At Puerto Escondido in Oaxaca, Mexico, monster 20-foot waves crush the shore. Water roils and churns and threatens. It was in those waters that chef Claudette Zepeda—fresh off a James Beard nomination and two appearances on Top Chef and absolutely beaten down to her core—let it all go.
“It’s the gnarliest current I’ve ever felt in the ocean,” she says. “You put your feet in and it feels like it’s pulling the soul out of you. I was knee-deep and got knocked over and I just remember the word ‘surrender’ coming into my brain.”
For almost 20 years, Zepeda had given everything to chef life. Her two kids, now 15 and 17, can count on one hand the number of months they’ve had with their mom. In 2019, her most recent restaurant, El Jardín—a concept dedicated to women, featuring recipes she’d learned from female elders in Mexican villages—had ended badly, acrimoniously.
“I got divorced in the process of El Jardín closing and that was nicer,” she says. “I got the mumps that year. I thought, ‘What is this, the Oregon Trail? I thought mumps were eradicated.’ It was my body telling me, ‘This isn’t good for you.’ So I went to Oaxaca and buried the restaurant there. I spent a few days eating and drinking with local women. And I realized El Jardín isn’t a restaurant, it’s who I am. I am, at my core, honoring women—especially ones who are timid and quiet but have a fire.”
Three years earlier, her friend and fellow chef Ixchel Ornelas, whom she’d met while filming Top Chef México, had started Zepeda on a path to understanding herself and the power and ramifications of being a woman. It started with tarot card readings before they filmed each episode. Then they took it to a brutally hot, lightless hut for a sweat-lodge ritual known as “temazcal.”
“Your brain has to work through the heat and then you unlock all your triggers,” she explains. “You smell these herbs and it’s a pitch-black cloud of mist and pressure. All you want to do is run away from everything you’re feeling. You get past that panic, and then you’re going toe to toe with every demon you’ve ever had. I thought about my marriage and my single motherhood, my kids, and my grandmother and my mom. It all comes up and it’s just—‘Holy shit, I’m a byproduct of all of their trauma. It’s not mine to carry anymore.’ When someone is shitty, people often say, ‘Oh, it’s just who he is.’ No, it’s who he chooses to be. And I choose not to be angry anymore.”
It was only through this “shadow work” that Zepeda was ready for her new role—executive chef, mom, self-described “fun facilitator’ of Vaga, the signature restaurant at the new Alila Marea Beach Resort on the edge of San Diego’s once-farmy, once-hippie beach community, Leucadia. She’s ready to use what “celebrity chefness” she has to create better chances for young cooks.
“It was a transition for me,” she says. “It’s the death of an old persona and the birth of something better. We always made fun of ‘desk chefs,’ but if I button up the desk work and finance side, it allows me to give opportunities to my people and for their career to progress. If I have an ego that says, ‘I have to cook,’ then what is everyone else going to do? If I don’t delegate or teach and mentor, then what good am I doing? I’m a good cook, but I’m a better mom.”
On Zepeda’s Instagram, short videos show off that culture she’s doing at Vaga. In one, a male cook pulls another in a red wagon down the walkway to the tune of “The Time of My Life” from Dirty Dancing. It’s adorable. In another, the cooks crouch sneakily in unison, each munching on a Mexican ice cream sandwich (Soundtrack: Kaleo’s “Way Down We Go”). Then there are the yoga videos—sometimes five or six cooks, sometimes 20-plus employees, the entire staff—doing warrior pose at the pass to the Beastie Boys’ “Slow and Low.”
“We do yoga on the line every day at 4:45,” she says. “We have nicknames. I’m Mom, we have Dad One, Dad Two, Little Dad, Hippie Dad. We take care of each other. We work 5 a.m. to close, and everyone is happy.”
