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Naming the Best Soups in San Diego at Coco Maya

Find out who makes the top 12 in our fantasy soup draft with Bebemos tequila co-owner Preston Caffrey

At Coco Maya, try chef Phil Humphrey’s skirt steak with chimichurri, his big-knuckle lobster tacos, and a damn phenomenal coconut shrimp (the ’80s classic will be slandered no more).

What’s your favorite soup in San Diego? The one that rearranges your DNA into a dumb, smiley emoji? 

On this episode of Happy Half Hour we do a fantasy soup draft of our 12 favorites in the city—from the corn piñon soup at Wolf in the Woods to the pozole at Super Cocina and pho at Pho Hoa.

We set up shop in the Yucatan rooftop wonderland that is Coco Maya and get the story from co-owner Rob McShea, who tells us how he went from working as a door guy at Thrusters in PB to opening up his first restaurant (Miss B’s Coconut Club, which is still kicking so he did OK) despite having absolutely no clue how to run one, searching out the best damn chef in New Orleans and convincing him to move to San Diego to open Louisiana Purchase, and then finally taking the big gamble in the restaurant big leagues of Little Italy.

And, we drink copious amounts of Bebemos. It’s “Bebemos Golden Hour” with co-owner and lifelong San Diegan Preston Caffrey—our citywide search for the best dishes to pair with the tequila of San Diego.

Please listen responsibly.

By Troy Johnson

Troy Johnson is the magazine’s award-winning food writer and humorist, and a long-standing expert on Food Network. His work has been featured on NatGeo, Travel Channel, NPR, and in Food Matters, a textbook of the best American food writing.

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