The New Yorker / Downtown San Diego

This post is long overdue because I’m a slacker! Sometimes life happens though but I’m finally able to report on a place I was invited to not too long ago called The New Yorker. I brought Stacey along as my partner in crime to check out what they had to offer.

The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

The New Yorker is a pizza-bar-Italian food kind of spot in the heart of Gaslamp Quarter. 

Lounge Seating at The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

Jack at The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

There are some cool paintings on the wall in here. 

Bar at The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

It’s got that “New York” vibe with the fire escape and a little graffiti tagging on the walls. 

Wall Lady at The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

At first glance it might look like there is really a lady sitting at the end, but nope. She’s just a painting eyeballing you.


Penny floor at The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

Also the floor is covered in pennies. Reminded me a bit of the Lincoln Room when it was still around. 

Cocktail and Drinks Menu at The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

Drinks menu.

Food menu at The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

And the food menu!

Pretty drink at The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

This is Stacey’s alcoholic beverage that I’ve forgotten the name of. But isn’t this a kick ass glass?!

Why did we get so much food?

We had way too much food. Our waitress, who was also the manager of The New Yorker, pretty much kept asking us if we wanted more and more things. We had some nice leftovers for lunch! 

Caprese Salad | The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

[caprese salad / $12.50]

The first thing Stacey and I agree to get was the Caprese Salad. We’re both suckers for this dish and I’m happy to report that the Caprese here is delicious because the mozzarella was amazing! The tomatoes were bright red and juicy, the basil was aromatic but the mozzarella was the star of this plate. It was creamy, smooth, and so flavorful. The drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette gave everything a boost of flavor and we easily finished off this plate. It also helps this was served to us first, but we figured this wouldn’t taste as great the next day so we HAD to finish it off. 

Mini Garden Salad | The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

This is a side salad we got with a pasta dish we ordered. Pretty good little starter salad. 

Truffle Fries | The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

[truffle fries / $8]

Truffle fries are a dangerous thing to put before me. That heavenly truffle aroma always make fries smell so wonderful and just a bit of truffle oil makes me want to eat allllllll of the fries. There was just the right amount of oil to make the fries delectable. Stacey and I loved this batch of truffle fries and we found that we kept eating them long after we didn’t want to anymore. It was hard to resist just one more fry. 

Chicken Wings with 5 Spice Mango Chile Glaze | The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

[sizzling wings with 5 chile mango glaze / $11]

You have your choice of boneless or original if you choose to get wings. I’d rather gnaw on bones myself. That’s what makes eating wings fun! There’s also the choice of hot buffalo style or 5 chile mango glaze and well… I couldn’t resist trying out the mango glaze. I liked that when we got the wings you could actually see chunks of the mango on top of the wings. The glaze adheres really well to the wings and there was an excellent balance of flavor. There was some spice and flavor from the 5 chiles and the mango helped give it a nice even amount of sweetness. It wasn’t a spicy hot dish but rather a spicy flavorful dish. Stacey wished for a tiny bit of heat on the wings but I was perfectly fine without it. I do admit a tiny bit of heat would have worked well with the mango but I still thought it was an enjoyable dish. 

Personal Sized Cheese Pizza | The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

[personal sized cheese pizza]

Stacey and I both wanted to try the pizzas but we thought it’d be silly to order multiple whole sized pizzas. Our waitress told us we could get personal sized pizzas and thought that’d be the best way to sample the pizza. We got one cheese pizza.

BCR - Bacon Chicken Ranch Pizza | The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

And we got the BCR (bacon chicken ranch). Since they are personal sized pizzas, they are NOT thin crust (which is, admittedly, what we were hoping for). The crust on the personal pizzas is quite thick. There’s a lot of bread and it felt a bit like eating a giant soft breadstick with toppings. If you like soft crust pizza then I’m sure you’ll enjoy this style – for me, I like that crispy edged crust so it didn’t quite do it for me.

Of the two personal pizzas, Stacey and I agreed that the BCR was the winner. In addition to bacon, chicken, and ranch, there are also caramelized onions. The creamy ranch dressing takes the place of traditional pizza sauce and there’s a distinct garlic flavor that I adored. I just wanted it on thin crust, that’s all! 

All In Pizza Slice | The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

[“all in” pizza slice / $3.50]

We did get one slice of “All In” pizza to try out the thin crust. This slice has it all – mushrooms, pepperoni, bell peppers, sauce, and red onions. 

Pizza Crust | The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

More importantly it has the crust style I liked – thin and crispy! There were a little too many topping on this slice for my tastes, but I did enjoy the savory meats paired with the mushrooms and crisp bell peppers and onions. 

New York Street Dog | The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

[new york street dog / $8]

I was amused to see a street dog on the menu but not surprised. I do think of street dogs when I think of New York because it’s always been featured in movies and TV shows. I’ve been to New York City once, back in college, and I honestly don’t remember seeing any street carts but maybe that’s because my memory of it is fuzzy. I do remember pizza slices bigger than my face at least! 

