AI’s got sewing needles, and it’s making dolls of us all. The city is putting a parking meter in your driveway. And oh, great, there appears to be (another) war now. When presented with these particular circumstances, San Diego Magazine editors believe in food therapy. If you’d like to join us in burying our heads in the polenta, here are the best dishes—and one cocktail—we found across San Diego this month.
Katsuya Ko
Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice
If you’ve ever ooohed and aaahed over spicy tuna crispy rice before, you have chef Katsuya Uechi to thank. He’s credited with inventing one of the nation’s favorite dishes out of his Brentwood restaurant in 2006—an effort to persuade a diner who said they didn’t like sushi (the deep fryer always wins hearts). Katsuya has since evolved into a global brand with restaurants in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, the Bahamas, Dubai, and now San Diego. With the opening of a more casual offshoot at Westfield UTC, locals can try his original recipe that started it all without having to battle LA traffic. It is the best version I’ve ever tasted. –Nicolle Monico
Alforon
Lamb Fatteh
Alforon was one of the first restaurants in San Diego to bake traditional Lebanese flatbread, but chef-owner George Salameh didn’t just rest on his manakish—he perfected it (try the za’atar manakish, he shipped over 3,000 pounds of the best za’atar from Lebanon). At the counter, you’ll see 200 sticky notes, most handwritten in Arabic with the same sentiment: “Thank you for the food that reminds me of where I’m from.” Middle Eastern locals asked him to create even more recipes from the old country, and now his menu reads like a collection of regional memories. Try the lamb fatteh: ouzi lamb over hot garbanzo beans, covered with cooked garlic-mint yogurt, brown butter, almonds, pine nuts, and flatbread. –Troy Johnson…