north park update

once again north park news delivers the goods on the happenings in town. the biggest story has to be the selection of the tesco fresh and easy site, at 32nd and university; it will occupy the empty lot across from the new starbucks/walgreens there. another benefit is that it will also wipe out the hideous nutek auto repair shop just east of the vacant lot (improving san diego's urban neighborhoods, one crappy auto shop at a time). it will open summer 2009 and will emphasize locally- grown produce in a smaller-than-supermarket setting. considering that there are no whole foods or trader joes in north park (and henry's is practically in hillcrest), this will be a huge asset to the area.

on the restaurant front, hawthorn's has had an ownership change, with former lei lounge and club montage owners taking over. they've added outdoor seating and plan to use their club booking connections to bring in some live music. while it was sad to read about the suicide of the previous owner (and hawthorn's subsequent sale by his wife two years later), i always had an impression of the place being somewhat stuffy, so hopefully the boys will hip it up a bit for the north park young'ns.

speaking of the gays, shooterz has sunk its last 8-ball...

toronado brewery blows in from san francisco to 4026 30th - from a google maps street view, it looks like that puts it in the freshly painted red building just to the north of auntie helen's thrift shop, about a block north of university. the yelp reviews say they have plenty of ales on tap and lots of pretentiousness to go with it. let's hope they drop the latter when they come to laid-back san diego - you're not in sf anymore, guys...

moving up park ave to university heights, we noticed that the old vinbladhs has a sign up indicating it will become marisa, an east african (ethiopian/eritrean) restaurant. wow, this part of university heights now has two middle eastern places (soltan banoo and the place across the street), asian (bistro d'asia), mexican (el zarape), the gays (bourbon street, lei lounge, cheers), and three coffee shops. not bad for an area that was crack alley 15 years ago.