And the Winners Are... ..the entire communities of Pacific wake-up call to the smoothest spot those who aspire to excellence every Beach, Mission Beach and Mission for a soothing nightcap - and every - day and inspire new businesses to Bay. With what seems like an endless thing in between. reach the heights. list of great restaurants, boutiques and retail shops, everything you need These awards recognize the people Because both the nominees and can be found in our vibrant slice of and places that make our beach com - winners were chosen by the people America's Finest City. munities truly extraordinary. who live and work here, the Readers Choice Awards shows a true insider’s Categories in the first Beach & Bay Some of the winners may surprise look at the best of what Pacific Beach, Press Readers Choice Awards cover you; others have enjoyed sterling rep - Mission Beach and Mission Bay have the sunniest corner for your coffee utations for years and even decades. to offer. We hope these awards will delight The 2007 Readers’ Choice Award winners were selected by Beach & Bay Press readers! But what's on the menu counts, too - Re aders RESTAURANT like the tortilla-crusted mahi mahi, Bare Back Grill pastas, dinner salads, sandwiches and Chilean sea bass, a huge local (See entry and photo on the left) favorite. Add the banquet facilities 0 and take-out service, and you've got Cho ice Nicks, now 12 years on and nothing World Famous AWARDS 2007 in its way. Visit Nick's at the Pier in Amid names like Maui grilled shrimp Ocean Beach, too! salad, Hokkaido sea scallops and Mardi Gras seafood pasta, you'd think Nick's at the Beach World Famous has its seafood menu 809 Thomas Ave., covered. And you'd be right. What you 270-1730 Voted may not know is that this eatery is also www.nicksatthebeach.com famous for its vegetarian entrees, such 0 as pasta and salad. In fact, there's no Olde City Grille Best cuisine or time of day that's beyond this place, from the amazing breakfast This Garnet Avenue favorite lays claim omelets and eggs Benedicts to the sun - to superb preparation of an American Restaurant set you get to take in with your steak staple - the Philly cheesesteak sand - and scampi combo. Although there are wich, the ones with all that lean beef food specials every night of the week, and cheese melted inside two big Bare Back Grill Taco Tuesdays usually draws the pieces of crusty bread. Owners Kenny biggest crowd. Choice and a global per - Casciato, Zach Cotler and Chris Kelly Those aren't manhole covers on top of spective on seafood are always on the have assembled a menu that features your plate, you big silly. Those are the two menu here -- if this place isn't world the same kind of fare - hot and cold giant organic beef patties that come with famous, it should be. sandwiches, New York-style pizzas, the Bare Big & Dirty, the central jewel in World Famous giant wings, meal-size salads and a the Bare Back Grill's amply adorned French fry platter called a "dumpster crown. And that's not a piece of driftwood 711 Pacific Beach Drive 272-3100 plate." The giant patio is ideal for peo - sitting on your placemat, you big silly ple-watching, Pacific Beach's unofficial again. It's the menu, hand-cut and lami - www.worldfamous.signonsandiego. com hobby. There's an eastern U.S. flavor nated by Bare Back co-owner P.J. Lamont to it all, which only makes sense, since himself. Lamont is one of a trio of New 0 the owners hail from that area. Zealanders who built a lot of this place from the ground up - but that was fine by Olde City Grille them, because the final product was that LATE-NIGHT 967 Garnet Ave. much more genuine. They tout their 483-4624 lighter dishes like chicken and fish sand - DINING www.discoversd.com/san- wiches with the same enthusiasm they do Nick's at the Beach diego-restaurants/san-diego- their beer and wine and burgers - they casual-dining.html even serve beet root as one of their gazil - This neighborhood restaurant has 0 lion toppings on the latter. made a name for itself by serving the best seafood in a comfortable, casual Bare Back Grill environment. It's also no stranger to PATIO DINING 4640 Mission Blvd. press accolades - a local magazine 274-7117 once rated it the top neighborhood Pacific Beach Bar www.barebackgrill.com eatery. The sidewalk café can accom - and Grill modate up to 20 people, and the This venue, also popularly known at "the PHOTO BY Casey Dean / BEACH & BAY PRESS