For Alicia Keys, Hell’s Kitchen is personal. The new Broadway musical, premiering at New York City’s Shubert Theatre on April 20, draws on the singer’s early life in the then-gritty Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, following teenager Ali as she falls in love with music. Its primary setting is Keys’ childhood home of Manhattan Plaza, a subsidized apartment complex dedicated primarily to housing performing artists (Keys’ mother acted part-time).
The show’s scenic designer and UC San Diego professor Robert Brill—tapped in by Hell’s Kitchen director and fellow UCSD alum Michael Greif (you may know him as the original director of Rent)—grew up in Salinas, California, but the show’s world is close to Brill’s heart, too. “I lived in Hell’s Kitchen for about 15 years,” he says. “My daughter, Sophia, went to preschool in the basement level of [Manhattan Plaza]. Many of her friends lived in those buildings.”
While concepting sets for the show’s 2023 off-Broadway run at the Public Theater, Brill revisited Manhattan Plaza, eventually zeroing in on the irregular terraces studding the exterior of the high-rise apartments. “When you look at them sideways, they’re almost like piano keys,” he points out.
Brill and his team crafted a batch of tall, movable structures with staggered levels, using the balconies as inspiration. “We were trying to create a complex web of architecture so that the space could evolve from scene to scene,” he says. Greif and Brill made miniature models of the set and spent more than 15 hours snapshotting different compositions, matching patterns to the mood and needs of each scene.
Courtesy of Robert Brill
In addition, two multi-level, platformed towers provide an alternative to the orchestra pit. Musicians and cast members flit from platform to platform, Manhattan Plaza’s vibrant artistic hive always buzzing through its halls and around its exterior. “We felt it was important for the musicians to be present, to constantly surround Ali and be the inspiration for her music,” Brill adds.
The shifting set pieces capture the staggering height and ever-changing thrum of New York, shattering the constrained space of the theater into a kaleidoscope of restless motion. To bring even more kinetic energy to the show’s visuals, Brill worked with projection designer Peter Negrini (who served the same role on Dear Evan Hansen) and lighting designer Natasha Katz to pack the stage with LED surfaces, which take on varying configurations throughout the show’s run.
Courtesy of Public Theatre by Joan Marcus
“The LED screens are like a number of photographs randomly put on a table,” Brill says. “Imagine those photographs shifting and moving and taking you on a journey.” Negrini and his team can send images, videos, and other content to each screen, collaging or coalescing them into the places that shape Ali’s life. The set changes every few minutes over the musical’s 150-minute run time, and the team never repeats a composition.
The show’s move to the larger Shubert Theatre gives Brill and his team more space to play, making each vertical structure 50 percent taller or more than its previous iteration—but as nomadic as ever. “[It’s like one of] those puzzles where there’s one square missing in the middle. It’s very much a puzzle off-stage, too. While there was open space off-stage 10 seconds ago, now there’s something there,” Brill explains. “Musicals are a machine. It takes quite a community to put them together and to make them feel effortless.”
Previews for Hell’s Kitchen began Mar. 28. The musical officially opens at the Shubert Theatre in New York City on April 20.
Amelia Rodriguez is a writer and journalist and winner of the San Diego Press Club's 2023 Rising Star Award and 2024 Best of Show Award, she’s also covered music, food, arts and culture, fashion, and design for Rolling Stone, Palm Springs Life, and other national and regional publications. After work, you can find her hunting down San Diego’s best pastries and maintaining her five-year Duolingo streak.
There’s a creative inertia that resides in San Diego, producing a near-constant stream of cool events. Fortunately, this weekend is no different. Those with an artistic inkling can search for inspiration at MCASD’s EXPO Design Market or admire the mixture of live performance and neighborhood charm during the North Park Music Fest. Foodies can dine (with wine) at Stake Chophouse & Bar during its ZD Wines Dinner or explore Barrio Logan’s standout eats at the Sabor Del Barrio. Plus, Pride Month is already in full swing in SD with the return of DISCO RIOT’s Queer Mvmnt Fest and the two-day Out & Abt Music Festival.
