5 Hidden FOOD Gems in San Diego, California 🇺🇸

shout out to tracy our waitress she got us into the ding dongs i wasn't gonna do this at all but i gotta try one right these are the ding dongs [Applause] oh my god you guys got to get the ding dongs i got stuff on my shirt we're rolling good morning and welcome back to sunny san diego california today i'm going to take you out and show you five hidden food gems here in the city truth be told these are just places that i wanted to hit myself so i figured why not grab brandon grab a camera and bring you guys along with us and starting things off we're in sunset cliffs in between ocean beach and point loma at a tiny little spot called the little lion let's go check it out [Music] all right we're here with jacqueline jacqueline tell me where are we uh we're at little lion cafe in ocean beach san diego california our family is from belgium and my grandfather moved here and opened a restaurant called the belgian lion we grew up there as little kids that's why we're the little lion i'm half of the partnership my sister anne-marie is our chef well i was making a list of hidden gems and so many people said this is the place that you have to come check out that makes me really happy yeah it's uh genuinely little and genuinely hidden uh labor of love for sure yeah amazing thank you so much thank you [Music] all right we have the most ridiculous spread to start the day we're at a belgium inspired location so obviously we had to get the belgian waffles here we got ricotta toast with different fruits on there and some arugula we have their take on eggs benedict with a little prosciutto poached eggs hollandaise sauce and one of their most popular dishes it is kale and duck sausage with chimichurri and breakfast gravy eggs benedict is one of my favorite breakfast dishes of all time that salty prosciutto that's in there perfectly poached egg hollandaise sauce not too overpowering sometimes hollandaise sauce they put a ton on and it gets really heavy this is very light this is the duck sausage whoa whoa so earthy such a rich flavor that sausage nice and taut for the chimichurri and the breakfast gravy adds the sweetness to it i love that sausage and it's got a kick to it as well that is delicious yeah tried the savory let's get into the sweet first off from the sweets ricotta toast we got ricotta nectarine blackberries blueberries raspberries honey and salt but again a little bit of those greens how beautiful does that look [Music] you got to come here and get one savory dish the dumpling kale 100 and then one sweet dish recall toast such a contrast it's delicious and last but certainly not least this staple the pride and joy of this beautiful place maple syrup powdered sugar whipped cream adds a sweetness great crunch and so flavorful guys little lime highly recommend it you watch the sunrise and then you come over here for breakfast you will not be disappointed [Music] all right here we go stop number two on our hit list of five hidden food gems here in san diego hidden behind the denny's and marie calendars off the eight in la mesa is dz akins now this place is on the list because it hits close to home this is a new york style deli contestant and those who saw the palm springs video you know i'm a sucker for giant sandwiches and lots of baked goods let's go inside this little sweet spot in the middle of nowhere not in the middle of nowhere it's in la mesa but just a far drive from everything downtown and by the beach so let's go inside all right inside you see aikens now got a little gift shop as soon as you walk in come on in here grab ourselves a number we got sweets to the right hand side we have everything chala bread bagels little halloween cookies bear claws danishes moon cookies eclairs giant cream puffs come through this way got matzo ball soup giant roasted chickens over here you got pickles and lox you got coleslaw mac salad corned beef that you can buy they got everything let's go into the dining room now and get some food come on [Music] hey elon what's going on thank you so much for having us thanks for being here this is elon the owner of this joint elon tell me a little story about dz cool dz well d is for debbie and z is for speaker those are my parents okay they started in 1980. um dad was the cook mom was the waitress okay dad was actually born in tel aviv israel really yeah he came here when he was 15. uh worked at a kosher butcher shop in l.a and met my mother accidentally at the butcher shop and they fell in love this is the new york style valley and it reminds me of home because yeah i'm from yeah upstate new york so the diner experience the big sandwiches that i'm seeing already as it passed by is already are we ready for some of this yeah i'm ready all right well we're dying right he brought us some goodies all right that's the reuben oh my god and the corned beef look at this all right so we got the mish mash matzo ball soup that's the giant matzo ball got the noodles and what's this here that's a crepe lock it's pretty much the jewish wonton the jewish jewish montana and then the reuben the ruben the classic reuben and this is the corned beef homemade corned beef hash you know most places do it out of a can we we don't like that version so we we just grind up the real corned beef it's killer and i'm gonna start with the mozza ball start with a little bit of the soup but um we switch it up a little bit as well that's what i'm talking about we jokingly call this jewish penicillin this is i was just gonna say this is the cure all it seems like it really is all right i mean we're just procrastinating that's all we're really doing i mean it's nice matzo ball soup great but come on i mean when you have this standing right in front of you it's like you can't mess around with anything else homemade rye bread we got sauerkraut on there oh first thing that crunch from the bread buttery incredible flavorful bread and then the meat is just so juicy a little bit of fat but not overwhelming you know yeah just enough marbling yeah i think a little sweetness from this russian dressing you get that savory that's sweet that crunchy and i'm a huge sauerkraut fan so i love that that bitterness that the sauerkraut brings the acidity from the sauerkraut as well as the perfect reuben you can have anywhere not just on the west coast but anywhere man that's delicious my favorite is the little crackling