Little Lion Cafe

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Sunset Cliffs Boulevard
Little Lion Cafe

Little Lion Cafe is a café located in San Diego's beautiful Ocean Beach, right next to the Sunset Cliffs. The restaurant offers Mother's Day brunch reservations as well as a pick-up option featuring their famous Bubbles Basket and Antipasti platter for 4-6 people. In addition, they offer take-home dinner menus for a memorable weekend meal. Enjoy delicious food with stunning views!
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Recent social media posts

11/07/2026

The weather is looking great this weekend, so Annemarie & Deirdre opened up some more reservations for tomorrow nights w**e dinner! Swipe for menu! Link to reserve below.

https://www.exploretock.com/little-lion-cafe/

11/04/2026

News & Menus!

Dear Friends,

Let’s talk about neighbors. You might think that most of our customers come from the neighborhood, and indeed, many of them do. But there are many others who brave the San Diego freeways to come to Little Lion at rush hour to pick up the Friday Night Take Home Dinner. (Thinking of sweet Ashley, who comes after work to pick up dinner, and then sits on the parking lot otherwise known as 8 East to drive home to Del Cerro. If I’d know that, Ashley, I would’ve bought that glass of w**e that you had while you waited for your order.)

But today I’m focusing on our neighbors down the street, Danielle and Leah, who own Ultreya Coffee, right down the street at Narragansett. They already had a place in the College Area, but wondered if OB might be right for them. So some time back, they used Little Lion as a pop up to test the market. OB said, “yes, please.” They carry Little Lion pastries there. And now, you can enjoy coffee made with Ultreya Coffee beans at Little Lion. Deirdre has developed some new coffee drinks for the season: a maple/brown sugar cold brew and an apricot and cream cold brew. She’s also concocted an apricot matcha and a fall sangria. Would that be good with some Eggs Benedict or what?

Some other neighbors we saw this week include Anne-Marie’s pal and roller skating partner, Vivian Hernandez, who owns Azucar down on Newport. She came by on Friday to pick up her Friday Take Home Dinner order. That’s a pretty good endorsement for the dinner, I have to say. (She is one accomplished chef!) And finally, we have our friend and neighbor Russell Crow, who lives in the back alley and visits us every single day. In fact, he’s there pretty much all day, and has been for quite some time. Say hi to him next time you come in.

Since it looks like our fall weather has already come and gone, we’re getting in another al fresco w**e dinner this Sunday, November 8th. Reservations are now open! These are always so much fun. And educational! And the food is top notch. Try it if you haven’t already—you’ll meet some terrific Little Lion neighbors who may or may not live nearby!

Gratefully yours,
The Little Lions
(and Mom)

10/31/2026

Happy Halloween…Be safe out there!

Love, the Little Lions 🦁

10/28/2026

Dear Friends,

LITTLE LION WILL BE CLOSED ON SATURDAY NIGHT, OCTOBER 31.

We will still be serving brunch on Saturday, rain or shine, costumes optional!

We’re popping in just quick-like to share this week’s menus. Anne-Marie designed the Friday Take Home Dinner to hold well in case you’re invited to a potluck for Halloween and need something to bring. Of course you can just stay home and eat it all yourself. No judging here.

And the Monday Meal Service reflects the changing season, such as it is in San Diego. It’d be worth it to try just for the rice crispy treat. Really!

And that’s our very short but at least not scary news for this week. We hope to see you all soon!

Gratefully yours,
The Little Lions
(and Mom)

10/20/2026

News & menus!

Dear Friends,

The Communications Department (and Jim) are on the road again, so this time our news is coming to you from the Upper Midwest. We’ve been thinking about food while on this trip, as one does when flying down the Interstate at 84 mph. We had the best croissant this side of Paris in downtown Salt Lake City. I asked the young woman at the counter if the owner was French. “No,” she said. “But his grandmother was and he learned everything from her.” Heh. We know a little something about that. That night, deep into Montana, we had the best mushroom soup ever in a brick building near a very busy train yard where extremely long trains were transporting coal and livestock. Someone once said to me that the middle of the United States only uses three spices: salt, pepper, and cream of mushroom soup. Maybe true, but the chef at this restaurant took his own spin on cream of mushroom soup and boy, I wish I could have taken a vat of that home with us.

