There’s Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, Chinatown in San Francisco and here in San Diego, we have our very own Little Italy.

This lively neighborhood is a testament to both the American tradition of immigrants gracing us with our best food and the habit of putting the ‘little’ prefix to carve out a bite-sized extension of global identities here in the States. 

On June 17 and 18, Little Italy held its annual two-day tour, Taste of Little Italy, where the neighborhood hosted just shy of 60 stands, each with their own curated mini dishes for the event. 

The tour stretched across 11 blocks and is meant to be the perfect introduction to the rich, vibrant neighborhood and some of its best eateries. 

The first day of the tour explores the “north route,” which encompasses a wide variety of Little Italy bites with standout dishes like Waterfront Bar & Grill’s famous Waterfront slider and Puerto La Boca’s signature skirt steak. 

The “south route” on the second day of the tour felt like a more rounded Italian menu with standout dishes like Davanti Enoteca’s Rigatoni Alla Vodka and Allegro’s Sicilian Caponata. 

On both days, you start off the tour by grabbing your route passport, which has a map of Little Italy with each spot numbered on it. 

On the same passport, you also have a list of all 27 stops for that day with descriptions of each of the dishes offered. 

If you feel lost, don’t panic; the map on the passport has the street names. And if all else fails, don’t be afraid to pull out your phone and look up the name of the next restaurant. 

Each day of the tour kicks off with a visit to the tasting garden, located just across from the ticket booth. There, guests can explore five booths, each offering a unique selection of beverages, from premium lagers and cocktails to tequila samples. 

Once you’re out of the tasting garden and you move onto the solids, things start to ramp up. 

You will immediately be met with curated assembly lines of food. Some places might be a little more relaxed and leisurely, and will explain the complexities of the miniature dish you are about to scarf down or savor. 

However, other places feel like a factory of efficiency. You can be in and out of the restaurant in no time and walk out the door with a bowl of pasta and a piece of bread. 

The whole tour felt like a scavenger hunt of flavor and accomplishment, so the experience never got stale for either day. Even after three separate cheese wheel pastas, I would have still loved a fourth. 

The hospitality at this event knocked the experience out of the ballpark. Jennifer Reinhart is the general manager of the restaurant Brisa, a brand-new addition to Little Italy that opened up just two months ago. She talked about how things are doing really well for them in their first two months of opening.

“Two months of Little Italy and we’re really excited,” said Reinhart. “Things have been going well.” 

They were happy to serve up a passion fruit shrimp ceviche for the tour that felt fresh, citrusy, with a surprisingly sweet and tropical pairing. 

These newer restaurants still feel part of the Little Italy family right away, and they have the menus to show for it.

“I’m always looking for the new restaurants to kind of show off,” said Hannah Reynolds, the event coordinator for Taste of Little Italy.

She describes Little Italy as the dining Mecca of San Diego. In a very big way, the tour isn’t just a fulfilling food festival; it is also a way to introduce the neighborhood itself. 

“You can just come to this event and try to get a little bite of something and walk inside and get a feel of the restaurants,” said Reynolds. “It’s just a good way for our local neighbors to try out their neighborhood, and also people from other neighborhoods to come in and really enjoy it.” 

And if you feel left out by missing all this hospitality and culinary wonder, don’t worry. Taste of Little Italy happens in the same place, usually on the same week, at the same time every single year. It’s an event that makes you want to make a yearly tradition. 

There was a very bright, friendly, and almost chaotic nature to the streets of Little Italy during the tour. It has a culture of its own each day, and tasting such meticulously thought-out dishes while touring the streets makes you feel like you are a high-end food critic. 

If you want to feel like Anthony Bourdain on a trip to Italy, sure, you could always splurge and book that flight to Florence. Or, you could save yourself a little time and money and take a trip downtown and feel like a professional taste tester in your own backyard. 

Reynolds and her team will be operating the Taste of East Village and Taste of Third Avenue in Chula Vista, and her suggestion to any hopeful foodies new to food tours is “come hungry.”