Each month brings a slate of exciting new restaurants to San Diego, whether it’s a splashy new restaurant helmed by an iconic chef, a low-key neighborhood spot, or a pop-up settling into a permanent location. Consider this monthly rundown a go-to guide for the newest and boldest debuts across San Diego.
San Diego, CA
Hot San Diego Restaurant Openings You May Have Missed, December 2025
Miramar— The second location of the Cakery has opened after the launch of the Carmel Valley storefront in early 2024. The Cakery got its start during the pandemic before selling at pop-ups around San Diego. The larger cafe in Miramar has an indoor seating area decorated in a soothing minimalist aesthetic. The expanded bakery menu features Basque cheesecakes, French tea cakes, hojicha and matcha drinks, along with a wide array of sandwiches and pastries. Highlights include the Cakery grilled chicken, which comes with melted cheese, homemade mustard, and barbecue sauce on a toasted ciabatta. The full kitchen in Miramar serves as the central production facility for the cafe and the original Carmel Valley location.
La Jolla— On December 10, the team behind Michelin-recognized restaurant Callie opened Fleurette, a French Mediterranean restaurant in La Jolla. Chef Travis Swikard focuses on “cuisine du soleil,” offering dishes like Hope Ranch mussels “vol au vent,” oeufs and eggs served in San Diego uni, egg yolk fettuccine studded with golden caviar and Meyer lemons from the on-site garden behind the 120-seat restaurant. Other menu highlights include Provencal lamb duo, San Diego bouillabaisse with spiny lobster and saffron bourride, and winter citrus vacherin with orange blossom meringue. Cocktails include the Nice, made with honey, lavender, and blue layers of mint, and the Eze, a blue cocktail made with tequila, lime juice, and foam.
Encinitas— Rosemarie’s Buns and Brews debuts its third outpost in beachy Encinitas, offering wagyu beef sliders, hot chicken miniature sandwiches, duck fat wings, and chili pork-loaded fries. Located in a former burger restaurant that catered to cars, the drive-thru area has been replaced with a family-friendly turfed patio area with outdoor seating, games, and a large outdoor television screen to broadcast sports and movies. The concept started as a food truck that parked at Harland Brewing in Bay Park before opening restaurants in Mission Beach in 2023 and Ocean Beach in 2024.
Coronado— After the successful launch of the first U.S. restaurant in La Jolla, the second U.S. location for La Corriente opened in the former museum cafe space in the Coronado Historical Association building. The Tijuana-based restaurant chain specializes in red snapper tostada, made with raw snapper fish, red onion, avocado, and aioli. Other menu highlights include Baja maki rolls (only available in Coronado), with options like bluefin or Pacific rim, made with soft shell crab tempura, and clamato-based cocktails.
La Jolla— The first West Coast outpost of PopUp Bagels opened on November 21 on Pearl Street in La Jolla, taking over the former Breakfast Republic corner spot. Founded in Connecticut, PopUp Bagels serves the bagels hot and whole, which are then meant to be ripped and dipped into the branded schmears. The bagels are sold in packs of three, six, and 12 with schmears. While the shmear options always include plain and scallion cream cheese, there will also be rotating cream cheese and butter flavors — the menu will change every week. PopUp Bagels plans to open nine more locations in San Diego, but hasn’t firmed up its next location yet.
Chula Vista— In mid-November, the twelfth and final dining venue at the Gaylord Pacific Resort Hotel opened. Modern Mexican restaurant Marzul Coastal Cuisine sits as a standalone restaurant on the resort property with a view of the boatyard and the bay. Menu highlights include oyster michelada, lamb shank birria, and fideuà studded with Pacific lobster, baby squid, and Spanish chorizo.
Downtown— Anchoring the historic Westgate Hotel, a new French restaurant has debuted in place of the former Westgate Room restaurant. Bonne Vie Brasserie and Bar showcases northern French bistro dishes such as the Burgundy escargot in garlicky parsley butter, French onion soup in beef broth, and Icelandic cod Meunière that swims in brown butter sauce. “Bonne Vie introduces a more refined yet still approachable French bistro–influenced menu, incorporating California ingredients,” says executive chef Fabrice Hardel.
Oceanside—The fourth San Diego location for hot chicken restaurant Main Chick opens in North County. After the first Main Chick restaurant opened in late 2019 in Santa Monica, the poultry-only restaurant eventually expanded to San Diego in 2020 with spots in Clairemont Mesa, Linda Vista, and Carlsbad. The popular battered bone-in leg and thigh gets sandwiched between Hawaiian sweet buns, then topped with cabbage slaw and a tangy “MC” sauce. Other options are chicken tenders, dark meat chicken sandwich, and ube cheesecake. The newest location includes 2,000 square feet of space with indoor and outdoor seating.
Mission Bay— On November 21, Black Rock Coffee opened a cafe in Mission Bay on Garnet Avenue. With a drive-through and patio seating, the Oregon-based coffee shop offers coffees such as Mexican mocha; a “caramel blondie”; and the Jackhammer, a vanilla mocha with an extra double shot of espresso. Also on the secret menu are Fuel energy drinks with more than 20 fruit flavors.