Stake Chophouse & Bar is collaborating with Napa Valley’s ZD Wines—a family-run winemaking institution that’s been around since 1969—on an intimate four-course dinner this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Throughout the meal, each dish will be paired with a curated pour from ZD Wines, with patrons set to receive a chardonnay, pinot noir, and pair of cabernet sauvignons. Dinner guests will also be treated to insight on the night’s wine pairings from ZD Wines’ senior winemaker Chris Pisani. Reservations are $210 pre-paid through OpenTable.
Take advantage of all the dynamic attractions that the Barrio Logan Cultural District has to offer—and eat very well while you’re at it—during the third annual Sabor Del Barrio. This Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. attendees can devour their way through 35 neighborhood staples and traverse the tasting stops on foot, by bike, via a free trolley shuttle, or a combination of the three. Tickets are $40 online ($55 day of) and come with complimentary admission to Quint Gallery, the Athenaeum Art Center, and the Chicano Park Museum & Cultural Center, plus a free tour of Tao of Clay.
Sam Hinton Folk Heritage Festival at Old Poway Park
June 6
Survey the depth of oral storytelling during the free annual Sam Hinton Folk Heritage Festival this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Old Poway Park. Named for harmonica virtuoso, marine biologist, and longtime San Diegan Sam Hinton, this event highlights folk artists who specialize in time-honored traditions. Throughout the day, attendees can see performances by musicians with roots in Americana, Cajun, and Appalachian rhythms on the main stage, dance in the Templars Hall, and hear historical tales from the Storytellers of San Diego in the Porter House.
14134 Midland Road, Poway
North Park Music Fest
June 6
Psychedelic rockers Frankie and the Witch Fingers will headline an eclectic lineup at the North Park Music Fest. This Saturday, enjoy sets from noon to 1:45 a.m. from over thirty performers—including DJs, bands, and local acts—across a dozen North Park venues. Ticket options include general admission ($25 online, $35 day of) and VIP passes ($65) which come with lounge access at Granada House, line-skipping privileges and more; festival proceeds will go towards the North Park Business & Neighborhood Foundation. Plus, performances at Pure Pawsh, Visual Art + Supply, Overland, and Playground Art + Coffee will be open to the public.
North Park
Out & Abt Music Festival
June 6 & 7
The calendar has just flipped to Pride Month, and Out & Abt is celebrating in style. The two-day Out & Abt Music Festival begins Saturday from 3-10 p.m. at The Soap Factory with drag shows, circus acts, a manic pixie dream market, two stages of live music, and last but not least, a mechanical bull. The festivities will continue with an after party from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Gossip Grill and conclude with an afternoon pool party at Hard Rock Hotel San Diego on Sunday from 1-7 p.m. Ticket options include weekend general admission passes ($70), and entry to the music festival ($30), after party ($17) and pool party ($27).
Citywide
Photo Credit: Kevin Berne
Theater & Art Exhibits in San Diego This Weekend
The Monsters at La Jolla Playhouse
June 2-28
Fresh off its Drama Desk Award-winning run in the Big Apple this past winter, The Monsters will have its first West Coast production beginning Tuesday in the Mandall Weiss Forum at La Jolla Playhouse. Written by and co-starring Ngozi Anyanwu, The Monsters finds its reconciliatory narrative in a young woman yearning to repair her relationship with her estranged older brother in the brutal and unforgiving world of mixed martial arts. The Monsters will have preview performances this Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 & 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1 & 7 p.m., with tickets ranging from $30-$74.
Ryan Hardison is a freelance arts and entertainment writer and recent graduate of San Diego State. When he's not staring at his laptop, he's likely eating an adobada burrito or getting sunburnt at the beach.
June Gloom isn’t stopping San Diegans from making the most out of the month. There’s something for every music lover, from swaying to smooth jazz at The Rady Shell to rocking out at Slightly Stoopid’s Field of Dreamz Festival. Art enthusiasts can visit the Mingei for an exhibit showcasing Native American and Pacific Rim heritage, […]
June Gloom isn’t stopping San Diegans from making the most out of the month. There’s something for every music lover, from swaying to smooth jazz at The Rady Shell to rocking out at Slightly Stoopid’s Field of Dreamz Festival. Art enthusiasts can visit the Mingei for an exhibit showcasing Native American and Pacific Rim heritage, while foodies can try the latest fried fad at the San Diego County Fair. Whatever your interests, it’s time to text the group chat and make some plans. Here are all the best things to do in San Diego this month:
Khalid is headlining his first tour since 2019—this time for the R&B and pop showstopper After the Sun Goes Down—and he’s ready to dance through Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre.
