Lucha Libre Taco Shop
The Mains
Lucha Libre Taco Shop Opens New Location In Pacific Beach
Lucha Libre has always been as much a show as it is a taco shop. Pepto Bismo–pink walls, gold vinyl booths for their “champs,” Mexican wrestling paraphernalia hung in a stalker-amount of surplus. It is, in some ways, a Mexican cultural museum, an ode to the pageantry of the ring and the masked superheroes who prowl it—with tacos, burritos, and mom’s recipe for salsas and a killer not-low-fat cilantro crema.
Now the three owners—brothers José Luis, Maurillo, and Diego Rojano-Garcia—are really starting to expand, and the world is better off for their obsession. Welcome to Pacific Beach, taco wrestlers. Their tiny, 450-square-foot coastal digs officially open this week. It’s their fourth San Diego location (technically—their space in Carlsbad opened and closed during the pandemic).
“At our Mission Hills location, we [are] considered the place to go get burritos after a night on the town,” José Luis says. “PB [is] a good fit for us because there’s a ton of bars.”
Bars and burritos, the Simon & Garfunkel of San Diego’s food scene. As at their North Park and Mission Hills locations, the brothers will serve up Zonkey’s ice cream paletas with flavors like Miami Vice (strawberry and coconut) or Sweet Lover Vibe (pineapple, lychee elderflower). They’re also bringing back their original TJ-style street dog. It was the OG menu item when they launched back in 2008. Lucha Libre PB opens Friday.
Oceanside Gets a Zero-Waste Grocery Store This Summer
When we choose a major in college, the odds of us actually working in that field are about 50 percent. (Far less than that if your major was, say, poetry.) But Kathrine Hayden is defying stats. After graduating from Kent State with a business degree in 2019 and moving to San Marcos, she spotted a zero-waste grocery store on social media. She saw a personal want and a market need. When she couldn’t find any sustainably minded supermarkets in her new neighborhood, she decided to create one herself.
This summer, her Sunshine Market and Refillery (3529 Cannon Road in Oceanside) is scheduled to open and join a slowly but surely growing trend of zero-waste grocery outposts (The Mighty Bin opened in North Park last year). The 1,2000-square-foot store will have everything from dried goods to shampoo in bulk bins. You’ll fill up your own reusable jars—or buy one on site—and bring that receptacle back when you need a refill. She’ll have a ground-to-order peanut butter machine, plus granola, cereal, pasta, coffee, ice cream, and other grocery staples. Kathrine will also bring in produce from local farmers.
“I don’t want just the sustainable Californians to feel like they have a home—I want everyone to feel like they have a home in our store,” she says. “Because even if you aren’t the most sustainable person or you aren’t doing a zero-waste lifestyle, if you come in and buy one product here, that’s one [piece of] single-use plastic that you’re not purchasing [and then sending] to the landfill.”
Quick Bites
Little Thief Wine Bar & Kitchen will get a new restaurant-in-residence in August when Elliott and Kelly Townsend of Long Story Short join the North Park wine bar after a nearly two-year gig as the chefs at Vino Carta in Solana Beach. Michelin-awarded chef Drew Bent’s Papalito will move out on May 21 (Bent moved his operation, now called Papalo, to the ModBom x Papalo Kitchen in East Village).
The Puffer Malarkey Collective (Animae, Herb & Wood, et al.) are rallying some pretty damn talented chef friends to drum up awareness for Tuna Harbor Dockside Market (the esteemable seafood market where local boats sell their catch every Saturday… seriously, just go) and raise money for Feeding San Diego. On June 1, they’re throwing “Dockside Night Market,” a seafood dinner party on the pier with bites from Carlos Anthony (Herb & Wood), Tara Monsod (Animae), Carmine Lopez (Wolf in the Woods), Chelsea Coleman (Mabel’s Gone Fishing), Davin Waite (Wrench & Rodent), Roberto Alcocer (Valle), and others. There will be a cash bar and DJ from 6 to 10 p.m. Entry is $100 and benefits Feeding SD.
Techo Beso, the new rooftop bar at the AC Hotel in the Gaslamp, opened last week with a Tulum, Mexico–inspired vibe created by the designer John M. Sofio.
Have breaking-news, exciting scoops, or great stories about San Diego’s food scene? Send your pitches to [email protected].
