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Inside the subversive, creative, and punk-inspired brewery that's one of San Diego's coolest brands
Call it a mission. Call it a credo. Call it a movement. The guys who founded Burning Beard Brewing have a crystal-clear vision of what they want their company and their beers to be. Jeff Wiederkehr and Mike Maass are serious about having their brewery reflect their deepest passions for music, literature, painting, and anything else that requires the burning flame of creativity. Their scope is admirably wide; The Beard celebrates everything from Metallica to The Beatles, from Shakespeare to Ginsburg, from Van Gogh to Banksy. And, somewhere in there, they find the inspiration to create an impressive variety of super-tasty brews that meld the classic styles with just the right amount of mad genius.
It may have taken you a while to get it. Sure, Burning Beard is a curious choice for a name (didn’t you initially expect both founders to look like some version of ZZ Top?) and there’s a super-cool logo and kick-ass beers to go with it, so—for a while—you might have thought that’s all there is. But spend a little time on the website, hang out in the tasting room, and peruse the tap lineup—it’ll become clear: Burning Beard is the first San Diego brewery that’s really all about creativity—or the creative universe, to be more exact.
If you visit their website, you’ll find the answer to one question you’ve likely had: Where did the name come from? Here’s the quote:
Swan diving off the tongues of crippled giants, International Business Machine, Choking on bits of barley bread crumbs, Oh this burning beard I have come undone. It’s just as I’ve feared. I have, I have come undone.
Clutch, “Burning Beard”
Inspired by The Way of the Beard, I didn’t want this interview to follow the usual contours or pose the usual questions. Instead, I wanted to get Jeff and Mike to reveal the deeper truths about their endeavor, to describe the ethos that holds their place together. To my mind, that’s what makes Burning Beard such a truly rad deal.
Our discussion in the barrel room was lubricated by an awesome array of hop fuel; as we sipped on Circle of Hops pale ale, Hopmata IPA, and Gang of One S.M.A.S.H pale ale, each revealed a unique dimension of tropical, citrusy, piney, goodness. And the more we talked, the more it became clear: This brewery is more than just a place to quench your thirst, it’s a place to talk about ideas. So that’s what we did.
Jeff: We approve outside the box!
Jeff: Well, if that’s the case, then f*ck yeah!
Jeff: Yeah, we’re definitely feeling the love. Not too long ago we were having the conversation where we could not have imagined the success that we’ve been having—we would have settled for a whole lot less. But don’t tell anybody that!
Have a Beer with Burning Beard Founders Mike Maass and Jeff Wiederkehr
The jukebox in the tasting room was refurbished and customized specially for the brewery. | Photo: Bruce Glassman
Jeff: All of it, like everything else we do, starts out with what will ultimately be rolled out on June 1 with our “Distinguished Delinquents” program [more on that later]. Mike and I developed a persona that basically melds our personalities—we’re not the same guy and we don’t think exactly the same way on any topic, from what beers are the best to what music we want to listen to on a road trip. What we’re good at is respecting each other and compromising. We’ve created an “identity” that we named “Punkspeare” because it’s a blend of the punk rock ethos and Shakespeare. And that literally drives one hundred percent of everything we do here, from our approach to making beers to our approach to hiring staff in our tasting room, to how we protect our brand. It one hundred percent flows down from that.
Mike: I think there’s also an honesty behind what we do. A lot of what went into the development of our brand at the beginning was Jeff and me figuring out what a business looks like that we can put ourselves into one hundred percent. What’s something that we can stand behind. We believe if we’re building a business that’s going to be successful in the long term, it needs to be something we can believe in.
Jeff: Authenticity.
Mike: Yes. Authenticity.
Mike: Absolutely.
Jeff: And what we do with beer is not unlike what we do with the music that we listen to or the literature that we read, or what we do in our free time. We both have this love for traditional brands and traditional veins, and we also like to play with those. That probably answers your initial question a whole lot better. It’s why our tasting board looks the way it does. If you look at the beers the way we’ve broken them down, we have “post-modern,” “gothic,” “medieval,” and “transcendental.” Those are ways that we approach all of the artistic realms that we really dig. So all we did was apply that to beer.
Mike: And these are themes that have run through the literary and artistic world for centuries, right? It’s really all about re-appropriating those things. There’s a piece of copy on our website that alludes to the post-modern sense, and I don’t know how post-modern we are, but there’s a recombinant effect of repurposing those themes and I think that they apply. And I think the reason they resonate is that they’re proven out in the humanities and in the arts to resonate with people. And that’s something that inspires us and we like to bring that kind of thematic play to the way we’ve developed our beer and our brand.
Jeff: Man. That’s a tough one. I think we’d literally be—and maybe not in quality or in album sales—we’d be The Beatles, man!
Mike: That’s what I was going to say, too!