This street dog is a 1/4 lb. all beef hot dog with grilled onions. I liked that all of the additional toppings are served in little cups on the side so you can customize your dog to your liking. The onions are grilled with chile powder and dijon mustard and were HELLA SPICY. I felt like the hot dog was trying to bite me back with that spice on it! Stacey loved it but it was too spicy for me. The hot dog itself wasn’t bad but wasn’t quite “amazeballs” either. My nitpick about this dish would be that the bun was cold. I preferred steamed hot dog buns – or at least a warm bun.

Fettuccine ala Vodka | The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

[fettuccine ala vodka / $14]

I wasn’t going to order a pasta but our waitress pretty much asked, “Do you want to try a pasta, too?” and I figured… oh, why the hell not. Let me just say we both tried this but there was a lot leftover and I enjoyed it for lunch the next day! They offer either vodka sauce or alfredo sauce and vodka sauce seemed like a better choice. The sauce was incredibly creamy and clung to the fettuccine noodles quite well. A really “stick to your ribs” kind of sauce. The sauce was quite sweet with no trace of tanginess or bitterness. I also liked that the noodles had just the right amount of sauce. I don’t like it when pasta is drowning in sauce.

Garlic Knots | The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

[garlic knots]

The pasta came with a side of garlic knots which were marvelous. I was surprised these were “knots” though since I picture knots to be smaller – like little stubby bread knobs – but these look twisted and knotted together so hey, who am I to judge their naming conventions! Whatever you want to call it these suckers were flavorful with tons of cheese, garlic, herbs, and butter drizzled all over the top of the warm, soft, bread. The bottoms were crispy, buttery, and with just the right amount of crunch. The texture and flavorful was phenomenal for a garlic lover like me. 

By this time we had bags of leftovers all over our table. There was a table of like 6 or 7 dudes next to us and I’m sure they were looking over at Stacey and I and thinking “what a pair of gluttons” but hey – we still had to try dessert. It’s for SCIENCE. Stacey groaned at me a few times but whatever. She ate some dessert, too. 

Tiramisu | The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

[tiramisu / $7]

Can I confess something? I thought I didn’t like tiramisu. I almost didn’t order this but they were out of cheesecake so I figured “eh, what the hell”. This tiramisu made me change my mind about my whole “I don’t like tiramisu” thing. First of all, it was creamy. That layer of mascarpone cheese was so luscious and velvety! The bottom layer of ladyfingers was soft, silky, a tiny bit spongy. Normally I don’t like “soft” desserts but nothing was overly wet or moist (which is mainly what I don’t like). There’s just enough chocolate on top to give it a extra touch of richness that I adored. If tiramisu always tasted like this I would have been a convert long ago! 

Chocolate Lava Cake | The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

[chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream / $8]

The presentation on this dish tickled me pink with the outline of the fork dusted in cocoa powder! What a nice little flair! 

Chocolate Lava Cake | The New Yorker | Downtown San Diego, CA

This is definitely a chocolate lovers dessert. My notes (which I jot down on my phone while trying things) for this dish are “holy s**t chocolate holy f**k must eat with ice cream”. That should give you a little indication that this dish is teeming with an overabundance of chocolate! It’s one of those desserts where you stick your fork in, take a bite, and your senses go into overload. “Red alert! Red alert! We are consuming SO MUCH CHOCOLATE right now!” It’s like that, but IN YOUR MOUTH. The ice cream helps to tone it down and let yourself relax and enjoy the chocolate sensation while your sugar levels skyrocket. 

Mary and Stacey at the New Yorker in Downtown San Diego, CA

Stacey and I enjoyed our dinner at the New Yorker and graciously thank them for inviting us for an plethora of food. Both of us had enough leftovers for a few days. DAYS.

The New Yorker
535 4th Ave.
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 238-0048

Disclaimer: I was invited to dine at the New Yorker. Our meal was complimentary. All opinions stated here are my own and I was not further compensated for this post.


10 thoughts on “The New Yorker / Downtown San Diego

  1. oh man, that place looks really cool and you had so much good food! I can’t believe it made a tiramisu convert out of you! now where is that magical pickled item that will do the same… =D

  2. Your dessert photos are so beautiful…that tiramisu! I like how they sliced into that NY hot dog. I’ve never seen that done before. Looks time consuming though but yeah, I’d eat that, ha haha.

    1. Thanks, CC! That tiramisu was so freakin’ good! I liked the presentation on the hot dog, too. I wouldn’t do it at home but it did make it look cool, haha!

  3. Oh, I’ve heard about this place already! My friend went and she said it’s amazing. I’m dying to go. Thanks for the post, I like everything, especially the floor haha. Loving your blog!

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