Ray R.

BEST Body Shop Balboa Auto body

BEST Pizza Lefty's Chicago Pizzeria

Best pizza, best employees, best neighborhood atmosphere, Newcastle Ale and PBR!

BEST Italian Jack and Giulio's

Best Northern Italian cuisine. Formerly Giulio's of Pacific Beach. Maitre d' Jack Peveri welcomes you into his family's restaurant with old world hospitality and charm. Pasta is made fresh in house. Favorites include the filet with cognac sauce, osso buco, veal chop, scampi fra diavolo, cioppino, chicken piccata, tortellini verdi, local lobster (in season), the list goes on! Full bar includes a complete wine list, draft beer, and specialty Italian apertifs such as grappa and limoncello. This is the real McCoy and as close to Italy as one can get on this side of the pond.

BEST Bike Shop Adams Avenue Bicycles

I've bought two new Colnago track bikes here and have had several frames built up, including a John Waite track tandem, a titanium fixed gear road bike, and a mountain bike from a boutique frame builder near Verona, Italy. Latest project is a vintage Colnago mountain bike. The shop builds absolutely bullet-proof wheels and is one of perhaps two in San Diego I will trust to glue on tubular tires. Convenient Uptown location is freeway close in the regentrified University Heights neighborhood.

BEST Bakery Bread & Cie

When living and traveling in Europe I enjoyed waking up early and walking into towns following the scent of freshly baked bread to the boulangeries with lines of locals at the door. Now I can get fresh bread here at home! Merci!

BEST Coffee Shop Cafe Moto Coffee Roasting Company

The "Anti-Charbucks!" Torrey and company inherited Bob Sinclair's passion for properly roasted coffee. Beans from around the world are roasted to perfection to bring out the subtleties of each variety in contrast to Starbuck's and Trader Joe's where the beans are burnt beyond recognition and all taste the same.