"I've dreamt of being in Liberty Station one day," Gerry Torres told San Diego Magazine. "We know it's a gamble… but we're ready."
He's taken on one of the biggest dining spaces on the peninsula. El Punto was set to open Monday, Nov. 9, at 2885 Perry Road, Suite 102. That's the 8,800-square-foot indoor and outdoor space where El Jardín and then Go Go Amigo ran before it. Torres founded City Tacos in North Park in 2014, and the chain now has six locations. He also runs Fonda del Barrio in Barrio Logan and Tour de Tapas in La Mesa.
Look at what the space has been since 2018 and a pattern shows up. Each new concept has been less formal and cheaper than the one before. El Punto is built to be all of them at once: a sit-down dinner, a quick taco, a family night, and a stop on a dog walk.
Four Concepts in Eight Years, Each One More Relaxed
The space opened in June 2018 as El Jardín. It was a partnership between chef Claudette Zepeda-Wilkins and Johan Engman's Rise & Shine Restaurant Group. The Union-Tribune later wrote that Zepeda earned the region's only James Beard Award nomination in 2019 and a Bib Gourmand in the first Michelin Guide California for her upscale regional Mexican cooking there.
Thirteen months after opening, the restaurant closed for a revamp. The same Union-Tribune story said the owner cited sagging sales and a request from Point Loma locals for a less expensive place with more of a "margarita focus." What followed set the direction for every tenant since.
| Concept | Opened | How it was pitched | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Jardín | June 2018 | Upscale regional Mexican, chef-driven | Closed July 30, 2019, for a revamp |
| El Jardín Cantina | August 2019 | Casual, classic Mexican | Space vacated by Oct. 8, 2020 |
| Go Go Amigo | March 4, 2022 | Playful Mexican food, fire pits, container bar | Reported closed by Jan. 17, 2024 |
| El Punto | Set for Nov. 9, 2026 | Affordable and casual, per its founder | Dinner service first |
In October 2020, SanDiegoVille reported that Encinitas-based Death by Tequila would take over the space. The next tenant to actually open was Go Go Amigo, from Good Time Design, the hospitality group behind Moonshine Beach and The Presley. Its launch release called it a festive place for "friends, families, and celebrations," with brightly colored furniture, a container bar lit by market lights, fire pits and neon. On Jan. 17, 2024, SanDiegoVille reported that the restaurant had closed.
That means the patio facing Perry Road had been dark for close to three years before El Punto's opening date.
Built for Several Ways of Eating at Once
Earlier tenants each picked one register: chef-driven, cantina, party patio. El Punto skips that choice. The Union-Tribune reports three ways to order. You can walk up to a counter, order from your table by QR code, or sit for full service with a server.
Torres told the paper the seating areas "will accommodate any occasion, including family dinners, date nights, happy hours, group outings, or simply grab-and-go if you're on the move."
The layout leans heavily outdoors. San Diego Magazine counts about 130 seats on the patio, spread across several lounge areas under striped awnings, and about 57 inside. That's more than twice as many seats outside as in the dining room. Torres's wife and daughter did the design in terra cotta, peachy pink and sand. Torres described the goal as "like a beautiful outdoor patio at your home."
Two features say a lot about the crowd El Punto expects:
- A kids' area with large games like Connect 4 and giant Jenga, plus a kids' menu.
- An enclosed, off-leash dog area, modeled on the one at City Tacos in Ocean Beach.
The bar setup follows the same casual approach. The Union-Tribune describes a michelada station, a cocktail bar built inside a shipping container, draft beer and coffee. Rudy Corona, Torres's partner at Fonda del Barrio, wrote a cocktail list that San Diego Magazine says "focuses more on flavor than alcohol content." It includes a Oaxaca Old Fashioned with bourbon, mezcal and orange agave, plus spritzes, a short wine list, local craft beer and a few mocktails. Back in 2019, the space shifted toward a "margarita focus." Seven years later, its newest bar puts flavor ahead of strength.
A Menu Split Between Two Kitchens
The food follows the same split. Executive chef Eduardo Baeza runs the kitchens at all of Torres's restaurants. He told San Diego Magazine the plan is to be "very traditional in the rest of the menu, while very playful on the City Tacos side of the menu, so people can have a bit of both worlds." Jesus Rodriguez is El Punto's chef de cuisine.
On the City Tacos side, the menu brings over the chain's five best-selling tacos. It also brings back the tostaditas de pibil from Tostadas, Torres's North Park restaurant that closed in 2018. On the traditional side are tortilla soup, which nods to Fonda del Barrio, pollo con mole, pescado a las brasas, and filete porfirio, a filet mignon with a squash blossom reduction.
The Union-Tribune names ceviche, oysters with a michelada twist, and tiraditos as house specialties. Baeza shared a few dishes in more detail:
- Tiradito de Atún: pressed tuna in the house "Black Panther" sauce, with lime, mango, radish and serrano.
- Aguachile Negro: shrimp in a black leche de tigre made with chiltepín chiles, garlic, ginger, serrano and lime, finished with cucumber, blueberries and avocado.
- Roasted Cauliflower: dressed in jocoque ranch with kale, cotija and a tamarind-balsamic reduction.
- Tostaditas de Jaiba: three tostadas of Gulf crab and flounder ceviche with capers and chili oil.
Dinner First, With Daytime Service to Follow
For now, El Punto opens at 4 p.m. and serves dinner only. Lunch, brunch and full-day service are planned for later. The Union-Tribune put the daytime service "several weeks" after opening. That means a weekend brunch on the patio is still to come, and evenings are when you can try the place this month.
El Punto's pitch on price matches its neighbor down the road in the Arts District. Grandson Steaks opened at 2690 Historic Decatur Road this spring as an all-day Sonoran steakhouse and butcher shop. Co-owner Roger Cañez told San Diego Magazine that buying Brandt Beef at wholesale volume through his distribution business is what keeps its prices down. Grandson's current menu lists a 12-ounce Prime Ribeye at $49 and a family feast at $99. Two of Liberty Station's newest restaurants are both leading with affordability, the same quality the 2019 El Jardín revamp was reaching for.
The other recent opening nearby is also starting small on purpose. On the harbor side, Charlie Royal has opened its first brick-and-mortar coffee shop inside Eppig Brewing's Waterfront Biergarten at 2817 Dickens St. What Now San Diego says the shop serves traditional coffee drinks alongside its Royal Elixirs and "adds a morning coffee option" to the biergarten. The partners are looking at sites near the downtown waterfront and Harbor Island, but co-founder Grant Tondro told the outlet they want this shop established first. "We want Point Loma to be the model for everything that comes next," he said.
El Punto is following the same plan of starting with dinner on the big patio and adding daytime service once it's running. Either way, the patio at 2885 Perry Road is set to fill again after nearly three years.
How a new tenant fills a big commercial space like this one affects daily life on the streets around Liberty Station, and it's the kind of block-level detail Justin Halbert watches for clients weighing homes nearby. If you'd like to talk through what changes like El Punto mean for your part of the peninsula, schedule a strategy call.