Photo Credit: Angela Babby / Courtesy of Angela Babby
Theater & Art Exhibits in San Diego This Month
6/5–7/19
With a beat that can’t be stopped, New Village Arts will revive the joyful musical Hairspray, a fusion of teen pop stardom and racial integration in Civil Rights–era Baltimore.
6/13–9/13
Cat Gunn poignantly examines the impact of forced separation from ancestral lineage through If Only by the Light of a New Moon, their solo museum debut at ICA Central.
Proceed to Pride Month with the Out & Abt Festival, featuring a carnival-themed playground at The Soap Factory, an afterparty hosted by Gossip Grill, and the next day, a sapphic poolside bash at the Hard Rock Hotel.
6/10–7/5
Imagine and experience your favorite fairytale ending during the San Diego County Fair, which returns this summer with a new theme: Once Upon a Fair.
11 & 13
The return of the Switchfoot Bro-Am means two things: an elegant seaside fundraiser in North County and a free bash at Moonlight Beach full of sun, surf competitions, and live music.
For the first time, NASCAR will start its engines in San Diego. Naval Base Coronado will host this one-of-a-kind racing spectacle to commemorate the U.S. Navy’s semiquincentennial.
25
Itadakimasu! In other words: Let’s eat! Sample, then rank, the best Pan-Asian dishes from local eateries at Julep Venue during SD Mag’s 21+ Omakase Open, done to support the Convoy District.
28
If you ever needed a reason to eat ice cream and gelato, here’s a charitable one. Raise money—one waffle cone at a time—for Feeding San Diego during this year’s Scoop San Diego festival.
Ryan Hardison is a freelance arts and entertainment writer and recent graduate of San Diego State. When he's not staring at his laptop, he's likely eating an adobada burrito or getting sunburnt at the beach.
San Diego is just out here minding its own business. It’s long been cast as Los Angeles’s less ambitious sibling—the chill one, the one who shows up late for dinner reservations in flip-flops with a few provocative opinions. Architecturally it’s often cast the same: secondary, derivative, a footnote to California modernism that seems to begin and end with the Stahl House (Case Study House #22). LA has Pierre Koenig, Craig Ellwood, John Lautner. San Diego has the original fish taco.
But this version of the story is redacted, metaphorically speaking.
While the jazz hands of Hollywood and its hills cast a spell on historians and architecture buffs, San Diego had, and has, its own quiet evolution: It invented and reinvented itself through homegrown modernism, beginning with The Allen House (1907) in Bonita by Irving J. Gill.
“The biggest misconception is that San Diego was following Los Angeles,” says Keith York of Modern San Diego, one of the city’s top guides to modernist architecture. “Those who consider Rudolph Schindler and Richard Neutra as the fathers of Southern California Modernism often fail to recognize the outsize influence Gill and his buildings had on their work.”
Courtesy of Keith York
A new book, The Distinct Modernism of San Diego—written by Mark Hargreaves and Hallie Swenson, published by York—focuses on eight architects who were born, raised, or built their careers in San Diego. It illustrates how the city wasn’t hosting weekend warrior architects on side quests. It was a staging ground for a less look-at-me modernism from luminaries like Gill, Lilian J. Rice, Richard Requa, Lloyd Ruocco, Frederick Liebhardt, Kendrick Bangs Kellogg, Sim Bruce Richards, and Cliff May.
“Absent the backstabbing competition for projects, a collegial group of architectural peers collaborated and maintained lasting friendships with one another as they designed in response to the temperate climate and slower economy,” York says.
Largely unknown until the mid-1960s, Gill is a marquee name today. He arrived here from the East Coast at a moment when San Diego was still defining itself, which gave him the freedom to invent something new, experiment, rebel.
