IMAGES: ALAMY; STACY KECK, SANDIEGO.ORG
Downtown
Bone broth, ‘radical’ pizza and all the fruit
and veg you could wish for, displayed in
the Californian sun. It’s Saturday morning
in Downtown, and it feels like half the city
has descended on the Little Italy Mercato
Farmers’ Market.
This, a few blocks north of the Gaslamp
Quarter, is the real San Diego. Italians irst
moved here to work in tuna ishing; today,
this low-rise area in the lee of Downtown’s
skyscrapers is one of the city’s loveliest areas.
And on Saturdays it’s even lovelier, when over
200 stalls cram into hilly Date Street.
Of course, this is Little Italy for a reason.
So while families cram into Salt & Straw for
ice cream made with farmers’ market produce
(think honey lavender, tomato, strawberry and
olive oil sorbets), I’m at Filippi’s Pizza Grotto,
a restaurant and deli with wine lasks slung
from the ceilings and bad art on the walls. At
the deli, I order a Sicilian cannolo, a pastry
shell illed with sweet ricotta.
South of the Gaslamp is Barrio Logan,
historically a Mexican area. Although its main
drag is now home to new galleries and bars,
it’s still possible to ind traditional joints on
Logan Avenue— if you know where to look.
At Mexican restaurant La Fachada, I join a
Spanish-speaking line ordering lunch at the
outdoor counter. Inside a beige-walled room
with formica tables, an elderly man drinks
a Corona beer as he watches wrestling on
TV. I’m brought sot tortillas heaped so high
there’s no way I’ll be able to close them. The
‘pescado’ is heavenly — a sot wedge of fried
ish, sprinkled with peppers, coriander and
hot sauce.
The next day, I brave the Gaslamp Quarter
— not for the infamous nightlife but to tackle
a lesser-known side of it. Brunch is peanut
butter and banana-stufed toast at Cafe 222
— a recipe that’s earned it an appearance
on the Food Network. Two blocks up is
Downtown’s oldest building, the Davis-Horton
House, a clapboard building that’s now a
museum. As I study the 19th-century antiques,
I learn about onetime owner, George Deyo,
who brewed moonshine during Prohibition.
Walking back through the Gaslamp — its
heritage buildings home to bar ater bar — I
realise the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Mexican handicafts shop
Artelexia, North Park; ice cream, Little Italy;
Chicano Park Day festival, Barrio LoganMarch 2020 57