Jeff: Mike’s the Paul McCartney of Burning Beard. And maybe it’s just because I like to walk around naked with weird glasses on that I feel I’m the John Lennon, but we have this really cool interplay, there isn’t one of us that’s writing all of the songs, there isn’t one of us that’s directing the ship. We’re working on it together and that’s really what makes us better. We could have each started breweries independent of each other, but we couldn’t have made this brewery. It took both of us to do that. And that’s why Wings just wasn’t as good as The Beatles. And John Lennon’s solo stuff—Plastic Ono Band, man—not quite as good! So, we’re probably aiming our arrow at Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (not the Andy Gibb version!); there’s lots of things going on and everybody’s contributing. I think that really speaks to how we created this brand, this brewery, and this Punkspeare space.
Mike: I like to think that we’ll be able to evolve our brand in a similar way to how The Beatles did. What I mean by that is The Beatles had a very clear identity when they started, and they gained a huge following and fanfare because of who they were, but they were able to evolve that and keep up the loyalty from their fans.
Jeff: Our traditional approach to beer is sort of like the root of that music, like blues, and there will be beers where we try to push the envelope, but there will be some where we’ll just try to run that blues line. So, yeah, there are tons of parallels with music. And we talk about it all the time that way.
Jeff: Sure! See if you can stump us!
Mike: Wave of Phase is a member of our hazy beer line, and early in the evolution of that beer line we thought that David Bowie could be a good inspiration for how we developed that line of beers.
Mike: We both love Bowie—David Bowie was punk rock in his own right—but this was also around the time of his passing, so he was also on our minds.
Jeff: He defined his position in rock ‘n’ roll by first mastering the genre and then by repeatedly and successfully breaking free from the gravity of the genre. He had no fear. No limitations. He bent genders. He bent what was acceptable in music at the time. We came up with this naming scheme at a time when people in San Diego were not very high on anyone brewing a hazy IPA. And our philosophy pointed us to Bowie. [Specifically, the phrase “wave of phase” comes from Bowie’s Starman lyrics: Came back like a slow voice on a wave of phase/That weren’t no DJ, that was hazy cosmic jive.]
Jeff: It’s a play on Milton’s Paradise Lost. The original line is “darkness visible.”
Mike: Early on we were going to do a stout called Darkness Visible and its counterpart was going to be more hoppy Dankness Visible. We dropped the Darkness Visible and just stuck with Dankness.
Have a Beer with Burning Beard Founders Mike Maass and Jeff Wiederkehr
Hopmata IPA is one of Burning Beard’s most popular beers. | Photo: Bruce Glassman
Jeff: The Stigmata! You bear the mark of the hop!
Mike: Put out your hands. Receive the Hopmata!
Jeff: More truthfully, we imagined that we would! A lot of these names came from homebrewing, when there’s a lot of down time. There were many late nights or driveway texting sessions between the two of us, and with that beer, we knew we wanted to make a beer that was representative of a stigmatic experience.
Mike: Yeah, Normcore. That’s a fun one. Making normal hard-core again. You can search engine “normcore” and you’ll see it’s a cultural and fashion movement, it may have had its roots in the greater New York area, but it’s kind of become a thing. For us, the pilsner is kind of the normcore of beers. It gets back to a simplicity—a simpler approach and kind of being un-flashy for the sake of quality; getting to root of what’s more important.
Jeff: Absolutely. Yes. For example, I just went to this show, I saw the Murder City Devils at the Irenic, that church in North Park behind the Von’s [close to] where Ritual used to be. They’re alternative, kind of like cross-over alternative-punk-rock, and the singer came out wearing dad jeans, a woven belt, and a polo shirt. He is normcore. And that’s what we were trying to do when we were coming up with a name for our pilsner—this was during the pre-Mexican lager phase, before everybody was all high on the Mexican lager again—and the only people in San Diego that really had a pilsner to speak of were Societe, Fall, and of course Doug Hasker at Gordon Biersch. It was one of those things we wanted to open the door with and wanted to make a statement with, and the name is part of that statement.
Mike: It’s a statement within an understatement. Right? It’s anti-fashion. And it’s become one of our most popular beers.
Jeff: Yeah. The paltry rye content of Rye the Lightning compared to the 80% rye in Roggen the Lightning—it’s just another play on words. One day I wondered, what if we actually did a roggenbier and amped up this recipe and went crazy with rye. So, that is all it is.
Mike: A spinoff of a Metallica album, Ride the Lightning.
Mike: Shakespeare, yes. Quoth Hamlet to Ophelia.
Jeff: Man, that’s a deep question.
Mike: That is a deep question. Honestly, I think it was a matter of going through the long list on the spreadsheet and finding a name that hadn’t been used yet that was really awesome!
Jeff: Also, Mike and I both love Shakespeare (both with advanced lit degrees) and Belgian beers. The nunnery line is a twist on the obvious “monastery,” which actually rears its head as our Belgian-style Dubble: Get Thee to a Monastery. We went big picture with this naming scheme.
