Goodbye, Ba Ren

This week, I’m sad to report that one of my favorite places in San Diego, nay, favorite places ever, closed their doors. No reason was given, other than the desire to try something new, but for whatever explanation, Ba Ren is no more. It was the first place that I went to in San Diego in which I truly, truly loved every bite. It was the first real Sichuan food that I had ever tasted (yes, I had had it before, but the Sichuan that I had in the past had been severely Anglo-ized). So I was more than a little sentimental to see this place shut down for business.


For our last hurrah, we went with the friends that introduced us to this place, and ordered all of our favorites: hot pepper prawns (whimper!), twice cooked fish (whine!), teppen yaki chicken (sob!), Sichuan cold noodles (sniff!), and boiled fish (waaaaahhhh!). Everything was, as always, incredibly delicious, so flavorful and spicy. What I always loved about Ba Ren was the flavor that was accented by the spiciness, rather than encompassed by it.

Yes, it wasn’t the greatest looking from the outside, but isn’t that the rule with many great restaurants? The worse the outside looks, the better the food (not always, but a lot)? Of course, the place was super busy with everyone trying to get their spicy fix before it closed.

I recommended this place to so many people over the past two years of living here, and I can only hope that some of them made it before the closing. Ba Ren, you will be sorely, sorely missed in my mouth.