Eater San Diego shares the top stories of the week from San Diego’s food and drink scene, including a peek at Carnitas' Snack Shack's new Embarcadero location, word about a popular Asian bakery's expansion and a look at a just-launched coffee bar in North Park.

Carnitas' Snack Shack Opens at Embarcadero With Cocktails
The beloved San Diego eatery opened its third location at North Embarcadero, an all-outdoor space that's now serving its pork-centric menu along with a new fish taco, soft-serve ice cream and brunch dishes. A cocktail bar and new drink list are also among the new features.

85°C Bakery Cafe Announces Two New Locations
Taiwanese concept 85°C Bakery Cafe shared that it plans to open at least two more locations in the San Diego area in addition to its Balboa Mesa store. The popular bakery, which specializes in Asian-inspired breads, cakes and pastries, will launch in Mira Mesa this June, followed by the opening of a National City shop in July.

North Park Coffee Bar Brews Up SF's Sightglass Coffee
Craft coffee fanatics should make a beeline for North Park's new Communal Coffee, a hip new coffee bar powered by San Francisco cult coffee roaster, Sightglass Coffee. The buzzy cafe is also serving a light food menu, and shares space with floral bar Native Poppy. 

The Lodge at Torrey Pines Previews Revamped Grill
Award-winning resort The Lodge at Torrey Pines will unveil its multi-million dollar renovation of its casual eatery, The Grill, next month. Eater has a sneak peek at the redesign and its overhauled menu, which features dishes cooked on its new custom wood-fired grill and smoker. 

Yakitori Yakyudori Owner Opening Fourth Restaurant
Fans of Yakitori Yakyudori, Hinotez and Yakitori Taisho will soon have a new spot to add to the rotation. The restaurants' owner is bringing a new location to Clairemont Mesa Boulevard: Yakitori Hino, which is scheduled to open by fall 2016. The new spot will reportedly be similar in concept to Yakitori Taisho's high-end menu of grilled skewers.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer will kick off the weekend for the 2016 Amgen Tour of California on Friday afternoon.

The Executive Director of the Amgen Tour of California, the senior vice president of business operations with the Tour, the senior vice president of marketing for the San Diego Tourism Authority and several professional cyclists will also make welcoming remarks for the start of the race often thought of as the precursor to the Tour de France.

The Tour, America’s biggest and most prestigious cycling event, will start in San Diego on Sunday. The eight-day bike race will begin at Ski Beach in Mission Bay and finish in Sacramento.

It is expected to attract more than 170 riders (16 to 18 international teams) and two million spectators.

Organizers estimate that the tour will generate a total of $100 million for the San Diego region. Direct and indirect revenue from the tour is estimated at $2 to $3 million.

Many Tour de France competitors, world champions and Olympians often compete in the race.

The tour will be broadcast internationally on NBC Sports.

A judge dismissed charges against an Alabama police officer who allegedly slammed an Indian man to the ground last February during a suspicious-person stop, NBC News reported. 

Two federal juries failed to reach verdicts in the civil rights case against Eric Parker, the Madison, Alabama, officer accused of taking down 58-year-old Sureshbhai Patel, who was left seriously injured.

In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala wrote it was reasonable for Parker to have investigated Patel because of a 911 call on Feb. 6.  

Parker responded to a call about a suspicious black man looking in garages and walking near houses and encountered Patel.

Patel, visiting his son and grandson from India, testified he didn’t understand English when confronted by officers on his walk. Dashcam video showed Patel slammed to the ground, which resulted in injuries to his spine and partial paralysis. 

Parker still faces a civil lawsuit in connection with the incident.

Caps will be flying for several weeks in San Diego as undergraduates wrap up their college careers.

While Point Loma Nazarene University students graduated on May 7, there are still several graduations to come.

San Diego State University’s (SDSU) commencement weekend began Thursday with the Imperial Valley Campus graduation. The university will host seven more ceremonies this weekend as over 9,900 students graduate.