Jeff: It’s a play on a line from Ginsburg’s Footnote to Howl: “Holy the mysterious rivers of tears under the streets! […] holy the abyss!” is the line. It’s a part of it where Ginsburg just goes on this rant about how everything is blessed. And everything is holy.
Mike: There was a trademark issue with using the term exactly.
Jeff: Indeed! And Holy the Void is also evocative of a great Spinal Tap scene where Nigel Tufnel ponders the depth of the all-black album cover. “There’s something about this that’s so black, it’s like how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black.”
Mike: Go for it.
Jeff: People hate it before they know it.
Mike: I think you pretty much nailed it. Also, Banksy is rumored to be a person or persons, nobody really knows, from Great Britain. There’s a mystery there. There’s also a simplicity to Banksy’s art, right? He’s a stencil artist. There’s something very simple but also very poignant behind what he’s doing. And I think that’s the same for this style of beer, the way that we’ve interpreted it.
Mike: This goes back to the very early days of sitting in the driveway homebrewing beer, where Jeff and I would be spitballing ideas and seeing where our visions for a potential brewery could overlap. And that’s where the overlap in our personal interest is—it’s in this notion of “punk rock to the core.”
Have a Beer with Burning Beard Founders Mike Maass and Jeff Wiederkehr
A bottle cap installation created by Mike and Jeff is one of many visual features in the tasting room. | Photo: Bruce Glassman
Mike: Yeah, but it’s deeper than that. We’ve talked about Shakespeare, we’ve talked about David Bowie, we’ve talked about The Beatles; all these people are acting on a creative impulse and pushing the envelope in their own way, and that’s at the root of the punk rock ethos, for us. How do we embody that, in what we’re doing here, to do something that’s just honest and straightforward?
Jeff: On the fateful night on which the theory of The Beard was conceived (2012) I had been lamenting the fact that I could not start a band with Mike—he doesn’t play a musical instrument!—so the idea became let’s brew beer together. At the heart if it, no matter what we would have done together, that’s just who we are. And we’re not trying to position ourselves above anybody, we’re just trying to be ourselves. Life is too complicated when you’re inauthentic. So we found this really cool space that we get to share—the beer, the brewery, Punkspeare, Burning Beard—it’s all an expression of us. And that idea, that notion of the punk rock ethos, is about just doing what you want to do and not worrying what your neighbors or your parents think about it. You just have to be yourself. This place gives us that opportunity.
Jeff: It all comes from the Beard ethos. Much like Bowie or The Beatles were “subversive” to rock n’ roll, we respect tradition, but more importantly, we respect the creative muse. Also, we aren’t in this for the money, and when one is not in the game for money, one becomes dangerous, wild, uncontrollable. And that’s what we are. No one owns us and that makes us dangerous. At the core, we are in this for our sanity, so that we’d have a creative outlet, and so we could create our own band of like-minded people. In that way, we are like the Fight Club of breweries. For one reason or another, all of us here at The Beard were looking for a connection to something larger than ourselves, we just exchanged soap for beer.
Mike: There’s also a subversive spirit in the way we go big and do it right. It’s interpretive. And it’s more of a mindset than something you would see. When you think about the Burning Beard and the interpretation of what that means, there’s always a subversive underpinning to an artistic expression. That’s what makes good art. We’ve talked about music and art and literature—those are the things that inspire us and that’s the creative fire that the burning in the Burning Beard represents. Not everything that we do will appear subversive, but we draw inspiration from those creative people who have been subversive.
Mike: Distinguished Delinquents is a membership club, being launched on June 1. It’s the real-world, three-dimensional embodiment of this Punkspeare character we speak about. It’s targeted at bringing together like-minded folks who enjoy sitting and talking and telling stories and jokes and drinking beer. That’s the underlying force behind this new program.
Jeff: It’s sort of a back-room extension of what we designed our tasting room to be, with more access. We’re going to invite club members to be part of the conversations with both of us.
Mike: It’s about storytelling. And there are club member benefits; you’ll get a 20-ounce stein, you’ll get discounted beer in the tasting room, other special discounts and benefits, like a grumbler you can fill, and some of our special packaged beers. But really it’s about bringing our most loyal and dedicated customers into the story.
Mike: It’s an annual membership. It’ll open up on June 1 and people can go to our website to check out all the details.
Mike: Sure. “Live Creatively,” that’s the first one.
Jeff: And the important thing about that is this: Mike and I literally cashed in and sold everything to open this business. And it was because living creatively means a lot to us and feeling connected to what we do is important. So we jumped at an opportunity to create this.
Mike: It’s the golden rule, man.
Jeff: And it’s what this space is about.
Mike: Jeff and I did a lot of exploratory research before we opened this business. And part of that was to get a real feel for what the customer experience felt like at a bunch of places. And we asked a lot of questions—questions we knew the answers to—just to see how the bar staff would treat us. We came to the understanding that a good customer experience is often overlooked in this industry. There are a lot of breweries in this town that do a great job with it, and there are others—and other bars—that do a terrible job at it. We wanted to make sure that this was a place where anybody with any level of experience with beer could come and feel welcomed.
