Sovereign Food Shop

Despite all the restaurants in downtown/Gaslamp I have always tended to avoid the area. The food is generally overpriced and mediocre and the parking is atrocious. Not finding parking and abhorring traffic in fact are my two most convincing reasons for never wanting to live in LA. So they are enough to make me avoid downtown SD (unless we’re taking Uber), even though its a mere 5 minute drive away. Speaking of LA, inevitably when I go to LA I either get a parking ticket (THOSE SIGNS) or I pay for valet that charges 88% of the price of a parking ticket. No joke. I think I paid $58 dollars for overnight parking at the Mondrian (as a guest no less). An extra $7 bucks and I might as well have left it anywhere I pleased on the street as that is how much a parking ticket costs you.

End rant

Anyways I recently had a revelation that a) there are restaurants worth getting to know in downtown San Diego and b) parking at Horton Plaza is kind of the best because its free (for 3 hours with validation at one of those machines) and super close to everything. After reading about Sovereign on Eater San Diego I was intrigued. Although our go-to spot for pho is Pho Fifth Avenue (its SO close…we’re SO lazy) we have not found any banh mi we like nearby. So after a much easier than expected drive to downtown and aforementioned parking at Horton we walked the two blocks to Sovereign Food, a small to-go shop serving Vietnamese food and affiliated with the brand new adjacent Sovereign Kitchen.

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They serve banh mi, pho, stir frys and bowls. You can pick your protein and whether you want rice, noodles or veggies. For sides they have have chips, egg rolls, and fresh spring rolls. They also serve Vietnamese coffee and waffles for dessert. Although its not hole in the wall Vietnamese joint prices for the amount of protein and food you get + location I found it fairly priced.

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I started off with some Shrimp Chips which if you are not familiar with essentially taste like shrimp-y styrofoam. My mom used to buy these when we were kids and they are the most fun thing to watch fry. When the bf tried them he said “I can see why you like them” …but I don’t think he liked them.

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It’s chill more for me.

To start with we went with the Egg Rolls which were unbelievably bubbly and crispy on the outside if a bit pale.

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I liked that these were nicely filled with pork and mushrooms. On their own they might require a touch more salt but wrapped in lettuce and snuggled up with some daikon, carrot, mint and shiso leaf followed by a quick dip in the fish sauce dressing they were perfect. The bf and I were split on the iceberg lettuce, he enjoyed the crunch but I like way romaine or softer lettuce drapes around the egg roll.

I was torn between the pork and the BBQ beef but the very helpful lady behind the counter nudged me in the beef direction admitting it was her favorite. So I got a BBQ Beef Noodle Bowl which comes with noodles; a crunchy lettuce, cabbage, and bean sprout salad; pickled veggies; and the BBQ beef showered in crushed peanuts and green onions. (P.S. how satisfying is it to get to use semi-colons properly in writing. boom.)

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My only complaint would be that I wish there had been more of the fish sauce dressing. I love that stuff and the plain noodles need it. I did later notice there were bottles of hoisin on the counter which would have come in handy as well.

The bf also heeded the lady’s advice and went with the BBQ Beef Banh Mi.

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He properly doused this thing in their sriracha-esque hot sauce. It was nice to get large chunks of good quality meat as opposed to the little bits and shreds of meat you find in more traditional banh mi. This was definitely meat-ified white-ified banh mi. And we were ok with it. Bf did note the banh mi we had at Outsidelands was better but that’s our banh mi unicorn (the best term ever for that one perfect insertfoodtype you had that one time and has never been surpassed by any other, courtesy of Faye). I think it was compounded by the fact that it was really cold and rainy so we were starving but had also had several beers at this point so food was just tasting extra tasty – Outsidelands is also the home to our arepa unicorn. They say hunger is the best spice but hunger + summer in SF (f*cking freezing) + alcohol is really the BESTEST best spice.

Oh we liked that they had carafes with water at the table. Always appreciate this as I am an adult who can pour my own water and always feel kind of bad when the servers have to keep coming back to refill your water. The bf drinks A LOT of water.

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I was born with a congenital inability to not order dessert so naturally had to order the waffle. I went with the Coconut Waffle which is made fresh to order, topped with shredded coconut and a coconut syrup + filled with crunchy peanut butter.

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This was awesome. Warm and crispy on the outside and fluffy AND peanut butter-y in the inside. The sweet coconut syrup and coconut shreds on top added just the right amount of sweetness. Definitely definitely eat this hot. And perhaps heed their advice to walk over to Chocolat and get a scoop of ice cream on top of this baby.

To accompany this behemoth I got a cup of their Vietnamese iced coffee. This was intense coffee but it wasn’t too bitter. And I was worried it would be cloyingly sweet with the condensed milk but in the end almost wished there had been more condensed milk. Then again huge baby about coffee, at home I make it with tons of almond milk and agave –> not at home / not in California lots of creamer and sugar you know what I mean.

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Service was great, attentive and informative and everyone was quite pleasant. It was not crowded although that might change as they are new. We sat outside on the street and had a nice time people/dog watching and contemplating the infinite possibilities that come with free parking in downtown.

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