Phil’s BBQ

Phil’s BBQ is simply the best. They are also the 2nd most yelped spot in the country, if that tells you anything.

If the company description didn’t convince you, perhaps you should visit some review web sites of Phil’s BBQ. Phil’s gets a 4 1/2 stars on YELP. Excellent. Very very excellent. OBVIOUSLY, you don’t need to take my word for it. Physically go there and you’ll enjoy the 1 1/2 – 2 hour wait. Yum. If not, here’s a picture to make you hungry and mouth savory.

So who introduced me to this random place? Norman Tsai took me and Robert randomly one night last summer and I instantly fell in love with the greasy fat & bbq sauce. YUM! Ever since, I’ve been going as often as I possibly could.

Trip 1: With Norman and Robert –> Summer 2009

Trip 2: With Norman and Robert –> Summer 2009 (July 10th, 2009)

Trip 3: With Norman and Robert –> Summer 2009

Trip 4: With John Torres, Leah, Leandro, Alexis, Michelle Song, Austin, Ryan, and Victor (September 2009)

Trip 5: With John Torres, Howard, Leandro, Alexis, Michelle Song, Leah, & Jordan (November 10th, 2009)

Trip 6: With Alexis, Leandro, Howard, & John Torres (February 28th, 2010)

Trip 7: With Lauren, John Torres, & Howard (April 9th, 2010)

Trip 8: With Tyler, Amy Tran, Earle, Leandro, Alexis, John Torres & Howard (April 17th, 2010)

Trip 9: With Lauren, Howard, and John Torres (April 25th, 2010)

Trip 10: With Sheena, Mimi, & Earle (FAIL!) (June 1st, 2010)

Trip 11: With Alex, & Tyler (June 9th, 2010)

Trip 12: With Earle, Sheena, Alexis, Leandro, Howard, & Michelle (June 18th, 2010)

Trip 13: With John Torres, Leah, Brittney, Howard, & Leandro (July 8th, 2010)

Trip 14: With Alexis, Leandro, Joe, and his friends (July 24th, 2010)

Trip 15: With Earle & Tabula Family (July 28th, 2010).

Trip 16: With Howard, John Torres, Jonny, Ruby, Justine, Stephen (August 11th, 2010)

Trip 17: With Tyler, Earle, and John Torres (August 15th, 2010)

Trip 18: With Theresa, Tim, and Maivy (September 3rd, 2010)

Trip 19: With Earle (September 6th, 2010)

Trip 20: With Julia, Khoi, Leandro, Joseph, and John Torres (September 11th, 2010)

Trip 21: With Theresa, Tim, and Jessica (September 12th, 2010)

Trip 22: With Michelle, Tiffany, Daniel, & Matt (October 3rd, 2010)

Trip 23: With Katherine Junus, Leah, Leandro, John Torres, and Howard (October 14th, 2010)

Trip 24: With Earle, Thiep, Andrew Ho, Howie, Jordan, Alexis, Leah, Leandro, Howard, John Torres, Tyler, Victoria P., Jake, Kunal, Julia, Alex, Rosario, Germaine, Amy, Tiffany S, Matt O, Jonathan Chou, Joyce Wang, Lauren Coleman, Cindy, Rashika, Geetha, Matt Diamond, & Amul (October 29th, 2010)

Trip 25: With Theresa, Tim, and Jessica (October 30th, 2010)

Trip 26: With Earle, Theresa, Tim, and Andrew (November 28th, 2010)

Trip 27: With Alex & Lauren (January 11th, 2011)

Trip 28: With Julia, Alex, Tyler, Victoria Payne, Geetha, & Bee-John (January 14th, 2011)

Trip 29: With Jerick & Brian Vo (January 16th, 2011)

Trip 30: With Jake, Victoria Payne, Tyler, & Matt Diamond (January 23rd, 2011)

Trip 31: With Mimi, Tanya, and Earle (February 4th, 2011) [Lunch]

Trip 32: With Alexis, Leandro, Howard, and John Torres (February 4th, 2011) [Dinner].