This is not SoCal virtue signaling, and it’s not a gimmick. Zepeda is dead serious and loud about changing the culture of mental health in American kitchens. According to a 2017 study by Unilever Food Solutions, 74 percent of chefs were sleep deprived to the point of exhaustion, 63 percent of chefs felt depressed, and more than half felt pushed to the breaking point. Sexual harassment is so prevalent it’s almost de rigueur.In a study less published in 2015 (with data collected from 2008 to 2012), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that, among all industries, restaurant employees had the highest rate of alcoholism, and third-highest drug abuse rate.
“Kitchens are a breeding ground for people who don’t really fit in anywhere else,” Zepeda says. “The kitchen dynamic and the military dynamic are very similar. They attract similar people, people who need a tribe, who need a little bit of adrenaline pumping through their veins or the voices in their head get a little too loud. So if they’re coming to work with these natural fractures, and then you add on treating them like shit, and add on drinking after work because it’s cool and you can have sex with anyone you want in your workplace—as a soul, there’s nowhere to go but down. You start to really wither away.”
So to prevent the withering, every morning Zepeda stands in her office and brews espresso for her team. She is staff barista. “We have an espresso machine in the restaurant, but there’s something they love about me standing there making it for them. There are five love languages, and for me, my love language is being seen. Being able to look my employees in the eye and tell them, ‘Hey, I love you. I genuinely see you as a human being regardless of whether you’re here or not.’
“If I see their relationships are strained because of how many hours we work, they get a Saturday off. I tell them, ‘As much as you want to work, you’re getting two days off this week. I don’t want you here. I’ve already given everything up for this career, and want a better pattern for you.’ I live and breathe for these people, and it’s up to me to create a safe environment for them.”
Zepeda built her reputation mostly through Mexican food, but Vaga’s menu is ethnically fluid.
“I’m done talking about what ethnicity my food is,” she says. “We’re border kids. We eat whatever we eat. Most of the time I eat Chinese takeout. I’m calling it ‘San Diego cuisine’ because the food can be whatever we want it to be. It utilizes the best food that we have in the county, which we’re incredibly spoiled with, and we just cook what feels good and we’d want to eat.”
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.
Americans each eat around 100 pounds of chickens per year. In San Diego, Crack Shack seems responsible for about 70 of those lbs. And this week, the fried-chicken spinoff of one of the city’s top restaurants (Juniper & Ivy) opens a new joint in Pacific Beach. The sauces that made them famous will get a proper co-billing.
The Crack Shack first spun off J&I in 2015 on what was once a quiet street in Little Italy. Some called the location premature, but culinary director Jon Sloan knew he had some winners—like the sloppily magnificent Señor Croque breakfast sandwich, and the whole Jidori fried chicken with schmaltz and Crack-spiced fries. A few locations later—Encinitas, Las Vegas, Costa Mesa—and one neighborhood-wide culinary revolution under their belt, they’re ready for the youthful always-always land of PB.
Opening on PB’s main drag (4525 Mission Blvd., between Garnet and Felspar), The Crack Shack will begin welcoming guests in the next week or so. It’s an area Sloan calls the perfect intersection of busy but still growing. “[PB] is evolving,” he says, pointing to the plethora of new eateries and proximity to the comparatively more upscale Bird Rock. “It’s becoming more and more mature.”
At PB, the signature housemade sauces Sloan and his chefs obsessively R&D’ed—ranch, fry sauce, barbecue, pineapple mustard—will be bottled and sold for the first time. Fans have been asking for this for years.
For the barbecue, Sloan mentions the iconic Sweet Baby Ray’s sauce as a cultural jumping-off point—sweet and smoky. For the ranch, they use Kewpie mayo—higher fat, higher vinegar, the chefiest mayo around. The pineapple mustard sauce was originally developed for a Korean pork belly dish at Juniper & Ivy. “We caramelized the heck out of the pineapple with agave,” he explains, then blended multiple mustards with soy sauce for a salty-sweet tanginess that hits all your tongue’s hot spots.