The remaining commencement ceremonies will take place in the Viejas Arena:

• Friday, May 13 at 11 a.m. - College of Arts and Letters
• Friday, May 13 at 3 p.m. - College of Health and Human Services
• Saturday, May 14 at 8 a.m. - College of Business Administration
• Saturday, May 14 at 1 p.m. - College of Sciences
• Saturday, May 14 at 5:30 p.m. - College of Engineering
• Sunday, May 15 at 9 a.m. – College Professional Studies and Fine Arts
• Sunday, May 15 at 2 p.m. – College of Education and the Division of Undergraduate Studies

For more SDSU graduation information, click here.

California State University San Marcous (CSUSM) is the next local graduation where nearly 2,680 students will be claiming their bachelor's degree.

The CSUSM Mangrum Track & Field expects crowds of families and friends during the five ceremonies split between May 20 and May 21.

The college commencements are scheduled as such:

• Friday, May 20 at 9 a.m. - College of Business Administration
• Friday, May 20 at 1 p.m. - College of Science and Mathematics
• Friday, May 20 at 4:30 p.m. - College of Education, Health and Human Services
• Saturday, May 21 at 9 a.m. - College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences (Section 1)
• Saturday, May 21 at 1 p.m. - College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences (Section 2)

For information about the weekend, visit here.

Just a day after CSUSM students celebrate their education, the University of San Diego Class of 2016 will move their tassels too.

USD’s undergraduate commencement is slightly smaller with exactly 1,300 graduating students, according to USD communication representative, Elizabeth Harmon.

Two graduation ceremonies in the university's Jenny Craig Pavilion will split the class on Sunday, May 22.

• Sunday, May 22 at 9 a.m. - College of Arts and Sciences
• Sunday, May 22 at 1 p.m. - School of Business and Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering

Learn more about USD’s commencement events here.

Several weeks down the road, about 6,000 University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) students will also end their college education on RIMAC Field, according to UC San Diego's student affairs office.

UC San Diego will hold an all undergraduate commencement on June 11 at 10 a.m. then each college within UC San Diego will host their own ceremony.

The schedule is as follows:

• Saturday, June 11 at 2 p.m. – Warren College
• Saturday, June 11 @ 5:30 p.m. – Sixth College
• Sunday, June 12 @ 8 a.m. – Marshal College
• Sunday, June 12 @ 11:30 a.m. – Revelle College
• Sunday, June 12 @ 2:30 p.m. – Roosevelt College
• Sunday, June 12 @ 5:30 p.m. – Muir College

To learn more about UC San Diego’s graduation weekend, click here.

For those who cannot attend the ceremonies, SDSU, USD and UC San Diego offer online live streaming options.

Several UC San Diego researchers spoke at the White House Friday in an effort to advance the understanding of microbiomes.

Microbiomes are microorganisms that live on and in people, plants, soil, oceans and the atmosphere and can influence human health, climate change and food security.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced a new National Microbiome Initiative Friday to better understand microbiomes and to develop tools to protect and restore healthy microbiome function.

The White House is proposing more than $121 million in federal spending over the next two years at several agencies to study microbiomes.

Dozens of companies, foundations, and universities (including UCSD) have signed onto the National Microbiome Initiative, pledging millions of dollars to train new scientists, pay for research, and offer prizes for the best new ideas on how to understand the bacteria.

Three UCSD professors were invited, including Dr. Rob Knight, PhD, director of the UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation; Dr. Pieter Dorrestein, PhD, professor of pharmacy in the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; and Embriette Hyde, PhD, assistant project scientist in the School of Medicine and project manager of the American Gut Project.

The initiative will investigate fundamental principles that govern microbiomes across diverse ecosystems and work to develop new tools to study them.

The National Microbiome Initiative puts UCSD’s Microbiome and Microbial Sciences Initiative, a concerted research and education effort initiated last October by UCSD Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla, at the center of the effort.

