Filiberto's--Give it a Try
Plus: SD Loyal Soccer's Upcoming Season, Take the Environmental Justice Survey, and don't forget Upcoming Community Events
The other night while watching Jeopardy, a USAA commercial came on and something about it caught my eye. For those who don’t know, USAA is a company that caters to the military with insurance, banking and other products. Being former military, we, of course, are loyal USAA customers. The commercial was touting some of the great features of San Diego (big military town, right?) and showing various San Diego landmarks. The thing that caught my ear and eye was the narrator saying in conjunction with scenes of driving through San Diego streets that it’s “worth braving the traffic for Filiberto’s.” Having lived in Linda Vista for over 20 years, I vaguely remembered seeing a building that looked like the one on the TV at the corner of Linda Vista Road and Ulric Road. Although I have passed that corner about a zillion times, I never once thought of stopping there. I guess in the back of my mind, I remembered it being a Del Taco—just another fast food restaurant—and never gave a second thought. But the image haunted me that the yellow and green looked like the one in the commercial. “Yes,” my hubby said. “That is a Filiberto’s. Many years ago it was a Del Taco.” Hmm, I thought. Since it was good enough for USAA to mention it in a commercial, I decided it needed further investigation.
While conducting a Google search, I discovered that Filiberto’s opened its first place in San Diego in 1986. In addition to the restaurants in San Diego, they are a big presence in Arizona and especially the Phoenix area. I also read that every Filiberto’s cooks everything from scratch daily. A look at their menu told me they had things that pescatarians like us could eat, so we decided to give it a try. We also would order a meat product for our young carnivore sidekick to critique.
We drove up to the drive-through and proceeded to order shrimp tacos, fish tacos, and a Texas burrito which was listed on the online menu. In the process, we found that not all Filibertos’ have everything that is listed on-line, and that a Texas burrito was probably an Arizona-only item, so we ordered a different beef burrito with peppers and onions, pico, sour cream, guacamole and salsa. There is a large menu that you can clearly see prices, and a banner by the window advertising the specials. The staff was very helpful and even came outside to help me with replicating the ingredients of the Texas burrito which our sidekick wanted. Masks are of course worn by the staff.
We asked what the most popular breakfast items might be, and we were told the bacon, egg, cheese burrito and the ham, egg, cheese burrito are what morning time customers often want.
For dinner, people seem to prefer the carne asada fries, the carne asada plate, the California burrito, which includes carne asada fries, cheese, and pico, as well as the Mexican City tacos (street tacos). Cheese quesadillas and chile rellenos are popular side orders.
The menu prices range from less than $2 to more than $9 and the portions are large.
Filiberto’s hours are 8AM to 9:30PM and they have a large breakfast menu, as well as lunch and dinner.
The fish taco was very good with two corn tortillas, crispy fried fish, and fresh veggies. The sauce was mild, to my liking, and was a good amount for lunch. The shrimp taco consisted of grilled shrimp, veggies in the same two corn tortillas. Also, deemed very good for a not-too-heavy lunch.
Our carnivore was complimentary about his burrito, but not overly so. He said it was tasty and very large for lunch, but was not as spicy as he prefers his Mexican food. He liked that it had a variety of fillings that gave it layers of flavor. He resolved the lack of spice with the addition of some of the salsas that are included in the meal. Unlike us, he had eaten at Filiberto’s before.
When you get hungry, don’t be like me and keep passing Filiberto’s by because you think of it as just another fast food restaurant. As of now, it is take-out only, but hopefully will soon open its dining room. Give it a try the next time you have an urge for Mexican food made fresh daily. I think you will enjoy it.
Filiberto’s Mexican Food
2399 Ulric Street
San Diego, CA 92111
858) 614-0278
8AM to 9:30PM
Get Ready for SD Loyal SC Season
With its club headquarters in Mission Valley, and with the University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium serving as its home field site, the San Diego Loyal Soccer Club has quickly established strong roots in our local community. Last year, the new team was quick to foster a “loyal” fan following—the SD Loyal emblem was often seen being worn around town on hats, shirts and scarves.
If you are a fan of SD Loyal SC, or at least plan to attend their home matches in Linda Vista this season, you still have 65 days left to purchase your newest official Loyal gear. And the good news is that you don’t have to travel far to make that purchase. The SD Loyal “Shop” is located at 655 Camino De la Reina in Mission Valley, right next door to the Shake Shack. The Shop has all the official gear necessary to identify yourself as a fervent Loyal fan. And with the country appearing to turn the corner in regard to the pandemic, it looks like SD Loyal fans will soon be able to finally attend matches and wear the official attire as they sit in the stands to cheer at Torero Stadium.
San Diego’s representative in the United Soccer League is about to start its second season after having completed a pandemic-impacted inaugural season in 2020. The team just announced its 2021 season opener for April 30, to be played against the Phoenix Rising FC, followed by a match against the Tacoma Defiance on May 13. Most importantly for local fans, the team has also announced its first home match for May 29 against the Las Vegas Lights FC.