The Sriracha-fry sauce tips a hat to Sloan’s East Coast upbringing, where pastrami sandwiches are slathered with Thousand Island or Russian dressing. Traditionally bone-simple ketchup and mayo, Crack Shack’s fry sauce is of course way more involved. “You have pickle relish in there, you have pickle juice in there, you have chopped up pickles,” he explains. They also use Sriracha, and then chiles that they roast and steep. Then ketchup and Kewpie mayo.
The sauces will only be available for sale at PB to start, but Sloan plans to have them at all locations soon. He’ll also unveil a new sandwich—the Miami Vice, his take on a Cubano. Inspired by a recent trip to Miami, he uses sweet bread and butter pickles; Swiss cheese; Dijon mustard; ham; pork marinated in mojo sauce; a sour orange marinade with garlic, olive oil, oregano; and cumin for a slightly sweeter twist on the classic.
Expect the same vibe and layout as other Crack Shacks—almost all outdoor seating spread over 4,000-square-feet with seating for 95 guests. It’ll still have the lawn games, fire pits, the whole shebang. After opening the last two locations outside of San Diego (he’s also eyeing Nevada and Arizona for the future), Sloan’s glad to be back.
“The chicken is coming home to roost, if you will,” he laughs. “This is its home.”
The Crack Shack Pacific Beach opens soon at 4525 Mission Blvd. Hours are Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Beth Demmon is an award-winning writer and podcaster whose work regularly appears in national outlets and San Diego Magazine. Her first book, The Beer Lover's Guide to Cider, is now available. Find out more on bethdemmon.com.
What’s old will be new again at Ponyboy, The Pearl Hotel’s reimagined restaurant centered around 1950s and 1960s Southern California culture. The new hospitality group Service Animals took over the former Charles + Dinorah space that will soft open on Wednesday, August 7.
Ian Ward and Danny Romero launched their hospitality group Service Animals in 2024 to create immersive dining experiences that reflect the pair’s high-end training at places like Addison, Southern California’s only three-Michelin-starred restaurant. At Ponyboy, the group’s first project, they’ll focus on recreating classic midcentury recipes and cocktail culture with a few twists.
Courtesy of Ponyboy
Along with Ward and Romero, Ponyboy’s opening team includes Service Animals wine expert Kyle South, who is also the lead sommelier of Addison; menu development by Dante Romero, Danny’s brother and partner in their pop-up Two Ducks, as well as executive chef of The Lion’s Share; executive chef Josh Reynolds (Wormwood, Stone Brewing World Bistro, MRKT Space); hospitality expert Patrick Virata (Addison); and pastry chef Yara Lamers (CH Projects).
If you’ve ever flipped through your grandparent’s well-worn copies of Mastering the Art of French Cookingby Julia Child, Simone Beck, and Louisette Bertholle or Betty Crocker’s Cookbook, Ponyboy’s menu may feel familiar. Expect reimagined classics steeped in nostalgia, such as pineapple upside-down cake made with brown butter cake, rum roasted pineapple, cilantro coconut sherbet, and Jamaica sauce. Fondue for two. Aspics. Deviled eggs.
There will be a Juicy Lucy burger with a New School American cheese-stuffed Wagyu patty smothered in Alabama white sauce and Okie onions on a sesame-potato brioche bun and served with fries and a side of more Alabama white sauce. (Will Cheez Whiz, the signature invention of 1953, make an appearance? Time will tell.)
Courtesy of Ponyboy
Starting on Wednesday, August 14, Ponyboy will introduce a new section of the menu titled “T.V. Dinners,” which will—you guessed it—feature nightly specials riffing the meal style that generally contains a protein, starch, vegetable, and dessert. Wednesday will be fried chicken nights with seasonally rotating sides, and Ward says future T.V. dinners will all feel playful but recognizable.