"This ambitious undertaking cannot be accomplished by individual laboratories working in isolation. Developing advanced microbiome tools and treatments requires new collaborations among many disciplines. Advancing this relatively new field also depends on attracting and training multidisciplinary networks of scientists and engineers," Chancellor Khosla said. "We are very fortunate that the White House and OSTP recognize the importance of microbiome research and supports these needs, and we're grateful that they recognize the leadership of UC San Diego faculty in this field. We look forward to working with the White House and scientific leaders around the country on this initiative, which we expect will rapidly lead to a variety of new scientific insights, technological advances and economic opportunities that will benefit society, human health and the environment for decades."

UCSD has been part of the leadership behind the National Microbiome Initiative since 2013 when Dr. Knight helped organize a meeting in Washington, DC that focused on microbiome science.

"Microbes pervade all kinds of processes, from our bodies to our planet to industrial fermentation and drug synthesis. Working closely with other researchers in the White House's National Microbiome Initiative will help us unravel the fundamental science so we can understand how microbes do all these things, and help us improve the speed and accuracy in which we can 'read out' microbes," said Knight, who is known for developing a genetic sequencing technique that allows researchers to differentiate unknown microbes in hundreds of samples at once.

40 children can now ride bikes thanks to last minute volunteers.

The program “iCan Bike” hosted by Crimson Treatment and Research Center is a five-day camp that helps children with developmental disabilities learn to independently ride bikes.

The camp concluded Friday at Allient University’s Sol City Athletic Center with an awards ceremony and final bike lessons.

However, this year's program almost did not happen.

Several weeks ago, the program faced a lack of volunteers which would have led the program to be downsized or even canceled.

In a last ditch effort, the program reached out to the community through the press and social media and soon found themselves with over 120 volunteers.

Without the volunteers, the 40 children would have not had this opportunity.

For one mother, her son's success in the program means more to her than him simply being able to bike.

“This gives him the freedom to just go and be by himself and explore the world without having me be right next to him. It gives him freedom,” the mother explained.

Volunteers and staff members are now being recognized with personal certificates from the State of California for their help.

For more information on the iCan Bike program, visit here.

The 11-year-old girl who was seriously injured when her hair was caught in an Omaha carnival ride has opened one of her eyes, NBC News reported.

"When she opened her eye and she told me, she was like 'Mommy I can see you,' I lost it," Virginia Cooksey said of her injured daughter, Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth was on a spinning ride at a Cinco de Mayo carnival in Omaha on Saturday when her hair got caught in the machinery, tearing off part of her scalp. She was thrown to the floor while on the ride. 

The incident is under investigation, according to police. State authorities said the ride was inspected in April without any sign of damage.

The Board of Port Commissioners has approved a historic agreement that will help Chula Vista's Bayfront remain a thriving ecosystem, as it continues to develop.

A wildlife advisory group has been established to work with developers, making sure that as recreation and economic opportunities come to the waterfront, the birds, fish, plants and animals that live there are protected.

The land up for development is property which sits between Interstate 5 and the San Diego Bay.

The plan is expected to go to Chula Vista's City Council for approval in June.

This is not the first time a development plan has been in the works. In fact, there’s been a long history of bayfront plans -- none which have come to fruition.

In 2007, a billion-dollar development plan fell through because a deal could not be reached with the labor union.

The San Diego County District Attorney's Office has determined a San Diego County Sheriff's Deputy was justified in the shooting death of a mentally ill man in Alpine.

Simon D. Hubble, 33, of Alpine died May 27 after an incident involving Deputy Aaron Miller.

Miller, a six-year veteran of the department, was called to Emmanuel Way to help search for what had been reported as a mentally ill, violent man.

The suspect left the area but officials say Miller met up with him on the road sometime later.

Hubble was holding a screwdriver in one hand a beer in the other.

