Something Good to Die For #6: Comic-Con Delicacies [2023 Edition]

SGTDF #6: Comic-Con Delicacies [2023 Edition]🍕🌯🌶️

July 31, 2023

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SGTDF #6: Comic-Con Delicacies [2023 Edition]

, but somehow, an entire year has passed and San Diego Comic-Con has once again come and gone.

I was there for its entirety, and it was one of the best shows I’ve ever had for a lot of reasons.

I caught up with friends and colleagues, met online friends and collaborators in person for the first time, had some encouraging meetings, and hung out with a very close friend who recently moved across an ocean but happened to be in San Diego for work. 

Me with the aforementioned close friend.

All of that aside, something I’ve started doing when I’m in a city I don’t live in for a convention or other work-related activity is taking my food options very seriously and prioritizing eating well whenever possible.

Food is growing into more and more of a hobby for me, both cooking it and eating it, so I’m trying to take advantage of travel to feed (heh) this growing interest.

I don't care if MONDAY'S blue

My wife’s history in the service industry has only deepened my appreciation for all of the elements that go into a positive restaurant experience, which goes far beyond the food being delicious.

It’s been really fun to go into new restaurants keeping all of that in mind and trying to identify the specifics of why I’m having such a pleasant (or not-so-pleasant) time.  

If you’ve never attended a busy convention before, either as a professional or a fan, it’s often really hard to manage your food.

Usually you’re trying to fit meals in when you can, especially if you’re someone who, as a pro, has a busy schedule of panels, signings, or a table to manage. 

A VERY impressive Grogu puppet that was doing a great job using the Force.

Attending as a fan, you probably have a jam-packed schedule of things you want to see or do, and at SDCC specifically, that usually also includes extra time waiting in long lines.

In many of these cases, you wind up just shoving some heat lamp convention center food down your gullet — chicken tendies, burgers, fries, etc. Certainly delicious in their own trashy way, but not exactly taking advantage of the exciting food available in the unfamiliar city that surrounds you. 

 TUESDAY'S gray

So if time, schedule, and energy affords it, here are my tips for a successful food journey at a convention: 

  • Plan ahead. Find the places you’d like to check out before you go. Do your research on Eater lists and shit like that. Even better, ask for recommendations from local friends or colleagues. 

  • Cross reference with your expected schedule, so you know when/where you are in relation to the places you want to go. 

  • Make reservations where and when possible. 

  • Eat your nicest and best meal the night before the show begins in earnest.

  • If you’re going to be busy for the day and unsure when your next meal is coming, plan for a hearty breakfast. 

Because food is one of the most worthwhile things to live/die for, I’d like to walk you through my meals of SDCC 2023.

A sign that I always admire inside of Skybound Coffee, very accurate.

I’d rate this trip as semi-successful in the grand scheme of my overall food plans going into it—certainly not as successful as my C2E2 meals in Chicago back in April—but considering the absolute insanity of SDCC and the flocks of people it brings to San Diego, I feel okay with my results. 

Plus, I avoided any hunger emergencies, which is a feat in and of itself.

So here’s my meal-by-meal breakdown of San Diego Comic-Con.

And WEDNESDAY too

I arrived in San Diego on Wednesday at 10am PT, which means I left my house in Maine at around 3:45am ET.

It was a long day, but also my only entirely commitment-free day, so I was determined to make the best of it through food.

I had grand ambitions to go to karaoke on this night as well, but after I wrapped dinner, I realized that it was naive to think I would have anything left in the tank. 

— There’s a brunch spot in Little Italy called

that was my white whale this trip, but alas, it was not to be.

By the time I’d met up with my bestie Tom after getting into town, it was nearly 1pm PT / 4pm ET, so waiting another hour for my first meal was just not really an option.

So we went a block south to Parakeet Cafe, an appealing little counter-service joint, a small regional chain with nine locations and four more on the way. 

The menu had a decent amount of options for any kind of breakfast/brunch you might want, from smoothies to sweet treats to burritos.

I had my heart set on a waffle and so I got their belgian, with whipped cream, house-made nutella, and some fresh fruit. It hit the spot.

It looked better than it tasted, but at that point, I would’ve been happy with a dry Eggo. 

— The other entries won’t be nearly this long or robust, but this was *the* meal. I made a reservation for myself a few days before my arrival and planned Wednesday evening around it.

The atmosphere here was lovely and the service was stellar, as one might expect from an upscale establishment. 