La Jolla— The first San Diego location for a Brazilian gelato chain opened in the Shops at La Jolla Village. With more than a dozen outposts in Los Angeles and Orange County, Bacio di Latte was originally launched by Milanese brothers in 2011, who immigrated to Brazil and opened more than 200 locations in South America. The California gelato stores use organic milk from a family farm in Sonoma County. Every three weeks, there are new flavors, but popular ones include the signature sweet cream, pistachio, and Giandujotto.
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Thursday, July 9
• La Jolla Town Council: 6 p.m., La Jolla Recreation Center, 615 Prospect St. lajollatowncouncil.org
Friday, July 10
• La Jolla Golden Triangle Rotary Club: 6:45 a.m., UC San Diego Faculty Club, 270 Muir Lane. lajollagtrotary.org
• Kiwanis Club of La Jolla: noon, La Jolla Community Center, 6811 La Jolla Blvd. kiwanisclublajolla.org
Sunday, July 12
• La Jolla Open Aire Market: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Girard Avenue at Genter Street. (858) 454-1699. lajollamarket.com
Monday, July 13
• La Jolla Library Book Club: 1:30 p.m., Community Room, La Jolla/Riford Library, 7555 Draper Ave. The July book is “Fresh Water for Flowers” by Valérie Perrin. sandiego.events.mylibrary.digital/event?id=316631
• La Jolla Planned District Ordinance Committee: (pending items to review), 4 p.m., La Jolla Recreation Center, 615 Prospect St. Email info@lajollacpa.org.
• Laughmasters Toastmasters: 6:30 p.m., online. Email jrmmt@cox.net.
Tuesday, July 14
• San Diego Blood Bank blood drive: 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Hensel Phelps Construction Co., 9404 Genesee Ave. Donors must be 17 or older, weigh at least 114 pounds and be in good health. Photo identification is required. (619) 400-8251. sandiegobloodbank.org
• Rotary Club of La Jolla: noon, La Valencia Hotel, 1132 Prospect St. rotarycluboflajolla.org
• Co-op Toastmasters Club: noon, online at bit.ly/46W13bx (meeting ID: 849 4320 0407, passcode: cccu2020). (669) 900-6833. toastmasters.org/find-a-club/00001125-coop-club
• La Jolla Development Permit Review Committee: (pending items to review), 4 p.m., online. Email info@lajollacpa.org.
Wednesday, July 15
• Torrey Pines (La Jolla) Rotary Club: noon, online. torreypinesrotary.org
• La Jolla Shores Association: 6 p.m., Martin Johnson House, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 8840 Biological Grade. lajollashoresassociation.org
Thursday, July 16
• La Jolla Sunrise Rotary Club: 6:58 a.m., La Jolla Shores Hotel, 8110 Camino del Oro. Call Cheryl Collins at (760) 936-3272 or Steve Cross at (619) 992-9449.
• San Diego Blood Bank blood drive: 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Sanford Burnham Prebys (patio outside Buildings 6 and 7), 10901 N. Torrey Pines Road. Donors must be 17 or older, weigh at least 114 pounds and be in good health. Photo identification is required. (619) 400-8251. sandiegobloodbank.org
• La Jolla Shores Permit Review Committee: (pending items to review), 4 p.m., online. Email info@lajollacpa.org.
Friday, July 17
• La Jolla Golden Triangle Rotary Club: 6:45 a.m., UC San Diego Faculty Club, 270 Muir Lane. lajollagtrotary.org
Did we miss listing your community event? Email calendar information to Noah Lyons at noah.lyons@lajollalight.com by noon Thursday for publication in the following week’s edition. ♦
San Diego, CA
Elite California city set for mass illegal street vendor expansion as judge issues stunning verdict
San Diego seems to have no solution to its illegal street vendor problem and it’s only getting worse in many areas including the popular Balboa Park and Gaslamp Quarter.
Local business leaders are frustrated following the January 2026 California appeals court ruling, which forced the city officials to entirely halt the crackdown on street vendors.
“It’s a disaster,” Denny Knox, executive director of the Ocean Beach Main Street Association, told the San Diego Union Tribune last week.
An increasing number of street vendors are exploiting the court’s ruling and many don’t even bother to get a permit.
Executive Director of Gaslamp Quarter Association, Michael Trimble, said that street vendors block the sidewalks, making it difficult for the businesses in the area to function.
“The lack of action has also led to an escalation of activity, including new vendors setting up tents and selling goods without permits, health approvals or accountability,” said Trimble, the Union-Tribune reports.
Organized groups of hot dog vendors have returned to the Gaslamp Quarter—bringing associated hazards like open fires, blocked walkways, and the dumping of grease into storm drains.
“It’s so much of a slap in the face to merchants that have done things the legal way, the right way,” said Ruth-Ann Thorn, owner of Native Star boutique and Exclusive Collections Gallery in the Gaslamp Quarter, reports inewsource.