Miller deployed his Taser twice. Each time Hubble managed to remove the dart and did not drop the beer in his hand, according to the DA Office's report.

As Hubble approached Miller holding the screwdriver, Miller asked the subject not to force him to shoot, the report states.

When Hubble got closer to the deputy than when he was tased, the deputy fired three shots, striking Hubble in the chest.

Deputies and paramedics tried to perform CPR, but Hubble died a short time later, officials said.

Toxicology report showed Hubble had several anti-anxiety, allergy and antipsychotic drugs in his system at the time of his death.

The District Attorney's Office found Deputy Miller was "reasonable" in his actions and bears no criminal liability.

Danielle Burt, 2016 "Victories of Spirit" award winner, was in a devastating motorcycle accident when she was just 19. Not only did she survive, but she now serves as a role model through the Challenged Athletes Foundation and the Wounded Warriors Program.

Burt is one of three award winners who will be recognized at Sharp HealthCare’s “Victories of Spirit” event Friday evening.

In its 26^th year, the dinner recognizes people who have turned difficult events in their lives into inspiration for others and will also pay tribute to extraordinary organizations for their achievements and contributions to others.

Joe Cavallo, another 2016 winner, was born with a congenital lung disorder.

With help from the Sharp Pulmonary Rehabilitation program, Cavallo improved his stamina and built his strength. He finally received a lung transplant in 2011.

Alex Eugenio suffered a second stroke at the age of 43, resulting in right-side weakness and cognitive deficits. He worked hard to regain his strength and walk independently. He was also a 2016 award winner.

The “Victories of Spirit” dinner will be held at the San Diego Bayfront Hilton from 6 to 9 p.m. 

A federal court has found Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in contempt of court for violating orders to stop racially profiling Latinos, NBC News reported.

The ruling comes after the Arizona sheriff attempted to disobey the court’s order to overhaul the law enforcement agency’s policing practices. Arpaio acknowledged he violated the court's orders.  

The racial profiling arose as part of Arpaio's widely publicized enforcement operations that target undocumented immigrants, but have had widespread consequences throughout the immigrant and Latino communities in Arizona.

The federal ruling states that Arpaio and his deputies "have demonstrated a persistent disregard for the orders of the Court, as well as an intention to violate and manipulate the laws and policies regulating their conduct.”

Arpaio has been a strong supporter of Republican Donald Trump and campaigned for him ahead of Arizona's primary. 

Sharp Grossmont Hospital secretly recorded women giving birth and undergoing other surgical procedures in an effort to catch an alleged anesthesia drug thief.

It’s a story first brought to light by our media partner, inewsource.org.

The hospital declined an interview request, but said via a written statement that it is “very sorry that this error occurred and that the privacy of these patients was breached.”

The story has raised concerns about patient privacy and rights among moms who gave birth at Sharp Grossmont. The video surveillance was conducted inside operating rooms in the Sharp Grossmont Hospital’s Women Health Center between July 2012 and June 2013, according to court records.

"It concerns me that they did not inform the mothers at the time," said patient Tara Meade. "I would have appreciated to have known ahead of time and being asked for my consent." 

The attorney of the doctor accused of stealing the anesthesia drugs said the “shocking” drug surveillance program was overreaching, unnecessary and it violated the privacy rights of hundreds of patients.

“They recorded every single surgery from July of 2012 through the end of June 2013. Every surgery in all three centers in the Women’s Center at Sharp Grossmont in La Mesa, every single one of them. I believe every one of those women’s constitutional rights were violated and every one of them would have a case against Sharp,” said Attorney Duane Admire.

Court records show Sharp Grossmont officials began suspecting someone was stealing anesthesia drugs from surgery carts in May 2012.

In July 2012, the hospital installed surveillance video cameras inside the Women’s Health Center operating rooms where babies are delivered via C-section.

It’s also where women undergo other procedures, such as tubal ligations and hysterectomies.

Patients were not notified about the secret cameras.