With David Tye (formerly of Kingfisher and The Lion’s Share), Chris Blas (The Lion’s Share, Polite Provisions), and Meagan Crumpley (Ironside, Sycamore Den) behind the bar, the cocktail-heavy menu features old-fashioned classics (and probably an Old Fashioned, or at least their spin on it). Look for banana daiquiris, Bahama Mamas, Monte Carlos, and non-alcoholic options like New York egg creams and summer lemonade.
Casetta Group redesigned the hotel in 2020, preserving the retro midcentury aesthetic while updating some worn-out features. The Ponyboy space got a complete refresh from Brooklyn-based design team One Union Studio, with soft lighting and hues of sage green, dusty rose, and cream for a calm vibe that feels both inspired era and modern. Kitschy touches, like plates shaped like clam shells and checkerboard-patterned throw pillows, abound. The lounge area seats 11 guests for drinks only, while the bar can hold 13 and dining space up to 56 between the lounge, dining room, and poolside.
Once open, hours will be Wednesday through Sunday, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. for the kitchen, with the bar staying open until 11 p.m. A daily “Golden Hour” happy hour at the bar/lounge will run from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. with a special $1 menu and drink specials. Wednesdays are Dive-In Movie Night, with drink and dinner specials to pair with the selected feature. (For instance, Breakfast at Tiffany’s will go with a Manhattan clam chowder special with pastrami on rye and New York cheesecake, while an Addams Family marathon may offer escargot Bourgogne.) Parking is limited, but valet is available for $15. Party on, Ponyboy.
Have breaking news, exciting scoops, or great stories about new San Diego restaurants or the city’s food scene? Send your pitches to [email protected].
Beth Demmon is an award-winning writer and podcaster whose work regularly appears in national outlets and San Diego Magazine. Her first book, The Beer Lover's Guide to Cider, is now available. Find out more on bethdemmon.com.
A golf course restaurant is often a place for sweaty people in visors to house a club sandwich, a carb-and-bacon bulwark against all those tall boys chugged on the links. But The Lakehouse Resort’s new Brickmans Restaurant and Bar is not your average 19th hole ho-hum.
To make it so, the Lakehouse tapped Jarrod Moiles, former executive chef of renowned high-end, food-obsessed resort Rancho Valencia.
“The idea was to have a chef-driven restaurant on the golf course versus just having the generic grill golfer’s restaurant,” says Moiles, who’s both exec chef and director of F&B at the San Marcos resort. To build the menu, he took inspiration from his childhood in the Massachusetts countryside, where farm-to-table was just the way things were done, not a marketing cliché.
Grilled salmon picatta, beet and goat cheese salad, birria tacos, loaded potato skins—a lot of dishes on Moiles’ first menu are a tribute to San Diego and SoCal farms and ranches like third-generation, family-run Brandt Beef. For kicks, he also does cheddar cheese-dusted onion rings, an ode to a culinary icon of the cellophane bag movement: Funions.
The restaurant got a full remodel and remake and still sits at the heart of the Lake San Marcos. Moiles says they recreated it with locals in mind. “We realized we need to focus on who’s coming and living here, and who’s moving into San Marcos right now,” he says. In other words: Keep the quality high and the tendency to resort-gouge away from the prices.
Golfers seeking classic culprits will still find burgers, beer-battered fish and chips, and the mandatory club sandwich. The lettuce will just be a whole lot greener. Aiolis will have chefy-ness. Bread will matter.
They also added more space for folks to gather, including a bright, modern lounge with dark wood accents. A full renovation of the dining room, bar, and patio is set to take place in the future, but with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Kermit-colored driving range, it’s not hell on the eyes.
After all, there are few things more satisfying than watching people exercise while spending quality time with quality beer and upgraded spuds.
Brickmans reopened April 1. The restaurant is located at 1750 San Pablo Drive, San Marcos, inside The Links at Lakehouse.