Instead of imposing the flourishes and frills of the time, he considered San Diego’s climate, light, landscape, history—the joie de vivre—and designed for this place. “[Architects of the west] must have the courage to fling aside every device that distracts the eye from structural beauty, must break through convention and get down to fundamental truths,” he once said, a sentiment that nails the un-ornate, total lack of pretension that’s defined San Diego people and culture.
And, lo, did Gill fling: His flat roofs, clean lines, and almost no ornamentation—though not necessarily modernism in the Eames or Eichler sense—foreshadowed what would later be called minimalism. Gill eventually became synonymous with the Los Angeles narrative, but broader architectural histories overlook the fact that his most progressive designs happened here.
Courtesy of Keith York
Another key to San Diego’s architectural movement was Lilian J. Rice, who often worked behind the scenes with little credit. She was one of only about 10 women in America licensed as architects at the time. Even though she died from cancer at 43, she somehow managed to complete an estimated 170 projects in the region, many in Rancho Santa Fe.
Born and raised in National City, Rice also wasn’t importing ideas. She shaped her own based on her understanding of this region and her commitment to protect the natural environment. Her work has been categorized as Spanish Colonial Revival, but she wasn’t reviving as much as she was refining a style suited to our border region—serene, mirroring nature, beautiful.
Like Sim Bruce Richards, who was his own way of life. While Gill stripped away ornamentation and Rice focused on the peace of open spaces, Richards came along several decades later and went full emo. By then, modernism had grown deep roots; its steel-and-glass structures took themselves very seriously. Richards came to party.
Photo Credit: Ollie Patterson
An eccentric, unpredictable man with half a face (part of his jaw was removed following a bone infection when he was a child), his life was a jalopy of adventures. He was opinionated and passionate about design, music, texture—and he created what he called a “sensuous environment.” He wanted his clients and their guests to feel the spaces as much as to be in them, appealing to the visual, tactile, nasal (“a cedar house smells good”), auditory (“acoustically superior”), even taste. “Though, I‘ve never had a client lick my houses,” he once wrote.
Organic, woodsy, textured, aromatic—if you ever find yourself in a Sim Bruce Richards house, a licking impulse might not seem so outrageous.
Gill, Rice, Richards and the other architects in Distinct Modernism built a legacy in San Diego that resonates nationally. And the work of these heavy hitters isn’t stuck in an inaccessible collectors realm: This October, homes by Kellogg and Liebhardt will open to the public as part of the La Jolla Modernism Home Tour—an opportunity to experience it not as a museum relic or magazine image (ahem), but as something alive.
Modernism in San Diego was never about glamour or an intention to be iconic. What transpired here is more nuanced, more ingrained with a less shouty aesthetic. A very San Diego aesthetic.
In this city, chef Brian Malarkey and restaurateur Chris Puffer are kind of like peanut butter & jelly, tacos and Tuesday, Padres and Petco—they just go together. This month, the duo celebrates 10 years of partnering on some of San Diego’s top restaurants including their first venture, Herb & Wood.
To celebrate this milestone, we stepped back and revisited their journey becoming some of this city’s most successful restaurateurs.
But first, let’s go back to the beginning. The duo met at Oceanaire in 2007 where they both worked. Malarkey was still riding the high from his stint on Top Chef Season 3 where he won runner-up. He was a great chef, Puffer recalls, if not a tad arrogant. Whatever he was doing, though, it worked. Sales doubled under his watch.
In 2009, Malarkey was approached by some patrons to start what would become Searsucker. He knew he wanted Puffer to be his partner. They had great chemistry and loved hospitality and food. “We both came to this with a bit of a chip on our shoulder,” says Malarkey. “We wanted to prove it to other people that we know what we’re doing.”
Courtesy of Puffer Malarkey Collective
Searsucker, Gabardine, and Herringbone (under the Fabric of Social Dining restaurant group) were born through the new partnership. But in 2012, they sold their concepts to Hakkasan and soon partnered on a new lease.
That building would eventually become Herb & Wood. “We were going to do it differently this time around,” says Malarkey as he reflects on Wood’s early days. “And we [wanted to] build it to last.”
The vision: Great food. Great music. Great service. It’d be a place where diners would let go, put their phones down, and be fully present to enjoy a meal together. When they walked into 2210 Kettner Blvd, they knew they had found their spot.