bits on the outside here all right one more bite for good luck all right now we're gonna have one taste the breakfast staple this is actually one of my favorites so you're already winning my book this is the corned beef fashion eggs with the homemade home fries here this is happiness [Music] ooh and as you know with the canned corned beef immediately you know because it's so salty so so overpowering salty and this is so delicate and what people have to learn all over the globe is the crunch you got to get your mo from carnitas any great meat in this world you have a crunch to it and this is a perfect crunch on the top you can tell it was done right on the stovetop man hold on this is incredible this is truly a hidden gem here in san diego we really appreciate it thanks for doing it and now take home a bucket of pickles not only did we have delicious sandwiches we just scored some sweets come over here first things first we raided the bakery and tracy shout out to tracy our waitress she got us into the ding dongs i wasn't gonna do this at all but i got to try one right these are the ding dongs [Applause] oh my god you guys got to get the ding dongs this is a taste of childhood right here like a ho ho like a little debbie's pig oh my god nancy pelosi that is delicious just a little just a little going away present jackpot come to disease get a reuben sandwich matzo ball soup for all the elements then get a ding dong and one of these just take a screenshot of this video and show them i want one of these because i never remember the name oh yeah all right let's keep going [Music] all right we've hit our stride now the sun has come out and we're over in north park for our third location this is the san diego chicken pie shop a san diego institution for some home style some heartwarming food let's go inside and try their pies thank you so much [Music] all right we got bob here bob's here lisa the owners of the chicken pie shop tell me you guys have been here since 1938 right yeah we're we're 33 years old 83. you guys haven't been here pretty good you guys are great chicken popeyes that's the secret right so a guy named george whitehead started the whole thing okay he was a dishwasher at a restaurant that closed down he basically took it over and he created the chicken pies he ended up selling the business to my parents years ago no my parents kind of retired we passed away yeah we took it over as a family incredible [Music] [Music] this place is so interesting such an iconic location you got all these old photos that i love so much i am very excited about this spot and so this is our famous giant cinnamon roll what are we doing you guys yeah what are we doing [Music] guys i thought i thought we're doing chicken pot pies here bob do people come in and order anything else they can't it's a family style oh they take it home oh you got it and then some people just eat all of it get a little was that whipped cream butter that's ridiculous that's so damn good yeah they make everything from scratch this is their most popular breakfast item we have it's called the neighborhood grind neighborhood grind you have a chicken pot pie with two over easy eggs and then is that breakfast gravy on top [Music] it tastes like a day after you go out sledding you know like when you guys don't know much about sledding no but back east let me tell you a story here bob back east you go outside it's snowing out grandma calls you in she's got a pot pie ready for you and then you guys go out of bounds and you put the gravy and the eggs on top so the difference between us and anybody else who makes buyers is we don't put vegetables in them we just go all meat and then we throw the veggies on the side oh i've been making it the same way since 38. this is the original pot pie that we saw in there with just some delicious gravy on top let's give this a cross section that it deserves oh flaky crust is this made by mario's hands himself yeah look at that cross section i just want to watch christmas movies it's coming up so every day our bakers come in at six a.m and they make all of our dessert pies from scratch along with our chicken pies okay this is the cherry okay and then our cream pie today is coconut cream pie on a graham cracker crust that's made fresh and then we do have quite a few followers of our traditional pumpkin pie all year round we don't just wait for things i respect the pumpkin but my heart is with one pie one pie only good a good pumpkin pie very good see what i'm doing here he's hurrying let's go to the cherry excellent [Music] tuesdays don't saturday don't tell me when you have it those are the only two days you can get it though i don't want to hear that guys well done very nicely done thank you it is incredible things are just getting out of control now all right continuing on now we are over in the corner of hillcrest and mission hills this is a tiny little japanese restaurant tucked away into this plaza this is number four on our hidden gems list and this is literally a hidden gem if you come over into this unsuspecting little spot you got some delicious japanese food let's go [Music] all right here we go we just went crazy we go a little too far even though we've been eating all day but you gotta have the staples when you get here so this place is known for their ramen sushi and some japanese staples as well some korean kimchi just to get that stomach going and a little seaweed salad for health first let's start out with the takoyaki if you haven't seen my osaka street food video make sure you check that out but this is a octopus ball that's deep fried you got a little bit of octopus chunks in there and almost like a mashed potato consistency on the inside and a nice crunch on the outside this is very nostalgic of my trip to japan this brings me right back to the streets oh man good flavor the traditional japanese i like to call barbecue sauce is over the top of that with some cream is very very well done tuna carpaccio got beautiful and thinly sliced that is this beet red color [Music] you have fried garlic on top with some chives and it's drenched in olive oil all right one special that they have is kama or yellowtail cheek this is a special item it comes with some daikon here put a little daikon on there a little bit of salt and a little bit of soy just put some lemon on that oh oh my gosh i just disintegrated in my mouth so tender so delicious so