Education of the Modern Doctor: Marcus Welby vs. House 
After slogging through more than a year of red tape and bureaucratic obstacles, the folks at Alpine Beer Company are set to open their highly anticipated adjacent brewpub, pending some final official business. The 40-seat pub will offer a barbecue-centric menu, including hickory-smoked pork, oak-smoked chicken and beef brisket, plus sausages and sides. Their 15 taps will, naturally, pour awardwinning Alpine beer—with an occasional guest handle—and if you’re lucky, you’ll get to taste some specially set-aside cask-conditioned vintage beer, one of their excellent sours like the Briscoe lambic or their Great barleywine-style ale, served on a beer engine. www.alpinebeerco.com Fans of the cocktail stylings of mixologist Mike Yen, most recently behind the bar at Nine-Ten, can now find him at Avenue 5 (2760 Fifth Ave.) in Bankers Hill on Wednesday and Saturday nights, where he’s recrafting the signature cocktail list while the restaurant updates its own look and menu. Yen, who taught a seminar at last month’s San Diego Spirits Festival, uses molecular mixology techniques to create his liquid alchemy; a drink called Smoke and Mirrors, featuring vanilla-maple infused smoked anejo tequila, is garnished with a cherry vermouth sphere made by suspending the liquid in a solution that gives it shape. His other handcrafted cocktails include bourbon blended with homemade root beer syrup (which itself has 17 ingredients) and the Rose Kiss, which sweetens prosecco with housemade strawberry rose-petal syrup.
Sessions Public, which recently opened at 4204 Voltaire St. (at Catalina Boulevard) between Ocean Beach and Point Loma, is home to 16 taps of craft beer, including quite a few soughtafter beers from Ballast Point Brewing Company. The restaurant is open every day for lunch at 11 a.m., and the kitchen stays open until 1 a.m., cooking up a menu of farm-to-table plates, including a BLT made with tempura-fried bacon on brioche from Liberty Station’s Con Pane and a Cobb salad with wild prawns and a creamy sriracha dressing. Seasonal desserts include a homemade nectarine cobbler and sweets from Azucar, a Cuban-style patisserie in Ocean Beach. sessionspublic.com
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RECENT REVIEWS
Enoteca Style. 1445 India St., Little Italy. 619-546-7138. The paninis at this wine bar are tasty and named after nearby streets (the Laurel is akin to a tuna melt, while the Cedar pairs roast beef with caramelized onions, gruyere and a truffled mushroom spread). Also good are the salads—the owners also own Downtown restaurant Salad Style.
Korea BBQ & Tofu House. 4425 Convoy St., Suite 218, Kearny Mesa. 858-277-2220. Formerly known as Halmouny (“grandmother” in Korean), the new name came with a new location but the same Korean comfort food, like bibimbap, an everything-but-thekitchen-sink rice bowl, and soondubu, a Korean version of seafood stew servedin a chili-pepper broth.
Ranchos Cocina. 1830 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., Ocean Beach, 619-226-7619. A good spot to go if you’re a fan of Mexican food who falls into the vegetarian or vegan diet category. Standouts include eggplant enchiladas, tamales made with soybean oil and tofu-stuffed taquitos. (There are plenty of meat options for carnivores, too.)
Mama Testa Taqueria. 1417-A University Ave., Hillcrest. 619-298-8226. Known for its signature fish tacos that beat chef Bobby Flay’s version, Mama Testa Taqueria features an eclectic salsa bar. For vegetarians, the poblano tacos are tasty, and the wine selection includes Guadalupe Valley’s Santo Tomas.
Girard Gourmet. 7837 Girard Ave., La Jolla. 858-454-3321. Run by Diana and Francois Goedhuys for the last two decades, the small shop offers soups, sandwiches, pre-cooked entrées to go and baked goods like pies stuffed with fruit from the Goedhuys’ farm. Highlights include the gingered corn and zucchini soup and roasted eggplant and pesto sandwich, served on homemade bread.
Sab E Lee. 9159 Mission Gorge Road, Santee. 619-328-1568. The owner of the popular Linda Vista Thai restaurant sold it to a friend and moved east to a more spacious spot that’s worth the drive. Standouts on the 80-item menu include miang-kum (a build-it-yourself spinach-leaf and chutney taco), tom yum soup and gai yang, a Thai-style barbecued chicken.