Jeff: I really believe this tenet is reflective of us and what we believe. Our personal ethos. How we operate in daily life. It’s how we operate with family and friends and our own neighbors, and this place is supposed to be an extension of that. That’s why we opened it. It’s where we want to be with people we want to be with. Everyone we hire is a reflection of that, and how they treat our customers is part of that. So this tenet is one of those authentic ties to who we are.
Jeff: Absolutely!
Jeff: That one’s easy.
Mike: Just look around. There are a lot of barrels in this room!
Jeff: We did the business plans on smaller systems, but we could not do what we wanted to do on a three-barrel system. We did not open this place to fail, we opened this place to succeed. So, we opened way bigger than we should have—we’re probably still bigger than we should be—but we know our system and there won’t be any growing pains. We’re able to service our tasting room and our growing distribution base. We went big with equipment, we went big with staff, and we’re going big with our beers.
Jeff: We are sparing no expense.
Mike: Sparing no expense to make great beer!
Follow Bruce on Instagram: @sdbrewdude
Have a Beer with Burning Beard Founders Mike Maass and Jeff Wiederkehr
Burning Beard founders Jeff Wiederkehr and Mike Maass take their inspiration from the arts. | Photo: Bruce Glassman
Dockside Night Market returns to Tuna Harbor Dockside Market on August 6 for one night only
Ask any local, human or shark—San Diego summer doesn’t really start until August. After June Gloom lifts and children file back into the halls of academia, our coastline comes to life with more space on the sand and a water temperature that finally rises above muscle-clenchingly frigid.
What better way to welcome Local’s Summer than by celebrating the bounty of the sea? At least, that’s what the gang at Puffer Malarkey Collective (PMC) figured when they launched Dockside Night Market four years ago.
Despite being born and raised in San Diego, Lillian Dang (the event’s co-producer and marketing director for PMC) says she didn’t know how abundant our local seafood scene was until she left and came back. “We are spoiled here,” she says, pointing not only to our plentiful produce from local farms, but also our sea-borne treasures.
When she and her co-producer Lucien Conner (PMC’s director of operations) brainstormed over what they felt the city’s food scene lacked, they realized: “What’s missing is an event that really celebrates the local seafood,” explains Dang.
Dockside Night Market is meant to be a “San Diego summer party on the pier,” she says, bringing together local fishermen and local chefs to highlight the fruits of the local seas. Chefs from some of San Diego’s best restaurants clamor to be a part of the 15-chef-max roster, including Travis Swikard (Callie and Fleurette), David Sim (Kingfisher), Aidan Owens (Herb & Wood), Chianne Mallari (Herb & Sea), Tara Monsod (Animae), Jacob Ruck and Eric Bost (Jeune et Jolie), not to mention Mabel’s Gone Fishing, Bica, The Lion’s Share, Nine-Ten, Marisi… you get the idea.
Part of the intrigue is not knowing exactly what seafood will appear—in past years, there’s been uni, bluefin tuna, halibut, black cod, but it ultimately comes down to what’s fresh and what’s available. And with a chef lineup like that, it’s fun to imagine what sorts of surprises await. (If you’d like a small hint, there are calendars of seasonal availability in the area.)
The one-night-only annual event takes place at Tuna Harbor Dockside Market on Tuna Harbor Pier (598 Harbor Lane), the same spot as the weekly fish market every Saturday from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. or sellout (it’s usually the latter). VIPs get in at 6 p.m. and general admission is 7 p.m., and 100 percent of all ticket profits go to support the San Diego Fishermen’s Working Group, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit created to support the best interests of the region’s commercial fishermen. There’s also four cash bars and a live DJ (but leave the kids and pets at home).
“I think this is an event that can only happen in San Diego,” says Dang. Our city’s culinary cache is on the rise, and our proximity to some of the best fishing waters in the world make it a pretty dynamic duo. “It’s curated, it’s intimate, it’s all the things,” she promises.
Dockside Night Market takes places on Thursday, August 6, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Tuna Harbor Dockside Market.
Listen Now: The Latest in San Diego’s Food and Drink Scene
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.
Harrah’s Resort Southern California introduces its brand-new signature restaurant, featuring Mexican cuisine from across the country
Ten million dollars can buy 30 small helicopters, two or three houses in Del Mar (depending on how many bathrooms there are), or one really, really extravagant restaurant remodel. Harrah’s Resort Southern California went with that last one, revamping the former Salt & Fin space into Tierra y Mar, the resort’s new signature restaurant next to Hell’s Kitchen by Gordon Ramsay.
The 25-year-old Valley Center casino and resort went through its first major expansion in 2014, adding more pools, more restaurants, a convention center, and hundreds of new rooms—basically, the full works. In 2016, the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians officially renamed the land the resort sits on as “Funner, California,” dubbing David Hasselhoff (excuse me, The Hoff) as the rechristened town’s first mayor and inviting guests to leave their hassles behind.