The only problem was that, at the time, that area of Little Italy was still severely underdeveloped. In a 8,500-square-foot space, they were going to have 230 seats to fill. “It may as well have been on Mars,” says Troy Johnson, San Diego Magazine publisher, content chief, and the city’s longtime food critic.
Courtesy of Puffer Malarkey Collective
And, of course, there were the naysayers. The prevailing feeling in the dining world was, “Let’s see what these f**king idiots do,” recalls Malarkey. The duo let all the noise be noise. In fact, the noise fueled them. “We weren’t going to cater to the haters,” Puffer says.
Their next hurdle would be to tackle the restaurant’s design. “There was nothing. It was literally a box,” says Puffer of the former space. Design teams were too expensive or didn’t quite get their vision—no, they didn’t want exposed beams or wooden tables made from reclaimed barns. “Then, Puffer was like, ‘f**k it, dude, I’m going to design this restaurant.’”
Having never really designed something like this before, he decided not to work in the programs that most professionals use to create their layouts. 3D mockup? Didn’t need it. CAD? That’s what a paper and pencil are for.
Courtesy of Herb & Wood
“It was all in my head,” he recalls. “I had this moment where I was like, ‘If I died right now, no one would know where any of this shit goes.’”
“Yeah, it made no sense,” Malarkey says.
And it still doesn’t if you hear him explain it. A mishmash of vignettes from the inner workings of his memory bank, evoking everything from Mississippi riverboats to Eiffel tower ironwork, Kensington home façades, an old theater he frequented, and a canoe, because why not? Yet somehow, it all worked.
“It’s a sense of nostalgia,” says Puffer. “People might say, ‘Oh, my gosh, this feels good’ and they don’t realize it reminds them of the time they were in Paris.’”
“We don’t play trends,” Malarkey says. “We play timeless.”
Courtesy of Herb & Wood
Over the course of many years and plenty of trial and error, the partnership has continued to thrive. And, the Puffer Malarkey Collective has found its sweet spot within their restaurants: The service had to be kind and unpretentious and the food had to come out quick, delicious, and consistent. “Consistency is key!” says Puffer.
They also learned to balance out one another. “He’s a go-go-go-go [person],” says Puffer, “I’m a let’s-take-a-deep-breath-and-sleep-on-it [type of person].”
So, when they opened the doors to Herb & Wood in April of 2016, with those lessons in place, everything was just right. “We knew it had to fire on all cylinders,” says Puffer. “And it did.”
Courtesy of Puffer Malarkey Collective
There was no pretense and the dress code was exceedingly simple. “Money in your pocket,” says Malarkey. “That’s all you need.”
The phones rang, the seats filled, and the haters had to give it to them, those gnocchi hit. People began embracing every aspect of the place, even the edgier ones.
“We thought people were going to complain about all the paintings with boobs,” says Puffer of the many John Lanes on the wall. “But the amount of people who take pictures in front of the boobs is amazing.”
They even had a middle finger statue that Puffer had picked up from a yard sale. If a table was rude or antagonistic toward the staff, he’d walk over to them with the finger. “Congratulations,” he’d say, handing it over. “You’ve won asshole of the night.”
Courtesy of Puffer Malarkey Collective
The point is, they were ready to laugh (and not take shit from anyone). When someone wrote a review of Herb & Wood and called it Weed & Boners, they both had a laugh. It’s one of the keys to longevity.
Along with the fun and deliciousness, they’ve also served as a culinary talent incubator for San Diego. “It’s like a centrifuge,” says Johnson about Herb & Wood. “They train up all these young chefs and start spinning all this talent into different parts of the city.”
There’s Sebastian Becerra with Pepino, Samantha Bird of Relic Bakery, Aidan Owens at Herb & Sea, and Tara Monsod of Animae and Le Coq (San Diego’s first James Beard award finalist) to name a few. “They’ve expanded the footprint of the food revolution in San Diego,” says Johnson.
Their plans for the next 10 years?
“We’re just going to keep the magic going,” says Malarkey.
