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This Way to Convoy Asian Cultural District
September/October 2022
 One of six new highway signs that are directing hungry customers to Asian and Asian American restaurants and businesses in San Diego’s Convoy District. Courtesy KSDY50.com |
 A speakeasy called Realm of the 52 Remedies lies behind a white door inside Common Theory, a place for food and drinks. They represent the new guard in the Convoy District. Courtesy Realm of the 52 Remedies |
 Shoppers in a Convoy District grocery. Courtesy KPBS.org |
New freeway signs are making it easier for hungry folks to find their favorite Asian cuisine and specialty groceries in a triangular section of San Diego bounded by I-805 and two other freeways. The area has long held the city’s largest concentration of Asian and Asian American mom-and-pop eateries, which are respected for their authenticity. Younger Asian Americans have recently opened stylish restaurants with adventurous menus and decor. Now, more residents and visitors can explore this tasty historic and cultural enclave, thanks to six green highway signs located in Kearny Mesa.
In 2020, the City of San Diego officially recognized the area as the Convoy Pan Asian Cultural and Business Innovation District. It has been working ever since with the Convoy District Partnership, which raised $31,000 for the signs and other community programs. About 350 Asian American and Pacific Islander restaurants and other businesses that are owned and operated by generations of the same family can be found lining neighborhood shopping strips. A Chinese grocery store that was an early draw for cooks and other shoppers closed after 16 years. Today, several groceries specialize in, say, hard-to-find Korean ingredients or Vietnamese foodstuffs.
The Convoy District is nothing if not a dizzying 大杂烩 (Chinese for smorgasbord). “This one small strip mall contains shops for boba, sushi, shaved ice, Korean hot dogs, and dim sum takeout. At the strip mall across the street, 14 of the 15 storefronts are restaurants or specialty food and drink shops…Convoy has expanded, but an argument could be made that these two strip malls are both the historical and the modern heart of San Diego’s Asian food scene,” food critic and publisher Troy Johnson wrote in San Diego magazine in 2021. Read his story about Convoy’s Asian food scene.
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