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Start a Top 5 for Cheap EatsEditor’s picks
Press picks, until locals rank their own Top 5s. Sourced from the local food press. As seen in San Diego Reader and San Diego Magazine. Updated August 2026.
Best Donuts · Mount Helix
A Mount Helix neighborhood shop whose weekend "Charlie Brown" twist of raised and chocolate dough earns the name on the sign.
Doggos Gus · East Village
Bacon-wrapped Sonoran-style dogs from a caterer-turned-brick-and-mortar, the Sonoran arrives under queso and crushed Ruffles.
Ed Fernandez Restaurant Birrieria · Nestor
San Diego Magazine's birria benchmark. The quesataco a mano and birria chilaquiles that took Yelp's #1 Taco Spot in America in 2022.