anything chow-worthy in mira mesa?

[smile81]

We're thinking of moving from university heights closer to la jolla (for work). I need some proof of interesting restaurants/bars/grocery stores for my husband to even consider leaving our awesome food neighborhood-so give me your most convincing evidence for the west mira mesa area to be OK for foodies. I understand that we'll probably have to drive, instead of walk, to these places which is hopefully (?!?) the only downside.....

[daantaat]

Ended up at Sitar last night for dinner. Apparently they have a $9.99 ACYE buffet in addition to their usual menu. Buffet had dosas to order, dal, potato and cauliflower w/ cumin and cilantro, paneer "curry," chicken tikka masala, vege samosas, tandoori chicken, rice, naan and gulab jamun.

Dosa was a "mini" dosa, about a 1/3rd of the size you get at Surati Farsan Mart and Copper Chimney. The griddle needed to be heated longer as well b/c the crust wasn't as crunchy as I like it. Chicken tikka masala and paneer dishes were bland and felt watered down. Best dishes were the daal w/ greens (went back for 2nds), cauliflower and potato (well seasoned and spiced) and gulab jamun (light and nice balance of sweet and rosewater). Tandoori chicken wasn't bad except for being a tad on the dry side.

Not too bad if you don't want to schlep to Little India from the west side of Mira Mesa.

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Surati Farsan Mart
9494 Black Mountain Rd, San Diego, CA 92126

[epicureous eggplant]

Anyone try Fibonacci's?
The address is:
10300 Campus Point Dr
San Diego, CA 92121-1511
I believe is a short drive from Zanzibar.
The hours are from 8am-2pm
This place looks great for lunch, and also makes entrees to go - perfect for dinners.
http://waterscatering.com/

i'm craving vietnamese eggrolls, and may settle for Pho Station since it's close!

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Pho Station
9450 Scranton Rd Ste 114B, San Diego, CA 92121

[cgfan]

I've tried getting to Fibonacci's (only a finite number of times), but keep on going only half the remaining distance!

[RB Hound]

That's some golden humor there, cgfan.

Some day, I'll get over there. It's pretty close to my office as the crow flies, but it isn't really walkable on a limited lunch schedule, and often getting into the car is a barrier that is too difficult to overcome. Pricewise, this isn't that far off what I'd pay to eat on campus (UCSD).

[Cathy]

:D

[karaethon]

Went there for lunch this week.

They had sold out of most of the daily specials by the time I went there so I settled for the Waters Burger. It was pretty good, but I would have much preferred a burger from The Counter.

It's basically cafeteria style food so like the pulled pork sandwich just has pork already cooked and then they reheat it a little and bring it out to you. It feels kinda pricey for this type of food, but then they do use "better" ingredients and you can taste the difference.

[jmtreg]

West Mira Mesa is all residences and industrial parks. The only benefit is that you're close to La Jolla. If your husband wants to walk or have a short drive somewhere, you're S.O.L.

[Cathy]

If it's a short drive to work, not on any freeways, daily, then driving for a meal is worth it.

There are some great places in the area-and are in all parts of town; you just have to look. Steveuchan's reccommendations (and thread) are solid.

[stevuchan]

I was recently transplanted (1 year) to Mira Mesa and started a thread that might be useful.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6533...

The west side is mostly food court stuff, and one fine dining spot (Wine Seller and Brassiere). There are some good options in the food courts. Some of standouts are Opera, Pho Ho Cali, Knock Out Pizza, Sorrento Bakery, Habanero's Mexican, Sitar Indian not all mind blowing good, but good options. There have been a few new places opening up, a crepe joint, Indian place, sandwich spot, that I have not tried and the wine cellar has a kind of wine bar thing going on, we could really use a 3rd corner up here. Has anyone tried taste of Boston?

The Mira Mesa area is also becoming the epicenter for craft breweries in San Diego, we already have Ale Smith, Ballast Point (Scipps Ranch), and Green Flash is coming in the spring.

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Green Flash
701 Thomas Ave, San Diego, CA 92109

[The Office Goat]

Along the beer lines, while Callahan's food is nothing special (though I have an inexplicable weakness for their lamb stew), they are related to San Diego Brewing Co and do have decent beer, including rotating guest taps from other craft brewers. Their chilaquiles weren't bad, either.

If you go to Habaneros, get an order of the three al pastor tacos along with whatever else you were going to get.

If you go to Sorrento Bakery for banh mi, to my tastebuds the wife makes them slightly better than the husband. I'm not sure what she's doing differently, and I wouldn't walk out if the husband was making them, but there is a little difference. The classic style and the BBQ pork are my favorites.

On the far east end of MM, the afghan restaurant is pretty damn good, though I haven't been in a while.

