@sandiegomag: Her great-grandma wanted to be a chef in Belgium, but sexism’s an heirloom form of BS. Women weren’t allowed. So she cooked in private and taught her family. Three generations and one continent later, Anne-Marie Coulon made good on that dream with Little Lion in Ocean Beach. Get the Belgian waffle, fermented for two days. And the Belgian potatoes, light and ghosty. The passion fruit curd on house-made granola will unbreak what’s broken in you, and I’m pretty sure eating the pesto-and-cashew cream power bowl counts as Pilates. Little Lion’s not fussy. It’s just top-notch ingredients and simple, delicious food where the sidewalk ends in OB. This is SDM Guide to San Diego Food + Drink: favorite dishes, drinks, places, and things found across the city by food editor and longtime Food Network judge @heytroyjohnson. From mom-and-pops to Michelin stars, these are the stories of the people who make the food + drink culture hum. You know a place is good when half the people are eating in a dirt alley along the side of the restaurant and seem deeply OK with this. Anne-Marie’s grandparents owned The Belgian Lion, an OB staple for decades. That kitchen was basically an after-school program for her and her sisters. They’d cut onions and skate the alleys (a mandate for OB youth). Her grandfather, Don, taught Anne-Marie how to cook. Years later, she was deep in the catering grind. Driving over the Coronado Bridge for an event, she slammed on her brakes, and the plates flew all over her car. “I turned around, drove straight to this little smoothie shop with my son in my arms, and asked the owner if she’d ever consider selling. She looked at me kinda crazy and said, ‘Last night, I decided I wanted to retire.’” She put the plates from her grandparents’ restaurant on the wall and built her own.

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Thursday 30 July 2026 23:42:36 GMT