmail (dot) com.
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While San Diego stay at home orders remain in place, and as many of us self-quarantine at home—leaving the house only for essential activities like grocery shopping, picking up take out from the restaurants still operating, and getting some exercise in places that aren’t official beaches, parks, and trails in most cities around the county—I look forward to the day we all return to work and our social lives.
A big part of how my family and friends like to spend our ‘less-than-six-feet-apart’ time together almost always revolves around food, whether we’re trying new recipes at home, or actually putting on clothes that aren’t made for sleeping or downward-dogging (though that might just be me) to gather for a few drinks and bites at a rooftop brewery or chic restaurant. Food has, thankfully, always been there for us—during celebrations and in grief, as both necessity and indulgence, to cushion our feelings and fuel our ambitions.
I can say the same for the restaurants we’ve come to love and return to again and again. Aside from the incomparable company, my favorite sit-down restaurants deliver the trifecta: Seamless service, a well-executed menu, and comfortable surrounds conducive for lingering. In other words, it’s an entire experience.
Unfortunately, the hospitality industry has been hit particularly hard across the country. In San Diego, KPBS reported that the hospitality industry (which includes hotels and restaurants) accounts for 200,000 jobs in the region. In context, that number is large enough to fill San Diego Padres’ Petco Park stadium nearly five times over. While many restaurants have closed for the foreseeable future, others are doing what they can to offer take-out or delivery, as well as converting into grocery stores for kitchen staples that have been difficult to find at big name grocery stores in recent weeks, like rice and beans. Many others have set up employee relief funds via GoFundMe to assist laid-off or furloughed staff.
Restaurants I Can’t Wait to Dine In Again
When we get through this, I eagerly and hopefully await the day San Diego restaurants welcome back their employees and partners. Because then, that means we can remove our CDC-recommended face coverings and decide whether we want to sit inside or on the patio, whether we order our own entrees or rifle off a bunch of dishes to share, and who we’re wiring our Venmo payment to. Personally, I can’t wait to criss-cross the county and return to these San Diego restaurants, cafes, and bistros:
Fort Oak in Mission Hills, a seafood-centric restaurant concocted out of a former Ford dealership. Now, the space features shades of blue and gold with art deco touches. There’s also a choose your own adventure seating situation; there’s a chef’s counter with a full view of the wood-fired grill, a U-shaped bar for low-ABV to bold cocktails and casual dining, or the sleek yet cozy formal dining room. Read more about its menu in the restaurant review I wrote for Modern Luxury.
Sheldon’s Service Station in La Mesa is a walk-up counter with a covered terrace ideal for sipping strong coffee, and California breakfast staples like a breakfast burrito served with salsa and fresh fruit. And as the only person in my friend group who does not own a pet, this airy spot on pedestrian-friendly La Mesa Boulevard offers ample dog-watching, and live acoustic jams on weekends. Order a Mexican mocha for cinnamon-infused, caffeinated sugar rush.
Before coronavirus, my friends and I ended up at Kairoa Brewing at least once a quarter, which is saying a lot considering the underrated breadth of restaurant options in San Diego. I included this modern University Heights brewery restaurant in a neighborhood guide I filed for C magazine, and I hope to see it published when editorial teams resume publishing food and travel coverage. We miss you shrimp butties.
Matteo, a non-profit cafe in South Park, opened only a month before San Diego’s dine-in operations were ordered to close. In contrast to a health-conscious region like San Diego, I like to joke that I follow an unrestricted diet (except when it comes to unflavorful, carelessly-plated food.) Matteo’s menu however, is certainly not lacking in flavor. Among the brunch items I’m ordering again: Pancakes, spicy mole chilaquiles and ALL of the pastries––which I know isn’t very helpful if you’re reading this for specific recommendations, so in particular, the vegan orange olive oil muffin. Huge deal, because I’m usually the first to snatch the chocolate croissants, so I’ll take one (two?!) of those too.
Matteo’s baked goodies
I also can’t wait to return to Cesarina in Point Loma (or is it Ocean Beach?), where I can sit on the leafy patio, stuff my face with their short rib pasta and tableside tiramisu, and bask in friendly neighborhood vibes.
North County’s interior has been sorely lacking in elevated casual restaurants like Casero Taqueria. When COVID-19 is over, I’m heading to Bressi Ranch to satisfy my craving for birria tacos on fresh corn tortillas, rajas y crema sopped up with more fresh pressed tortillas, and their margaritas.
Belching Beaver Tavern & Grill’s back patio with clusters of blazing fire pits and Adirondack chairs––preferably with a Peanut Butter Milk Stout in-hand––is one of the many reasons why Vista is a hidden gem for award-winning craft beer.
Connect with The Curious Passport
Keep up with my real-time travels and eats from San Diego and beyond on Instagram
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