light all right well this is their signature dish this is the ramen tonkotsu ramen we have jeshu pork we have seaweed we have big fried garlic chunks and this deep rich oily milky broth from a pork bone broth [Music] wow that's actually very light sometimes you with the tonkotsu it gets very very heavy very greasy very fatty and this is very light even though the fact that you still see those fat bubbles on top let's give it a little try shall we [Music] noodles cook perfectly that fried garlic you can taste it right in there i'm splattering all over the place just a sign of happiness oh this takes me back i just want to have a couple of high balls with this and just get loose dance go do some karaoke but in the meantime this will do jackpot [Music] and our fifth and final stop of the day for hidden food gems here in san diego i have just a little bit of room left and for that we're back over in north park right on adams avenue for a small batch unique ice cream spot and this is on's dry cleaning which is very interesting because if you actually look at it it looks like a dry cleaning spot so let's go inside and see what this little spot has to offer let's go as brandon runs into the tables here let's go inside well well well hi guys and i've been told that this is one of the ultimate hidden gems here in san diego and understandably seoul it looks like a dry cleaning place yes do people come in and just absolutely freak out oh one thousand percent i've had people bring in their like dry cleaning to me and think that i'm like joking around yeah i had one guy that actually was confusing our merchandise for actual laundry this is why yeah whose idea was it to to name it this was really just known for dry cleaning they kind of decided to keep the theme and run with it so about every two weeks we rotate our menus we have a flavor tour which is what we're known for oh really because since they're so unique we don't want to ever have it that's like no you got to choose one and then you're kind of yeah because that would stink if you were all sudden you choose lace and it turns out you don't like rice yeah yeah so let's do it we're gonna start off with our pellet cleanser this is perfect we've been eating a lot today all right step one ginger and lime sorbet and what's the name of this one this one is is that real ginger in there yes wow my palette is classic that's one thing that you know we really take pride in is having as fresh ingredients as possible you can't there's a big difference between you know having fresh pear versus pear juice we're moving right along this one is an almond milk and hazelnut paste with a little dark chocolate in it this one for sure is one of our more popular vegan vegan yeah a little bit oh my gosh that's very nutty yes you know what that tastes like the ferrari yes this one is apron which is based off of a pecan pie brown butter pecan molasses pie crust and those big chunks are pie crust yes come on big chunks of pie crust whoa my grandfather would love this yeah big cotton pastry yeah this one is cassio which is a ginger chai gelato this one we get the tea from paro tea let's keep moving this one isn't my favorite but that's just because i don't like chocolate but i got i gotta be honest with the people if i would have just said i love all of them yeah so this one's passionate goat cheese base with fig and balsamic and this is a new arrival i get in on the hype oh i love that that's one of our more controversial flavors any of one of them with goat cheese you either love it or you hate it and it's amazing love it advanced levels of ice cream i like that you guys make bold choices in here that's one of my favorite things about this place so far you guys aren't scared so this one's edible yes it's a black cocoa that we get in midnight chocolate black cocoa i give a great description on this one give it to me so we use the same cocoa powder that oreo uses so it has that really rich fudgy chocolate without being acidic at all and so it's a really palatable chocolate it almost to me tastes like a snack pack even though it looks so intimidating snack pack this is this is pudding right it's great girls thank you so much for your help i appreciate it am i allowed to do this thank you guys so much look at that and that my friends is a full-on day of five hidden food gems here in san diego i hope you enjoyed the video if you did make sure you leave a comment let me know what place you want to try the most give it a thumbs up it means a lot it helps distribute this video subscribe if you haven't already just like that i'm going to enjoy my ice cream and call it a night i'll see you on the next one travel deeper i'm a golf professional nice to meet you too really yeah absolutely yeah my son just started playing uh his freshman year he was great have any advice for my kid yeah never give up [Music] this one is midnight midnight chocolate and that one's pumpkin spice it's ridiculous tom i sent you do that again yeah i just felt palette p-a-l it's called cleanser i never know how to say that what does it call it i honestly [Music] you can tell that we didn't grow up rich because we don't know how to pronounce it i respect us i like to take out idea for something like this because you can go in a piece of quiet of your own home and you won't be judged you know you can sit there with a pot pie and you just be yourself under your belt take your shirt off no i'm not fine relax a little bit you know what i mean this is incredible pro tip about the palette cleanser when you're hungover that kicks it right out because the ginger nausea away the lime you're awake i love it insider scoop i like it i don't hate it i like it it's more pumpkin pie than pumpkin spice yeah coffee so um i'm gonna put that i don't hate it

Channel: Gareth Leonard

Views: 317,148

Keywords: san diego, san diego california, things to do in san diego, things to do in san diego california, la jolla, pacific beach, north park san diego, best places to eat in san diego, best restaurants in san diego, san diego hidden gems, hidden gems in san diego, gareth leonard, travel deeper, travel deeper usa, travel vlog, san diego vlog, san diego vlogger, san diego travel, san diego travel guide, san diego california travel guide, san diego california travel, visit san diego

Id: TdMt_UCTZUo

Length: 24min 56sec (1496 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 29 2021