Callie: Chef Travis Swikard's Mediterranean in East Village

Overview

Callie is chef Travis Swikard's Mediterranean restaurant in East Village, at 1195 Island Avenue — a few blocks from Petco Park and, since it opened in 2021, one of the few San Diego dining rooms that gets mentioned nationally. The Michelin Guide, Esquire, and Robb Report all named it among the best new restaurants in America.

The name is Greek for "the most beautiful," which tells you where the food is pointed. Swikard built the menu out of the years he spent cooking at Daniel Boulud's Boulud Sud in New York, working through Greece, Spain, Italy, Morocco, and the Middle East — then brought all of it home to San Diego and plugged it into California farmers and fishermen. He calls the result Cuisine du Soleil.

Here's the one thing to understand before you book, because it changes how you order: this menu is built to share, not to divide. The sections run spreads and breads, raw and cured, salads and veggies, pasta, then land and sea. That's a meze structure, not an appetizer-and-entrée structure. Order one thing each and you'll have a perfectly good dinner and miss the point entirely.

Build a table instead. Two or three spreads, something raw, a vegetable, a pasta, one thing off the grill. That's how this kitchen wants to be eaten.

What to Order at Callie

• Lemon Saffron Linguine ($36). Order this first. Calabrian chili, bottarga breadcrumbs, and San Diego uni — sea urchin pulled from our own coastline, which is among the best in the world and mostly gets shipped to Japan. It's the entire thesis of the restaurant on one plate: Mediterranean technique, Southern California ingredient.
• Uni Toast ($29). If the linguine doesn't make the table, this will. Uni with jamón ibérico de bellota, tomato bread, garlic aioli. Spain and the Pacific in the same bite.
• The spreads ($15–$18). Hummus with roasted garlic and spicy green zhoug, babaghanoush with za'atar, avocado labneh with pistachio and nigella seeds, or taramasalata with smoked roe, bottarga, and dill potato chips. They come with house pita, toasted baguette, crudité, and Callie Fire hot sauce. Get at least two.
• Beets & Roses ($24). Pomegranate, labneh, pistachios. The best-named dish on the menu and a genuinely good one.
• Crunchy Egyptian Carrots ($18). Cilantro, cashew dukkah, burnt orange-habanero dressing. The vegetable dish that converts people who don't order vegetable dishes.
• Mediterranean Octopus ($29). Lemon, taggiasca olives, roasted garlic skordalia. A proper Greek preparation, done without apology.
• Harissa Grilled Lamb Chops ($49). With cucumber and tzatziki. The splurge, and the one most worth splurging on.
• Line-Caught Market Fish (market price). Locally caught, seasonal garnish. Ask what came in.
• Passion Fruit Pavlova ($14). Rose meringue, honey labneh, pistachio halva. Light enough to survive everything above it.

Much of the menu is marked vegan, vegetarian, or gluten-free-adaptable, which is unusually well handled for a restaurant at this level — worth knowing if your table has a mix.

How to Visit Callie in East Village

• Address: 1195 Island Ave, San Diego, CA 92101
• Phone: (619) 255-9696
• Hours: Tuesday–Sunday, 5:00–10:00 p.m. · Bar open until 11:00 p.m.
• Closed Mondays
• Reservations: Through OpenTable — book ahead
• Online: calliesd.com · @callierestaurant

It's dinner only. Five hours a night, six nights a week, no lunch, no brunch. For a restaurant with this much national attention in a city this size, that's a narrow window — book well ahead for weekends.

Sit at the bar if you can't get a table. It runs an hour later than the dining room, until 11 p.m., which makes it one of the better late options downtown.

On the bill: Callie adds a 4% service surcharge to all checks to fund competitive wages and health benefits for full-time staff. They'll remove it if you ask. We'd leave it.

Petco Park is a short walk, which makes this a genuinely good pre-game dinner if you're willing to eat early — though a Padres night is also the hardest time to get a table.

There's a sister restaurant. Swikard also runs Fleurette, a smaller room built around the French Mediterranean with the same commitment to seasonality. If Callie is booked, that's the move.

East Village is the fastest-changing part of downtown San Diego, and Callie is a large part of why the dining there is finally worth the trip. Our Downtown neighborhood guide is a good place to start if you're exploring — or considering living in it.

The Takeaway

Go with three or four people, order wide, and make sure the saffron linguine and at least two spreads hit the table. Expect to spend real money — most of the menu runs $15 to $49, and a full table adds up quickly — and expect it to be worth it.

What makes Callie matter isn't the Michelin mention. It's that Swikard came home. He learned the Mediterranean in one of the most serious kitchens in New York and then chose to build it here, with San Diego uni and San Diego fish and San Diego farmers, instead of anywhere easier. That's rarer than a good meal, and you can taste the difference it makes.

For more of San Diego's best, browse our Local Picks — including Maranello if you're staying downtown.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Callie in San Diego? Callie is at 1195 Island Ave in East Village, downtown San Diego, a short walk from Petco Park.

What are Callie's hours? Tuesday through Sunday, 5:00 to 10:00 p.m., with the bar open until 11:00 p.m. Callie is closed Mondays and does not serve lunch or brunch.

What kind of food does Callie serve? Mediterranean — drawing on Greece, Spain, Italy, Morocco, and the Middle East, built with Southern California ingredients. Chef Travis Swikard calls it Cuisine du Soleil.

Who is the chef at Callie? Travis Swikard, who cooked at Daniel Boulud's Boulud Sud in New York before opening Callie in San Diego in 2021. He also runs Fleurette, Callie's French Mediterranean sister restaurant.

Has Callie won awards? It has been recognized by the Michelin Guide and named among the best new restaurants in America by Esquire and Robb Report.

Do I need a reservation at Callie? Strongly recommended, particularly on weekends and Padres nights. The bar serves until 11 p.m. and is the better walk-in option.

What should I order at Callie? The lemon saffron linguine with San Diego uni, at least two of the spreads, and something off the grill. The menu is designed for sharing rather than individual entrées.

Does Callie accommodate vegetarians and vegans? Yes — a substantial portion of the menu is marked vegan, vegetarian, or adaptable to gluten-free.