What we don’t have and I would definitely patronize:
Eastern Euro…(Austro/Hungarian/Polish/Czech)…serving great roast meats and game…give me duck, goose, pork roasts, spicy goulash,etc. Savory soups AND foie gras when it becomes legal again!! Plus those great cakes and pastries.
New Mexican Style Mexican food. Stacked enchiladas, atomic New Mexico chiles, sopapilla with honey, etc. I think someone tried it here about 10 years ago and didn’t last long. Someone please try again.
Except for their legendary sopapillas, I find New Mexico food kind of boring. Not meaning to challenge, but I’ll pass on wishing for an influx of New Mexican here.
I think that our local New Baja cuisine is superior to New Mexican.
I would love
1.a really good German deli, like the old Sausage King
2. Peruvian with excellent huicaina sauce, like the old El Chalan in Bird Rock
3. Columbian with empanadas like the House of Columbia serves for Holiday Nights.
4. Jewish Deli with great pastrami and corned beef, better than DZ Akins
I am still surprised that there is not a good Jewish deli down here in SD. Like you said, DZ is ok, but it really can’t compete with the LA deli’s. Also I would like to see a good German sit down restaurant. Tip Top works for me as a deli but I would really like a nice table service place and Kaiserhoff does not cut it.
Steamy Piggy served up some creditable XLB last week to my wife and me. We were pretty happy with it and the other dumplings we had. Funny place physically, service might be sketchy and the parking is horrendous, but the offerings seem a far sight better than what one might expect in SD.