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By Ron Donoho
Are you the judge-a-bar-by-its-faded-yellow-and-orange-cover sort? Yeah? Then you’ve probably never set foot inside this border-of-Hillcrest dive-bar staple. The windowless exterior of Nunu’s Cocktail Lounge & Restaurant exudes an abandoned Quickie Mart motif. The building seems to be leaning backward. It’s as if Nunu’s itself were personified: arched on a giant barstool, elbow leaning back on the bar, a Scotch-and-rocks in hand.The one constant inside this 42-year-old watering hole? You never know who—or what—you’ll be drinking with on any given night. Look! There’s a biker chick in Harley leather, chatting up a businessman whose idea of cutting loose is pulling his power tie askew. There’s a punk rocker next to them. He’s about 6-foot-4 and so skinny he has to weight his pockets when the Santa Anas blow. Punk boy is wearing a de rigueur ironic T-shirt—featuring Scooby-Doo and Shaggy—while nursing a bottle of Negro Modela. Two barstools down: a nurse, in her white uniform, sips a Margarita through a straw. Talk about mining the eclectic extremes. If the Village People were scattered in here, you’d never peg them for being a group.
All this, by the way, is a very good thing.
“Oh, yeah, this place exudes charm,” says Jeff Ladman, who’s bartended at Nunu’s for six years. “The reason so many different people come here is that we’re a place to drink and talk—nothing else. We don’t have bands. We don’t have games. We’re a friendly group here—a neighborhood bar where people can relax.”
It’s not exactly Spartan; there are two televisions and a jukebox. And there’s also grub available. Which brings us to chef Joe, who’s a bit of an acquired taste. His gruff exterior belies the old softie inside. No waitress works with chef Joe—you call out orders to him through a window to the kitchen. Don’t mess with Joe, and Joe won’t mess with you. He cooks, then trudges out to the bar area—usually clad in shorts and an apron that may have once been white—to hand-deliver your hamburger or chicken tenders.
If you get here early enough, you score a table on which to eat your bar vittles. The faux-wood tabletops slide in and out of the semicircular booths (a feature often discovered by accident). But the booths—those coveted, magnificent, Godfather-red booths —are the coolest part of the interior layout. Land one, and you can hold court into the shank of the night.
Do some regulars dislike their local bar being tagged a dive?
“Some do,” says Ladman. “But they don’t realize it’s a compliment.”
Nunu’s (Portuguese for Grandfather’s) returns the compliment by keeping its prices at a fraction of the cost of “hot spot” bars and clubs. Try to get a cosmopolitan martini in downtown San Diego for $3.50. That’s the going rate here. Mixed drinks with well liquor are $2.50. A bottle of domestic beer is just $2.25. Some clubs charge that for bottled water.
The price of bottled water in Nunu’s? Hah. As if.
(Nunu’s is at 3537 Fifth Avenue, 619-295-2878.)
More Great DIVES
Aero ClubCluttered with airplane paraphernalia, this midtown drinkery has been open since the 1940s. Pool tables are in the back. 3365 India Street, 619-297-7211.
The Coaster Saloon
Mission Beach locals enjoy the outdoor patio and the cheap drinks and eats. One of the better-known bars in a beach community that thrives on dives. 744 Ventura Place, 858-488-4438.
Kansas City Barbeque
Beer and wine only. You’ve never seen so many bras tacked to a wall—it must be the fact that Tom Cruise made the place famous by filming Top Gun scenes here. 610 West Market Street, 619-231-9680.
The Kraken
This Cardiff-by-the-Sea bar —named after a sea monster—serves affordable Italian food to any biker, nun or human life form that walks through the door. 2531 South Coast Highway, 760-436-6483.
Patrick’s II
One of few dives in the Gaslamp Quarter, Patrick’s offers dark mahogany woodwork and nightly music—but none of that techno nonsense. Jazz, blues and classic rock only. 428 F Street, 619-233-3077.
Princess Pub & Grille
The most hopping bar in Little Italy is a British joint. The food’s good, and you don’t just have to watch soccer matches on television—though they’re there if you want ’em. 1665 India Street, 619-702-3021.
Rocky’s Crown Pub
This laid-back wine-and-beer bar dutifully serves Pacific Beach. If you get hungry, some of the best bar burgers in town are just $5. 3786 Ingraham Street, 858-273-9140.
Tivoli
Serving beer, wine and hard liquor in San Diego’s oldest bar building. A favorite in the East Village, it’s frequented by Gaslamp bar workers after they finish their shifts. 505 Sixth Avenue, 619-232-6754.
Turf Supper Club
The piano-bar ambience adds to the party atmosphere at this Golden Hill hangout. If you’re hungry, buy a raw steak and cook it yourself on one of two indoor grills. 1116 25th Street, 619-234-6363.
The Waterfront
Holder of San Diego’s oldest liquor license, this place is a local legend. It’s such an institution that rather than raze the building for planned residential housing, the developer built around —and over—this icon. 2044 Kettner Boulevard, 619-232-9656.
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