The 2020 season ended up with fans unable to attend games, however, according to the team’s web site “SD Loyal is expecting to host fans at a 20 percent capacity at Torero Stadium, per state and local health guidelines.” Season Ticket Memberships are now on sale for six payments of $16.50 through March 31, 2021. There are full, half and quarter season membership options. Seats can be purchased by calling (858) 465-GOAL or at sdloyal.com/tickets. Season ticket members will receive priority to attend matches. The full schedule for the 2021 season will be announced soon. In the meantime, fans have the opportunity to acquire proper attire for all games by paying a visit to the Shop.
Hours for The Shop are as follows:
Monday-Wednesday: Closed
Thursday and Friday: 2PM – 7PM
Saturday and Sunday: 12PM –5PM
655 Camino De La Reina, San Diego, CA 92108
Phone number: 858-682-3999
Take the Environmental Justice Survey
Ed. note: A version of this article originally appeared in a February post of the Linda Vista Update. The article has been updated to reflect the extension of the survey’s original February deadline to the end of April.
Linda Vista residents currently have an opportunity to let City leaders know about their environmental concerns. The city of San Diego is asking San Diegans to participate in an Environmental Justice online survey; the results of the survey will be used to update the policies in the City’s General Plan through the development of an Environmental Justice Element, or chapter. As indicated in the city web site, the updating of “policies and guidelines in the General Plan to work toward Environmental Justice is an important step to achieving equity and supporting all San Diegans to reach their full potential.”
The survey can be found by clicking here. It is easy to complete and doesn’t take more than a few minutes. The survey has been available since November and will be active through the end of April.
For information, the city defines “environmental justice” as ensuring “that people of all races, cultures, and incomes are equally and equitably valued, protected, and served by laws, regulations, and policies that impact the environment around us, including those about buildings and uses of land, transportation, parks and natural spaces, the urban landscape, and city services.” This can include such things as “exposure to air pollution from automobiles and pollution from industrial businesses and activities” and “access to resources for good health, including healthy food and grocery stores, safe spaces for physical activity, health care, and paramedic services.”
According to Tara Lewis (Public Information Officer for the City of San Diego), “In the last few years, the City has updated other Elements of its General Plan, and now the City needs to update its Environmental Justice policies. This is especially apparent as COVID-19 has highlighted the ways limited income and health conditions related to pollution and limited access to essentials for healthy living lead to disproportionate health vulnerability for Hispanic/Latino, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and Black residents.”
When asked why it’s important for Linda Vista residents to participate in the survey, Lewis responded that the survey is “a great opportunity to tell the City about your priorities and experiences with Environmental Justice issues in your community. We need your input in order to fully understand your community’s needs.”
Remember, San Diegans have till the end of April to take the survey.
Upcoming LV Community Events
— Linda Vista Kingdom Hall Virtual Event
The Linda Vista Kingdom Hall, located at 6504 Linda Vista Road, would like Linda Vista residents to know of an annual religious event being conducted online this year (due to COVID restrictions).
The virtual event will be held this Saturday March 27 at 7PM. Details regarding the event can be found here: https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/memorial/
Those who wish to attend this virtual event can obtain the Zoom/phone codes for English or Spanish by following the recorded directions on the Kingdom Hall phone at 858-560-9464.
***
— Meet Your Mayor Event for District 7
On Saturday April 17 at 11AM, Councilmember Raul Campillo will co-host a Meet Your Mayor event with San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria. During this event, residents of the district will get a chance to meet Mayor Gloria and Councilmember Campillo and ask both of them questions regarding such issues as homelessness, affordable housing, and infrastructure.
Residents can register for the event by going to this site: https://sandiego.seamlessdocs.com/f/mayorcd7townhall
Registering for the event will allow you to pre-submit questions for the event.
***
— Linda Vista Scavenger Hunt
The 2021 Linda Vista Scavenger Hunt will be held on April 24, 2021. The Scavenger Hunt will be held in lieu of the annual Linda Vista Multi-Cultural Fair and Parade.
Details regarding the Scavenger Hunt can be found here: http://www.lindavistafair.org
As mentioned on the site, “attendees will participate in a scavenger hunt on April 24, 2021 with drive-thru curbside pickup of goodie bags and resources from key Linda Vista hubs. Masks and social distancing will be required when interacting with guests.”
Vendors/Hubs interested in participating can fill out the interest form found on this site: https://airtable.com/shrOmdwY59NstJchc
***
Linda Vista Update readers…if you wish to let fellow readers know about upcoming LV community events, please submit the information to srodriguez2@san.rr.com. We will do our best to post the information in the next edition of the newsletter.
Subscribe to the Linda Vista Update
If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to the Linda Vista Update. Just click on the “Subscribe now” button. Once you subscribe, you will be on automatic distribution for all future posts. Join our our growing readership!
The Linda Vista Update aims to publish informative, interesting and fun news about the Linda Vista community and its adjacent neighborhoods.