Great Food and Beer is Brewing in Bay Park
Plus: Community Town Hall Tonight, Lunar Year is Celebrated in LV, Take a Historical Walk in LV, LV News Briefs, and SD Humane Society Needs Volunteers
Seems like we’ve been reviewing more brew houses lately. And why not? After all, San Diego County enjoys a world-wide reputation for craft breweries (with over 200 brewery-owned venues), and a fair share of them are in and around the Linda Vista area. Besides, brewery tasting room are fun places, and the food is usually good, specially curated to go with different beers.
With that sentiment in mind, we tried out our latest local eating venue this past week, visiting the Coronado Brewing Company’s Tasting Room, located in the Morena District. Although many call the area Bay Park, we refer to the area as Linda Vista west. The Coronado Brewing Company also has locations in Imperial Beach and, of course, Coronado.
The menus at each location are slightly different, but our location has a nice selection of pub favorites such as brew pub pretzels, street tacos and other appetizers, salads and wraps such as Thai peanut wrap, turkey club wraps, and lots of pizzas such as California style, Mediterranean, chicken pesto, roasted veggie, BBQ chicken, and pepperoni. They also has a kid’s menu. Most everything looks like it tends toward the healthy side, and there is no problem ordering something without meat. For the complete menu, check here. Needless to say, they have quite a selection of beer and other beverages. They also have a selection of very cute merch.
The Coronado Brewing Company opened its first brewpub in Coronado back in 1996. They were well ahead of the “craft beer curve,” according to their website. They have been at the Moreno location about 10 years. Coronado Brewery has won many awards over the years for their beers and you can read about these different forms of recognition on their informative and interesting website.
During our visit, I ordered the artichoke dip which included a blend of cheeses and artichoke hearts and fresh spinach. There was quite a lot and it was served piping hot with pita bread and tortilla chips. It came at a reasonable price of $10.00. It was so good, and there was so much the three of us ended up sharing it. The Carnivore Sidekick gladly finished it off. Both he and Steve really liked it, and it should be noted neither of them chose to reciprocate and offer me any of what they eventually ordered. To summarize, I enjoyed this dip. It had a little kick and felt good on a cool night.
Steve ordered the Baja Caesar Wrap with Shrimp. It included avocado, pico de gallo, tortilla strips, parmesan, romaine in a sun dried tomato wrap, and Caesar dressing and came with a substantial salad, all for $16.00. It was a very large wrap and cut in two. You can see from the picture that it was chock full of veggies and large shrimp. Steve really liked it, and said it tasted like he was eating something healthy (which he hoped compensated for the beer). Very light and fresh tasting.
Our Carnivore Sidekick ordered a Thai Peanut Wrap with Chicken, priced at $16.00. He is always sure to order meat so that neither Steve or I will get a taste of his food. It included chicken with cashews, cucumber, cabbage, mixed greens, pickled red onions and peppers, in a sun-dried tomato wrap with Thai Peanut Dressing. It also came with a nice side salad. He enjoyed it very much. He loves Thai food so the peanut dressing was just right. Again, it was a large serving and he actually had half of it left to take home.
Of course, we also ordered beer. We took advantage of the location (a brewery tasting room) and ordered a variety of beers (some in small sampler glasses), including lagers, a couple IPA’s, and a stout. Needless to say, they had quite a selection of beers to choose from. All of it was, to quote one of our group members, “Awesome”. The atmosphere in the tasting room is very bright and cheerful, while maintaining a definite brewery feel. You can see the big brewing tanks from your tables.
If you are eager to try out some of the best beer San Diego has to offer, and if you are hungry, I highly recommend you pay a visit to this conveniently located tasting room and try some good brew and grub. I look forward to going back again. Next time I will get the giant beer pretzel or maybe try a white pizza.
The hours for the Coronado Brewing Co tasting room are 11 am to 9 pm daily.
Coronado Brewing Co Tasting Room
1205 Knoxville Street
San Diego, CA 92110
LV and MV Community Town Hall Tonight
Councilmember Raul Campillo (District 7) will host a Community Town Hall for Linda Vista and Mission Valley residents tonight Thursday February 2. The Town Hall will be held from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the University of San Diego's Mother Rosalie Hill Hall (5998 Alcala Park, San Diego). There is a USD campus parking garage conveniently located across the street to the Hall.
Don’t miss this opportunity to communicate your concerns to the Councilmember, and review what he has accomplished during the past year.
LV Celebrates Lunar New Year
Linda Vista residents were out in force this past Thursday to celebrate the Lunar New Year. On January 26, the Bayside Community Center sponsored the Lunar New Year celebration in conjunction with the Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market.
