One of my favorite places to grab a bite for lunch in San Diego is Phil’s BBQ. They are located right by the San Diego Sports Arena formerly the iPayOne Center.

Phil’s is not what many would consider southern BBQ, cooked slow and low in a wood fired pit but I can assure you that the flavor of Phil’s is all BBQ. Their food does have that slow cooked juicy tenderness and is finished on a Mesquite fired grill to get that unmistakable taste. Their BBQ sauce appears to be a tomato vinegar base with something to add some sweetness. It is almost a glaze. They have incredible beer batter onion rings along with many of your other BBQ standards. One thing that is apparent is that nothing here is from a can.

On any given day (except Mondays in which they are closed) you can find a line out the door and almost to the parking lot filled with people waiting to get some of Phil’s food. If you want my recommendation on what to order, I would say you can never go wrong with the “Rib Tickler.” This includes either 3 bones of their incredibly meaty baby backs or 1 Beef Rib (I believe it actually come from a breed of cow related to a Brontosaurus), Coleslaw, fresh cut fries, and two onion rings (see the picture above) all for around $9 you really can’t go wrong. you can check out their website at www.philsbbq.net

While making a weekly visit to Wing Stop (reviewed in earlier post) I couldn’t help but notice this sign. I wish that I had a better camera at the time but the one on my LG Dare didn’t do too bad of a job in a pinch. It appears that a pigeon took the meaning of the sign literally and decided to take a break. If only he know what was happening to his feathered cousins on the inside.

I have a belief that I try not to form an opinion on a restaurant without making at least two visits with similar experiences. Today I once again had a wing craving and decided to make a second trip to Wing Stop, a buffalo style wing chain of restaurants. The one I visit is located in Point Loma (San Diego), Ca. I don’t know if all their locations are located in strip malls, but this on is. It is a small little place with around 5 or 6 tables and an aeronautical decor. There are pieces of airplane wings and aviation themed photos on the walls. Now the most important part of the visit, that would be the food. Today I ordered the 15 wings and fries again. This time I chose the hot style, as before, but opted to try their Hawaiian style for my second sauce. Both the styles were nicely coated in their respective sauces. The hot had a nice amount of heat to them, with a good flavor. The Hawaiian was a sweeter somewhat fruity glaze, similar to a teriyaki, but more on the sweet side not so much soy.  Both the wings and fries were served piping hot, you could literally see the steam rising. The fries once again had the delicious seasoned salt that appears to be salt, garlic, and a dash of black pepper if I were to guess. I will now say after two visits that this is a decent place to get some wings. By the way their menu consist of Wings, Boneless Wings (breaded chicken strips), and sides (fires, potato salad, coleslaw, etc), and drinks so don’t go in planning on a burger or even a chicken sandwich. If I were to rate these wings on a scale of 1-5 I would give them a solid 3 1/2 with 5 being “Oh Man I must have died and gone to heaven). I would strongly recommend giving them at least a chance and if you do let me know what you think.