The hospital says in court paperwork that the surveillance camera picked up one of its doctors removing drugs from operating room drug carts several times between September 14, 2012 and April 2013.

During the same seven month time frame, the hospital also recorded hundreds of patients while they were undergoing surgery, according to Sharp’s own declarations in court.

Hospital officials accidently gave some of the videos over to an attorney representing the doctor accused of taking the drugs.

One mom who had her baby at Sharp Grossmont during the time when cameras were installed told NBC 7 she wishes she had known.

“I would hope they would situate the cameras in a way that would strictly focus on the anesthesia and not focus on the mothers and their new babies, especially if they didn’t know it was happening,” said Meade, who had her son Sept. 14, 2012.

Admire stressed his client is innocent and that the hospital went too far in collecting evidence against his client, violating patient rights in the process.

“If you have an expectation of privacy, a reasonable expectation, then you can’t be secretly recorded,” Admire said. “Certainly when would you have more of an expectation of privacy than when you are with your doctor, undressed and exposed?”

A Sharp Grossmont spokesman declined interview requests all week, citing the pending legal matter of Admire’s client’s alleged drug theft.

In lieu of an interview with an NBC 7 reporter, the hospital wrote its own questions and answered them in a released statement.

In response to follow up questions, the hospital also released the following statement Thursday:

“In connection with recent publicity about a complaint by the California Medical Board against Dr. Adam Dorin related to events that occurred at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in 2012-2013, it recently came to our attention that Sharp, in response to Dr. Dorin’s attorney’s (Mr. Duane Admire) request for evidentiary material, mistakenly provided Mr. Admire with video clips that included patients in the operating room.

This was brought to our attention when we learned that Mr. Admire stated he viewed several clips that included patients within them. At our request, Mr. Admire returned that material to us on Tuesday, May 10. We have confirmed the information we provided to Mr. Admire did have 14 clips that included patients within them. Our intention was to send the attorney only the same video clips that were sent to the California Medical Board in January 2014 that contained no video of patients.

We are in the process of performing a detailed review of the clips and matching them to the surgery schedule to identify the patients that were included in these clips. Once we have identified the patients we will notify them as soon as possible. This is a top priority that we hope to have completed by early next week. We are very sorry that this error occurred and that the privacy of these patients was breached.”

Researchers at UC San Diego are launching a three-year study on the impact of marijuana on driving ability.

With the potential for California to legalize marijuana in November, local researchers are aiming to study how pot impacts a driver, how quickly that impairment wears off and how to measure it.

Surprisingly, those details have not yet been fully studied.

“We have very few tools available to determine whether a person is impaired while they’re driving under the influence of cannabis,” said Tom Marcotte, whose UCSD team is heading the study.

The study will begin in September and will entail collecting marijuana from the federal government and have subjects undergo a simulated driving test.

The complicated part is that the effects of marijuana on the blood are a lot different than alcohol.

“The chemical THC increases very rapidly in your blood when you smoke and then it pretty much disappears from your blood within an hour. But people will tell you they’re still high,” said Dr. Igor Grant of UCSD.

The public study will cost $1.8 million.

After arresting a man at a motel for auto theft and possession of a stolen identity, Carlsbad police found a variety of stolen items inside the man’s room.

The items include antique personal photos, medals and an urn with a dog’s ashes.

John Fuller, 44, was arrested on May 6 at a motel in the 3600 block of Pio Pico Drive near Palm Avenue and Magnolia Avenue.

Investigators believe the property may be from all over San Diego.

Police would like the community to view and share the photos on the department’s Facebook page so the items can be returned to the owners.

Property owners are asked to call Detective Adam Young at 760-931-2143.

The investigation is ongoing.

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) is facing backlash for his use of a derogatory term to describe Japanese individuals as "Japs" during a panel discussion on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” 

"National defense and homeland security are issues that mean the most to me and there's real issues with him, real problems with his views," King said. "I don't know if he's thought them through, or it's just like the guy at the end of the bar that says, 'Oh screw them, bomb them, kill them, pull out, bring them home. You know, why pay for the Japs, why pay for the Koreans?'" 

