The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near Monstra Coffee
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Rank 1. Monstra Coffee
Filipino
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Rank 2. AVANT Restaurant
French New American
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Rank 3. Monstra Coffee
Filipino
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Rank 6. Addison
Contemporary
William Bradley's refined California cooking at Addison balances playful invention with technical precision, as seen in sesame rice crowned with caviar or chicken liver churros that feel both whimsical and elegant. Each course—from oysters with pickled strawberry to caviar-studded chawanmushi—demonstrates a kitchen in command of flavor, texture, and the pleasure of surprise.
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Rank 7. Mille Fleurs Restaurant
Californian French
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Rank 8. Market Restaurant + Bar
International
The chef's seasonal cooking swings between continents—blue cheese soufflé one moment, miso-glazed cod the next—in a dark, elegant room that eschews pretense. Sushi anchors the menu, but the real draw is the restless creativity that justifies the tony Del Mar crowd.
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Rank 9. The Realm of the 52 Remedies
Cocktail Bar
- The Pinnacle Guide 2 Pins
- 50 Best 2026 · #93 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
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Rank 10. A.R. Valentien
Contemporary
A wood-beamed dining room and terrace overlooking the 18th hole at Torrey Pines set a scene of California ease, where amber light filters through stained glass onto tables poised above the fairway. The kitchen mines the region's year-round harvest for dishes like Dungeness crab flan and brick chicken, each plate a small study in restraint and precision.
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Rank 11. Jeune et Jolie
Nouvelle French
The dining room glows in pale rose, light streaming through windows onto tables where Chef Eric Bost's nouvelle-French cooking unfolds with precision. Grilled leeks meet buttermilk and black truffle; roasted duck arrives with parsnips; the milk bread alone justifies the visit. A cocktail program of genuine craft steadies the elegant mood.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- The New York Times 2025 · Fraise · The 14 Best Restaurant Desserts We Ate Across the U.S.
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Rank 12. The Marine Room
Coastal Californian Seafood
- AAA Four Diamonds
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Waterfront Dining · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 14. Le Coq
French Steakhouse
- Sunset 2025 · Fabulous French · Where to Eat and Drink
- Eater Chef of the Year · Tara Monsod
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Chef · The Best Restaurants in San Diego · Tara Monsod
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Rank 15. Monstra Coffee
Filipino
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Rank 16. Menya Ultra
Noodles
A ramen counter in a Clairemont strip mall that moves with purpose, serving a focused menu anchored by a rich, pork-forward tonkotsu miso and a Sichuan-inflected tantanmen spiked with ground meat and heat. The springy noodles and cured egg are the real story here.
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Ramen in San Diego · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 17. Atelier Manna
Californian
Andrew and Larah Bachelier's Encinitas brunch spot sits behind a covered patio furnished from reclaimed materials, where the kitchen moves through seasonal ingredients with quiet purpose. Halibut arrives with sudashi and coconut leche de tigre; pork is finished tableside with pomegranate jus. The nonalcoholic drinks are crafted with the same care lavished on the plates.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 18. Tribute Pizza
Neo-Neapolitan Pizza
- 50 Top Pizza 2025 · #34 · 50 Top Pizza USA
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in San Diego
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Pizza in San Diego · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 20. Leu Leu Leucadia
Global
- Artful Living 2025 · The Top 5 Most Stylish Restaurants in America
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 22. Ponto Lago
Baja Mexican
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Rank 23. The Grant Grill
Pacific
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Rank 24. Lilo
New American
Guests circulate through heated patio and intimate counter to watch Chef Eric Bost work with kinmedai, wagyu, and abalone in a sequence that builds from savory precision to a striking orgeat ice cream crowned with celery root and caviar. The meal unfolds as theater—composed, ambitious, and engineered to surprise.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- The New York Times 2025 · The Restaurant List
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Eric Bost
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Rank 25. NINE-TEN
Caribbean
A La Jolla dining room in a century-old hotel where sunglasses stay on through dinner and the chef's tasting menu arrives with a wink. Jamaican jerk pork belly and a citrus-forward dessert program anchor a menu that moves easily from poolside sandwiches to more considered evening plates.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in San Diego
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Hotel Restaurant · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 26. Mabel’s Gone Fishing
Seafood
A dog's memory animates this seafood spot—its name, its warmth, its unstudied charm—where the kitchen treats local catch with California-Iberian clarity. The swordfish schnitzel, crispy and brined with salsa verde and tonnato, arrives alongside caper berries and fennel in a lesson on how restraint and brightness can be the same thing.
- Eater 2022 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- Esquire 2023 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
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Rank 27. Cowboy Star
Western
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Rank 28. SOICHI
Sushi
Chef Soichi Kadoya works the counter with ease in this University Heights omakase spot, where casual conversation masks the precision underneath. Pike mackerel balanced with ginger, miso-marinated sea bass, and fatty tuna that melts confirm the seriousness of his craft.