Still, any respectable resort knows the spectacle has to be fresh to keep guests coming back for the newest, most eye-popping, droolworthy, thrill-inducing, jackpot-hitting experiences. So Harrah’s spared no expense with Tierra y Mar, tapping JCJ Architecture to completely reimagine the 7,245-square-foot restaurant as a transportive Mediterranean-meets-Mexico space bridging Cycladic and Moorish architecture details with mid-century glamour.
Derek Sola, design principal at JCJ and project lead, says his team had to completely demolish Salt & Fin to create Tierra y Mar from the ground up—literally. The Tini Bar? Adios. The fixtures and furnishings? Vayan con Dios! The very floors, walls, kitchen, and ceiling? Gone. New plumbing, new kitchen equipment, new HVAC—tabula rasa.
Now, the natural wood-lined, mosaic-laden, greenery-rich space feels like a coastal hacienda, with woven elements and artisan accents that seem surprisingly intimate in such a sprawling room. Sola says by moving the kitchen and back-of-house operations out of view, guests can focus more on the dining experience than the cooking process. And yes, it’s meant to feel wildly different from the flashing lights and ding-ding-dings of the casino floor. That’s why the entry portal uses columns and archways—it’s like a bridge from buzzy commotion to complete calm.
Considering Tierra y Mar translates to “land and sea,” specialty chef Bryan Texis highlights both as forefronts of the menus, incorporating his birthplace of Mexico City, childhood home in Baja California, and current proximity to Baja. It’s that all-encompassing influence that Harrah’s food and beverage Director Ryan Adams says served as inspiration. “We pulled influences from all over the country,” he says, pointing to items like birria (Jalisco), whole Pacific rockfish (Baja California), salmon zarandeado (Nayarit), and tacos al pastor (Mexico City).
“Our goal was to create just a fully immersive menu for all to enjoy, despite whether or not you grew up in Mexico, eating your abuelita’s food, or you are new to the area and just want something that just tastes amazing,” says Adams.
Highlights include salmon marinated in a chipotle sauce and served with arroz verde and a petite frisée salad with cucumber, cherry tomatoes, citrus segments, and honey citrus vinaigrette; a shrimp aguachile appetizer with cucumber, red onion, radish, avocado, and cilantro; a salsa sampler with three heat levels; the “siete mares,” or “seven seas,” with seared seabass, mussels, littleneck clams, scallops, shrimp, and fried crab cakes, all served in a lobster tomato consommé; and their house birria: an eight-ounce braised short rib wrapped in hoja santa (an aromatic herb from Mexico), served with consommé reduction and a sweet corn purée. Texis’ pan de elote provides a sweet-and-savory end to a meal, made with fried corn bread, chantilly (whipped cream) banana mousse, pecans, and totomoxtle (corn husk).
While menudo and brunch (think breakfast burrito, huevos rancheros, and a masa waffle) will only be available on the weekends, the bar is always open. Naturally, Tierra y Mar’s bar emphasizes tequila, with plenty of beer, wine, cocktails, and margaritas. Like Old Fashioneds? Try the Tequila Old-Fashioned, made with Callfino Añejo, agave, orange bitters, orange peel, and dark cherry. Or kick up your margarita by opting for a blended Mangonada, with Casa Dragones blanco tequila, passion fruit liqueur, blue curaçao, mango puree, Chamoy, and fresh lime, served with a chamoy and tajin rim and tamarind candy stick.
Pulling off such an ambitious, far-reaching restaurant revamp required a group effort, says Adams. General manager Jill Barrett, vice president of resort operations Shannon Upson, and the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians have worked for a year-plus to bring Tierra y Mar to life. It might not be “traditional” Mexican food, according to Adams. But he invites guests to take a chance on their approach.
In other words: come for the fun, stay for the food.
Tierra y Mar opens at Harrah’s Resort Southern California on July 22 for daily lunch and dinner service, plus weekend brunch.
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.
The fast-growing taqueria will open its third restaurant on Newport Avenue after a viral social media moment fueled its rapid expansion
When Rigo Munoz opened a weekends-only taco stand on Market Street in 2018, at first, he was just hoping to sell his tacos to however many customers he could. That low-key, word of mouth approach worked well for a couple years. Very well.
“Then, the line started,” he laughs. He began to double his sales week after week, until an influencer from Tijuana paid them an undercover visit in 2024. Munoz was hanging out in his backyard the next Monday when his phone started pinging and ringing off the hook. “So I go onto my social media and there, lo and beyond, the video already had 10,000, 12,000 views in like, less than an hour,” he says. The next day, there was a line of customers waiting for him before he opened at 5 p.m. The Chula Tacos revolution sparked there.