The national director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations posted a statement with King's comments on YouTube, asking him to stop using “derogatory language targeting any national, ethnic, or minority group.” 

Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, called on King to apologize.

In a statement to NBC News, King said called the backlash “intellectual dishonesty” and said his comment shouldn’t be viewed as “anti-Japanese or anti-Asian when I am satirizing and criticizing bias and ignorance.”

Nate Howard, a former NBC 7 Inspirational Student of the Month, debuted his “The Movement Be App” Friday at Fashion Valley.

The App encourages young people to "tell their stories before others do."

Howard, who graduated from Helix High School in 2009 with a 4.2 GPA, has been ranked by the ‘Today Show’ as one of the “top 28 black leaders in the nation under 28 years old.”

You can download “The Movement Be App” through iTunes now.

The San Miguel Fire Chief says there needs to be another firefighter on board their fire truck, citing safety as his main concern.

Darrin Howell presented a report to the San Miguel Fire District’s Board of Directors earlier this week.

Most truck companies surrounding San Miguel have four firefighters on each truck for safety and efficiency.

There are several fire engines and one fire truck that serves the San Miguel community. The fire truck is bigger, with a ladder and typically has more firefighters called a truck company.

But there are only three firefighters for the truck. Now, Howell is asking the board to consider adding a fourth firefighter.

Howell tells NBC 7 that fire department reports show there is an increase in effectiveness with a four-person truck company. He says it’s also safer for the firefighters and for the community.

“They should care because when you call 911, if your house is on fire, if the truck shows up that fourth body lets that company gain entrance into your house, get on the roof, do whatever they need to do to get to you, to rescue you more timely,” he said.

Fire victims have a better chance of being rescued if there are four firefighters on the truck. It's also causes less damage to the structure because things are done more quickly.

The San Miguel Fire District's Board of Directors is considering the proposal.

NBC 7 talked to the President of the Board of Directors who says she agrees more hands on a truck are better. She said she would like to see five firefighters on the truck, but says the board needs to be responsible with taxpayers’ money.

The board heard this issue this week and deferred it to the finance committee. The committee will consider two different models, weigh the benefits and see if there is money for a fourth firefighter.

The San Miguel Fire Chief hopes that the board will ultimately support adding a firefighter. He explains it's an issue the whole community should be keeping an eye on.

Some lanes of Morena Boulevard will remain closed for the next 13 hours as HAZMAT crews work to clean up a spill after a truck carrying fuel overturns Friday evening, San Diego Police Department (SDPD) confirmed.

It happened at approximately 6:00 p.m. on Morena Boulevard, just north of Interstate 8, police said.

HAZMAT crews have been working to clean up diesel that spilled onto the road and into the San Diego River below.

As of 10:30 p.m., the road has been closed in both directions and will impact the morning commute.

Some lanes may remain closed for at least the next 13 hours, CHP confirmed.

Morena Boulevard may partially reopen overnight but traffic on a stretch of the road from Taylor Street to Linda Vista Road will be impacted. 

The President of the fuel company SoCo Group told NBC 7, the driver has minor cuts and bruises. He says the company will look into what caused the accident.

Police interviewed the man accused of abducting his 9-year-old niece, who was reunited with her family, NBC News reported.

Gary Simpson, 57, is charged with especially aggravated kidnapping, but could face other charges as the investigation goes on, according to District Attorney General Dan Armstrong.

Police were questioning him, trying to figure out why he ran off with Carlie Trent eight days ago. He is being held on $1 million bond, and has a court hearing on Monday.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn said there were no signs that Carlie was hurt.

Simpson is Carlie’s uncle through marriage. The two vanished on May 4 after Simpson, picked her up from school and took off. They were found after two residents were searching a barn in a remote part of Hawkins County.