Why do bars have parking lots?

It’s a fair question. Drinking and driving is both dangerous and illegal. Yet in San Diego, most people drive to and from their favorite bar.

The truth is, bars will have parking lots as long as their customers have no viable transportation alternative. That’s starting to change in North Park, however, with the newly-initiated Park-2-Park Shuttle Service.

Begun last week, the service runs Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights starting at 6 PM. It carries foodies and bar patrons to one of 9 stops on a loop that covers 30th Street from Beech to El Cajon Boulevard, then parts of Park Boulevard and Adams Avenue. The cost is $5 for an all-night pass, which is a hard-to-lose wristband. Service continues until midnight on Thursday, and 2 AM Friday and Saturday. Venues on the route include Ritual Tavern, Blind Lady Ale House, Sea Rocket Bistro, Red Fox Room, Live Wire, Lancers, Air Conditioned Lounge, Jayne’s Gastropub, Small Bar, Lei Lounge, and True North.

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People who enjoy beer and happen to live in San Diego have been getting a treat this week. It’s been “Storm Week” here – meaning the influence of Stone Brewing Co can be felt far and wide.

Churchills, an english pub in San Marcos recently opened up their new renovated bar area – which has 50 tap handles. FIFTY! They have a LOT of really good beer on tap. I’d been threatening Ivan, the owner, that I would be coming in with my camera to take a bunch of beer-porn shots of his new setup – and I finally delivered.

Follow @churchills on twitter for awesome updates, and if you’re bored – check out the rest of my pictures from churchills!

You’re probably familiar with other bars and restaurants run by Sam Chammas: Live Wire, Whistle Stop, the Turf Club (where “grill your own steak” was invented), and Riviera Supper Club (where it was perfected). So expectations for his latest venture, the long-awaited Station Tavern & Burgers, have  been high. We got a preview recently during the Station’s two-week soft opening, and it did not disappoint.

The Station really does resemble a train station – the back wall opens up to a long, diagonal outdoor space strewn with picnic tables and colored lights overhead that look like signal lamps. The place is exceptionally kid-friendly – the outside portion has soft, playground-grade pebbles underfoot and a wooden “trolley car” to play on. The vibe is reclaimed vintage, with rich panels of horizontal finished wood and what looks like a salvaged hand-painted cigar billboard serving as a back door. Menu graphics feature an old trolley map of South Park.

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Why didn't I just order pho like these guys?

Who’da thunk it? Jellyfish, the stinging, unlovely, gelatinous, pint-sized boogeyman of the sea, is something you can order in a restaurant. Furthermore, some people do. Wierdos like me, for instance.

Let me explain.

While surveying the very long menu at Kearny Mesa Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant Phuong Trang recently, I was stunned to see the following:

Dear readers, I’m here to say I ate this and lived.

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVL1CK0LzAI[/youtube]

Cheeburger Cheeburger is a new hamburger joint in Carmel Mountain Ranch that allows you to customize your drinks as well as your burgers. My meal today was an orange/cherry soda and a 1/2lb burger with portabello mushroom, bleu cheese, and garlic.

Dante decided he wanted to tackle the 1lb burger. Our meals were very tasty! If you find yourself near this place – hop in and have some noms. They’re styled up like a 50s diner and they have shakes and other sweets as well!

The rumors (I started on Twitter) are true!  Sonic is really coming to Santee. (And San Diego, for that matter.)

For those who have not driven by, here is Sonic, on the corner of Magnolia and Mission Gorge:

Sonic: Still under construction

The word on the street is that the first opening event will take place this Saturday, April 4, as Santee Mayor Randy Vopel perform the traditional ribbon cutting at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The store will open to the public on Monday, April 6.

There’s already talk of a Tweetmob at Sonic shortly after opening.  Who’s in? ;)

*** Updated Tweetmob will be Tuesday at noon!  Hope to see you all there!***

The time again has come to gather with fellow San Diego beer snobs, patrons, geeks and twitterers.

San Diego’s 4th @drinkup is tomorrow at Rock Bottom Brewery in La Jolla at 7:30pm.

The time has come to come and enjoy a beer with friends! RSVP HERE

Tomorrow’s event will be captured by photograph and video, then shared with gusto on the internets via sites like vimeo, youtube, flickr and more.

Rock Bottom is also a full restaurant and bar – so if beer isn’t your thing there are many other options available.

It’s Spring Break in Canada, and I’m happy to be hosting visitors to San Diego this weekend. To keep it fun, I’ve got a five sure-fire tips to pass along.

We took our guests to Torrey Pines State Park on Friday afternoon and cruised down to Flat Rock, watched dolphins play in the surf, and enjoyed the bluffs, caves and tidepools. Our friends loved Torrey Pines and said it was more fun than the outrageously expensive and crowded Disneyland experience they’d had the previous day. (more…)

Sound like the punchline to a tasteless joke? It’s not. Let me explain:

The Blind Lady Ale House, a recently-established purveyor of craft pizza and beer on Adams Avenue, just got in a shipment of beautiful, new, perfect-for-beer-snobs-ahem-I-mean-connoisseurs beer glasses. Hooray! However, they’ve been open for about a month, using their second choice in glassware. That means they now have about double the glasses they’d need day-to-day in their fine establishment.

So tonight they’re having “Not Quite a Pint Night,” in which they solve their storage problem by giving you one of their old glasses to take home when you order a beer. Heck, ask for a complete set. They must have dozens just waiting for a good home.

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Veg-n-Out is my new favorite, a comfort food café in North Park that caters to vegetarians. The menu consists of dozens of delicious home-made burgers with names like the Tree Hugger, the Elvis, and the Big Kahuna. (You can view the menu here.) It’s not fast food, but worth the wait. Open seven days a week, they also cater.