Now, he’s ready to open his third location on August 1 at 4994 Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach. It wasn’t an easy or straightforward path—the city shut down his original location citing too much noise and traffic. But Munoz was looking ahead, already in talks with a restaurateur to take over his space at 1719 Palm Avenue in the Nestor neighborhood of southeast San Diego. From the time he got shut down to getting the keys of his first brick-and-mortar was less than two days.
The second location in Chula Vista caught fire on Valentine’s Day and is slated to reopen later this fall (689 H Street). Munoz says he also plans to open a fourth location somewhere between the Ocean Beach and Morena Boulevard areas, but has aspirations for more.
“I’d like to become the In-N-Out of tacos,” he says. He’s actively looking for places that could support either a drive-thru or the typical fast-casual taqueria style, but no matter what, he’s going to keep his menu simple.
Each location has the same menu, except labio, which are ox lips, and beef intestines. They’re top-sellers at Palm Avenue, but might not translate as well to the OB crowd, he says. But guests can still get their fix of vampiro tacos, tacos de trompo, and from-scratch horchata and jamaica.
Chula Tacos is best known for its kekas (pronounced keh-kuhs), which are extra-large quesadillas stuffed with your choice of meat. “It’s a hefty thing,” Munoz promises. It’s such a trademark that he filed for a patent, which is still pending.
Building a taco empire has been a long time coming. Munoz first started making tacos at age 12, and has operated a number of cafes, delis, and other businesses on both sides of the border ever since. “We’re a family business,” he says. He’s been trying to hit that mother lode for years—and all it took was one video to light the fuse.
The newest location of Chula Tacos opens August 1 at 4994 Newport Avenue, Suite A in Ocean Beach. Hours of operation are 11 a.m. to midnight daily. (Opening date subject to change.)
Listen Now: The Latest in San Diego’s Food and Drink Scene
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.
This month, the 2026 San Diego Business Impact Awards recognized local businesses making an impact in clean energy, biotech, hospitality, and beyond
Renewable energy companies building hundreds of power plants. Biotech startups using artificial intelligence to create personalized medicine for children with rare diseases. Hospitality companies quietly powering thousands of local events. Consumer brands growing from beach-town startups into national businesses. These are the kinds of companies driving San Diego’s economy today, and the businesses recognized at this year’s San Diego Business Impact Awards offer a snapshot of where the region is headed.
Hosted July 23 by San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and JPMorganChase, the second annual awards event honored four local companies for innovation, growth, and economic impact. More than 100 nominations from San Diego’s middle-market businesses were reviewed by a 10-person judging committee, with winners selected across four categories: startup, early-stage innovator, rising star, and established heavyweight.
Two-time honoree Jimbo Someck, founder of Jimbo’s organic grocery stores, also joined the event for a fireside chat on buying local, supporting emerging brands, and giving back to the community.
“San Diego’s strength comes from its makers and builders—the resilient people who endure great risks and overcome obstacles to build and scale a company,” says Aaron Ryan, San Diego Region Manager and Middle Market Banking at JPMorganChase & Co. “These awards aren’t just recognition; they spotlight the talent, grit, and innovation shaping our region’s future. By celebrating those who create and build, we foster connections and fuel the growth that keeps San Diego thriving.”
Heavyweight honoree SOLV Energy has grown alongside the country’s rapid investment in renewable power. “It’s an exciting time for SOLV Energy as we are experiencing significant growth,” says CEO George Hershman. “The business has doubled over the last year and has almost double-digit growth since its inception.”
The Rancho Bernardo-based company designs, builds, operates, and maintains utility-scale solar and energy storage facilities. Since its founding in 2008, SOLV Energy has built more than 500 power plants.
Growth has translated directly into hiring. About 200 employees work from the company’s local headquarters, including roughly 20 interns. “Our intern program is a big part of the way that we grow our workforce,” Hershman says. “Last year, 43 percent of our interns became full-time employees. We believe San Diego is a great community to build and grow a high-tech infrastructure and technology company because of the incredible workforce—the ability to attract top talent and draw from world-class universities.”
Startup honoree La Jolla Labs is tackling one of medicine’s biggest challenges by developing personalized RNA therapeutics for patients with rare diseases—many of them children with neurological disorders like ALS. Using proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, the biotech company develops treatments tailored to each patient’s specific genetic mutation.
CEO Tamar Grossman says the recognition reflects how far the company has come despite limited resources. “We’re honored to be recognized for our ability to change and save patients’ lives and turn our lean startup into a clinical company with very minimal resources,” she says.
Grossman credits San Diego’s concentration of research institutions—including UC San Diego, the Salk Institute, and Scripps Research—with creating a pipeline of talent and collaboration. “San Diego is one of the world-leading centers for technology, genomics, and RNA therapeutics,” she says. “We have over 30 RNA therapeutics companies here, and we support each other and help with anything related to drug discovery.”
She says that collaborative spirit extends beyond formal partnerships. “You can walk around Torrey Pines, go into a café, and find colleagues from the industry and have an ad hoc conversation,” Grossman says. “That’s something very unique to San Diego.”
