SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The Taste of Barrio Logan returned this weekend for its 3rd annual event, giving attendees the chance to sample food from more than 30 restaurants across the neighborhood.
For $40, guests received access to food samples, free entry to art and cultural centers, and a free trolley that shuttled visitors from stop to stop throughout the district.
Alexandra Perez Demma, executive director of the Barrio Logan Association, said the event offers more than just food.
"What sets us apart is that you also get free access to art and cultural centers, the Chicano Park Museum, Bread and Salt, the Athenaeum, Quint Gallery, and then you also get a free trolley that takes you around the district as well," Perez Demma said.
The trolley introduced attendees to both longtime neighborhood favorites and newer businesses. Perez Demma said showcasing those new additions is a key goal of the event.
"We have a lot of new businesses in Barrio Logan and so we really wanna showcase them and, you know, hopefully these are returning customers," Perez Demma said.
The food tour featured a wide variety of offerings, from drinks and tequila to mole and pasta. One restaurant owner described her menu as rooted in family and migration.
The owner of Brujas Cocina described her food as "comida fronterisa," or border town food.
"I take all the flavors of my family that they've adopted during the migration from where we're from to San Diego," she said.
Mario Cassineri, owner of Ciccia Osteria, served pasta with boscaiola sauce.
"With boscaiola sauce, which is a mushroom, our homemade sausage, and a pink sauce and a lot of Parmesan," Cassineri said.
Cassineri said events like this one give small businesses a chance to connect with the broader community.
"We are a small business and we try to bring something to the community, bring something to the city, and it's nice for the people to understand what they really can get in a little neighborhood," Cassineri said.
Attendees gave the food high marks. When asked to rate the experience on a scale of 1 to 10, one attendee did not hesitate.
"I'm gonna say a 9!" she said.
With long lines at nearly every stop, the event may have introduced the neighborhood's restaurants to a wave of new regulars.
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