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San Diego Brewing Co
10450 Friars Rd Ste L, San Diego, CA 92120

[cgfan]

Great call TOG on the Afghan restaurant! I had completely forgotten about it, but now want to make a return visit really soon!

[stevuchan]

Ariana Kebab House, i was just there over the weekend it is very good.. Solid choice for Mira Mesa.

[dmckean]

I'm a big fan of the lamb stew at Callahan's too.

[zare_k]

I got a roast pork banh mi at Sorrento Bakery for lunch today and it really was not that good. The meat was okay but there was absolutely no chewiness or crustiness to the baguette, and it could have used more pickled vegetables. I remember their banh mi being decent in the past so maybe I just caught them on a bad day?

[cgfan]

Well I don't think it's a total loss, but it certainly won't be an upgrade!

One really needs to handicap Mira Mesa a bit, especially on the west side, so let's think a bit broader geographically. Afterall no one walks on Mira Mesa Blvd!

On the west you have Zumbar Coffee (technically in Sorrento Valley), and you have Opera Cafe (in Sorrento Mesa). There also is the brick and mortar location for the web-based European food goods store, whose name I forget, that's periodically open to walk-ins.

Then you have a collection of Vietnamese restaurants, the better ones of which are (though somewhat apples and oranges, in decreasing order) Pho Cow Cali Express, Luong Hai Ky (VN-style Chinese), Tan Ky Mi Gia (VN-style Chinese), Sorrento European Bakery (for Banh Mi), Pho Lucky, Pho Bolsa (but great Pho Ga)...

Then there's also China Chef, which does a decent job at Szechuan.

You also have a collection of VN markets with their large fish selections, though perhaps lacking the intense turnover as, say, Ranch 99 in Kearny Mesa, but still absolutely amazing given the smaller population that it draws upon.

Not a fan of Filipino food, but there are many Filipino markets, bakeries and eateries in this area as well.

Then further south you'll run into San Diego's Little India section of town, as well as Chin's Szechuan for their weekend Shanghai brunch.

So basically one wouldn't be drawn to move to Mira Mesa for it's food, but nor should one be deterred by it; like most bedroom communities it just happens to be a bit limited. In any case from Mira Mesa Kearny Mesa and beyond is still within easy reach via the 805/5.

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Bolsa Restaurant
9225 Mira Mesa Blvd Ste 118, San Diego, CA 92126

China Chef
623 Pearl St, La Jolla, CA 92037

Luong Hai Ky Restaurant
4633 Convoy St Ste 107, San Diego, CA 92111

Tan Ky Mi Gia
9330 Mira Mesa Blvd Ste A, San Diego, CA 92126

[zare_k]

"There also is the brick and mortar location for the web-based European food goods store, whose name I forget, that's periodically open to walk-ins."

Are you thinking of Euro Food Depot on Lusk Blvd.? I think they are open regularly for walk-in customers on Fridays only.

[daantaat]

cgfan, you forgot Lucky Pho!

In the Staples food court, there's a pretty decent Afghan place. I forgot the name but it's in the same complex as Sitar.

[cgfan]

I did, but I kinda buried it towards the end of my list...

And yeah, the Afghan place is Ariana Kebab House as mentioned by The Office Goat below, with the name provided by stevuchan... Great place!

Guess it must be just one of those days! :-)

[zare_k]

The Afghan place in the Staples food court (on Scranton Rd.) is Kabul West. They have a pretty good lamb curry (made with bone-in lamb shank) that comes on special periodically

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Kabul West
9450 Scranton Rd Ste 114G, San Diego, CA 92121

[The Office Goat]

My only complaint about Kabul West is (at least the last time I checked) they have severely limited evening hours. For those of us who live near there, but work somewhere else, it's a little frustrating.

Edit:

See?

Monday - Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Friday - 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Saturday - 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Sunday - CLOSED

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Kabul West
9450 Scranton Rd Ste 114G, San Diego, CA 92121

[mliew]

It's going to be hard to find any evidence. West Mira Mesa is pretty much a culinary wasteland. There's very few places to eat at period let alone good ones. Maybe you could consider Karl Strauss chow worthy but that's about it. The most interesting places are more east near the 15 and there are plenty of threads on here about those already.

[smile81]

ugh! hopefully he won't look at this thread-"wasteland"? thats not a good start!

[RB Hound]

I heard that they might be putting something like Cheesecake Factory in Del Mar, because there just aren't enough chain restaurants around there.

OK: semi-serious answer - southeast Mira Mesa (Black Mountain at Miramar) is known by some as "Little India", so if you like Indian cuisine you will probably be happy. A bit of a hike from northwest Mira Mesa, but not so bad of a drive by San Diego standards. I've seen some of the Pho places get talked up on the board in the past. Other than that, you probably are driving to La Jolla.