Dive into the unexpected this weekend, where curated meals, experimental performances and behind-the-scenes experiences await. Foodies are invited to the first 2026 gathering of The Blank Table as well as Chef Onyi’s seasonal Rooted dinner at Millport. Broaden your artistic horizons with Project [BLANK]’s Working Title No. 5, or check out the genre-bending musical lineups at Seek Fest or Fiesta Del Sol. As an added bonus, The Rosin Box Project is pulling back the curtain and opening a trio of after-hours rehearsals to the public ahead of its new Incubator Lab show.
San Diego may be a craft beer capital, but it’s also home to a diverse array of wineries. During the San Diego County Vintners Association’s annual San Diego Wine Week, oenophiles can sample several of the best pours the region has to offer. The centerpiece event, Sunday’s all-inclusive SDCVA Wine Festival from 3-6 p.m., will feature over 20 local wineries at Bernardo Winery; general admission is $90. Additional Wine Week events include Vintners Table at Cordiano Winery (Thursday), San Diego Wine Country at the Bay at Mission Beach Women’s Club (Thursday) and the Seedling Soiree at Olivewood Gardens (Saturday).
Citywide
The Blank Table
May 28
The Blank Table series is an exercise in local culinary creativity, innovation and collaboration with the most secret of ingredients readily available: the element of surprise. On six Thursdays from May-October—with year seven of the series beginning this Thursday at 6 p.m.—60 patrons will be served a unique menu with five set courses, each with curated cocktail pairings. And to keep the air of mystery alive, the dinner location and menu will not be disclosed until 24 hours ahead of time. Tickets are $275 for Thursday’s dinner and a season pass for all six monthly dinners is $1,402; a portion of event proceeds will be donated to Feeding San Diego.
Surprise Location
Rooted: A Dinner Experience by Chef Onyi at Millport
May 30
Chef Onyinyechukwu Akpa welcomes food lovers to try a seasonal spread, dually inspired by her mastery of West African flavors and California’s seasonal ingredients, during the second edition of Rooted: A Dinner Experience at Millport. This Saturday from 6-9 p.m., chef Onyi will serve a five-course tasting menu, with dishes such as slow roasted beef, plantain upside down cake and akara, Nigerian black-eyed pea fritters. The meal will be entirely gluten-free, with vegan accommodations also available. Tickets are $115 and can be purchased here.
775 13th Street, Imperial Beach
Bridgerton & Blooms High Tea at Estancia La Jolla
May 31
Dearest reader, Estanica La Jolla opens up its grounds once a month for its outdoor Tea in the Garden series, and you’re in luck, because this month’s tea time is inspired by the enchanted English setting of Bridgerton. During the Bridgerton & Blooms High Tea this Sunday from noon to 3 p.m., guests can savor an afternoon worthy of the ton, complete with floral accoutrements, custom teas, cocktails, finger foods and enough sweets treats for Lady Whistledown to write home about. Tickets are $82.
9700 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla
Courtesy of Fiesta Del Sol
Concerts & Festivals in San Diego This Weekend
Juvenile with the 400 Degreez Band at House of Blues San Diego
May 29
Over the years, Juvenile has more than proven himself as an all-time emcee, with his breakout 1998 album 400 Degreez still a defining example of the South’s hip-hop brilliance. This Friday at 7 p.m. at House of Blues San Diego, Juvenile will play hits like “Slow Motion” and “Back That Azz Up,” along with selections from Boiling Point, his first album in 12 years. Plus, he’ll be joined by the sensational 400 Degreez Band, and as anyone who’s seen his NPR Tiny Desk performance already knows, Juvenile with a live ensemble is a match made in music heaven. Tickets start at $55 for this concert.
1055 Fifth Avenue, Gaslamp
Kuumba Fest
May 30
Kuumba Fest returns this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the theme of “Black 2 Mind, Spirit & Body” for its 34th annual iteration. This free community festival, organized in support of the city’s Black Arts + Culture District, will feature DJs, dancing, spoken word, musical performances and an African marketplace with food, apparel, health resources and more. Then from 6-8 p.m. at the Elementary Institute of Science, the festival will conclude with a screening of the documentary American Curl followed by a Q&A panel with the film’s producers.
Ryan Hardison is a freelance arts and entertainment writer and recent graduate of San Diego State. When he's not staring at his laptop, he's likely eating an adobada burrito or getting sunburnt at the beach.
