What San Diegans Eat – Omar Passons, president of the North Park Community Association

Omar Passons is a San Diego native, who attended Morehouse College for his bachelor’s degree, University of Arizona for his master’s degree, and received his law degree from George Mason University. Omar helped start his first non–profit organization at the age of 19.

Most recently, Omar was elected president of the North Park Community Association in April of 2009. He got involved because he believes in community- driven solutions to improving the neighborhood. North Park is one of the most up-and-still-coming neighborhoods with lots of improvement in the past few years, and lots of events every month. There’s Ray at Night, North Park Nights, the San Diego Indie Music Fest, the North Park Festival of the Arts, North Park Music Thing, North Park Toyland Parade, and of course, the North Park Farmers Market every Thursday!

List everything that you consumed in the past 24 hours:

(In reverse chronological order)

• One tortilla chip with salsa (I was dropping off some work and showed up at dinner)
• Fig Newton snack-size pack
• Buffalo Bleu chips (junk food is horrible, but alas, what can I say, it was a long day)
• Four bottles of water
• Chick-fil-A chicken biscuit (about the only thing I leave North Park to eat)
• Coffee
• Strawberry rhubarb crisp (courtesy of my wife)
• Vietnamese sandwich from Vo’s on University (nod to neighborhood friends/parents of friends who put me on to Francois — the charming Vietnamese man who runs the shop)
• Seafood risotto leftovers from Alexander’s (yes, it is true that my wife and I try to do all our dining in North Park)

List your top 5 restaurants, or favorite meals to cook, or your “rotation”:

Hmmm, I’m pretty cheap.

• Number 1 is my wife’s lemon chicken
• After that, right now I really like the asparagus, bacon, tomato, white sauce pizza at Mosaic
• There’s a roasted chicken at Urban Solace I really like (Ed. – see our Urban Solace review here)
• I like Sushi Deli 2 (though I am trying to trade it in for either Zen Sei or North Park Sushi Grill), and…there’s gotta be something I intentionally leave the neighborhood for, but I can’t think of it.
• I guess I’d say my wife’s brined chicken with tomato cucumber goat cheese mixed greens salad.

Your favorite grocery store:

This is a joke, right? Seriously, I don’t shop that much for groceries so I can’t really say.

Your favorite meal you’ve eaten in the past month:

This is a toss up between the soy-rizo omelette I had at Cardamom Bakery on Upas a few weeks ago and seared ahi we had at Hawthorn’s with a bottle of their Cigar Zin (I kind of think it’s worth going just for the Cigar Zin). Well, these are my favorite meals away from home anyway.

What is one food item you could not bare to live without ever eating again?

So, wait, what food group is red wine in? Maybe Panang Curry. Or a good hamburger (which reminds me that I forgot my favorite hamburger, the char-cheddar burger with grilled onions, comes from a pizza joint—nice work by David and his crew at Lefty’s on 30th.

What do you want the readers to know about you?

Well my job certainly isn’t interesting to anyone who doesn’t do it … Hmmm, something interesting … I am a San Diego native and I married my best friend, who is a woman I’ve known off and on since the 3rd grade. That might be interesting. I broke my iPhone two days before the 3Gs came out and was so impatient I couldn’t wait two days to get the newer, infinitely more gadget-heavy new one.