Trip 33: With Lauren, Bee-John, and Matt Diamond (February 25th, 2011)

Trip 34: With Rosario, Jake, Alex, Matt, & Lauren (March 12th, 2011)

Trip 35: With Earle, and Thiep (March 27th, 2011)

Trip 36: With Sandy, Bee-John, Pablo, and Kevin (March 30th, 2011)

Trip 37: With Adam & Jessica (TO GO) (April 21st, 2011)

Trip 38: With Sheila, Nick, & John (April 22nd, 2011)

Trip 39: With Daniel, Ryan, Robbie, Michelle, & Louise (May 1st, 2011)

Trip 40: With Leandro, Howard, Jonathan Chou, & John Torres (May 6th, 2011)

Trip 41: With Earle & Tiana (GLEE CONCERT) (May 29th, 2011)

Trip 42: With Alex, Rosario, Matt, Tyler, Jake, & Bee-John (June 8th, 2011)

Trip 43: With Annie, Jenny, & Nam (June 19th, 2011)

Trip 44: With Rosario, Lauren, & Geetha (July 4th, 2011)

Trip 45: With Alexis, Leandro, & John Torres (July 10th, 2011)

Trip 46: With John Cuellar, Kevin, & Tyler (July 29th, 2011)

Trip 47: With Robbie, Joey, & Michelle (August 4th, 2011)

Trip 48: With Tyler and Lauren (September 9th, 2011)

Trip 49: With Leah, Leandro, Howard, & John Torres (September 29th, 2011)

Trip 50: With Alex, Tyler, Chris, & Lauren (October 14th, 2011)

Trip 51: With Alexis (November 2nd, 2011)

Trip 52: With Henry, Sid, Adam, & Luke (November 13th, 2011)

Trip 53: With Bee-John, John Cuellar, Fernando, Joe, & Yonathan (December 11th, 2011)

Trip 54: With Earle, Thiep, and Triet (December 15th, 2011)

Trip 55: (SAN MARCOS): With Earle & Thiep (January 8th, 2012)

Trip 56: With Alex and Bee-John (January 21st, 2012)

Trip 57: With Tiffany, Daniel, Robbie, & Michelle (January 28th, 2012)

Trip 58: With John Cuellar & Claire Yang (February 10th, 2012)

Trip 59: With Amy, Earle, Loc, and Tyler (February 19th, 2012)

Trip 60: With Jonathan Chou, Cindy, and Nandhu (March 2nd, 2012)

Trip 61: With Brandon, Bijan, Elizabeth, & Paul [Encounter with Nicole] (March 6th, 2012)

Trip 62: With Melody, Tina, Yanette, & George (March 20th, 2012)

Trip 63: With Earle, Thiep, & Triet (April 1st, 2012)

Trip 64: With Lilly, Lisa, Chermaine, & Emily (April 7th, 2012)

Trip 65: With Adam Radtke (To-go) (April 29th, 2012)

Trip 66: With Pam Sran (May 5th, 2012)

Trip 67: [SAN MARCOS] With John Cueller, Claire, and Tim (May 13th, 2012)

Trip 68: With Katherine Junus, Leah, & Jonathan Chou (May 16th, 2012)

Trip 69: With Theresa & Tim (May 12th, 2012)

Trip 70: With Dominique (June 2nd, 2012)

Trip 71: With Alex, Verena, & Tyler (June 3rd, 2012)

Trip 72: With Clifford, Avital, Brittany, & T.Saw (June 5th, 2012)

Trip 73: With Alethia, Nandhu, Ryan, Meagan, Anna, Vivian, Tien, & Thy (June 11th, 2012)

Trip 74: With Nandhu, David, Tran, Pauline, Jennifer (x2), Jenny, Fernando, Calvin, Vin, Megan, & Christina (June 19th, 2012)

Trip 75: With Katherine Junus, Leah, Brittney, Alexis, Leandro, & Howard (June 29th, 2012)

Trip 76: With Earle, Joyce, Bijan, and Jessica (July 12th, 2012)

