Dig into some peanut butter this month. (By T. Barbhuiya)
January Has the Quirkiest ‘Food Holidays,’ and We Know Where to Go for Them
By Frank Sabatini Jr.
If it isn’t enough keeping up with the slew of new California laws that go into effect every Jan. 1 while also attempting to follow whatever New Year’s resolutions you’ve established, along comes a slate of culinary commemorations to keep foodies on their toes.
January is a “dark” month for the restaurant/retail industry as consumers financially retreat after spending scads over the holidays. Yet when looking at some of this month’s “food holidays,” and taking note of businesses that offer the celebrated dishes and items, you might want to crawl out of your post-holiday slump a little sooner than normal.
National English Toffee Day; Jan. 8.
Outside of our local locations of See’s Candies, finding buttery English toffee in metro San Diego isn’t easy. Many chocolate and candy stores we checked don’t carry it. But you can bet that Shakespeare’s Corner Shoppe is Mission Hills does. The quaint store, which imports goods from the U.K., sells classic English toffee by Churchill’s. It’s made with extra cream and butter, and is packaged in cute tins shaped like miniature suitcases.
National Apricot Day; Jan. 9.
We like to drink our apricots, as we have at Et Voila French Bistro in North Park. In your lead-up to the restaurant’s classic French dishes, the gin-based Apricot Blossom cocktail made with apricot nectar is the way to go. It isn’t always on the drink menu, but the bartenders can sometimes pull one out of their sleeves upon request.
National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day; Jan. 14.
Yes, the cured beef should always be hot and stacked between rye bread in order to pay proper tribute to this Jewish-American sandie. Our recommendations below are places that don’t skimp on the meat.
Carnivore Sandwich at the southern tip of Little Italy will send your palate to New York City with their hefty pastrami sandwiches. The meat also shows up on their “boss fries” and rolled up with turkey and hard salami in a specialty sandwich called “the farm.” At The Marketplace liquor store in Bankers Hill, hot pastrami joins forces with corned beef, Swiss cheese and mustard on a sandwich appropriately named The New Yorker. And, the house-roasted pastrami at Rubicon Deli in Mission Hills is jazzed up with Swiss cheese, coleslaw and stone-ground mustard. In the absence of rye, bread choices include Dutch crunch, garlic-cheese, wheat, and gluten-free French rolls. (We recommend the latter.)
National Strawberry Ice Cream Day; Jan. 15.
How strawberry ice cream (or any flavor for that matter ) could end up on the mid-winter January food calendar remains a mystery. But if you’re looking for it, consider these high-quality ice cream shops that rotate the flavor throughout their weekly or monthly offerings: Cali Cream in The Gaslamp Quarter; Wild Child Ice Cream in Mission Hills; Stella Jean’s in University Heights; Salt & Straw in Little Italy; Handel’s Ice Cream in Hillcrest; and North Park Creamery in North Park (for vegan strawberry ice cream).
National Peanut Butter Day; Jan. 24.
Outside of grocery outlets that sell local and national brands of peanut butter, we’ve found places around town where the product performs very well in various foods. They include the decadent peanut butter cookies at Uncle Biff’s California Killer Cookies in Hillcrest; the “Mr. Presley” peanut butter-stuffed French toast at Breakfast Republic, and the peanut butter latte at Kos Coffee, both in the East Village; plus the peanut butter & jelly pandesal bread rolls at the Gaslamp Lumpia Factory; and the robustly flavored peanut sauce at Saffron Thai in Mission Hills.
National Croissant Day; Jan. 30.
Since rolling onto the scene in 2020, Izola in the East Village has become king for decadent croissants that range from traditional to ridiculously sexy. The latter points to the Moroccan-olive-chocolate croissant and the sesame-kissed “everything” croissant with garlic, poppy seeds and onions. Additional shout-outs go to the expertly crafted croissants at Patisserie Melanie in North Park; the matcha croissants at Asa Bakery & Cafe in the East Village; and the fabulous chocolate croissants at Parfait Paris in the Gaslamp Quarter.
National Hot Chocolate Day; Jan. 31.
Known in persnickety culinary circles as “drinking chocolate,” we needn’t look too far for a cup of the steamy deliciousness to warm our innards. Chocolate SD in the Gaslamp Quarter serves up a rich, hot dark chocolate with generous whipped cream while Figaro Dessert Cafe in North Park and Hillcrest cranks out classic hot chocolate as well as cinnamon-spiked Mexican hot chocolate.
