One of my favorite places to grab a bite for lunch in San Diego is Phil’s BBQ. They are located right by the San Diego Sports Arena formerly the iPayOne Center.
Phil’s is not what many would consider southern BBQ, cooked slow and low in a wood fired pit but I can assure you that the flavor of Phil’s is all BBQ. Their food does have that slow cooked juicy tenderness and is finished on a Mesquite fired grill to get that unmistakable taste. Their BBQ sauce appears to be a tomato vinegar base with something to add some sweetness. It is almost a glaze. They have incredible beer batter onion rings along with many of your other BBQ standards. One thing that is apparent is that nothing here is from a can.
On any given day (except Mondays in which they are closed) you can find a line out the door and almost to the parking lot filled with people waiting to get some of Phil’s food. If you want my recommendation on what to order, I would say you can never go wrong with the “Rib Tickler.” This includes either 3 bones of their incredibly meaty baby backs or 1 Beef Rib (I believe it actually come from a breed of cow related to a Brontosaurus), Coleslaw, fresh cut fries, and two onion rings (see the picture above) all for around $9 you really can’t go wrong. you can check out their website at www.philsbbq.net