This got me to think about what has influenced Anne-Marie’s cooking. We’ve chronicled here many times how her grandfather had an influence on her, just like the French bakery owner’s grandmother in Salt Lake City influenced her grandson. And maybe because of the region we live in, Anne-Marie’s often-used ingredient would be a vegetable. Well, all of the vegetables actually. We’re so lucky to live in an area that can grow things all year long. And Anne-Marie takes advantage of that by working in vegetables in every way, shape, and form into Little Lion offerings. You can really see her love of vegetables in the Monday Meal Service dishes.

Besides her grandfather, the person who got Anne-Marie excited about vegetables is Alice Waters. In 5th grade, or thereabouts, Anne-Marie had a school assignment to write a story about her hero. She wrote about Alice Waters. I can’t think of any other 10-year-olds who are writing about Alice Waters, but there you go. (When Dominique had this assignment, she chose Mother Teresa; Jacqueline did Coco Chanel. What can I say? The Coulon sisters follow the beats of a lot of different drummers, sometimes all at the same time.)

Years later, Alice Waters was in town for a book signing. Of course we went. When it was our turn to have our books signed, Anne-Marie blurted out to her, “You have been my hero since I was a little girl. I would basically like to be you.” Alice looked up from signing the book, smiled at Anne-Marie, and said, “well sure, why not, you can be me if you want to.” Not long after that, Anne-Marie did a stage (internship) at Chez Panisse, where her first job was to go through the raspberry delivery and pick out only the very best specimens in the box for that night’s dessert.

This is all to say that an upbringing, a hero, and a region have all combined to bring you what is on your plate at Little Lion. And this week’s menus all illustrate this point. We hope there is something to tickle your fancy among them.

And that’s our news for this week. We hope to see you all soon!

Gratefully yours,
The Little Lions
(and Mom)

10/15/2026

News & menus!

You know how every family has its own shorthand? A phrase or word that doesn’t mean anything to anyone else without the context? Something that elicits a big response from anyone who is aware of the family lore because they lived through it? In our family, the statement is some iteration of, “Behave yourself or you’re going to be locked in the w**e closet.”

It’s hard to say now just how often the Coulon sisters were in time-outs in the w**e closet at the Belgian Lion, because they also used it as their playhouse. They spent a lot of time in there. And because I was still at my day job, I didn’t witness what they might have done that would have warranted a lock up while Jim and his family were working to get the restaurant open for the evening. By the time I got there after work, they would have already been released from custody. In fact, because I never actually saw them in there, all these years later, I’ve had a hard time believing they were ever actually sent to the w**e closet hoosegow.

But oh boy, all three of them still talk about it to this day. In fact, Anne-Marie told me a story just this week that I’d never heard before—a story that only kids who grew up in a restaurant under the flight path could relate to. (Which may explain the deep and longtime friendship between the Coulon sisters and the Baumann brothers of Bali Hai and Tom Ham’s Lighthouse. They all have their own OB/Point Loma/Restaurant Kid shorthand.)

Here’s what she told me: “One day, Jacqueline and I were in the w**e closet playing Airport.” (Being older, Dominique had already outgrown this game so she wasn’t in there with them.)

“Wait,” I interrupted. “Why did Dad put you in the closet? What did you do?”

“I don’t remember, “ she said. “Misbehaving somehow. Anyway we were playing Airport. We thought we could control the airplanes by pulling a w**e bottle slowly off of the shelf, and then pushing it back in. When we’d hear an airplane, we’d say, ‘now taking off is United Flight 163, or something like that,’ and then when we couldn’t hear it anymore, we’d push the bottle back in.”

She continued, “One of us dropped a bottle and it broke and w**e splashed everywhere. Since we were already in trouble, we couldn’t tell Dad so we went and got Uncle Don Joseph and Aunt Dona and they cleaned it all up.”

“Did they tell Dad?”

“They must have, because he’d need to know for the inventory.” (Spoken like the restauranteur that she grew up to be.)

There’s no w**e closet at Little Lion, so, good news, we have no place to put you if you misbehave. But there is a W**e Club. This is Deirdre’s project and she does a fabulous job choosing the w**es. Before coming to Little Lion, she had a long career as a w**e buyer and as such is quite knowledgeable. We include a link to the W**e Club at the bottom of each of these newsletters (yes, there is occasionally actual information you can use in these missives and not just embarrassing childhood stories!) I encourage you to click on that link to learn more about the club, or email Deirdre and she will get back to you with more information. The next volume will be coming out in the next week or so. Get in on that action!

