The one and only Tommy Gomes along with Mitch Conniff of Mitch’s Seafood opened up TunaVille Market and Groceries over a year ago! I have known Tommy for over a decade now and have some great memories of when he was at Catalina Offshore. I basically stopped going to Catalina after he left in 2019. And then of course Covid hit. And then Tommy Gomes got his own television show; the Fishmonger. Look him up now and he's listed as a "Television personality"…..well, at least they got the personality part right!
Anyway, a couple of months back Candice asked me if I'd like to meet her at TunaVille and I jumped at the chance! It would be great to see Tommy and interesting to see if time and "fame" had change him at all. Well, it hadn't, to me he's still the same old Tommy. I had a great time and have returned to TunaVille several more times, even when Tommy's out being a "personality"!
I'm just going to breeze thru this post since I'd like you to just drop by the place for yourself.
The shop is located on Driscoll's Wharf in Point Loma. Though getting there the first time using Google Maps was weird as I put in the address and it tried to take me into the gated Government facility there!
My best advice; if you have problems when on North Harbor Drive, just look for the vintage Driscoll's Wharf sign.
Park in the lot, you can get 1 hour of free parking from the machine in the lot. I park in Lot 'F'.
From there you head toward the water and Regatta Walk.
I like walking along the waterfront….a real "working" wharf. On Saturdays boats are selling their tuna along the wharf.
Unlike the owner, TunaVille is fairly discrete. Sometimes there's a sign outside, otherwise just look for this storefront.
On one of the days I visited, Tommy saw me coming and opened the door for me, waving me in:
Tommy: "See a television star is opening a door for you….."
Me: "Wait, I thought PeeWee Herman was dead……"
You get the picture! It's still Tommy!
The shop is spacious, clean, and wonderful…..
With lovely fresh seafood….I've gotten the wild shrimp from here a couple of times. And as always, Tommy is devoted to the local fishing community.
And prepared items as well.
But visit a couple of times and you'll see that there's a special place where Tommy likes to hold court.
It's at the table right across the dry aging cabinet.
Where Tommy will entice and ply you with wonderful samples of dry aged seafood.
And ever the showman, Tommy will extol you with the virtues of what you are tasting.
You can tell Tommye is in his element here.
And Tommy is really a proponent of what he call "seacuterie", basically charcuterie of the sea.
And strangely enough, the Missus has been into this stuff over the last couple of months too. Here's my last haul from TunaVille. BTW, the Missus loved those percebes that Tommy recommended. It brought back fun memories of Portugal.
And while perhaps his celebrity and success has changed him a bit over the years, he's still Tommy. Recently, I dropped by to get some Salt Farm Ghost Pepper Salt, but they were out. When I asked Tommy about when he was getting more in; he asked me to hang on a minute….and proceeded to call the company and order some for me! His heart is as big as his personality.
So, I'm now a regular customer, whether it's seafood, some stuff for the Missus's "seacuterie" dinner, or just to say hello (which can last up to an hour!).
It was good to see that Mister Grumpy Tommy was doing well!
TunaVille Market and Grocery
4904 N Harbor Drive Suite 102
San Diego, CA 92106
Current Hours:
Wed – Sun 10am – 5pm
Closed on Monday and Tuesday
Nijiya Japanese Market is a favorite stop because of the organic Produce section as well as the prepared foods area. I wrote about some 'grab and go' meals in 
There is a two sided refrigerated area near where you stand in line for the cash registers. One section has various sandwich choices.
This is a "Mix Sandwich" ($5.49) on white or wheat. Four different fillings- Tuna Salad, Egg Salad, Ham with butter and a Lettuce and Tomato with cheese and mayonnaise. Each piece of sandwich in this mix is 1/3 of a crustless bread sandwich made with three bread slices and two layers of filling. 
The "Fruits Sandwich" varies daily. This one had melon and pear and orange along with whipped cream in between slices of a quality white bread. 
Picked up some sushi while I was there and we had a nice meal.
