Novo Brazilian Brewpub Opens in Mission Valley
Plus: LV Town Hall Announcement, LV News Briefs, Farmers Market Program at Risk, Lunar New Year Celebration, and Book Reviews
We recently discovered that Novo Brazilian Brewery has opened a new location in Mission Valley. They have four other locations—all in the South Bay. This is their first location in San Diego and it will be their flagship establishment working in a relationship with Snapdragon Stadium. I also read they will be in the new Terminal 1 at the airport when it reopens. We had recently received a Novo Gift card, but didn’t want to drive to Chula Vista for a beer, so we were delighted to hear of the new location near us. Accordingly, in need of a review for this issue, we grabbed the Carnivore Sidekick and made our way to the Mission Valley Mall. Novo Brazil occupies the space which was formerly the Tilted Kilt. It was lunchtime, and nearby mall parking was plentiful.
In case you don’t know, Novo is an international award winning brewery based in Southern California, but started in Brazil. As the website states, Novo is “Guided by its Brazilian soul.” It also tells us they were founded in San Diego by owner Tiago Carneiro and his family in 2015.
The restaurant is very spacious (with patio about 11,000 square feet) and very attractive. It has multiple giant screens (20 feet each) that would make watching any kind of sports event an exciting experience. It looks to be a very fun place with its toucan logo and colorful cans and decor. They have a very nice menu and loads of drinks including hard seltzers, hard kombucha, beers, wines, fermented drinks, as well as non-alcoholic drinks and sodas.
The food menu includes appetizers, burgers and sandwiches, main courses, skewers, healthy selections, a kids’ menu and dessert. Most menu items are in the $15 to $25 range and include meat, fish, and veggie options. Since it is Brazilian themed, I ordered the Brazilian Empanadas. The choices were beef, egg, bacon and cheese, or Mozzarella Cheese. I chose the Mozzarella Cheese. When it arrived, there were three very large empanadas on the plate. The crust of the empanada was very flaky and delicious. The cheese was quite substantial and had just the right amount of stretch and melt. I ate one and a half, and ended up splitting up the other half between my two lunch partners. Another one became another meal for me. They were served with chimichurri sauce which was very tasty and the right accompaniment.
Steve ordered the Ensenada plate which consisted of grilled mahi mahi, marinated with teriyaki sauce and served with charred veggies and rice. It was an impressive looking dish and Steve said the fish was tender and the veggies beautifully cooked. He said it was healthy tasting and served as a really good light lunch.
Carnivore ordered Brazilian Sausage which came with rice and black beans with charred red peppers. As you can see from the picture, it was a large amount of food and he ate it all. He said it was very spicy and in fact, took off his sweatshirt as beads of sweat appeared on his brow. He loved it and said it was cooked very well, and spicy and delicious. He generously offered me his lettuce.
Although a brewery, we had made a vow long ago not to drink beer with lunch unless a rainstorm dropping over 2 inches of rain on San Diego occurred on the day preceeding. Yes, I know…. what are the chances…,.but as fate would have it, we ended up having to follow through on our vow. Steve had a Momo Haze IPA and Carnivore a lager. Both enjoyed their small glasses of beer. Don’t worry, I was the designated driver.
The wait staff couldn’t have been more friendly and accommodating. Since it was a weekday and not real busy we got lots of attention. They told us they have been open a couple of weeks and business has been good, especially in the evenings and during various sports games. There are many tables, benches, bar seating and more. They do take reservations which you can make on line. We think you should try this place. We believe you will like it. Their happy hours are 3 to 6pm Monday thru Thursday. Normal hours 11am to 10, 11 or 11:30pm Monday through Saturday.
LV Town Hall Meeting this Tuesday
Please register to attend the Town Hall meeting HERE.
LV News Briefs
—San Diego City Street Condition Assessment
The City of San Diego recently published a document detailing the condition of our streets. The document is called the Pavement Management Plan. The Plan is intended to “summarize the current City-wide street condition and to identify strategic investment needs that will ensure the network is efficiently maintained.” The Plan rates streets with a point scale that ranges from 100 (Best) to 0 (Worst), and a corresponding qualitative scale that rates streets as Good, Satisfactory, Fair, Poor, Very Poor, Serious, or Failed. According to a City press release pertaining to the Plan, “In 2023 the City conducted a pavement condition assessment and determined the average street network PCI is 63, which is within the Fair category. This is a decrease since the 2016 assessment, which determined the PCI was 71.” The Plan breaks down street conditions by City Council District. The Council District 7 section highlighted the poor condition of Linda Vista’s own Morena Boulevard, which received a very negative rating of “Serious”.