I was seated at the end of a banquette toward the back. I had the option to sit either at the end, which had one seat that curved around to face the long row of other tables, or against the wall itself facing out into the open restaurant, and I admit I probably chose poorly.

I spent this solo meal facing two other parties who were clearly interested in why I was dining alone (because it’s awesome) and also shocked/disgusted at how much food I got for myself (I may have overdone it).

I got two cocktails, both of them takes on classics: an old-fashioned and a negroni.

The old-fashioned was good but nothing special; the negroni was excellent, using carpano bianco vermouth and Gran Classico instead of Campari.

And I don’t know how they did it, but the orange peel garnish stayed directly on top of the big cube the entire time on both drinks. 

I investigated the menu pretty thoroughly before my arrival and was really excited to try the fried olives they had on the menu, certainly an item I’d never even considered before, let alone eaten.

Unfortunately, the online menu was out of date and this was no longer available.

So I panic ordered its replacement, which was a house-made focaccia topped with whipped ricotta and local stone fruit (the best thing I ate all weekend, I think, shown above) and the caña de cabra (warm Spanish goat cheese, wild mushrooms, white wine, lemon, thyme, and toasted levain). 

In retrospect, ordering two plates with cheese and bread was a huge mistake, only because it meant I was instantly full and had to pivot away from trying any of their delicious sounding pastas and entrees, lest I explode, splattering blood and guts on the father and daughter enjoying their meal nearby.

I have a real hard time improvising in those situations (my wife calls it "yes and-ing"), which often leads to order regret. Not that I regret anything I ate here, I just wish I was savvy enough to order light under pressure so I could try more dishes. The stakes were high and I blew it!

So instead of the bucatini with clams or the oxtail gnocchi, I went for some vegetable dishes, which was still too much food but you better believe I cleaned every goddamn inch of those plates.

I went with their seven spiced caulilini (with fried chickpeas, cauliflower hummus, dried apricot, and curry leaves) and roasted baby carrots (with cashew sesame dukkah, aleppo yogurt, and carrot top pesto), both of which I plan on trying to replicate to the best of my ability and ingredient availability at home.

Carrots are the best; truly simple to learn but difficult to master, and these were extremely delicious.

The only thing that I couldn’t finish was the focaccia, so I brought it home and took periodic bites out of it the next few days (usually after stumbling back to the hotel), but it was a shadow of its former self even later that night. 

 THURSDAY I don't care about you

Not coincidentally, Thursday was my busiest day at the convention and also my worst food day. It started with a banana in my hotel room and a smoothie from a nearby coffee shop, which was totally adequate but also failed to follow my own "eat a big breakfast if the rest of your day is busy" guideline. And so...

PARTY @ HARD ROCK

— Tom and I went to an open bar party atop the Hard Rock Hotel, the site of many-a-ragers in my Comic-Con career. It’s a cool venue, with views of the Gaslamp, two large bars, a pool, a green space, and cabanas where the VIPs get to sit while everyone else stands around like plebes.

Typically the parties here feature passed apps — sliders, eggrolls, skewers, the usual kind of scarf-it-and-forget-it fare. 

This time around, they opted for a buffet-style format, with servers dropping off small plates of apps in a designated area.

Hanging with old friends Joshua Yehl and Eric Goldman, far better than fighting for food.

Except the amount of food was far too little for the number of people, all getting free booze—this place was essentially shoulder-to-shoulder—and the resulting hysteria was the closest I’ve ever come to living in a zombie movie. 

Literal hordes would flock to the table as these poor servers dropped off a plate of chicken satay or whatever, and in seconds the plate was picked clean.

I’m not exaggerating, it was a disgusting display and instantly zapped any hunger I was feeling. I opted to sit this one out. 

— Full of liquor and beer after the aforementioned party, it was time to hit a late-night Comic-Con mainstay, Gaslamp Pizza, a tiny-and-terrible walk-up pizza place that gives you the greasy goodness you crave after an evening of imbibing.

I got myself a classic pepperoni slice while I waited for a chicken parm sub. The slice was indeed greasy and by sober standards, not great. But by midnight-after-some-drinks standards? Perfection. 

I know it's gross to see food with a bite out of it, and I have no excuse. Sorry.

The sandwich was fine, too, with perfectly crusty-on-the-outside bread that held together despite being slathered with sauce. I forgot to take a picture of it, so I guess it was pretty solid.

More important than the food at Gaslamp Pizza is the company, joined by friends after a long day of activities, both professional and recreational. In that regard, it was a 5/5. 