While Snake Oil Venue Company may not be a household name, chances are many San Diegans have attended one of its events. The early-stage innovator honoree has expanded from beverage catering and mixology consulting into venue management, operating Julep Venue in Mission Hills, Bramble Bay Venue in Imperial Beach, Vesper Venue, the Chapel at Liberty Station, and five outdoor venues throughout Liberty Station—more than 500,000 square feet of event space altogether.
“We do a lot of launch parties for corporations and new products,” says CEO Mike Esposito. “I really like working on the entrepreneur side of things, where new businesses are entering the San Diego market and looking to make a splash.”
Snake Oil has executed more than 16,000 events, employed more than 1,000 people, and partnered with more than 900 local vendors, including caterers, florists, photographers, entertainers, and other hospitality businesses. The company also works with many of San Diego’s nonprofits, museums, and cultural institutions. “We get to celebrate people’s most important moments,” Esposito says. “Whether that’s a wedding, celebration of life, or quinceañera, we’re fortunate to be involved in the community in so many different ways.”
Rising star honoree ALOHA Collection is proof that a simple idea can grow into a thriving company. Founded by two roommates who wanted a better way to carry wet swimsuits after a day at the beach, the lifestyle brand has grown into a business while maintaining strong year-over-year growth.
Now headquartered in Carlsbad, ALOHA Collection employs more than 100 people and operates its California flagship store in Encinitas, which is slated for a remodel. With roots in Hawaii, the company is known for its lightweight, splash-proof travel bags that have become a familiar sight on beaches in San Diego and beyond.
“‘Aloha’ is part of our name, but it’s also how we move through the world,” says CEO Lynna Barnard. “It’s how we show up for people, the way we travel, the way we give back.” Since day one, the company has maintained a 5 percent giveback to Hawaii conservation efforts, contributing millions of dollars over the years.
“I think what’s so inspiring about ALOHA Collection, and the founders in particular, is when you dream big, those dreams can come true when you work hard and trust in the universe,” Barnard says. “It’s inspiring to be a role model for other people wanting to start businesses from humble beginnings. Start small and watch it grow.”
Together, businesses like these form a cornerstone of San Diego’s economy—not only through the jobs and revenue they generate—but through the local workers they hire, vendors they support, and investments they make in the region. Their growth doesn’t happen in isolation; it ripples outward, strengthening the broader business community and the people who call San Diego home.
SDM's staff shouts out our favorite food finds this month including bites Stake Chophouse & Bar, Valentina, and Steady State
There’s a place in heaven for a steakhouse that remakes chicken nuggets but uses Jidori instead of whatever glum bird is proffered in the children’s section. And then they top it with caviar. That, plus an editor with an obsession-level ranking of chai in Carlsbad, and a whole fish from one of San Diego’s OG top chefs who has mercifully returned to the kitchen. These are the very best things we’ve found from another month of eating professionally in San Diego. Go get some.
One of my favorite experiences at Stake in Coronado is that—if the patio is chilly enough to warrant heaters—they’ll surround you with towers of flame. Paired with the retaining wall of heat against the glass railing overlooking Orange Avenue, there is so much surrounding fire that it feels like dining in a much nicer version of the Elmo meme, in which the nasally puppet’s whole world has amusingly arsoned.
Three things you have to get here: first, the Wagyu popcorn (kernels popped in melted Wagyu beef fat, salted with paprika); second, the Snake River Farms Wagyu skirt steak (its Gold grade means incredibly high marble), one of the best steaks in the city; third, the Jidori chicken nuggets with herbed crème fraîche, pickle, and a perm of caviar. A childhood food, deliciously adulted. —Troy Johnson
It’s been 15 years since married folk Aaron and Roddy Browning opened Flying Pig Pub & Kitchen in a hidden south Oceanside hovel—using vinyl records as placemats, the decor an assortment of welded metal weirdities. One thing has always remained: Pork is their native tongue.
This sandwich pries open long-dormant pleasure receptors in most alive human bodies. Brandt Beef tri-tip is rubbed with its “Pig Spice” (hint: good paprika and celery seed do wonders), sleeps for 24 hours, then is seared and rested for an hour—sliced and seared again, placed on a mini baguette wet with fresh chimichurri and smoked tomato aioli, then topped with melted aged provolone, grilled peppers, onions, and gremolata (parsley, garlic, lemon zest). Order two, or be prepared to fight. —Troy Johnson
Pintxos are Basque-country bar snacks, finger foods for Real Sociedad games. The appropriate utensils are a couple of fingers and a toothpick. But Valentina’s in Leucadia are done with just enough culinary school ambition (not too much, fuss has no place in pintxos) from exec chef Enrique Ñol, who worked at the estimable Wrench & Rodent.