Lili Kim is a content coordinator and writer for San Diego Magazine, with experience highlighting local businesses and communities. When not writing or shooting film, she is likely brewing her seventh cup of tea of the day or strolling along Sunset Cliffs.
Entrepreneurs typically launch businesses because they’re passionate about a product or service, not because they want to manage its finances. While working to carve out a niche in their respective industries and drive their companies forward, many business owners find themselves bogged down by day-to-day accounting. Their existing accounting tools don’t provide the necessary visibility or insight, and they don’t have the time or resources to hire additional staff or a chief financial officer. That’s where NOW CFO comes in.
For more than 20 years, NOW CFO has been pairing businesses across the country with experienced accounting and finance professionals. Its outsourced model allows clients to customize solutions that match their individual needs, size, and financial challenges, whether that’s fractional or interim support, project-based services, or full-time placement.
NOW CFO’s clients range from startups preparing for rapid growth to established companies that need additional financial leadership without the commitment or expense of building an in-house team. However, many of these companies don’t fully understand their needs until they experience a “trigger” event: preparing for an acquisition or capital raise, navigating a first-time audit, or another period of transition. With a team of over 300 consultants nationwide, NOW CFO can start quickly and match the right expert to the right business.
“It’s important for companies to have financial visibility, and we can help them avoid a lot of the potholes that companies often run into,” says Mariah Block, a partner at NOW CFO’s San Diego branch. “Roughly half of our clients have an in-house finance person or department, and we’re resourced for more bandwidth when they need an extra set of hands at the staff or senior accountant level, or the controller or CFO level. Some clients use this a few hours a month and others use multiple people close to full-time. Our model is solution-based and customizable. We’re like a faucet you can turn on and off.”
With NOW CFO, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Solutions are based on the client’s individual goals, challenges, needs, and budget, meaning a client never pays for more than they need. Whether it’s a few hours of executive-level guidance or a full accounting team to support daily operations, NOW CFO meets businesses where they are and grows alongside them.
“We pride ourselves on providing our clients with the right resources at the right rate and being able to evolve as their needs evolve,” says Block.
And clients appreciate on-demand access to cost-effective support designed to improve performance and profitability.
Luxury car storage service Auto Concierge has partnered with NOW CFO to support growth over the past year. The arrangement began with a staff accountant who covered a leave of absence, but as the client’s needs changed, they also added a controller role. This allowed Auto Concierge to put effective processes in place and navigate operational challenges. Lori Church, Auto Concierge’s chief operating officer, says NOW CFO has been an “outstanding resource” and a “true strategic partner.”
“From the controller to the bookkeeper, every professional they’ve placed has brought a high level of expertise, responsiveness, and professionalism to our organization. Their team took the time to understand our business of high-profile clients and needs, adapted quickly to our fast-paced environment, and became a trusted extension of our team,” she says. “As Auto Concierge continues to grow, having a reliable financial partner like NOW CFO has allowed us to strengthen our financial and business operations while remaining focused on delivering exceptional service to our clients.”
Chef JoJo Ruiz has become one of the city’s most celebrated names in sustainable seafood, and his long-awaited new handroll concept in Encinitas is finally open. Temaki Bar is a Clique Hospitality thing, the same group who brought local concepts like Lionfish and Serea.
Walk through Temaki’s front doors, you’ll find an original hand-painted mural by artist Todd DiCiurcio, who also partnered with Rob Machado for custom-designed surfboards-as-art for the space. “It’s a really cool design, I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite like it in San Diego—let alone anywhere—because we’re so close to the beach,” says Ruiz. “It’s a Southern California vibe for sure.”
handroll temaki
Arlene Ibarra
Temaki is a sushi bar-only experience—38 seats in the petite 1,500-square-foot-space (formerly Eve Encinitas). The point is to be up-close with the highly curated sustainable fish in the case, to be handed your food direct from the chefs seconds after it’s made.