—Update on Riverwalk Development in MV
Attendees at Monday’s night meeting of the Linda Vista Community Planning Group received an update about the on-going construction of the Riverwalk development in Mission Valley, which will eventually include 4000 residential units. Spokespersons for the development provided the following information:
The construction currently occurring on Friars Road is expected to be completed in March.
The tree-lined medians being constructed on Friars Road were funded by Riverwalk and will be maintained by Riverwalk in the future.
A grocery store—Barons Market—has been selected for the development. This grocery store will occupy a 15,000 square foot facility. This grocery store will open in conjunction with the completion of Phase I of the development.
Phase I is currently planned to be completed in mid-2025.
188 affordable units will be completed by the end of Phase I.
The development will have a transit stop to be completed at the end of Phase I. .
Riverwalk will pay for the construction of two bus stops on Friars Road (between Fashion Hills Road and Napa Street) for any future bus routes on Friars Road.
Parking in the development will eventually include 1.5 parking slots per unit.
The development will include dog parks.
—Volunteer Opportunity with LV Community Planning Group
The Linda Vista Community Planning Group (LVCPG) is looking for volunteers to serve with the organization. Applications to serve on the LVCPG are due at the February meeting and election takes place concurrent with the March meeting. The LVCPG meets the fourth Monday of each month at 6:00 pm at American Post 731 on Linda Vista Rd and Genesee. Planning groups are citizen organizations that advise the City on land use based community goals and development proposals, general or community plan amendments, rezoning, and public facilities. They provide important feedback to the City about future growth and community needs.
The LVCPG consists of 21 elected member positions.
As explained by Felicity Senoski, Chairperson of the LVCPG, “Serving on the Planning Group is a great opportunity to contribute to the community in a meaningful way.” If you are interested in volunteering to serve on the LVCPG, click HERE for the application.
Popular Farmers Market Program at Risk
The Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market has been operating every Thursday since May of 2022. By bringing local farmers to the Market—located at the parking lot of the Linda Vista Plaza Shopping Center—it has succeeded in providing LV residents with a weekly opportunity to purchase a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. Residents have responded by taking advantage of this opportunity, choosing to frequent the farmers’ booths and making each Thursday a worthwhile endeavor for these San Diego County farmers. However, a valuable state government assistance program designed to help people purchase healthy fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers markets like the one in Linda Vista is at risk of being eliminated.
One of the major factors contributing to the success of the Linda Vista Farmers Market has been a government assistance program called Market Match. According to the program’s web site, “Market Match is California’s food incentive program that matches customers’ CalFresh nutrition assistance benefits with farmers markets and other farm-direct sites.” Customers with a CalFresh/EBT account card can go to an eligible farmers market like the Love, Linda Farmers Market, have their card swiped at the EBT counter/booth, and receive tokens that can be used to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at that particular farmers market. But what makes Market Match such a great program is that it will match a customer’s benefits. In other words, the program provides one dollar for every dollar of CalFresh benefits spent at the market, up to $15.00. The benefit is made possible by a combination of federal and state grant funds.
This benefit allows CalFresh/EBT customers to stretch their dollars during these challenging inflationary times. Customers also receive the benefits of leading a healthier lifestyle. At the same time, local farmers are able to enjoy an increase in sales. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Not all certified farmers markets are willing to take on the responsibility for administering Market Match; the program requires additional paperwork/administrative reporting. However, the Love, Linda Farmers Market has embraced the program and found the volunteer manpower/time to take on the additional requirements for the benefit of the community.
Current funding for the Market Match program has been extended through 2024. Unfortunately, the program is presently in danger of being cut. As part of Governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to address drastic shortfalls in the 2024 budget, the $35 million State grant (California Nutrition Incentive Program (CNIP)) to fund Market Match between 2025-2027 has been identified for elimination.
Jonathan Widener, President of the Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market commented, “When Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market was granted the resources to be part of the Market Match program in 2022, the local minority and refugee small farmers at our market doubled their sales of locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables. The number of EBT customers also increased by triple. Our main EBT customer base is minority seniors and moms with their kids. We are so happy to participate in this vital resource for our community. If we lose this program, it will impact the food security of fresh and healthy food choices for our community.”
