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Three new restaurants debut in July: Chiefy Cafe, White Rice and Pure Taco

Coffee, sandwiches, pastries and smoothies are offered at newly opened Chiefy Café in the Gaslamp Quarter.
(Courtesy of Chiefy Café)
By Pam Kragen
San Diego Union-Tribune
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Chiefy Café, a dog-friendly coffee shop named after the owners’ dog, has opened in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter.

Last August, Dani Nissan and his partner, Jaleh Sattarin, took over the Moe Beans coffee shop at 777 Sixth Ave. To broaden the shop’s appeal during the pandemic, they expanded its menu to include more breakfast and lunch items.

Now they’re ready to introduce the newly renamed Chiefy Café, which will hold its grand opening on July 24. It’s named for Chief, the owners’ year-old pup who is named after the Kansas City football team.

Chief, the inspiration for dog-friendly Chiefy Café in the Gaslamp Quarter.
(Chiefy Café)

The revamped coffeehouse/restaurant offers a menu of artisan toasts, sandwiches, wraps and acai bowls as well as a wide variety of coffee, tea and chai drinks, pastries and smoothies as well as free treats for dogs. The owners have upgraded the building with a new patio and bar area and a new wall mural.

Hours are 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Visit chiefycafe.com.

Filipino spaghetti, one of the dishes at the newly opened White Rice restaurant at Liberty Public Market in Point Loma.
(Courtesy of Shannon Patrick)

White Rice opens at Liberty Station

After a yearlong, pandemic-fueled delay, White Rice has opened in the largest food both inside Liberty Public Market at Point Loma’s Liberty Station.

The brainchild of award-winning Filipino chef Phillip Esteban and chef/kitchen manager Jan Tejada, White Rice serves a variety of rice bowls based on traditional Filipino dishes.

Bowl options include lechon kawali (crispy pork belly), pinoy BBQ, mushroom & tofu sisig and and Filipino spaghetti, which is made with hot dog Bolognese, egg noodles, queso de bola and fresh herbs. There are also side dishes such as ube pandesal (a Filipino sweet roll) and lumpia Shanghai.

White Rice is at 2820 Historic Decatur Road, San Diego. Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Visit ricebowlsforall.com.

An artist's rendering of Pure Taco, which will open later this month in Carlsbad.
(Courtesy photo)

Pure Taco set to open in Carlsbad

Pure Taco, modern American taqueria with a globally flavored menu, will open in late July at 2742 State St. in Carlsbad. The casual indoor/outdoor restaurant is the creation of Carlsbad’s Casero Taqueria co-founders Clayton Wheeler and Craig Applegate and Urban Plates co-founder John Zagara.

Pure Taco will serve traditional and internationally inspired tacos on hand-pressed tortillas, including chili-rubbed pastor, grilled steak and fish, pho beef, Korean pork bo ssam and ahi poke nachos. The restaurant will also serve local beers on tap and specialty margaritas.

Kragen writes about restaurants for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Email her at pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com.

RestaurantsEat | Drink
Pam Kragen

Pam Kragen is the arts and entertainment editor, as well as the chief theater, dining and opera critic, for the San Diego Union-Tribune. She joined the Union-Tribune staff in October 2012 after 27 years at the North County Times, where she served as the Arts & Features Editor, as well as the paper’s longtime arts writer and theater and opera critic. She is the co-founder of the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from San Diego State University and completed fellowships in theater criticism at the University of Southern California and opera-classical music criticism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. And in 2022, she was chosen as one of the fellows in the prestigious National Critics Institute, run by the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterf, Conn.

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