A San Diego Restaurant Review Blog

in which the author chronicles her efforts to indulge her foodie inclinations amidst her working-mom-of-a-toddler lifestyle



(with some reviews for with toddlers, others for date night, and others for a delicious solo lunch on the run, plus occasional quick-notes on SD theater!)

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Barrio Star: Foodgirl, meet Foodgirl (Bankers Hill)

So, when I picked the name for this blog, I had no idea Isabel Cruz of Coffee Cup and the Mission called herself Foodgirl. I'm just a SD girl who likes food. :) Naomi Wise's tearing into Cruz for choosing such a name (http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2010/aug/04/restaurant-review-food-girls-mexican-soul/) made me feel rather lame....

But, who cares, you ask: whatever your name is, Sdfoodgirl, how did you like the famous Foodgirl's restaurant?

Barrio Star: Yelpers love it or hate it. Wonderful flavors, they say, or totally overpriced.

I have been now: they're both right!!!

a) Super-duper yum. Awesome, complex Southwestern flavors. Tons of veggie options. Great happy hour. Got $5 sangria and $5 decent malbec, awesome $4 salad (super-duper smokey dressing on a simple salad with corn and tortilla strips), delectable $2.50 cucumber salad (awesome spicy vinaigrette). My $15 (non-happy-hour priced) Brazil bowl was outrageously tasty. Amazing marinated tofu, black beans, power rice, coconut chili sauce, super-yummy steamed greens. Delicious coconut flan for dessert. Would happily go back for those awesome flavors.

I love Naomi Wise, but her review (written not long after the restaurant opened) seems a little fussy to me - those cucumbers were so yummy that I could never say they were overpriced!

And yet....

b) Was still hungry afterwards. The person next to me got the infamous 3 tiny tacos for $15 that yelpers talk about. CH was less a fan of his dish ("it's just not my kind of Mexican," he said - probably because it's Southwestern and more complex spice rubs than most Mexican places we go).

Would I go again? Happily. Is it a good value? Not exactly. But for any tofu-eaters amongst my readers, you must go at least once and get the Brazil Bowl or the Barrio Bowl - it's a San Diego veggie standout, the kind of dish that will remind you how wonderful it is to live in a city with such wonderful restaurant variety!

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