The celebration, held at the Linda Vista Plaza Shopping Center, included a combination of dancers and musicians, along with a martial arts demonstration. Performers included Sharon Choi (singer soloist), the Southern Sea Lion and Dragon Dancers, various performers from the Van Lang Center, and performers from Naruwan Taiko. Lunar New Year red gift bags (containing lucky two dollar bills) were also handed out to lucky audience members. Though the weather made for a rather brisk late afternoon and early evening, a good crowd made up of enthusiastic local residents of all ages, was in attendance to observe and participate in the celebration.
The board president of the non-profit Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market, Jonathan Widener, commented, “The celebration added such a festive atmosphere to the Farmers Market. Our customers enjoyed taking in the music and performances in-between shopping from our numerous vendors. Celebrating the Lunar New Year was so much in keeping with the extraordinary diversity of our Linda Vista community.”
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The Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market is held every Thursday from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm.
Take a Historical Walk Through Linda Vista
Sure, there are plenty of Linda Vista Update readers who grew up here in the community—proud alumni of Montgomery Middle and Kearny High School. They know all the little details of Linda Vista’s history—these details handed down from their parents and grandparents who also grew up here. If prodded, they will gladly regale you with stories of the olden days. However, many of our readers are new to the area and while raising families and busily working, they haven’t had the opportunity to learn about Linda Vista’s interesting past.
For example, some of these newer residents may not know anything about Linda Vista being the site of one of the original shopping malls in the country. They may not realize that during World War II, in the space of just “259 days, 3,000 homes and 750 dormitory units were built in Linda Vista, the largest public housing project in the U.S. for a brief time.” They may not know the interesting fact that the school rooms located at the back of the Linda Vista United Methodist Church property (at 6869 Tait Street) were “relocated from a WWII Japanese-American internment camp in Arizona, either Poston or Gila River (both 1942-45).” And they may never have heard that the building currently housing Skateworld was actually Linda Vista’s “first recreational and civic facility,” built in 1943.
But fret not, new residents of Linda Vista (and even long-time Linda Vista residents), because if you pay a visit to the Linda Vista Historical Walking Tour website, you will get an excellent primer in the history of this area. By taking the virtual version tour, you will learn a number of interesting facts and figures and gain a finer historical appreciation for the Linda Vista community. And if you are particularly ambitious, you will probably be motivated to put on your favorite walking shoes and take the physical version of the tour to see first hand all the historically significant structures that comprise historical Linda Vista.
The Linda Vista Historical Walking Tour is made up of 14 different locations. The website provides interesting tidbits of information on each of these site. You can read the text, or if you are actually walking the tour, you can use your phone/website to listen to the audio version of the information. If you are interested in walking the tour, it is about about a mile in length from location # 1 all the way to location # 14, which is a very accessible length for most people.
The Linda Vista Historical Walking Tour was put together back in 2017—a joint effort between the Linda Vista Library and the Linda Vista Town Council (formerly the Linda Vista Civic Association).
So, whether you are a Linda Vista newbie, or a third generation Linda Vistanista, I recommend taking the tour (virtually or physically) and learning a little about our community. After taking the tour, you will surely be able to dazzle friends and family members with your newly acquired knowledge of Linda Vista historical information, and if anyone ever designs a Linda Vista Historical Trivia board game, you will definitely dominate the competition.
LV News Briefs:
—Francis Parker Student in News: Arden Pala, a 13 year old student at Francis Parker School was featured in yesterday’s issue of the San Diego Union Tribune. The article discussed what Arden has accomplished with his non-profit organization Sports4Kids. The LV Update is proud to report this newsletter ”scooped” the Union Tribune by publishing an article about Arden back in October of last year.
—New Green Bin (Organic Waste) Presentation: The City of San Diego is providing a series of free informational presentations* for City-serviced residents on the new green bin and collection schedule. These presentations are offered as virtual Zoom webinars or in-person workshops at select locations. One of these presentations will be conducted on Saturday February 4 from 11 am to noon at the Linda Vista Recreation Center (7064 Levant Street, San Diego CA 92111). The presentation will cover:
What goes in the new green bin.
Importance of recycling your organic waste.
Green bin cleaning and storage tips.
Q&A session with City staff.
You can register for this presentation by signing up here. Please read the details listed on the flyer below.
—Community Clean-up: Bayside Community Center is conducting its monthly community clean-up on Sunday February 5 at 10:00 am. Volunteers will meet in the Linda Vista Library parking lot. Bags, gloves and trash pick-up tools will be provided by Bayside.
Volunteers Needed at SD Humane Society
Editor’s note: As many of you know from the occasional photos of foster kittens posted in past LV Update issues, we have served for several years as kitten fosters for SD Humane Society. We think it’s an extremely fun and rewarding volunteer job. Just a couple weeks ago, we learned that one of our faithful newsletter readers—Christina J., , who happened to adopt two of our foster kittens a couple years ago—recently began training to be a volunteer for the SD Humane Society facility, over at 5480 Gaines Street. That reminded us we had heard there was an exceptional need for volunteers at this time, so we asked our contact at SD Humane Society about specific volunteer needs, in hopes of inspiring some of our readers to become volunteers. Here is what SD Humane Society had to say to our readers.
