Burgers and beer is what you will find amongst Pacific Foreign Auto and Unique Nails. I splurged and had fries and a salad (not worth the $2.99 it cost) with my mushroom swiss burger and the total price still came in at approximately $11...next time I will splurge on the beer and leave the fries and salad. The place smells a bit and the crowd was 80% overweight but the burgers are okay. The beef is angus but there are other options: lamb, buffalo, turkey, portobello, veggie, brauts, to name a few. The fixings are pretty standard, lettuce, onion, nasty tomatoes, ketchup, mayo, and cheap cheese.
My dinner companion is vegetarian and got the portobello burger (chopped portobello, breadcrumbs, and some egg to hold it all together) as did my non-vegetarian friend whom I went with previously. I would not claim this is mind blowing as the breadcrumbs have too much flavor and not the good kind, but it tries. My burger was sub-par, I ordered it "pink" and it was over cooked, "red" was the way to go, the swiss was not melted over the mushrooms and did not seep into the burger, rather it was one slice with some button mushrooms that fell off, cold, onto the plate.
The business card had two German names on it, one was the chef. I would recommend this place if you go out with a group of friends and you all have a craving for a different type of meat or non-meat. None of you will leave completely satisfied but won't have to resort to over-politeness, the "I had lamb last night, but really, I don't mind, whatever you want" sort of thing. For the price charged I think the chef should take some risks and have some fun with the burger compositions. Beef with cheap blue cheese, lamb and beef with tzatziki...coooommme on...
I suggest a sesame bagel with a schmear, tomato, salt and pepper...Delicious, simple, $2.00.
I sometimes splurge and get the breakfast omelet and fantasize about getting the bagel sandwich piled high with cold cuts but never dare. The staff (owner, baker, servers) are friendly and Asian. My first thought was they were from Brooklyn where the trade has been passed from Jew to Italian to Korean with flying colors. But to my own ignorant shock, the owner learned to make bagels in a Jewish man's bakery in Orange County - yeah, the O.C. Be cautious of the old Korean woman, she is sweet but ultra slow and will probably serve you something you didn't order.
The best time to go is before 7am when the bagels are hot out of the oven. The only thing missing in my mind is some fresh smoked whitefish but even without it this place holds its own.
"You can't get a good meal for over $20 in San Diego", says Steve Fagin and he was right.
This food is usually found in strip malls, really!
One of the hardest things to get used to in SD is that food in strip
malls is actually good! The other thing, is that you can't get a good
meal for over $20.00. That's right, I said "over".
Because of San Diego's proximity to the border the best food is
Mexican. We aren't talking about greasy, beanie, TexMex. Here we mean, homemade tortillas, seafood, and fresh salsa. However, Asian food, mostly Korean, is a close
second. It is nothing compared to LA but enough to not have to drive to
LA once a week for a good tofu soup. And there are also some jems to be found nestled in small corners of San Diego.