And that’s our news for this week. We hope to see you all soon!

Gratefully yours,
The Little Lions
(and Mom)

*You can see the infamous W**e Closet Jail for yourself at The Third Corner. (If you are new here, The Belgian Lion was where The Third Corner is now.) Look to your right just as you enter. They’ve made it much nicer. It has a pretty door and shelving now. It was literally just a closet, and apparently a remote Air Traffic Control Center, in our time there. I often wonder though what people think when we’re at The Third Corner and one of the girls will point at the closet and say, “oh look, that’s where we got locked up when we were bad.”

10/01/2026

News & Menus

Dear Friends,

You know what’s fun? Getting to tag along with Anne-Marie when she takes a special lunch to school for one of her kids. Today she made quite a spread (only a portion of which is shown here) for her 4th grade daughter’s class. The food mirrored elements of a story that they have been reading. The teacher did such an impressive job of making the lunch a teachable moment. And it was so gratifying to see the kids gather around the table and interact with one another—passing the bread, commenting on the cupcakes (big hit), pouring each other a little more apple c***r. What a special little group.

By now you’ve heard that the next w**e dinner is coming up on October 4th. This will be the grown up version of what we just did for the 4th graders. And you’ll learn something, too! You’ll learn about the Italian w**es that are featured this time around. There won’t be any grading though, and certainly no test, so the pressure is off on that. You just have to come and enjoy yourself and be like the 4th graders—talk to your neighbor, comment on your favorite part of the meal, offer to pour a little more of what’s in the bottle.

And that’s our short news this week. (The Communications Department might be a little tired after spending just a short time in the classroom. If you have a teacher in your life, you really should give him or her a hug. Oof. They put in some long days.) Don’t forget to peruse this week’s menus. Heads up on one highlight of the Peasant menu: the chocolate mousse. You should come in just for that!

Hope to see you all soon. . .

Until then,
The Little Lions
(and Mom)

09/23/2026

News + Menus!

Dear Friends,

Most of you, I’m sure, are pretty hip, so you already know what I’m about to tell you. But bear with me for a bit because I think this is pretty cool. For about 20 years now, there has been a popular drink from Italy known as the Hugo Spritz. It’s made with prosecco and elderflower liqueur. Google isn’t telling me why it’s named Hugo, but it’s a name that makes us smile because of our Hugo, a sweet young man who used to work at Little Lion. All the cool kids drink Hugo Spritzes now, which I guess is why I didn’t know about it, but you probably do.

You might have noticed that Little Lion offers a drink called the Claudette Spritz. It’s slightly different from the original Hugo, but it’s very close, kind of like siblings. So it just made sense to name the Little Lion spritz after Claudette, because she is Hugo’s sister.

Cute, huh.

But I suppose I should point out that Claudette is also THAT Claudette. Our homegrown celebrity chef, our badass Top Chef winner, our dear friend with a heart of oro, Claudette Zepeda.

We were lucky to attend a private gathering where Claudette had us all enthralled with stories of how her recently published cookbook, Cooking the Borderlands, came to be. (Even if you don’t cook, you should go buy this book. It’s so much more than a collection of recipes. It is the story of our border region, the story of the food that is the heart of our part of the world, the story of a border girl who grew up to beautifully showcase the food of her culture on the international stage. It is also just bonkersly beautiful to look at. You can pick up your copy from our friends at the wonderful Roseville Books.)

Continues in comments.

09/17/2026

News & Menus!

Dear Friends,

Let’s get this on the table right away. We are not anti-tourists. We love tourists. We have so much fun learning where everyone is from. Really now, where would we all be in this town without tourists? Tourism is, after all, the second largest sector in the San Diego economy, just behind the military. All those people from Arizona are helping us to keep the lights on.

All that being said, it’s nice to have a little breather. It’s nice to have a little more room in between the tables. And it’s nice to be able to focus on our friends and neighbors for a while before the holidays move in. So, besties, this is your time to come hang out at Little Lion.

And for all of my fellow introverts out there who might not always feel like coming in, you can always order the Friday Take Home Dinner (important note: Anne-Marie is making meatballs this week) or the Monday Meal Service.

