{"id":235978,"date":"2013-01-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-11T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/getting-funky-in-the-gaslamp\/"},"modified":"2013-01-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-11T08:00:00","slug":"getting-funky-in-the-gaslamp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/getting-funky-in-the-gaslamp\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Funky in the Gaslamp"},"content":{"rendered":"

A diversity of food offerings catering to the local palette<\/strong><\/p>\n

Morgan M. Hurley | Downtown Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Longtime San Diego resident Moe Sadighian has been in the restaurant business for decades, operating many in and around Downtown, but he is about to become a super-power presence in the Gaslamp Quarter in 2013.<\/p>\n

\"Getting<\/a>
Moe Sadighian inside El Pulpo’s with the “secret passage” to The Reef Bar behind him. (Photo by SDCNN)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though he still consults for many restaurants on both sides of the border, right now his time is focused primarily on growing the three establishments that extend from a coveted southeast Downtown corner at Market Street and Fourth Ave, as well as developing a couple more surprises he has up his sleeve for this new year.<\/p>\n

His current three properties \u2013 The Reef, El Pulpo and Funky Garcia\u2019s \u2013 all nestle around that one busy corner of the Gaslamp, offering casual eats and drinks at great quality and value.<\/p>\n

The Reef Bar, anchoring the trio at 556 Fourth Avenue, offers a surfer \/ beach bar style scheme, with surfboards and kayaks mounted on the walls and hanging from the ceiling, LCD screens with videos and music playing from open to close, 16 beer taps, and at 67 feet \u2013 boasts the longest bar in San Diego, according to Sadighian.<\/p>\n

Around the corner is El Pulpo, Sadighian\u2019s latest endeavor, a Mexican seafood restaurant at 415 Market.\u00a0 \u201cWe are the first restaurant to bring authentic Mexican seafood to the Gaslamp,\u201d Sadighian said, and when he brags that his food is fresh, he means it. \u201cWe have no freezers in house,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t believe in freezers. \u201c<\/p>\n

El Pulpo is also the kitchen that supports hungry Reef dwellers with a full menu at their table.\u00a0 Reef happy hour or late night customers can also satisfy their hunger pangs by a quick trip through that secret passage to the neon lights of El Pulpo\u2019s, where they can grab a stool at the bar and watch the chefs go to work or take over a nearby table with friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take pride in our food, our freshness, taste, authenticity \u2013 all our fish is wild caught and brought in from Baja.\u201d Sticking local for the shellfish since it can\u2019t be imported, Sadighian said despite the exceptionally low prices, the oysters they serve come from Blue Point Coastal Cuisine.<\/p>\n

One of the things on El Pulpo\u2019s menu you don\u2019t often find stateside is a whole fried fish, which takes 15 minutes to make, and also comes charbroiled with an adobo marinade. \u00a0Ceviche and fish burritos are popular menu items, as well.<\/p>\n

Next to El Pulpo at 421 Market in the historic Sun Caf\u00e9 building is Funky Garcia\u2019s, Sadighian\u2019s traditional Mexican restaurant and bar, now in its fourth year of operation. You can\u2019t find $1.50 beers anywhere else, according to Sadighian.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to blend into the community,\u201d Sadighian said. \u201cWe are more hip to the regulars than the tourists.\u00a0 People come in for lunch or after work dressed in suits, jeans and even flip-flops. Casual is the big thing over here.”<\/p>\n

\"Getting<\/a>
A whimsical painting on an inside wall of Funky Garcia’s animates the two owners and a chef. (Photo by SDCNN)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sadighisian shares ownership of the restaurants with Alberto Macias, owner of A&M Rehab Construction, although he is the hand-on, \u201cboots on the ground\u201d day-to-day management member of the team while Macias takes on other roles.<\/p>\n

Their likenesses are emblazoned on the wall at Funky\u2019s and in the secret passage, which shows the fun the two put into their jobs.<\/p>\n

Having these restaurants in such close proximity is not seen as a problem to them, especially since they offer such different menus and environments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people that go to Funky\u2019s don\u2019t come to The Reef,\u201d Sadighisian said. \u201cFunky\u2019s is not that big and is home for a lot of people. We have the best happy hour Downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cFunky\u2019s was originally geared towards locals, which includes distant locals not just those that live Downtown,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe economy has changed. People can\u2019t afford the one tablecloth dinner restaurant anymore. \u00a0We offer affordable quality food and make it available to the bar-hopping crowds that enjoy the Gaslamp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadighian\u2019s previous venture, Tabule on Fifth Avenue, was also popular but he said that property (currently closed) is reopening in February as the \u201cNew Yorker,\u201d a New York style pizza restaurant with a full bar.\u00a0 A little further down the road Sadighian et al will be opening The Standard at 536 Fifth Avenue, next to Burger Lounge and under the Lincoln Hotel.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsider Barleymash meets Side Bar,\u201d he said when describing the new venue that will take a leap from typical bar food scene, offering instead an American contemporary menu that he hasn\u2019t released yet.\u00a0 He expects the Standard to open in late March or early April, making his five-property diversity of dining and drinking options within the popular Gaslamp Quarter complete.<\/p>\n

To learn more about El Pulpo, The Reef, and Funky Garcia\u2019s, including their fresh food options, standard and late night happy hours, nightly specials and more, visit elpulpo.com<\/a> and scroll to the bottom to reach the other locations\u2019 websites.<\/p>\n

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A diversity of food offerings catering to the local palette Morgan M. Hurley | Downtown Editor Longtime San Diego resident Moe Sadighian has been in the restaurant business for decades, operating many in and around Downtown, but he is about to become a super-power presence in the Gaslamp Quarter in 2013. Though he still consults […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":235979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Getting Funky in the Gaslamp","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}