“When you sit there and you have a really warm, crunchy nori roll, and you put the rice on still warm, and you put the fresh fish on it, the texture is wonderful,” says Clique founder, Andy Masi.
temaki-bar-crispy-rice-sdm1122.jpg
Arlene Ibarra
Each roll is served one at a time instead of table-drop buffet style, encouraging guests to focus and appreciate the charms of each. Ruiz says a couple of his favorite items are the spicy tuna crispy rice and the yellowtail sashimi. Masi is a fan of Dre’s Pop N’Rock handroll which mixes bang bang shrimp, mango and Pop Rocks (yep, those Pop Rocks). All told, there are 12 handrolls on the menu, along with a variety of sashimi and starters like beef tataki and tuna poke bowl.
“It’s giving a high-quality product at a local price and a local vibe. It’s super casual. Hand rolls are $4-5. You can get in and out of here for lunch for $15,” says Masi. “We wanted to take a super high-end concept and make it very casual and very approachable.”
temaki-bar-poke-bowl-sdm1122.jpg
Arlene Ibarra
“I think we’re excited to do something different. There’s not really anything like this in San Diego at all, whatsoever. The nori is going to be nice and crunchy, you have this nice warm rice we’ve worked hard to create—and make sure it’s this perfect thing—and you have this nice cold fish inside of it. It’s going to be fun,” says Ruiz.
temaki-bar-sdm1122.jpg
Arlene Ibarra
Have breaking-news, exciting scoops, or great stories about San Diego’s food scene? Send your pitches to [email protected].
Elena Gomez is an Emmy-nominated reporter who has spent much of her journalism career working in broadcast news in San Diego and Los Angeles. She joined the San Diego Magazine team as a freelance writer in 2020.
Bird Rock is an early rising town. By 9 a.m., hordes of tow-headed surfers still dripping from their morning sesh, athleisure-clad moms pushing impossibly expensive strollers, and, of course, the inevitable tourists have claimed their place in line at either Bird Rock Coffee Roasters or Wayfarer Bread & Pastry (or if you’re me, both).
But the serene hamlet is poised for a jolt to its culinary nightlife, albeit one that opens at 3 p.m. Helmed by local couple Eric and Zoe Kleinbub, Paradisaea, whose moniker comes from the bird genus for birds-of-paradise (not to be confused with the plant genus Paradisaeidae) describes itself as “an authentic celebration of the good life in San Diego.”
“Our heart and soul is in it. Every last thing from the doorknobs to everything going out food-wise to the service has been really, really vetted and scrutinized,” says Eric, pointing to the four years it’s taken the pair to open their passion project.
Photo Credit: Douglas Friedman
It’s not just the food and ambiance they hope to take to the highest levels. It’s the people as well. Culinary Director Mark Welker comes with stints at culinary powerhouses like Eleven Madison Park and The NoMad, along with Chef de Cuisine Gabriel Bonis, whose local pedigree includes Nine-Ten, 1500 Ocean, Rancho Valencia, and Cowboy Star.
Despite the heavy French influence of typical high-end cuisines, the pair promises Paradisaea won’t be “a stuffy restaurant with tweezer food,” according to Zoe. It’ll be their take on “California modern,” which they say encompasses influence from Mexico, Europe and beyond, without the fuss of fine dining.
Early dishes include plenty of local ingredients, including tagliatelle with uni, Dungeness crab, sun gold tomatoes, Meyer lemon and saffron; roasted chicken stuffed with lemon-Dijon butter and served alongside buttermilk dressed local greens and salsa verde; and even an “elevated” nacho platter with Wagyu carne asada. “Nobody’s ever taken a nacho platter so seriously,” laughs Eric.
Photo Credit: Douglas Friedman
Paradisaea’s cocktail program stands to be equally aspirational, with Kindred alum Dannika Underhill taking the reins as Beverage Director. Expect tiki influence, bright colors, and zero-proof cocktails for the booze-free drinker.