Trip 77: With Leta, Michelle, Nandhu, Brandon, Kayla, Sid, Bijan, & Clifford (September 16th, 2012)

Trip 78: With Victoria, Emily, Irving, & Aprille (November 10th, 2012)

Trip 79: With Jessica, Bijan, & Sid (November 17th, 2012)

Trip 80: With Truong, Karl, Emily, & Andy (December 14th, 2012)

Trip 81: With Teresa, Andy, Christian, Victoria, Natalie, Alan, Truong, & Karl (January 23rd, 2013)

Trip 82: With Teresa, Andy, Emily, Victoria, Mikey, Don, Alan, Jennifer, Karl, Joseph, Jen M., Neil, & Justin (March 17th, 2013)

Trip 83: With Teresa, Christian, & Jen Nguyen (April 5th, 2013)

Trip 84: With Neil, Jen M, & Ashley G (April 6th, 2013)

Trip 85: With Barbie, Ariana, Teresa, Andy, Elizabeth, Paul, Brandon, & Kayla (May 30th, 2013)

Trip 86: With John Cuellar, Louise, Chris, Phil, Claire, Michelle, Rocio, and John (June 12th, 2013)

Trip 87: With Theresa, Tim, & Earle (July 3rd, 2013)

Trip 88: With Amul, Alex, Amy, Brian, Julia, Bijan, Jessica, & Clifford [+Jerick] (July 22nd, 2013)

Trip 89: With Kim Chi & Tran (July 28th, 2013)

Trip 90: With Kim Chi, Kathy, & Michael (August 25th, 2013)

Trip 91: With Thiep, Triet, Vu, Earle, Christian, Sheena, Alex, Rashika, Julia, Jessica, Wesley, Bijan, Sid, Brandon, Kayla, Rocio, Claire+1, Avital, Nandhu, Theresa, Tim, Tanya, David, Mimi, Amy Hoang, Brian, John Cuellar, and Jonathan Chou (October 26th, 2013)

Trip 92: With Rocio (November 22nd, 2013)

Trip 93: With Annie, Nam, & Bijan (December 24th, 2013)

Trip 94: With Nam, Jenny, & Duke [January 26th, 2014]

Trip 95: With Teresa (February 14th, 2014)

Trip 96: With Teresa (March 1st, 2014)

Trip 97: With Earle & Christian (April 4th, 2014)

Trip 98: With Sid, Jessica, Bijan, Alan, Tyler, Julia, Katie, Rocio, & Brandon (April 17th, 2014)

Trip 99: With Karl & Jessica (May 1st, 2014)

The MAGICAL Trip 100: With Thiep, Alex, Nandhu, Daniel, Brian Vo, Jonathan, Triet, Tyler, Julia, Li, Teresa, Amy Hoang, Karl, Andy, Neil, Vu, Claire, Luis, Angela, Adam, Douglas, Michelle, Louise, Amy Tran, Ethan, Barbie, Rob, Brian, Bijan, Avital, Brandon, Alan, Luke, Annie, Nam, & Nadav (June 28th, 2014)

Trip 101: With Teresa (July 12th, 2014)

Trip 102: With Andy (at the ballpark): (August 11th, 2014)

Trip 103: With Thiep, Triet, & Vu (April 4th, 2015).

Trip 104: With Nam, Tracy, & Duke (June 14th, 2015).

Trip 105 FAIL, resulting in car accident, with Thiep: (July 19th, 2015)

Trip 105 (SUCCESS): With Micah, Noelle, Nick, Jasmine, Travis, Edithiopia, and Chevonne (July 25th, 2015)

Trip 106 with Karl (August 15th, 2015)

Trip 107 with Editha, Cheyenne, & Michelle (September 19th, 2015)

Trip 108 with Sam and Jean (October 23rd, 2015)

Trip 109 with Ruth, Betsy, & Kyle (December 21st, 2015)

Trip 110 with Mom, Dad, Chi Thu, Duke, Jenny, and JAYDEN (March 19th, 2016)

Trip 111 with Ivy, Andy, Vu, and Triet (April 2nd, 2016)