It's FRIDAY I'm in love

Another busy day full of interacting, but far more successful food-wise than Thursday. Alas, it was on Friday I realized I probably would not make it to the other Herb & Wood-level places I was hoping to visit.

It was simply becoming clear that it would be too hard to wrangle schedules between people I wanted to spend time with and what they had going on, so I had to adapt. Still delicious, though!

— This is my San Diego pilgrimage. I discovered it ~10 years ago when in town for a non-Comic-Con reason, and now I go every time I'm there.

There are five locations, but I’ve only ever been to the one downtown. There’s always a line—there’s no list, you simply wait until there is room for you.

But, being solo for this meal, it was easier to seat me and so I barely had to wait 5 minutes despite a line down the block.

This place is famous for its baked pancakes—enormous, plate-sized oven-baked fluffy pancakes of different varieties—but having eaten a chicken parm sandwich at midnight, I decided a more reasonable pancake flight was the way to go.

Yes, pancake flight. Observe:

They deliver two each of three different types of pancakes; this time around I got blueberry, banana, and pecan.

All were delicious, but the blueberry compote was a standout, and doing a forkful with both the banana and pecan in one bite is recommended.

I wish that the syrup was real maple syrup—I guess Maine has made me a snob in this regard—but at least the coffee refills were endless and constant. 

— I met Tom here for dinner Saturday evening, a delightful escape from the downtown madness. This was a counter-service spot outside of the swarm of people, a mostly quiet location with very friendly bartenders and servers and a lot of cute pups hanging around on the patio.

I got two tequila cocktails that were pretty tasty but ultimately made me wish I had just gotten a beer, but the tacos were very, very good.

I started with a cauliflower taco (charred cauliflower, eggplant bacon, avocado mousse, almonds, golden raisins, and morita dulce salsa), a fish taco (local fish, remoulade, chorizo-tomato vinaigrette, frisee, pickled serrano, and purple basil), and their chipotle rice (chicken jus, chipotle, blistered baby tomato, and cilantro).

And good gracious, the fish taco was incredible.

The batter was perfectly crunchy and the fish was piping hot, and the pickled serrano was clutch. The cauliflower was good, too, but I wanted more of that fish taco.

Which was too bad for me, because when I went back to order another, they were out. I was bummed, but I understood. It was fantastic.

I settled for another cauliflower taco, but it truly couldn't compare.

I asked to add some pickled serrano to it in the hopes of meeting halfway, but those were gone too. 

Stealth photo of a Very Good Dog named Cookie (note the Cookie Monster bandana).

The server thoughtfully delivered some of the sliced bar jalapenos for me, but it just wasn’t the same. The rice, however, was excellent and super flavorful, despite me being cursed with cilantro-tastes-like-soap disorder.

Although I didn’t plan on ordering it, they’d also run out of the pork belly, so it seemed like maybe we just got there a little too late in the day. 

— Similar to Gaslamp Pizza, this is another late-night go-to in San Diego.

While my Philly friends will likely raise their eyebrows with suspicion (they are cheesesteak snobs in as much as I am now a maple syrup snob, apparently), I think this place delivers the goods, especially after another late evening.

And when a friend is hankering for a cheesesteak, there’s no substitute that will suffice. 

1am cheesesteak face.

So we headed here after a night of socializing with some comics pals, but I wasn’t looking to slam a pound of shredded beef at 1am, so I opted for the more reasonable (by some questionable logic) chicken tendies and fries.

As luck would have it, we must have arrived at the end of a lull. The after-bar crowd showed up a few minutes after us and formed a line out the door, but when we walked in, it was empty.

So everything was very hot and fresh; a truly excellent, simple meal that hit the spot. 

 SATURDAY wait

Another busy day where I had to abandon some plans/pivot/go with the flow (this is hard for me).

I was hoping to check out either this vegan spot called

or a Vietnamese place called

, but it would’ve required cutting time with friends short, and that was more important. Next time! 

— Meeting my friend and comics collaborator Sean for breakfast, I was hoping to finally make it to Morning Glory, but was yet again foiled.

The line was even longer than when I tried on Wednesday, which I suppose isn’t surprising considering it was, after all, Saturday morning. Sean and I both had a hard out for commitments at the convention center, so we couldn't risk it.

Morning Glory sits on the second floor with an appealing open balcony, and down below it is a shockingly large restaurant called Farmer’s Table.

My suspicions of Farmer’s Table were raised back on Wednesday, when all the restaurants surrounding it were extremely busy and it was not. That’s why we opted for Parakeet Cafe, but not wanting to repeat myself, I suggested trying it out.

