I just rediscovered Gelato Vero after about ten years — a bit scary, but I’ve not done much exploring in Mission Hills.

Located at the corner of Washington and India streets (past the 5-north on-ramp if you’re driving up India St.), Gelato Vero is a tiny cafe that serves coffee drinks, twelve flavors of gelato at any one time, and combinations thereof.

I’m not exactly a gelato connoisseur, but what I had was good — a small cup of Caramel with Brownies gelato, along with a medium mocha, for about 6 bucks. Definitely good for a dessert.

The cafe has a small inside seating area, seating along the street for the smokers, and (possibly? check this) a second floor patio where you can take your food.

Best part (aside from the yummy gelato)? Free wi-fi! I’m actually typing this in the cafe, waiting for some friends to finish with their evening classes.

Taste of India is a small Indian restaurant tucked in the corner of a strip mall behind a Carl’s Jr. on Miramar Road. (Turn left on Commerce Ave. first, then left into the strip mall.)

A few miles down from Miramar’s “Little India” — a section near its intersection with Interstate 15 that has a few Indian grocery stores, restaurants, and a Hindu temple — Taste of India offers excellent food in a buffet style meal.

When you enter the restaurant, you take a seat and let the waiter know your drink requests — the standard soda or iced-teas, as well as Indian beers and Mango Lassi, a rice-based smoothie type drink. Then, you get up, take a plate at the buffet, and load it down.

I can never remember the names for any of the food items, but they’re all good. I’m a fan of the salad, some basmati rice drizzled with the plum sauce, and then a small scoop of everything. They have deep fried vegetables (Samosas) and a tandoori chicken dish that are both amazing; there’s a spinach with cheese dish (Saag Panir) that I love as well.

For dessert they have the two standards — Gulab Jamin — small cheese balls soaked in a rose-honey water sauce, and Kheer — a thin rice pudding with nuts. (Not sure if you’re supposed to eat them together, but that’s the way I like it).

Service is quick and the buffet is cheap. If you’re there on a Friday or a Saturday, there’s a sitar player there who really knows what he’s doing — I don’t know any of the songs but they’re wonderful to listen to.

All in all, an excellent restaurant with great Indian food.

The Mission Cafe (of which there are two) combines great American and Mexican breakfasts into an eclectic but good menu that’s good for breakfast or lunch.

The Mission Beach location is usually much busier during tourist season (March through about October/November), and it’s hard to find parking on the narrow Mission Beach strand, but both can be very popular. The North Park location is almost more fun because it’s right next to an art gallery/shop, Sumner and Dene, that sells everything from sculptures to paintings to jewellery, all wonderfully eclectic and fun, and sometimes affordable too. (We’re not normally “art people”, but we’ve bought some pieces from this place.) The best part is that the maitre’d from the cafe will come into the gallery to call your name when your table is ready, so you don’t have to keep checking back every 5 minutes lest your table be given away. This is only at the North Park location, though.

Breakfast includes several interesting pancake types (I’m a fan of the blackberry pancakes), the standard breakfast staples (eggs, bacon, etc.) and some special dishes. The Mission Rosemary is a favorite — a rosemary omelette thing with the famous house potatoes on the side. I also like the Mission Croissant — a croissant with cream cheese, tomatoes, scallions, and eggs. There’s a smoked apple sausage plate as well, and the Zen Breakfast — a vegetarian’s delight with several different kinds of veggies and some tofu.

There’s also a set of Mexican-ish dishes (burritos and wraps), for those who like that style of food, and some smoothies for the liquid dieters. They make a mean espresso mocha, adding chocolate chips into the frozen version of this drink.

Expect about a half hour’s wait for a table, depending on what time you get there, but the food is worth the wait.

The Wit’s End is one of San Diego’s growing number of liberal bastions. A tiny pub in Hillcrest, The Wit’s End serves almost any kind of beer imaginable, US, British Isles, German and others, and also has Guiness on tap. They serve a fairly complete line of beers from the local Stone Brewing Company, as well.

The food is excellent; you can select from salads, sandwiches, appetizers, and other dishes. Neal, the owner, makes all the food himself at one end of the bar, and it’s consistently tasty. You can also add a cup of today’s or yesterday’s soup (there are always two) to your meal, and finish it off with an ice cream sundae or a very yummy ginger creme brulee.

As for the atmosphere, it’s somewhat telling that instead of a game, invariably Comedy Central is on the TVs instead. At 8 PM, everyone quiets down and the volume gets turned up to watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

For nights when there’s not as much to do, there’s a Playstation 2 on one TV and an Xbox on the other.

This bar has been the site of a couple of local Democratic Party shindigs; an Air America sticker adorns the paper towel holder in the bathroom.

All in all not a bad place; excellent food, fun atmosphere, and a great price.

World Curry represents the finest in curries from all over the world. They have fine curry dishes from India (of course), Japan, and the Caribbean. From what I understand, Brits will be able to find a decent curry at this place — they have Keema and Vindaloo curries. You can also get a lovely Thai salad, and since you can substitute tofu in most of the dishes, they cater to the vegetarian palate as well.

My favorites are the Thai Panang curry, the good Thai chicken salad, and the curry puffs — a dollop of one of the curry dishes and some cream cheese, wrapped up in a delicious pastry dough and deep fried.

We usually go here for lunch or for takeout when we need it. The dishes are yummy, everything is fresh and well-made, and it’s a great value.

Rancho’s Cocina (known simply as Rancho’s) is one of the better Mexican restaurants in San Diego. It’s very unassuming, but their food is excellent and inexpensive.

Traditional Mexican fare (tacos, burritos, etc.) can be found on the menu, sometimes with a twist, along with some more obscure dishes, as well as some of their own creation. Their grilled fish tacos are among the better found in San Diego, and their fried calamari appetizer is amazing — fresh and tender, not a trace of the chewiness one might find at a lesser establishment.

They also have a good deal of breakfast items on the menu, as well as smoothies (liquados) made from fresh fruit.

Over half of their menu consists of vegetarian items, some with just vegetables, others with tofu or other meat substitutes. Every ingredient they use is fresh; we once had to walk through the back area to get to a bathroom at the original location on Point Loma Ave. (which also contains their grocery store), and the owner proudly pointed out that the only thing that came from a can was tomato paste — everything else was in fresh bundles from their suppliers.

They’re usually busy, so every now and then it can take a little time for the food to arrive, but it’s always worth the wait. The only thing cheaper are the “*berto’s” restaurants one finds interspersed around San Diego, but it’s worth the extra buck or two for real, quality Mexican food.