The main dining room seats 57 guests on ceramic tables designed by local artist Josh Herman, plus bar seating and an outdoor patio. The Kleinbubs will also helm Dodo Bird Donuts, offering coffee and light breakfast fare, as well as home-and-beauty store Tropical Punch in the adjacent space.
If you don’t live in Bird Rock, it’s kind of a pain to get there. But the Kleinbubs hope, geography notwithstanding, the food will entice you to come again, and again, and again.
“We just want people to fall in love with it,” says Eric.
Paradisaea opens on September 25 in the newly restored “Piano Building” at 5680 La Jolla Blvd. Hours of operation are 3 p.m. until close Wednesday through Sunday.
Beth Demmon is an award-winning writer and podcaster whose work regularly appears in national outlets and San Diego Magazine. Her first book, The Beer Lover's Guide to Cider, is now available. Find out more on bethdemmon.com.
If you’re anything like us, it can be easy to get so caught up in taking care of everyone else, that your own needs get lost in the ether. But while this may be a cliché, that doesn’t make it any less true: You can’t give your best self to other people unless you’re taking care of yourself.
Sometimes, that looks like stopping in for your regular acupuncture or chiropractic appointment. Other days, it means giving your body the fresh, organic fuel it needs to truly feel and function at its best. And some other times still, it involves leaving your responsibilities behind for a weekend to pamper yourself at an incredible resort and spa.
Only you can decide what your truly need. We’re just here to help you find the best ways to get it.
Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort & Spa
Island living meets desert luxury at the Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort & Spa in Indian Wells. When you step onto the 11-acre property, you’ll be surrounded by sweeping view of the Santa Rosa Mountains with olive trees and fragrant citrus groves decorating the grounds. In other words, everything about this relaxed but refined resort is primed to help you let go of the stress from home and enjoy easy sun-soaked days and gorgeous starry nights.
The rooms blend calming, woven textures with Tommy Bahama’s signature tropical prints and feature private lanais, making it easy unwind the moment you walk in the door. If you book one of the four Villa Suites, you’ll be treated to exclusive Tommy Bahama furniture and unique personal touches to further that feeling of instant ease.
At the award-winning Spa Rosa, the expert team will help reset and recharge your body and mind using methods and rituals inspired by the desert. The 12,000-square-foot retreat includes outdoor soaking pools, eucalyptus steam rooms, and outdoor cabanas, as well as massages, facials, and body masks—all aimed at creating a day dedicated to you. We’re particularly partial to the Day Long Escape, an indulgent all-day affair of CDBs soaks, renewing scrubs, life changing massages, and transformative facials.
Following your treatment, continue the experience with a meal on the patio at Grapefruit Basil. We love the Hamachi Crudo, a light, citrus-forward dish featuring premium yellowtail, house-made ponzu, creamy avocado, and fresh seasonal garnishes.
Whether you’re strolling the gardens, relaxing beside its saltwater pools, or indulging in a restorative treatment, you’ll be able to escape in style and relax in luxury at the Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort & Spa.
Healcove Chiropractic
There’s no shortage of ways to stay active in San Diego—but if you really want to enjoy everything the city has to offer, you’ve got to make sure you’re giving your body its tune-ups. Enter: Healcove Chiropractic. The board-certified chiropractors and wellness professionals at Healcove are experts at addressing that stage where you’re not injured, exactly, but you’re not at 100%, either. Maybe you’re feeling a bit tense or stressed out. Or it could be that you’re not quite moving the way you want to. Sometimes, it’s just that the accumulation of days, weeks, or even years of daily strain is starting to take a toll. No matter what stage you find yourself at, the Healcove Chiropractic team can provide integrated, preventative care centered on long-term, science-backed approaches that ensure you can always stay active and live the life you want to live pain-free.