Its tomaquet (tomato bread) could be underestimated as a stacked pile of quality ingredients, but it’s undeniably great—toasted pan de cristal (light, airy, Catalan “glass bread”) dressed with tomato, garlic, salt, EVOO, and a layer of one of the world’s greatest meats: Cinco Jotas Iberian jamón. Eat it with a minor winefall of porrón, and ask for Todd—a certified sommelier and one of the most knowledgeable food minds in the local scene. —Troy Johnson
Get the whole fish. Doesn’t matter the catch, just trust that chef Jason McLeod’s got you. When CH Projects opened Ironside in Little Italy in 2014, the restaurant group took over the old Farkas furniture store and turned it into a replica of an ocean liner, tapping McLeod (a chef who’d earned two Michelin stars in Chicago) to oversee its menus.
It quickly became a San Diego staple for seafood. After leaving for a few years to help concept and launch some big-name restaurants in Vegas, McLeod is back again getting his hands dirty in the kitchen. And his fish? They come in fresh from local fishermen who he’s established relationships with over the years. So yeah, get the whole damn thing. —Nicolle Monico
I have a running spreadsheet of chai rankings in Carlsbad. The chai that stays on the highest shelf? Steady State’s gingery, nutmeggy Indian Summer with an almond milk base and fresh nutmeg shavings on top. Juiced ginger gives the drink deeper, warmer notes, but not so much spice that your throat closes on the first sip.
Too often, coffee shops advertise authentic chai, then uncork that carton of sugar-bomb concentrate from an artisanal wholesaler called Costco. This is the real deal; it’s mildly sweet, a little more spicy, and in my opinion, best served hot. If I could order a keg of it, I would. (Can I?) —Emma Veidt
What's next for the 10-year-old award-winning destination? Owner Mike Tajran hopes to hand the reins to a local up-and-comer
After 10 years of rooftop dining and brewing award-winning beers, OB Brewery is for sale. A local fixture on Newport Avenue, OB Brewery owner Mike Tajran is ready to retire and hand over the reins. “It’s got so much potential,” he says, pointing to the accolades the brewpub has collected throughout the last decade (it’s more than a few).
At the 2017 Great American Beer Festival, OB’s Hidden Gem Dunkelweizen won silver in the German-Style Wheat Ale category, followed by a World Beer Cup silver medal as a South German-Style Dunkel Weizen in 2026. In 2018, GABF named OB Brewery Small Brewpub of the Year, brewer Jim Millea earned Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year, and the B. Right On pale ale nabbed a gold medal in the American-Style Pale Ale category. The Elevator Red IPA also took bronze that year at the San Diego International Beer Festival, and earlier this year, they won gold for Couple’s Therapy chili beer and silver for Rauch Me smoked beer at San Diego County Fair Craft Brew Competition.
It’s a solid foundation for the right buyer, he says—someone with brewing and business chops ready for a turnkey operation in a favorable location a block from the beach on Ocean Beach’s busiest street. (And while he’s letting go of the brewpub business, he’s also open to selling the building as part of the deal.)
Originally from Iraq, Tajran’s family ran restaurants in Baghdad, but “they were decimated by Saddam Hussein,” he explains. Once in the United States, he launched Giant New York Pizza at 5050 Newport Avenue in 1984, which eventually became Newport Pizza & Ale House. Newport Pizza felt long ahead of its time, proudly proclaiming they served “no crap on tap” years before the craft beer craze caught fire in San Diego.
When the building’s owners passed away and their son cut his lease short in 2020, Tajran says he was disappointed, but he had a nagging feeling that would happen eventually—which is why he already purchased 5041 Newport Avenue back in 2009 and opened Ocean Beach Brewery in 2016.
“For 42 years, I have been in this location in this area, the same block,” he says with pride. Ocean Beach has gone through some changes since 1984 (the OB farmers market launched in 1992, Starbucks came in 2001 and left in 2022, ADUs crept in, and the iconic OB Pier closed in 2023), but Tajran says the heart of the beachside town has remained the same.
So has most of his staff. Millea has been brewing since day one, and longtime manager Megan Schuster has worked for Tajran for 19 years, first at Newport, then at OB Brewery. Most of the employees are locals, and Tajran says he doesn’t plan on closing the business until he finds the right buyer to carry on the baton.
The property itself comes with some unique features for the area—three stories with a rooftop deck and ocean views from every level. And if you’re wondering if those uninterrupted views will remain that way, Tajran assures me they will. Part of his original building purchase included language that prohibits the three buildings between him and the ocean from building up. He also leases space next door, which would allow a new owner to expand brewing capacity with more tanks and fermenters.
“I just wanted to make sure this goes in good hands,” he says. He and his wife both hope to retire soon in order to spend time with their children. But he’ll make sure his other baby is taken care of first.
“I love Ocean Beach,” he says. “I can say nothing but thank you, OB.”
OB Brewery is still open at 5041 Newport Avenue. Hours are Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Interested parties should contact Next Wave Commercial.
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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.
It’s a Self-Care Summer. Because your best self is our favorite self.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