Sports Bar upstairs touts a large out - door ocean-view deck and 29 - TVs. Grill," is located two blocks from Crystal Jennifer Craven pours a tastey beer at the Bare Back Grill. Pier, and the patio is about the size of the THURSDAY DECEMBER 20 , 2007 READERS CHOICE AWARDS 2007 Beach & Bay Press 3 pier itself. The Grill offers a full-ser - The Eggery where you work or play. Either way, vice menu featuring a serious selection you win. Owners Lynda and Joe The Eggery's reputation precedes of appetizers, salads, Mexican entrees, Tickey also run the 4263 Mission it, what with "best breakfast" pizza, pasta, burgers and sandwiches. Blvd. location. accolades from the likes of AOL It caters to the gamers in no less a City Guides and the Zagat fashion - it features pool tables, darts, Subway Restaurant Survey. But you interactive TV and 72 televisions for 2015 Garnet Ave. won't need to rely on that once watching just about every sport that 270-5450 you're inside. The quaint country satellite carries (four of the screens are www.subway.com setting and wide-ranging morn - 8 feet wide). If sports isn't your thing, 0 ing and afternoon menus are there's always dancing - and that's enough to persuade any self- when Club Tremors comes in handy, Caffe Bella Italia respecting patron who likes to just a few feet away. There's some - eat five minutes from SeaWorld. Bet ya didn't know that Italy had a thing for everybody here. This place understands eggs food critic in the 4th century B.C. His Pacific Beach Bar & Grill Benedict better than most -- five name was Archestratus, and he was a 860 Garnet Ave. varieties await, along with chil - Greek Sicilian who eschewed the use of 272-4745 dren's and healthful-dining seasonings and spices. He'd be amazed www.pbbarandgrill.com menus. There's an espresso bar, at today's Italian cuisine, with its end - less array of sauces and cheeses 0 which you might have figured on, and your choice of champagne, designed to enliven a meal. You'll be mimosas, bloody Marys and amazed too, because Caffe Bella Italia BREAKFAST screwdrivers (fresh juice, of serves them up better than just about course) anybody else. The spinach ravioli with Kono's Surf Club Cafe butter sauce is to die for (but please If you like a little dinner with The Eggery don't); the place served the best your breakfast, Kono's is your 4150 Mission Blvd. bruschetta in the area; and the eatery PHOTO BY Casey Dean / BEACH & BAY PRESS 274-3122 offers no fewer than 32 pizzas to place. That's because nobody does Interior of Cafe Anthena. potatoes like this eatery, with www.theeggery.com choose from. That's only the start, and cheese, bell pepper and whatever 0 you have 10 hours a day, seven days a other topping you can think of to week, to discover the rest in as warm boot. If you like a little view with and inviting an interior as you could Voted Best Dinner your morning meal, you could do LUNCH hope to find. worse. Cross the boardwalk and Subway Caffe Bella Italia Cafe Athena sit on the modest patio that over - OK. So it's corporate. So it's fast. It's 1525 Garnet Ave. looks the ocean; you'll see first - The Greek cuisine at this spot is so good, and its reputation so also darn good food, if you ask us 273-1224 hand why you live in Southern formidable, that it's probably best to make a reservation. If you don't, (but you don't really need to do that, www.caffebellaitalia.com California. And if you like quotes you may wait a while on the area's most comprehensive Greek menu, because this is your poll, see). This on the wall of your eatery, you're 0 which includes terrific gyros, souvlaki, moussaka and no fewer than 1 Garnet Avenue Subway serves the in the right restaurant as well, million desserts. The three-room decor is tasteful yet upscale and same fare that all the others do with a little erudition adding to reflects a Greek islands motif. The cuisine is shaped by simplicity and (among the items are the world- DINNER the flare of the décor. There's a spawned by ingenuity. Simple, unpretentious foods such as grains, famous turkey breast on wheat with laid-back surfer vibe amid it all as Cafe Athena pasta and legumes are enriched by the pungent flavors of garlic, onion, avocado and vinegar/oil, in either 6- well, which makes it perfect for eggplant and artichoke and by the essences of olive oil, lemons and inch or foot-long editions, and all (See entry and photo on the right) Pacific Beach and the surfer raisins.