Though much busier than it was on Wednesday, we were still seated immediately. It didn’t take long before my earlier suspicions were confirmed!

Honestly, the only thing that elevated this meal above what I’d later eat at the airport was Sean’s great company.

I got the chorizo benedict (spanish chorizo, diced tomato, jalapeno, onions, and chipotle hollandaise sauce) with house potatoes, but the poached eggs had some runny whites and everything across the plate was lukewarm. The service was friendly but not great. Even the chiptole hollandaise was pretty bland, unfortunately.

The point being: when a place looks like it should be busy and isn’t, you’re probably not getting lucky, you’re just getting a real-time Yelp review. 

— After another day of convention stuff, I met up once more with Tom and some other friends nearby in the touristy Seaport Village, which has some casual eateries scattered around and a nice little courtyard with tables.

I got myself a beer from Mike Hess Brewing, which due to a credit card machine mishap the bartender gave me for free, so things were off to a great start!

For food, despite being a little bummed I was going to be doing another fast-causal meal instead of my hoped-for sit-down extravagance, I opted for Marion’s Fish Market’s fish and chips, and pretty quickly I had zero regrets. 

The fish was breaded and not battered, which at first felt like an odd, questionable move but I quickly learned was, in fact, a delight. They were light and flaky and I could've eaten another basketful.

The fries had Old Bay seasoning and were fresh and crispy, I couldn’t have asked for a more delightful surprise. The coleslaw was what it was, but everything else was simple, no-frills, and tasty.

On the flip side, somebody ordered nachos for the table from the brewery, and they were, no joke, the worst nachos I’ve ever had. Bland, soggy chips, a lopsided distribution of toppings, tasteless salsa. Just an utter crime against bar food.

 SUNDAY always comes too late

Sunday at a convention is always kind of a bummer. You've spent weeks preparing for this trip and suddenly it's all over.This year was especially rough, as I had said goodbye to Tom the evening before since he had a very early flight to catch, but I still had a whole day to kill and an overnight flight to dread.

— Rather than trying to get into Morning Glory once more, I double-dipped at Richard Walker’s.

In retrospect, I wish I had just went for it. My flight wasn’t until 9pm and I had no real commitments left for the show. I could’ve just waited.

Instead, I got something I’d never gotten at Richard Walker’s just to broaden my scope of experience: the house-made corned beef hash with an english muffin and over-medium eggs. 

It was totally fine, but made clear to me that the real star of Richard Walker’s is right there in its name. 

— Thankfully, lunch fared better, ending my trip with a good taste in my mouth, figuratively and literally. At Comic-Con last year, comics colleague and karaoke associate Dennis filled me in on a place called Lolita’s, another local chain with one of its seven locations an easy walk from the convention center.

It’s a Mexican place with one item on the menu I desperately wanted to try: the 2-in-1, which their menu describes as “Carne asada from Choice Black Angus beef, guacamole, cheddar, cotija and jack cheese with two rolled tacos inside.” 

Yes, tacos inside the burrito. 

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it happen last year, but this year, me and Dennis took a walk and I indulged. He wasn’t mistaken, it was truly incredible.

Part of what made it such a delight is that, despite having a hearty breakfast and the wild idea of tacos inside a burrito, it actually wasn’t that heavy. That sounds insane, I know, but I think the lack of rice and beans and the reasonable smattering of cheeses balanced the surprise crunchy taquitos within. 

This was a meal that helped me say farewell to another year at SDCC, and has made me look forward to returning once more in a year’s time.

Clearly I was too excited, I forgot to get a photo.

The annual final Beer and Reflection sesh before heading to the airport.

If you’ve read this far, thanks for engaging with my amateur food writing.

And if you’ve got any recommendations for my San Diego eats next year, please let me know!

-Joey

P.S.

If you can't tell, I saw The Cure recently and they were fantastic.

, minus the new songs they played.

P.P.S.

If you're looking for a good horror comic read, please check out

by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino from Image Comics. I read it all recently and it was excellent, especially if you're into cosmic/multiverse stuff.

On October 31, a prequel comic book to AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM will be hitting comic shops, and I'm excited to say I've written a BLACK MANTA story drawn by the amazing Ray-Anthony Height. Black Manta is the baddest badass in the DC Universe, and I think we do a pretty good job of showing why. Plus, it'll reveal what Manta's been up to since we last saw him in the $1 billion-grossing AQUAMAN. Last but certainly not least — check out that incredible Ivan Reis cover!