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- AAA Four Diamonds
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Restaurant View: Urban · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 30. The Fishery
Seafood
A restored warehouse in Pacific Beach houses both a working seafood market and open kitchen, where the catch of the day becomes calamari with spicy aioli, rock crab fettuccine, or oysters that taste like they were pulled from the ocean minutes before service. The menu follows the market rather than the other way around, a discipline that keeps everything tasting of salt water and restraint.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in San Diego
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Seafood · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 31. Yakitori Tsuta
Japanese
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Rank 33. Paradisaea
New American
A tropical reverie in La Jolla, complete with hibiscus-patterned chairs and a patio that catches the sun just right. The kitchen applies Asian and tropical touches to local ingredients—coconut shrimp kissed by robata heat, halibut fried golden and set against watermelon radish with green curry aioli. Tiki drinks anchor the bar, and everything tastes like vacation tastes on the best days.
- Esquire 2024 · The Pelican · The Best Martinis in America
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in San Diego
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- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
- Eater Best New Bar
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Rank 35. LEILA
Middle Eastern
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Top 5 Restaurants · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Design · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Middle Eastern Restaurant · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 36. Animae
Filipino Steakhouse
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Chef: California · Tara Monsod
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Tara Monsod
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Best Chef: California · Tara Monsod
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- Punch 2025 · Best New Bartenders · Dominique Muñoz
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Cocktail Bar in San Diego · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 38. Shan’xi Magic Kitchen
Northwest Chinese
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in San Diego
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Chinese Restaurant · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 39. Herb & Wood
Wood-fired New American
A converted warehouse with barrel-vaulted ceilings and eclectic art radiates unhurried Parisian warmth, its staff as genuinely invested as the crowd filling every corner. Wood-fired mushrooms and pizza sit beside venison over buttermilk polenta, each plate suggesting a kitchen unafraid of range.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Top 5 Restaurants · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 41. Kingfisher
Vietnamese
A striking bar anchors this Golden Hill spot, where inventive cocktails meet modern Vietnamese cooking. Dishes like raw scallops with tamarind and pineapple flavors, or mushroom congee, receive careful technique and a contemporary edge. The room has considerable charm, the drinks are thoughtfully made, and the food tastes like it knows what it's doing.
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Jonathan Bautista
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
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Rank 42. Cesarina
Italian
At this trattoria, a visible pasta kitchen and tableside tiramisu theater set the stage for an evening of warm chaos and mismatched pottery. The menu lets you build your own combinations—fusilli with this sauce, tortelli with that—though servers gently steer you from disaster. The truffled gnocchi arrives in its own copper vessel, a small flourish that captures the place's unhurried generosity.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in San Diego
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Pasta in San Diego · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
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- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Bakery · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 45. Callie
Mediterranean
Chef Travis Swikard channels his Daniel Boulud training into sharply composed Mediterranean plates that pivot on California's vegetables and seafood, with spice as a quiet equalizer. The kampachi crudo with black lime and herbaceous heat, the carrot dish studded with cashew dukkah—these are meals that taste like argument and resolution at once.
- Wine Enthusiast 2024 · Forward 50 Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Top 5 Restaurants · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 46. Fort Oak
Steakhouse
A former car dealership in Mission Hills now gleams as a mid-century horseshoe bar framing Chef Brad Wise's shareable menu, where a wood-fired lamb merguez meets pistachio muhammara and heritage pork finds its match in flame-charred Brussels sprouts. The apple crisp arrives sizzling in cast iron—comfort food with the precision of a chef who knows exactly what fire should do.
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Rank 47. Roma Norte
Mexico City
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best New Bar
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
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Rank 50. Sushi Tadokoro
Sushi
A modest strip-mall sushi counter where chef Takeaki Tadokoro and his young colleague work with genuine pleasure, sourcing British Columbia oysters and Hokkaido scallops with quiet precision. The omakase moves through sea urchin, ikura, goldeneye snapper with yuzu, and ponzu-marinated bluefin with the confidence of people who've thought about each bite. Approachable without pretense.
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Rank 51. Grand Ole BBQ
Central Texas Barbecue
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Barbecue · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best in City: El Cajon · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 52. Monstra Coffee
Filipino
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Rank 53. ARTIFACT at Mingei
International
Tucked beside the gift shop at Mingei, this modest dining room matches its museum's appetite for global craft, moving from yuzu-kissed rock shrimp gyoza to lamb kibbeh with equal conviction. The kitchen treats vegetables and desserts with the same care—cardamom tapioca with saffron granita is no decoration—and monthly cuisine-specific dinners suggest a place that takes its eclecticism seriously.