Trip 112 with Elizabeth, Paul, Clifford, Bijan, Jessica, & Wesley (April 22nd, 2016)

Trip 113: STUDENT Field Trip, with Caitlin, Melody, Litzy, Amy, Kathy, & Crystal (June 4th, 2016)

Trip 114: with Andy (June 30th, 2016)

Trip 115: With Edith, Cheyenne, and Melody (July 17th, 2016)

Trip 116: With Meighen, Chevonne, & Sarah [TO GO] (July 23rd, 2016)

Trip 117: With Sam, Kyle, Michelle, Laura, & Winnyfred (November 10th, 2016)

Trip 118: With Theresa, Tim, & Linh (December 23rd, 2016)

Trip 119: With Andy and Dominique (December 29th, 2016)

Trip 120: With Bijan and Tiffany (January 1st, 2017)

Trip 121: With Andy (March 18th, 2017)

Trip 122: With Tiffany, Elizabeth, Paul, Jessica, Jackie, & Andy (April 12th, 2017)

Trip 123: With Brady, Thiep, & Triet (May 27th, 2017)

Trip 124: With Ryan, Kyle, Sam, & Brady (June 27th, 2017)

Trip 125: With Andy, Jessica, Joe, & John Cuellar (July 25th, 2017)

Trip 126: With Brady, Jerick, Brian V, & Nina (September 3rd, 2017)

Trip 127: With Brady (October 8th, 2017)

Trip 128: With Laura, Michelle, Sam, Ryan, Richard, Eugene & Kyle (October 21st, 2017)

Trip 129: With Earle, Carlos, and Brady (11/11/2017)

Trip 130: With Brady (November 19th, 2017)

Trip 131: With Francisco & Brady (December 9th, 2017)

Trip 132: With Karl (December 18th, 2017)

Trip 133: With Brady Pak (January 20th, 2018)

Trip 134: With Brady Pak (February 11th, 2018)

Trip 135: With Michele & Brady (March 11th, 2018)

Trip 136: With Colin, Albert, Michelle, & Laura (March 26th, 2018)

Trip 137: With Brady (April 16th, 2018)

Trip 138: With Annie, Nam, & Tammy (May 26th, 2018)

Trip 139: With Eugene Hahn, Jessica, Angela, Esther, Christine, Alice, & Bohwa (July 10th, 2018)

Trip 140: With Earle, Carlos, and Robert (July 11th, 2018)

Trip 141: With Brian Vo and Jerick (July 22nd, 2018)

Trip 142: With Noelle & Alexsandra (July 31st, 2018)

Trip 143: With Andrew, Annie, Thai, Elaine, Eric, Jazmine, Jennie, Kartal, Kim-Quang, Melinda, Michael, Patryk, & Phillip (August 12th, 2018)

Trip 144: With Moa Kim (August 26th, 2018)

Trip 145: With Jean-Carlo & Enrico (September 9th, 2018)

Trip 146: With Francesca, Brittany, Brady, & Derrick (September 30th, 2018)

Trip 147: With Brady (October 14th, 2018)

Trip 148: With Colin, Brady, Andres, & Enrico (October 20th, 2018)

Trip 149: With Annie, Nam, Jenny, Duke, Jayden, Dilan, Thao, Tammy, & Thomas (October 28th, 2018)

Trip 150: With With Elaine, Kartal, Mimi, Jessica, Amul, Earle, Robert, Carlos, Sandy, Annie, Jin, Sarah, Phillip, Annie, Nam, Triet, Thiep, Brian V, Vu, Enrico, Richard, Laura, Michelle, Moa, Diane, Brandon, Noelle, Alexandra, & David (November 17th, 2018)

Trip 151: With Jessica, Mayra, Leo, & Breeanna (December 16th, 2018)

Trip 152: With Elizabeth Goodrich (December 22nd, 2018)

Trip 153: With Cheyenne & Edith (December 26th, 2018)

Trip 154: With Phillip, Gabby, Enrico, Laura, Nancy, Genesis, & Michelle (December 30th, 2018)