There is a Chicken Cutlet sandwich ($5.99)-breaded deep fried chicken with a house made tonkatsu sauce (A Pork Cutlet sando is $6.99). On this day the Fruits Sandwich was simply strawberries with whipped cream. 
Placed between the three Chicken sando sections were three smaller lettuce/tomato/cucumber/mayonnaise sandwiches. A nice, balanced meal.
Marukai has two 'grab and go' island refrigerators as well as closed door freezers and a small hot deli counter. There is just so much inside this small yet packed market. 
The egg salad sando ($4.99) as well as the katsu pork sando ($4.99) are exceptionally good here. You can see I also purchased the potato salad and some katsu chicken (which is really tasty from here). {Yes, we use Christmas plates all year.}
Located between Marukai and Nijiya is 
The Mix Sandwich here ($7.99) consists of four sandwiches, each 1/3 of a whole sandwich. Egg Salad, Tuna Salad, Ham with lettuce and a Japanese Potato salad sando. Each sandwich is fresh and flavorful and fancy. Again, katsu chicken was purchased as a 'side'. 
And just wandered around. I ended up buying more Tarbais beans in the shop/deli above….yep, 35€ a kilo and I bought another half kilo.
The note on the door said "we are closed
And here again was the note posted on the door stating "we are closed". I checked Google which indicated that the place is "Temporarily Closed" as well as that "four-lettered" site which also noted that the place is scheduled to reopen on September 1st. I also did a check on the Zen Curry website, which said the reopening date is TBD.
The Logo, Theme (Celebrating A World of Music, The Universal Language) and President (
The artist rendition of Lions Clubs International entry, "Changing The World Through Music" has 'come to life'.
It's looking very much like the rendition and will have to be tested again, with 'weight' (people) on board. Then it will be ready for decorating, since it is colored in. Colors help the volunteer decorators and also help if there might be rain and some of the natural items used to cover (all visible portions of) the float succumb to the elements.
The 2024 Rotary International entry, "Clean Water-The Music of Life" is still in its basic rebar and wire structure. I can see umbrellas and the cuteness of this float, with the design supporting one the many areas of focus that Rotary serves internationally. 
The Petal Pushers and Lutheran Hour Ministries will have its 73rd entry in the Rose Parade in 2024, "Make A Joyful Noise Unto The Lord". It is the only Christian Themed float in the Parade.
Oddfellows and Rebekahs will be entering this cute, unicorn design, "All We Need Is Love". Did you know that each float plays music along the route? Well, we know the song that will be played on this float!
Kiwanis International is entering "Serving in Harmony", an old fashioned look some long past symbols of music and harmony (Nipper! His Master's Voice! and a Player Piano with a metronomic roll).
The Elks Clubs have another patriotic entry this year. I can see a Fife and Drum Corps and the back of the float looks like fireworks. 
The City of Alhambra is entering this dragon-esque float. 
Here is the base for what will most likely be another magnificent float, entered by Trader Joe's. 
It looks like a super version of Tokyo Central that we have in the 
It was before 9 a.m.-breakfast time. 
We had to. 
We made our selections, purchased a few other items, paid and found a seat at the front of the store. 
There is a water fountain available, but we had purchased this 2 liter bottle of Jasmine tea (on sale)
Our selections from the Hot Buffet serving trays: Vegetable Croquette, Cheese Tonkatsu, four Fried shrimp, two pieces of Teriyaki Chicken and one 'umami pork rib'. (Total bill for hot food was $14.58)
We purchased a loaf of Walnut Raisin bread, and new items- an iced ube matcha tea drink and carrot cake slice. Quite excellent new items.
I'm sure if you ordered online things would work out fine. And that guanciale looked really good.
We came across what looked like a hotel….it turned out to be the Splendor Hotel, with a bunch of vendors selling all sorts of plants and crafts. The Missus read one of the signs and noticed that the building is called "Park Lane" and on the third floor was something called "Taichung Sixth Market". Since it was still early and Dawncake didn't open until 10 we decided to check the place out.