This starts by providing truly individualized care. Every patient can expect a thorough 60-minute consultation session that includes a posture and movement screening. This allows the team to develop a completely personalized plan. That plan might include chiropractic care, acupuncture, or massage therapy, as well as functional fitness training, vibration and sound therapy, and Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization, a clinical rehabilitation method that retrains the body’s stabilization systems. Whatever the team recommends, you can be sure that it’s tailored to meeting your body’s needs today and the future.
There’s a reason that San Diego Magazine named Healcove the “Best Chiropractor in San Diego”—don’t wait until you’re struggling with an injury to find out why. Book an appointment today for holistic, integrated care that helps ground and heal your body before it reaches a crisis point.
Juice Holler
West Coast wellness culture meets the community feel of Southern Appalachia at Juice Holler. Juice Holler’s menu consists of made-to-order smoothies and smoothie bowls, as well as grab-and-go cold-pressed juices, wellness shots, salads, and more. It operates from the blissfully simple premise that fueling up with food and drink that’s guilt-free and good your body should be simple, accessible, and, above all else, delicious. And if you haven’t yet made it out to the Encinitas café, which opened just this year, let us be the first to tell you: Juice Holler delivers on each and every of these fronts.
We love the Supercharger smoothie, a mood-lifting and body-fueling option made with banana, almond butter, blue spirulina, maca, grass-fed whey protein, raw cacao nibs, medjool dates, and coconut milk. We’re also partial to the Thrive Alive smoothie bowl, where avocado, mango, sea moss, spirulina, mint, coconut milk, and agave are mixed and topped with coconut, chia seeds, strawberry, mango, and chocolate drizzle. The wellness shots include the Detoxifier, a cleansing blend of kale, cucumber, lemon and spirulina, plus a shot specially designed to fight inflammation (named, fittingly, Anti-Inflammation). Probiotic overnight oats, lemon turmeric bars, and strawberry shortcake chia pudding are other standouts on the grab-and-go menu.
Much of the vibe feels beachy North County chic—think green tile with orange and pink accents, grounded with greenery and natural wood—but Juice Holler founder Kelly Sergott, a longtime Encinitas local, has also enfused the space with her Kentucky roots. In Appalachia, a holler is small valley between hills and mountains, where nature reigns, community is king, and nourishment comes right from the land. At Juice Holler, Sergott has created a holler for the busy modern times, using local ingredients to create a spot for people to come together and enjoy fresh, fast, feel-good fuel for their day.
Everwell Acupuncture
We’ve all had that experience with a medical professional where we’ve felt rushed, ignored, or misunderstood—and ultimately, like we didn’t get the answers that we needed. But at Everwell, the holistic acupuncture practice located in Solana Beach, the care team wants to transform your understanding of what healthcare can look like.
Patients at Everwell experience care rooted in intentional listening and radical empathy—and trust us, those aren’t just corporate buzzwords. This place actually puts those ideas into practice. You will always be given the time you need to tell your story— initial in-take appointments are two hours long—and you can rest assured that your story will be believed. Every single question and concern will be addressed by a dedicated practitioner who wants to find the specific solutions that work best for you, and you’ll receive care that’s aimed at healing the body, mind, and spirit.
Everwell’s highly trained, doctorate-level practitioners blend evidence-based acupuncture with the practice of classical Chinese medicine. (If you’ve never tried acupuncture before or aren’t sure if the team will be a fit, we’d highly recommended Everwell’s complimentary 20-minute consultations.) Research shows that by stimulating specific points on the body, acupuncture activates a natural healing response in the body, helping to restore balance, regulate the nervous system, and improve overall wellbeing. This allows the practice to address an incredibly wide range of conditions from chronic pain and autoimmune disorders to digestive issues, from stress and burnout to headaches migraines, fertility and postpartum struggles, hormonal imbalances, sleep concerns and more.
At Everwell, you can expect to feel heard, trusted, respected, and cared for. This is a space that doesn’t want to be just another healthcare provider you visit; it wants to provide patients with dedicated partner who will be there for their entire health journey.
