Jamulian Eateries...

By request (of Bob Clay), here are our favorite places to eat in or near Jamul (using Jamul to mean the entire unincorporated area, not just the town). I've listed these starting with the places we frequent the most often, which is probably as good a measure of "favorite" as anything...

Bravo Cafe: we count a stop at Manoli's place as one of our favorite things to do, even without considering the food. The people there are just wonderful folks. These days you'll most often find Manoli with his daughter Esmeralda and his son Milton helping out, along with a couple of employees who fit right into the family's style: friendly, helpful, and just plain nice to be around. And then there's the food: Manoli's superb soups (the chicken rice and meatball soups are my favorites), the sandwiches (huge piles of good stuff on plain-but-good breads), and the salads (simple but fresh, crisp, and plentiful).

Descanso Junction Restaurant: good food, good people, and a home-style atmosphere. Some of their soups are really quite good (the tomato Florentine and chicken and big fat noodle soups are my favorites), the burgers are great, and they have many other delectables to choose from. Yesterday I had an excellent omlet (the “gourmet”) that was classic American fare: a simple plain-egg omlette filled with bacon, sausage, green peppers, onions, and cheese. They are often overwhelmed by motorcycle clubs (of the harmless middle-aged fake biker variety) around lunch on weekends, so watch your timing on visits there.

Yuki Sushi: reliably good sushi at reasonable prices, and very friendly people. Even at reasonable prices, sushi is expensive, so we don't get there as often as we'd really like to. Since Tatsu's closed several years ago, this is our sushi haunt. We've tried the other local places, but don't like them nearly as well.

Behind-the-7/11 Mexican: sorry, but I don't know the name of this place. It's behind the 7/11 at Steele Canyon and 94, in the back of a small Mexican grocery. We go in there to get fresh giant flour tortillas, and often come out with burritos as well. The people there have always been very friendly with us, though we have the occasional language difficulty (some of them speak very little English, and we speak absolutely no Spanish). When I get a craving for carnitas, or some chicken enchiladas, or a carne asada burrito, this is where I go...