The Old Spaghetti Factory • 1974

In the heart of the Gaslamp Quarter, diners slide into a restored vintage trolley car to twirl forks through house-made pasta, part of a three-course meal that has drawn families since this outpost opened in 1974. The San Diego location carries on the Dussin family tradition born in Portland five years earlier, filling an 1898 building with antique furnishings and the kind of old-world charm that turns a Tuesday night into an occasion. Red-and-white checkered tablecloths, mizithra cheese and browned butter, and the clatter of silverware inside an actual streetcar keep the tables full.