Trip 155: With 100+ RKMS Students & Rise Kohyang Middle School (January 6th, 2019)

Trip 156: With Katherine & Phillip (January 19th, 2019)

Trip 157: With Michelle (February 11th, 2019)

Trip 158: With Karl Yabes (April 26th, 2019)

Trip 159: With Carlos, Earle, & Robert (April 27th, 2019)

Trip 160: With Phillip, Andy, Jennie, Melinda, & Elaine (May 26th, 2019)

Trip 161: With Phillip, Katherine, Sarah, Sean, Julie, Angeli, Elaine, & Evan (June 8th, 2019)

Trip 162: With Jessica & Bijan (June 30th, 2019)

Trip 163: With Isaiah, Karlie, Mackenzie, Hernan, Sarah, Cassidy, & Tommy (July 14th, 2019)

Trip 164: With Sarah, Stephanie Hughes, Joseph, Phillip, Anthony, Elajah, Josh, Candhi, Julie, Annie, Jin, Eric, Jazmine, Troy, Kartal, Elaine, Sean, Dylan, Carolina, Jessica, Andrew, Shawn, & Tami (July 28th, 2019)

Trip 165: With Katherine (August 24th, 2019)

Trip 166: With Sarah, Phillip, Nandhu, Angeli, Noelle, Alex, Jorge, Brett, and Elaine (October 23th, 2019)

Trip 167: With Katherine and Melinda (December 1st, 2019)

Trip 168: With Sarah, Bijan, Jadis, Sean, Josh, Kartal, & Vivian (December 14th, 2019)

Trip 169: With Sam Choi & Kyle Johnson (December 28th, 2019)

Trip 170: With Katherine Pham (January 3rd, 2020)

Trip 171: With Katherine, Phillip, Sarah, Noelle, Kartal, Eric, Alexandria+1 (March 7th, 2020)

Trip 172 (QUARANTINE) with Brady (April 11th, 2020)

Trip 173: With Phillip (June 6th, 2020)

Trip 174: With Tammy and Thomas (June 17th, 2020)

Trip 175: With Helen & Karl (June 25th, 2020)

Trip 176: With Karl and Helen (July 18th, 2020)

Trip 177: With Karl and Helen (July 31st, 2020)

Trip 178: With Nandhu (August 16th, 2020)

Trip 179: With Katherine, Sarah, Phillip, Elaine, Karl, Annie, & Jin (October 24th, 2020)

Trip 180: With Phillip (December 5th, 2020)

Trip 181: With Katherine and Karl (January 4th, 2021)

Trip 182: With Brady (January 8th, 2021)

Trip 183: With Helen, Karl, and Elaine (February 7th, 2021)

Trip 184: With Tammy and Thomas (March 21st, 2021)

Trip 185: With Tammy and Thomas (March 21st, 2021)

Trip 186: With Tammy and Thomas (March 21st, 2021)

Trip 187: With Brady (April 11th, 2021)

Trip 188: With Katherine, Mindy, Phillip, Andy, Sarah, Jazmine, Eric, Sean, Josh, & Kailie (May 30th, 2021)

Trip 189: With Katherine, Enrico, Gabby, Laura, Winfred, & Michelle (July 18th, 2021)

Trip 190: With Katherine, Laura, Laura, Winfred, Sam, & Michelle (October 23rd, 2021)

Trip 191: With Katherine, Phillip, Annie, Jin, Josh, Jose, Sean, Kailie, Jazmine, & Eric (November 27th, 2021)

Trip 192: With Savannah, Catherine, & Alex (December 21st, 2021)

Trip 193: With Katherine (January 15th, 2022)

Trip 194: With Katherine, Tammy, and Thomas (February 19th, 2022)

Trip 195:  With Josh, Phillip, Sean, Kailie, Eric, Jazmine, Amaryllis, Joseph, & Alicia, Mindy (February 26th, 2022)

Trip 196: With Sam, Michelle, Laura, Winfred, Katherine, & Enrico (May 29th, 2022)