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Rank 54. Wolf in the Woods
Global
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in San Diego
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Date Spot in San Diego · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 55. Yiko Yiko
Chinese/Japanese
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Rank 57. Juniper & Ivy
California New American
A 1920s warehouse with redwood beams houses this San Diego kitchen, where a curved bar overlooks the sunken dining room and open flames. The menu moves fluidly through grilled swordfish with peanut crunch, bluefin crudo studded with pickled jalapeños, pastas finished with uni or charred squash—California ingredients filtered through Latin and Asian sensibilities, never precious.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Wine List in San Diego · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Anthony Wells
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Rank 58. Part Time Lover
Cocktail Bar
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Rank 59. Hidden Fish
Sushi
A ninety-minute omakase unfolds at this narrow counter where the pace is brisk but the eating unhurried. The chefs work with San Diego uni and imported Peruvian scallops alongside Japanese staples, each piece arriving on a chalkboard's rotating manifest. Reservations vanish weeks ahead, a small price for sushi this deliberate.
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Rank 60. Solare
Southern Italian
Warm wood and bright textiles set the scene at this rustic Italian spot near Liberty Public Market, where house-made pasta takes center stage—lasagna layered with veal and beef, spinach ravioli in sage brown butter—alongside blistered pizzas from a wood-fired oven and weekly fish preparations that anchor the seasonal menu.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Service · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 61. Valle
Modern Mexican
Chef Roberto Alcocer's modern Mexican kitchen overlooks Oceanside Pier, its tasting menu balancing whimsy—corn chowder ice cream, mushroom tetelas—with genuine flavor. A fireplace warms the dining room, while wines from Valle de Guadalupe anchor an ambitious list.
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Rank 62. DJK Korean BBQ
Korean
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Rank 63. Steamy Piggy
Contemporary Chinese
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Rank 66. Bump Coffee
South American
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Rank 67. Monstra Coffee
Filipino
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- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. West
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Bar Food · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 71. Cellar Hand
Californian
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Rank 74. Puesto
Mexico City-Style Mexican
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Bar · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Chips & Salsa in San Diego · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 75. Ichifuji
Sushi
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Rank 79. Amalfi Cucina Italiana
Coastal Italian
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Rank 80. Bump Coffee
South American
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Rank 81. George's at the Cove
Seafood
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Rank 82. Mal Al Sham
Syrian
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Rank 83. Tanner’s Prime Burgers
American
A fine dining chef trades tablecloths for a counter, grinding single-source USDA prime into burgers built on brioche and dressed with caramelized onions or bacon. Fries arrive twice-fried in beef tallow, crackling at the edges; a vanilla tallow ice cream sandwich or Dutch chocolate shake seals the indulgence. This is unpretentious cooking with serious technique.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in San Diego
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Pizza in San Diego · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 84. Marisi
Italian
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Rank 85. Marigold Bagels
NY-Style Bakery
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Rank 86. Catania
Modern Italian
High on La Jolla's Plaza Center, Catania commands coastline views from a sun-soaked terrace dressed in Mediterranean tile and color. The kitchen riffs on tradition: wood-fired Neapolitan pizza shares the menu with orecchiette tangled in duck ragù, while a daily salad might pair ahi tuna crudo with poppy seeds and basil. Modern enough to surprise, rooted enough to satisfy.
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Rank 87. Himitsu
Omakase Sushi
Eight counter seats at a intimate sushiya where chefs narrate each piece with evident pride in sourcing and technique. The serene dining room and gracious service make omakase here feel like a privileged conversation rather than a transaction.
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Rank 88. Bistro Du Marché
French
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Rank 89. Ciccia Osteria
Italian
In a repurposed Barrio Logan home, Chef Mario Cassineri's osteria arranges tables under trees while a deli counter rings the till, all warmth and modest ambition. The handmade pastas and complimentary focaccia hint at a kitchen that doesn't need much space to turn out something worth tasting.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- San Diego Magazine 2025 · Best Romantic Restaurant · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
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Rank 90. Bica
Portuguese Coffee
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Rank 91. Alforon
Middle Eastern
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Rank 92. Blind Lady Ale House
Beer Bar
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Rank 94. Herb & Sea
Seafood
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Rank 95. Bosforo
Modern Turkish
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Rank 96. Cucina Urbana
California Italian
A convivial California-Italian kitchen where brick oven pizzas arrive with unexpected flourishes—pepperoni studded with Calabrian chili and honey, fresh pastas wound with eggplant and ricotta salata. The room fills with locals on weekday afternoons, buoyed by seasonal raw preparations and a wine program priced at retail with corkage.
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Rank 98. Wormwood
French
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The Silver Fox Lounge is a subterranean dive in Pacific Beach where the day begins at dawn, the lighting stays dim, and nobody minds either. It's the kind of place where regulars have held the same stool for years, and that constancy is the whole point.
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Rank 100. Plumeria Vegetarian Restaurant
Thai Vegetarian