Officers can no longer impound vending carts and law enforcement in Ballpark District is restricted, SDPD’s Ashley Nicholes said in a statement, according to the Union-Tribune.
“Recent court rulings involving the city’s street vending ordinance have limited what police officers can do to enforce street vending laws,” Nicholes said.
San Diego’s tug-of-war with street vendors started in 2018 when the state law decriminalized aspects of street vending. The task to draft a vendor law fell into the laps of then-Mayor Kevin Faulconer in 2019, then passed on to Mayor Todd Gloria in 2021 and then Councilmember Jennifer Campbell.
The law, approved by the City Council in May 2022, banned vendors in Balboa Park, Little Italy, Ocean Beach and some beach areas during summer months. But, the merchants kept complaining about the lack of law enforcement and that led to the revision of the law in 2024.
The revised law made it easier for officials to impound vendors’ carts, limited free-speech protections, which didn’t include yoga classes on the beach and selling food.
After an immediate backlash, a federal appeals court ruling in June 2025 said the city’s ban on beach yoga classes is unconstitutional as they are protected under the First Amendment.
A California appeals court in the case of Imhotep Mustaqeem earlier this year ruled that San Diego’s revised 2024 street vendor law violated state law by establishing “overly restrictive” geographic no-vendor zones and restricted operating hours.
Imhotep Mustaqeem, a licensed vendor who had sold snacks outside Petco Park since 2009, sued the city after police impounded his cart under San Diego’s revised 2024 ordinance. While a lower court initially ruled against him, the Fourth District Court of Appeal ultimately vindicated Mustaqeem and quashed the 2024 street vendor law.
A California yoga instructor known as “Namasteve” is leveling up his warrior pose as he battles San Diego’s efforts to end his popular beachfront classes.
Steven Hubbard recently filed his third lawsuit over a 2024 city ordinance that prohibits teaching yoga to four or more people at local beaches and parks.
Hubbard, who’s been teaching yoga by the Pacific Ocean shoreline for 17 years, contends the local law violates his right to free speech because he doesn’t charge his students and instead accepts voluntary donations.
“It does set a dangerous precedent for government to be passing bans on specific types of speech that, for whatever reason, it doesn’t like,” Hubbard’s lawyer, Bryan Pease, told The Independent. “We don’t know why they decided yoga is something they want to target. They’ve never explained it, but it is concerning from a First Amendment perspective.”
Neither the San Diego mayor’s office nor the city attorney’s office replied to inquiries from The Independent.
The yoga ban is buried in a subsection of the San Diego Municipal Code that defines the “services” that are regulated at beaches and parks.
“Examples include massage, yoga, dog training, fitness classes, equipment rental, and staging for picnics, bonfires or other activities,” it says, marking the only time yoga is mentioned.
At the time the ordinance was introduced, Pease said, it was “put on the city council agenda as a sidewalk vending ordinance.”
“There was no public notice that they would be targeting the free and donation-based teaching of yoga in parks and beaches,” the lawyer said. “ I don’t even know that the city council members themselves knew what they were voting on.”
Videos posted on Hubbard’s “Namasteve Yoga” page on YouTube show scores of students following his instructions as they face the water in the Southern California sunshine.
San Diego park rangers issued Hubbard a total of 10 citations under the 2024 law, Pease said.
Some were for leading classes from his backyard while livestreaming on YouTube as students apparently watched on their devices by the beach, Pease said.
After Hubbard first challenged the 2024 ordinance in federal court, the judge overseeing the case denied a motion to block its enforcement, saying the First Amendment didn’t protect the teaching of yoga.
But that decision was reversed last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which ruled that Hubbard and fellow yoga teacher Amy Baack were “likely to succeed” in challenging the legality of San Diego’s public yoga ban.
“Teaching yoga is protected speech. The City’s prohibition on teaching yoga in shoreline parks is content-based and fails strict scrutiny,” according to the unanimous decision written by U.S. Circuit Judge Holly Thomas.
Hubbard has also filed two lawsuits in state court, with the most recent on June 22. It was first reported by the Times of San Diego.
It seeks unspecified damages for three tickets he received in May 2025, all of which charged him with giving a lecture without a permit.
The accusation came despite a ruling in the federal case that said requiring a permit to give a lecture “substantially overburdens” the right to free speech, according to Hubbard’s lawsuit.
All the citations issued against Hubbard were dismissed in April when the city attorney’s office didn’t appear in court to prosecute, Pease said.
Meanwhile, city lawyers have issued a series of subpoenas that seek “detailed GPS tracking information, all social media posts from all time and complete financial records for all financial transactions” involving Hubbard and Baack, Pease said.
Pease characterized the move as “pure harassment,” saying it seemed “calculated to have a chilling effect on people’s participation if they think their personal information is going to be obtained through these channels.”
“All that the city attorney has said to me about it is that it’s to prove that this is commercial activity, and they’re going to hire a financial expert to go through all these records,” he said.
A hearing on a motion to quash the subpoenas is scheduled for July 17 in state court, and pretrial discovery in the federal case is pending, with a deadline of August 28.
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