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Good food at the amusement park?

Cannonball makes a splash in Mission Beach

The Marco Pollo roll, with red peppers and avocado
The Marco Pollo roll, with red peppers and avocado
Place

Cannonball

3105 Ocean Front Walk, San Diego

After 90 years in existence, Belmont Park is starting to become a food destination. Draft opened in 2014 and, more recently, Cannonball, a Pacific Rim restaurant with lots of sushi options.

Cannonball sits atop Draft and has a lot of outdoor tables and bars overlooking Mission Beach. The view is spectacular on a clear day. It might be the best part of the place, but only by a small margin. Cannonball is the type of place that out-of-towners will pack during the summer months because of the view, but you will be happy to visit in January when only locals are around.

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Cannonball overlooks the Mission Beach boardwalk
Green-curry mussels
The octopus meatballs are crunchy and sweet
Vegetable tempura
Pork Rib Splits with Korean chili sauce
The Refresh

The place promotes itself as a sushi spot, but the non-raw items caught our attention first. The majority of those dishes are served small plate-style for sharing.

My daughter and I enjoyed the green-curry mussels with Chinese sausage ($14). She loves mussels. At least she says she does. She usually has one or two and spends the rest of the time dunking bread in the broth. In this case, it worked out fine. She hadn’t tried mussels curry-style before but liked the slight heat of the curry. I enjoyed the mix of soy-sauce-flavored sausage with the mussels.

My son was knocked out by the octopus meatballs ($9). I’ve been fond of octopus since I tried it at Davanti Enoteca, and I’m glad so many local restaurants are adding it to their menu.

Cannonball’s meatballs — or takoyaki — are less chewy than traditional octopus and served with katsu sauce, which is sort of a Japanese version of ketchup, kewpie mayo, and bonito flakes. The sweetness of the sauces with the octopus made an impact with my son. “This is now my second favorite food,” he said. Considering bean-and-cheese burritos are his No. 1 choice, I think we’re making progress.

My wife had good vegan options: a delightful garlicky miso soup ($6), a vegetable tempura that was nice and crispy ($14), and the Marco Pollo ($12), a veggie roll that used avocado and red and yellow peppers as well as asparagus, bean sprouts, and cucumber. The rest of us enjoyed the Pork Rib Splits ($12) cooked in a sweet-and-spicy Korean chili sauce.

Cocktail-wise, I was disappointed with the Sunset Margarita ($11). Although it had fine ingredients — Peligroso Reposado tequila, Cointreau, Grand Marnier, orange shrub — the end result tasted like one of those two-for-one margaritas I had in TJ back in the ’80s. A better option was the Refresh ($11), a gin cocktail with lime and cucumber. Very refreshing, which is why my wife had two.

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The Marco Pollo roll, with red peppers and avocado
The Marco Pollo roll, with red peppers and avocado
Place

Cannonball

3105 Ocean Front Walk, San Diego

After 90 years in existence, Belmont Park is starting to become a food destination. Draft opened in 2014 and, more recently, Cannonball, a Pacific Rim restaurant with lots of sushi options.

Cannonball sits atop Draft and has a lot of outdoor tables and bars overlooking Mission Beach. The view is spectacular on a clear day. It might be the best part of the place, but only by a small margin. Cannonball is the type of place that out-of-towners will pack during the summer months because of the view, but you will be happy to visit in January when only locals are around.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Cannonball overlooks the Mission Beach boardwalk
Green-curry mussels
The octopus meatballs are crunchy and sweet
Vegetable tempura
Pork Rib Splits with Korean chili sauce
The Refresh

The place promotes itself as a sushi spot, but the non-raw items caught our attention first. The majority of those dishes are served small plate-style for sharing.

My daughter and I enjoyed the green-curry mussels with Chinese sausage ($14). She loves mussels. At least she says she does. She usually has one or two and spends the rest of the time dunking bread in the broth. In this case, it worked out fine. She hadn’t tried mussels curry-style before but liked the slight heat of the curry. I enjoyed the mix of soy-sauce-flavored sausage with the mussels.

My son was knocked out by the octopus meatballs ($9). I’ve been fond of octopus since I tried it at Davanti Enoteca, and I’m glad so many local restaurants are adding it to their menu.

Cannonball’s meatballs — or takoyaki — are less chewy than traditional octopus and served with katsu sauce, which is sort of a Japanese version of ketchup, kewpie mayo, and bonito flakes. The sweetness of the sauces with the octopus made an impact with my son. “This is now my second favorite food,” he said. Considering bean-and-cheese burritos are his No. 1 choice, I think we’re making progress.

My wife had good vegan options: a delightful garlicky miso soup ($6), a vegetable tempura that was nice and crispy ($14), and the Marco Pollo ($12), a veggie roll that used avocado and red and yellow peppers as well as asparagus, bean sprouts, and cucumber. The rest of us enjoyed the Pork Rib Splits ($12) cooked in a sweet-and-spicy Korean chili sauce.

Cocktail-wise, I was disappointed with the Sunset Margarita ($11). Although it had fine ingredients — Peligroso Reposado tequila, Cointreau, Grand Marnier, orange shrub — the end result tasted like one of those two-for-one margaritas I had in TJ back in the ’80s. A better option was the Refresh ($11), a gin cocktail with lime and cucumber. Very refreshing, which is why my wife had two.

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