{"id":394104,"date":"2026-07-11T00:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T00:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/394104\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T00:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T00:06:13","slug":"san-diegos-tiniest-cookbook-shop-is-hidden-inside-a-garage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/394104\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego’s Tiniest Cookbook Shop Is Hidden Inside a Garage"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m sitting in a slab of concrete under a freeway, eating a ceviche black as eyeliner. <\/p>\n

There might be seven seats in this restaurant. Or maybe it\u2019s 12 minus five. That area under the stairs might also be a couple seats, or it might just be a very inviting storage area with a flower vase. The restaurant is so small your core instinct is to count seats and tabulate if Alchemy \u2013 Choose Thy Poison<\/a> is a real place with a sane business plan or if it\u2019s a social art project<\/a> designed to question the reality of restaurants and business plans.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a large, floor-to-human-height window near our table. Through it, I notice someone didn\u2019t make their bed this morning. It\u2019s a decision I deeply empathize with. It\u2019s moments like this that make you acutely aware that Alchemy is also technically the courtyard of a six-room micro-hotel called Narcissus<\/a>. Not the kind of massagey boutique hotel you\u2019re thinking of with soft woods, obscene amounts of linen, and opinions on bonsai therapy. It\u2019s a near-Brutalist cube of base industrial materials\u2014concrete and acrylics bent and molded into a series of alcoves, with pods to sleep in. Sculptures lie behind glass like Tilda Swinton circa 2013.<\/p>\n

The window to the unmade bed forcibly crams light voyeurism into the dining experience. The hotel and Alchemy feel like the parts of Mexico I love the most. Although Mexico has its multimillion-dollar restaurants, a vast majority of the best street-level places<\/a> feel like you\u2019re temporarily recreating in a very lovely construction project.<\/p>\n

Alchemy\u2019s location is what most people comment on (\u201cI can\u2019t believe a place like this exists on a block like this.\u201d)\u2014jammed at the bottom of the freeway embankment on the northeast side of Barrio Logan<\/a>. But that makes it distinctly Barrio, the historic cradle of San Diego\u2019s Hispanic and Chicano culture. The I-5 freeway was built through Barrio in 1963\u2014a fairly traumatic gashing of the neighborhood\u2014and residents responded by painting epic murals on the ugly concrete belly of eminent domain. Where some would\u2019ve just accepted the industrial blight, locals saw shade for a park. There is a deep history here of turning concrete into art, and Alchemy carries that on.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo Credit: Dee Sandoval<\/p>\n

The vision for the property came from owner Benjamin Longwell, whose company\u2014The Society of Master Craftsmen<\/a>\u2014sounds like it wears a monocle. Longwell is part of the new guard of developers who focus on urban infill. Instead of adding to the city sprawl, they find unused or underutilized parcels of land in established neighborhoods, then build creative mixed-use spaces that, in perfect scenarios, add something of value for locals.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not making a case for architectural sainthood, but there isn\u2019t a huge list of developers who would look at the line of cars exiting the freeway in front of Alchemy and think, \u201cWe must build here.\u201d So in that sense, Narcissus and Alchemy feel additive to the community, not extractive.<\/p>\n

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I stare back at Alchemy\u2019s ceviche negro, a glossy mound of halibut that looks inspired by the La Brea Tar Pits or melted vinyl records. Chef-owner and Mexico City\u2013native Eddy Cortes saves all the trimmings of his dishes (garlic and onion skins, vegetable shavings), then chars them into an ash to create a recado negro\u2014a Yucat\u00e1n specialty that usually involves toasted chiles, achiote paste, vinegar, and a ton of warm spices. He tosses local halibut with squid ink, tamari, charred pineapple, and citrus. The usual charm of ceviche is that it\u2019s light, bright, full of color. Not here. <\/p>\n

It is fantastic\u2014acidic but with a whole world of toasted, warm flavors, like ceviche that\u2019s seen some things.<\/p>\n