Trip 197: Delivery from Jennie Vu (July 6th, 2022)

Trip 198: With Katherine, Tammy, and Thomas (October 8th, 2022)

Trip 199: With Katherine, Phillip, Josh, Ansa, Carolina, Annie, Jin, Laura, Winfred, Esmeralda, Enrico, Michelle, Bijan, Carol, Jenny, Duke, Jayden, Dylan, & Karl (October 29th, 2022)

Trip 200 (YAYYYYY): With Katherine, Eugene, Sam, Eric, Jazmine, Jeffrey, Sabrina, Michael, Mindy, Jennie, Tina, Nina, Andy, Elaine, Erika, Anhsa, Amul, Philip, Josh, Michelle, Enrico, & Colin (November 12th, 2022)

Trip 201: With Katherine, Sam, & Michelle (January 6th, 2023)

Trip 202: With Katherine, Karl, and Joyce (March 18th, 2023)

 

Trip 203: With Katherine (April 2nd, 2023)

Trip 204: With Katherine, Karl, Cathy, & Ariel (June 17th, 2023)

Trip 205: With Andres Saldivar, Abbigail Hernandez, & Joana Franke (June 20th, 2023)

Trip 206: With Michelle, Enrico, Colin, Eugene, Gabriela, Laura, & Winfred (July 20th, 2023)

Trip 207: With Katherine, Michelle, & Bijan (July 28th, 2023) ~25th Anniversary Party~

Trip 208: With Sam, Katherine, Winfred, Michelle, Laura, Izzy, Jeffrey, Sabrina, Colin, Eric, Jasmine, Mindy (and bf), Eugene, Enrico, Gabriela, Josh, Phillip, Sean, Bijan, Carol, Julie (bf and son), and Karl (33rd Birthday – October 28th, 2023)

Trip 209: With Karl and Katherine (January 1st, 2024)

Trip 210: With Katherine @ San Diego Airport Terminal 2 (March 30th, 2024)

Trip 211: With Katherine, Thao, Annie, Remy, Nam, Mom, & Dad (April 27th, 2024)

Trip 212: With Katherine, Karl, Tien, Josh, & Michelle (May 26th, 2024)

Trip 213: With Karl (July 31st, 2024)

Trip 214: With Katherine (potatoball), Bijan, Gia, Michelle + Dad, Jazmine, Eric, & Brady (September 1st, 2024) (Baby @ 4 weeks)

Trip 215: With Katherine, Jeffrey, Sabrina, Michelle, Bijan, Gia, Laura, Isabella, Sam, Alejandra, & Noelle (November 2nd, 2024) (Baby @ 12 weeks)

Trip 216: With Katherine (November 24th, 2024) (Baby @15 weeks)

Trip 217: With Henry, Amul, & Andy (December 22nd, 2024)

Trip 218: With Katherine & Karl (Feb 15th, 2025) (Baby @ 27 weeks)

Trip 219: Baby Shower – Kai @32 Weeks 3/22/25: With Katherine, Amul, Andy Bao, Andy Phan, Tran Nguyen, Angela+1, Angie Schultz, Anhsa, Annie Yu, Bijan, Victor, Brady, Brandon +2, Brian Vo, Brittany N+1, Cathy, Colin/Auggie+2, Earle, Eric, Jasmine, Erika, Alex, Esther+1, Eugene, Jennifer Aiken, Jenny, Duke, Jayden, Dylan, Jessica, John Torres, Julie+1, Laura, Linh, Louise, Michelle Smith, Mimi, Nina, Noelle, Phillip, Samuel, Alejandra, Sean, Theresa, Tim, Tien, Josh, Timothy, Tina+1, Andy Nguyen, Triet, & Vu

Trip 220: With Katherine, Kai, Laura, Winfred, Sam, Alejandra, & Michelle (November 8th, 2025)

Trip 221: With Katherine, Kai, Winfred, Laura, Izzy, & Natalia (December 31st, 2025)

Trip 222: With Katherine & Kai (March 26th, 2026)

With all that said, Who wants to go to Phil’s with me next?! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