We encourage LV Update readers to learn more about the Market Match program. If you feel strongly about having the program continue, please contact your state assemblymember or state senator to let them know that you feel the program is worth keeping.
As further explained by Rachel Oporto, a board member for the Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market, and a manager for the San Diego Food System Alliance, “It is essential that we advocate to preserve the $35 Million CNIP budget that funds Market Match across the state. This is a program that has been funded and operating successfully for nearly 15 years, with widespread bipartisan support. California would be leaving millions in matching federal dollars on the table. Most importantly, it would have a devastating impact on the tens of thousands of families that access fresh fruits and vegetables with Market Match dollars, and on the California farmers that rely on local shoppers to survive.”
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In the meantime, if you are eligible to receive CalFresh/EBT benefits, please visit the Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market and take advantage of Market Match. If you are not sure if you are eligible for CalFresh/EBT, the County’s LiveWoW bus will be at the Farmers Market today and again on February 15 to help people apply for the program and help determine eligibility.
Plan to Attend Lunar New Year Celebration
Speaking about the Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market…Please mark the following date on your calendar. On February 15, the 2024 Lunar Year will be celebrated at the Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market. Check out the below flyer for details.
LV Update Book Review Section
Wintertime Book Reviews
Every once in a while it rains here in San Diego during the months of January and February (just like it did this past Monday). On those rare occasions, the best thing to do is to remain indoors, grab a seat on the couch or favorite chair, and take advantage of the opportunity to read a good book. In preparation for those rainy days, we enlisted our two avid readers to recommend a couple books that our readers might enjoy. Here are their recommendations.
Book Review by Martha B… The Best Minds, by Jonathan Rosen, is an account of the friendship between the author and the best friend of his youth, Michael Laudor, through the decades. The title is taken from Beat generation poet Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl” and his line “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness…”
Michael was a child prodigy and by all accounts a brilliant young man who graduated from Yale summa cum laude in 3 years. In his early 20’s things started to fall apart for Michael and he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The book chronicles Michael’s journey through the only somewhat effective and very unpleasant drug treatments for his illness and his psychotic relapses when off medication, through a horrific crime committed while he was psychotic, and his eventual incarceration in a hospital for the criminally insane where he remains decades later.
The book is much more than the summary above. It is a meditation on mental illness and the way our society deals with it. A number of people have commented that the Los Angeles correctional system is currently the biggest (and most incompetent) mental hospital in the United States. Traditional mental hospitals have been largely boarded up due to political pressures. Treatment and housing for the mentally ill is nominally available, and many of the suffering end up homeless or in prison.
The Best Minds ended up on many of the top ten book lists for 2023. It is a nuanced, emotional, and personal story. More than one in two hundred people end up suffering from schizophrenia so many of us have been touched by this illness. My husband’s son from his first marriage committed suicide in his 30’s after over a decade of hellish treatment in and out of hospitals. My father’s brother was institutionalized for life after attempts to get him treatment bankrupted his family. Most people I know have been touched by this illness through a friend or a family member. Even if you have been fortunate enough to avoid this, the book is worth reading as a beautifully written and researched real life drama.
Book Review by Marla M….Attorney Eli Landon‘s life is in shambles. He discovers his wife Lyndsay is cheating on him. She is murdered the day after they had a very public fight over her infidelity. Eli is arrested and subsequently released due to lack of evidence. However, many still doubt his innocence. Consequently, he loses his job and most of his friends. Eli moves to his grandmother‘s historic home, Bluff House, on the Massachusetts coast, known as Whiskey Beach. The move affords Eli the opportunity to escape the cloud of suspicion he has been living under in Boston.
The longer he stays at Bluff House, the more he realizes that something is amiss at the Homestead. A string of accidents and crimes follow Eli to Whiskey Beach. He is convinced that in order to find peace and have a chance for happiness he’ll need to fight back, solve an ancient family mystery, and figure out who murdered his wife.
Whiskey Beach is a thriller sprinkled with a dash of romance and an intriguing historical family mystery that overlaps a modern day crimes spree.
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We at the Linda Vista Update wish to thank our two resident intellectuals, Martha B. and Marla M. for taking the time to submit their book reviews.
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OMG! So the suggestion to maybe shorten your articles because they become to long and boring when you could probably give the details and information in a shorter version was totally ignored. So now you made them even longer!