The menu from Cortes\u2014a home cook his whole life, only having taken it professional a few years ago with his popular pop-up, Barracruda\u2014is really a tour of specialties from various states in Mexico.<\/p>\n

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A crema de poblano has the blended ghost of rajas at its core: an emulsion of roasted poblanos with butter-saut\u00e9ed onions and garlic, plus a touch of milk that\u2019s topped with queso fresco, chile ancho, and morita oil. Morita\u2014a smoky Mexican condiment made from dried and smoked red jalape\u00f1os for a less intense, fruitier cousin of chipotle\u2014is the key here. It specializes in spiking fats (guacamole, fried eggs, burritos). Sop up the crema with house-baked garlic-rosemary sourdough, blackened from the ash of a corn husk.<\/p>\n

Smoked tuna is a Baja<\/a> gift that\u2019s become an anchor for most San Diego taco shops, and Alchemy combines mesquite-smoked yellowtail with caramelized onions, sweet peppers, and Chihuahua cheese (the OG quesadilla filling), then stuffs it in a perfectly baked masa empanada. The result is somewhere between a TJ Oyster Bar taco<\/a>, a calzone, and a tamale\u2014but with extra flavor and more black hue from cuttlefish ink.<\/p>\n

Alchemy\u2019s huaraches de res is Cortes\u2019 ode to where he\u2019s from. Huaraches are the New Haven\u2013style pizza of Mexican food\u2014thick, oblong masa flatbread layered with refried beans and a payload inspired by the Mexico City markets the chef grew up roaming with his dad: braised beef (braseado), avocado salsa, pickled vegetables, salsa macha, and jocoque (Mexico\u2019s fermented dairy product, like a cross between crema and labneh).<\/p>\n

Alchemy\u2019s seared tuna crudo gets a tad abused by the riot of big flavors: charred hibiscus salsa, avocado salsa, pickled grapes, pomegranate salsa macha, and chipotle aioli. It\u2019s a fate that also tempers the joy of the zarandeado, with the adobo marinade on the shrimp fighting a bit with recado negro and chipotle crema. Sticking with curmudgeonly food critic notes, flies are a part of the Alchemy experience, at least during our visit. They\u2019re fairly hard to evict from the outside world, but more measures could be taken to discourage their participation.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo Credit: Dee Sandoval<\/p>\n

The oxtail tetelas\u2014like a Mexican pupusa\u2014are a diary note from Cortes\u2019 travels to Tlaquepaque, where they famously superboost their salsa with a touch of instant coffee. First, Cortes braises the oxtail with beer and Mexican spices. Then he blends that braising liquid into a salsa with beef tallow, guajillo, charred onions, tomatoes, and black garlic. Keeping with the goth food theme, the oxtail goes into masa negra infused with squid ink.<\/p>\n

Desserts are where you realize just how deeply Alchemy is committed to the art bit. Rarely do you see a neighborhood bistro<\/a> trying to pull off trompe l\u2019\u0153il\u2014the French specialty of making pastries and other desserts look like fruit or other everyday objects. (The phrase means \u201cto deceive the eye\u201d and is the historical precedent for the Is It Cake? phenomenon.) Pastry chef Catherinne Avila does, though. A \u201cNaranja\u201d comes out in the form of a mandarin, but inside is orange blossom mousse, apricot jelly, and sabl\u00e9e (a delicate, crumbly shortcrust). A \u201cPhilosopher\u2019s Stone\u201d comes in the form of a brick of gold with a serpent on top; inside are mango mousse, mango-Taj\u00edn jelly, and a coconut dacquoise.<\/p>\n

As Barrio Logan enters an apprehensive phase\u2014its creative culture and restaurant scene growing rapidly, bringing economic promise face-to-face with the need to protect the Chicano way of life\u2014this concrete tuckaway from a Mexico City kid feels like a good step. The Barrio has a long history of making art in unexpected places<\/a>, and Alchemy carries that a little further.<\/p>\n

Photos Credit: Dee Sandoval<\/p>\n

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