A California Culinary Academy graduate's Oaxacan-focused kitchen, Cocina De Barrio in Point Loma's Midway District San Diego occupies a former Swami's Café space on West Point Loma Boulevard with mole-driven regional Mexican cuisine launched in 2019. The signature tlayuda — a large, crisp corn tortilla spread with refried black beans, quesillo string cheese, and smoky chorizo Istmeño — channels Oaxaca's street-food tradition into a sit-down format alongside the birria-focused regional taco program at Mike's Red Tacos - Point Loma. Tableside caldo de piedra service brings a pre-Hispanic Chinantec technique to the dining room: river stones heated over flame drop into bowls of fish, shrimp, clam, and epazote broth to cook the dish in front of guests. Multiple house-made mole varieties — including negro, rojo, and verde — rotate across proteins and seasonal specials, drawing from Oaxaca's seven-mole tradition rather than the Tex-Mex sauce profile common to most Point Loma San Diego Mexican restaurants. A mezcal-and-tequila bar pours Oaxacan spirits alongside craft cocktails and Baja California wines, complementing an agave program that runs parallel to the cantina-style margarita bar at Primos Mexican Food & Cantina on the peninsula. Weekend brunch adds arroz con leche pancakes, sopes benny with poached eggs, and 10-hour-braised birria chilaquiles, scaling the kitchen into a full morning-to-dinner Oaxacan dining program across seven days.