If you’re in the Little Lion W**e Club, you’ll know that Deirdre has released the latest edition (Italian this time). These will be the w**es featured at the next w**e dinner. Stay tuned for the date and keep your reservation finger ready.

That’s our news for this week. Hope to see you all soon.

Gratefully yours,
The Little Lions
(and Mom)

09/08/2026

News + Menus…

Dear Friends,

Heads up. After a couple of weeks of short letters because of [gestures widely] life, we’re going to be a little chatty today. So if you’re just here for the menus (fair, I get it) proceed on over to the menu section now. You eagle-eyed regulars may notice that the Aperitivo menu is slightly different—Anne-Marie cooks with the seasons, even if it feels like endless summer around these parts.

Now, on to the subject for the day: chain restaurants. I just spent 5 days in a mid-sized city in a western state. Everything was either new and shiny, or it was still under construction. Even on the shortest drives, I would pass by large swaths of house farms that spread out into what used to be a high desert prairie. I googled it—this town was, in fact, the fastest growing spot in its state and oh boy was that ever obvious.

My hotel, which could not have been more than 6 or 7 years old, was on the edge of all this activity, so it was a bit more established. There must have been about 20 restaurants within walking distance of the hotel. (I’m using “walking” here loosely because the area seemed to be designed only for cars.) Every single one of those restaurants was a national chain. It reminded me of that Sylvester Stallone movie from the ‘90s, Demolition Man. He awakens in the future and is shocked to learn that every single restaurant is a Taco Bell. Sandra Bullock explains that that’s because “Taco Bell was the only restaurant to survive the franchise war of 2032.” This town made me feel like we were in the early skirmishes of this war.

Continues in comments…

08/19/2026

News + Menus

Dear Friends,

Most kids in San Diego are back in school, but summer is still hanging on at Little Lion, so no need to put the espadrilles away just yet. We still have special summery snacks on offer from 3:00-5:00 on Thursdays through Saturdays. Anne-Marie has also added a special Aperitivo Hour(s) menu for that time. Our sweet friend Katie snapped this picture at her recent afternoon visit to the café. It’s a special time to come in. It’s not busy and the sunset-watching traffic hasn’t started yet. And you can be home with time to watch a whole movie, if that’s your thing, without falling asleep on the couch before the good parts.

Speaking of espadrilles (as one does), the w**es for the upcoming W**e Dinner will be coming from the south of France and Anne-Marie has designed the menu accordingly. More details (the menu and w**e notes) will be out soon, but you can reserve your spot now. The dinner will be on September 6 at 6:00; $150 per person, $125 for w**e club members. As you know, these are intimate dinners (read: the limited seats fill up fast) so reserving sooner rather than later is always a good idea.

That’s our news for this week. We hope to see you all soon.

Gratefully yours,
The Little Lions
(and Mom)

Address

1424 Sunset Cliffs Boulevard
San Diego, CA
92107

If you are planning to visit a café on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in San Diego, there are several ways to get there.

Using public transportation, you can take the bus or trolley and get off at the nearest stop. From there, you would need to walk for a few minutes to reach your destination.

Alternatively, if you are driving, it is recommended to use a GPS or map to navigate your way. There may be availability of street parking or paid parking lots nearby the café location.

Remember to obey traffic laws and be aware of pedestrians while driving.

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 2pm
Wednesday	9am - 2pm
Thursday	9am - 2pm
Friday	9am - 2pm
Saturday	9am - 2pm
Sunday	9am - 2pm

Website

http://Thelittlelioncafe.com/

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What people say

Little Lion Cafe, located on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in San Diego, is a must-visit cafe for anyone looking for a delicious meal in a beautiful setting. The cafe is situated next to the world-famous Sunset Cliffs, providing breathtaking views while you enjoy your meal. Little Lion Cafe offers a variety of dishes that are sure to satisfy any palate. Their handmade gnocchi and Anne-Marie's Famous Meatballs are highly recommended and are sure to leave you wanting more. In addition to their regular menu, Little Lion Cafe also offers a Monday Meal Service with amazing ingredients in each dish. The cafe recently announced their Le Petit Vibe summer series, which will be held from 4:00 to 8:00 pm starting next Thursday, June 8th. Reservations and walk-ins are welcome! With its delicious food and stunning location, Little Lion Cafe is definitely worth a visit.