San Diego Humane Society (SDHS) is facing challenges in housing animals who need help and is turning to the community to assist in creating much-needed space in their shelters, especially with dogs. We currently have 937 animals in care. 728 (78%) are at a campus, 209 (22%) are in foster care. 457 animals are available for adoption, including 205 dogs who are available for adoption. With 350 dog kennels, we are at 105% capacity, meaning there are more dogs than kennels. That also means we have to get creative and place temporary kennels in spaces like classrooms and conference rooms for the dogs we cannot find foster homes for.
“For every dog we adopted out in 2022, we took in two more who needed our help,” said Dr. Gary Weitzman, president and CEO of San Diego Humane Society. “Now, with our shelters full we are calling on our community to help us create additional space to house animals in need.”
A temporary commitment to foster can have a lifelong impact for a deserving shelter pet. While in a foster home, we learn much more about each animal as an individual than at the shelter. We learn what a pet likes, how they are in a home setting with other people, pets and the environment. We also learn more about their activity level, how they settle and what excites them. That information is incredibly helpful in finding the pet a perfect match with a new family.
By fostering, you’ll help set that animal up for a successful new start in life, while also making space in the shelter for more animals in need of care. “Fostering offers the one-on-one attention and loving comfort that only a home setting can provide,” said Director of Nursery and Placement Jackie Noble. “Additional foster volunteers will allow us to create space for the animals who continue to enter our care every day, especially right now when our shelters are full.”
San Diego Humane Society will never turn an animal in need away. While we are asking our community for help, we are here for animals who need help and we will find a way.
If you’d like to foster an animal with San Diego Humane Society, the first step is to fill out an application at sdhumane.org/foster. You choose which type of foster assignment based on your interests, experience and home environment. We provide training and supplies for each type of assignment, you provide the loving home! There are 9 types of foster assignments to choose from: Dogs, Puppies, Cats, Kittens, Small Pets, Medical, Behavior, Safety Net, Adoption Ambassador.
More about Safety Net: Aimed at keeping pet owners who run into temporary hardships from being forced to relinquish their animals. By offering a foster solution, the pet never has to enter the shelter system and can return to their family where they belong after a temporary stay with a foster volunteer.
More about Adoption Ambassador: Adoption Ambassadors are committed to helping find their foster a pet a home on their own. Foster volunteers provide animals with the normal enrichment, socialization and care, and once they’ve found their new families, the adoptions are completed straight from the foster home — eliminating the need for the animal to return to the shelter.
To see pets available to be fostered and learn how to apply, please visit sdhumane.org/fosterpets<https://www.sdhumane.org/adopt/foster-portal/>.
Applications are reviewed within 72 hours. You are then contacted by our Foster team, and guided through online training tailored to the type of foster assignment you chose.
There is no “ideal” foster family per se. What is important is that you have time to care for the animal, the ability to bring him or her for their medical appointments at San Diego Humane Society, and most importantly, that you show the animal the love and affection they deserve while waiting for a permanent home.
Fostering assignments are highly individual, depending on the foster family and the animal. Some foster volunteers take multiple kittens, others take puppies, a mom with puppies about to give birth or a mom who has given birth.
In very general terms, here is a guide to possible length of foster, depending on the status of the animal:
Available For Adoption – this animal is ready spayed/neutered and ready to be adopted. They can spend time in a foster home while they wait to find their adoptive family. Assignments are 2 weeks – several months, but may be shorter if the animal finds an adopter.
Hold Intervention – this animal is not ready to be adopted yet. The status is used for underage animals or mothers with nursing litters. Assignments can range from 2-8 weeks in duration.
Hold Quarantine – this animal is being monitored for contagious disease. The animal may have an active infection or may be quarantined as a precaution if exposed to an infectious animal. Assignments can range from 2-8 weeks in duration.
Under Behavior Modification – this animal is working with the Behavior team on a training plan. They are making progress and moving into a foster home is the next step in their plan. Fosters work alongside the trainer to set the animal up for success. Prior foster experience is required for these assignments. Assignments can range from 2-8 weeks.
Hold In/Under Vet Care – this animal is under care by our Veterinary team. They are making health improvements and moving into a foster home is the next step in their recovery. Fosters work alongside medical to make sure the animal is comfortable during recovery. Assignments can range from 2-8 weeks.
Stray Hold – this animal was recently found and is serving a legal hold period to allow time for the owner to find them. The foster must immediately return the animal from foster if the owner comes forward.
San Diego Humane Society’s scope of social responsibility goes beyond adopting animals. We offer programs that strengthen the human-animal bond, prevent cruelty and neglect, provide medical care, educate the community and serve as a safety net for all pet families.
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We hope some of our LV Update readers can respond to this call for volunteers.
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