Your cup of coffee shows up exactly how you like it. The fully booked restaurant suddenly has a table. The last-minute, once-in-a-lifetime experience somehow comes together without a hitch. In the world of hospitality at top resorts, there’s an iceberg of scrupulous planning for each guest.
A concierge is in charge of that iceberg. There’s even an award for the best in the world: the Les Clefs d’Or Young Leader Award. It’s a months-long, multi-stage process with interviews, tests, and international competition, culminating at a global congress. Each member country only gets one nominee. Representing the US this year? Simona Marciulaityte from San Diego.
As Chef Concierge at Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa—a Relais & Châteaux retreat with Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five Diamond, a highly accoladed place with commiserate expectations—Marciulaityte is equal parts doer, fixer, and project manager for guests’ sometimes wild travel dreams.
“We see hospitality as theatre,” she explains. “There are a lot of moving parts, but when we arrive to the stage, it’s always with grace and a performance to create an incredible experience for the guests.”
That impossible-to-get reservation with custom cake and balloons at the table? She’s already texted three people. A guest calling on their way to the Zoo requesting a VIP-tour in 15 minutes? Booked in seven. The usual ‘Hey can you schedule me an appointment with Hermès to buy a $30K Birkin bag and plan my proposal in Italy’ request? Oddly specific, true story—and fully handled.
Courtesy of Rancho Valencia
“Great concierge work truly begins long before a guest ever steps on property,” Marciulaityte says. “Who is traveling, notes from prior visits, special occasions, and dining history help me understand the nature of the stay. For new guests, I read between the lines: the questions they ask, the pace they seem to want, the kinds of experiences they gravitate toward.
“Curation draws on something that can’t be replicated by a search engine. It’s years of genuine relationship-building with partners across San Diego and beyond.”
Nearly a decade ago, Marciulaityte was juggling life as a personal stylist at Nordstrom and hostess/server at Brian Malarkey’s Herringbone and Searsucker. After working an event for the San Diego Concierge Association, she had a moment of clarity: “I remember thinking, oh my god—this is exactly what I want to do.”
Being a part of Les Clefs d’Or grants entry to a global network of concierges who operate like a very discreet, very efficient hotline (“In service through friendship,” as their motto goes). When local super-chef Tara Monsoud was nominated for a James Beard, Marciulaityte worked with the SD Concierge Association and Le Coq to send flowers and photos to Chicago where the chef was staying.
“It’s not only guests—we hope to touch everyone with our concierge magic.”
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.
Kelly H. Harfouche, founder of KQ Aesthetic Society, knows firsthand that cosmetic treatments like fillers, neurotoxins, and microneedling, can not only enhance a person’s appearance and restore confidence, they have the power to truly change a person’s life. An expert injector has the ability to tailor treatments to each individual patient’s anatomy and goals for personalized results. Harfouche, a board-certified nurse practitioner, has spent nearly a decade perfecting her craft as an aesthetic injector and integrating her multifaceted artistic skills with precision patient care. Her commitment to continual education and training, plus a passion for helping people look—and feel—their best, set KQ Aesthetic Society apart in a sea of local medspas.
For many people considering nonsurgical treatments, the intent is to look refreshed and refined. KQ Aesthetic Society’s philosophy eschews a cookie cutter approach that bases treatments around units, instead working to understand each person’s unique goals, then curating a treatment plan to fit that vision. Harfouche focuses on “inclusive luxury,” the belief that everyone deserves access to aesthetic treatments, respective of budget restrictions. She develops long-standing trusted relationships with her patients, and works with each one to achieve their aesthetic objectives and address the underlying causes of their concerns.
“For me, forming an honest and open relationship with every patient who walks through the door is essential. This means understanding them on a deeper level and meeting them where they are to define and achieve their individual goals,” she says.
Drawing on her artistic background, which inspired her transition into medical aesthetics, Harfouche sees each client as a “unique canvas.” Rather than relying on standardized procedures, the practitioner’s distinctive approach combines her profound understanding of the physiological and anatomical changes associated with aging with an unwavering commitment to ongoing education about the newest products and their mechanisms of action. Her goal is to make each patient feel beautiful in their own skin and to embrace their individuality.
She has also pioneered a way to combine her talent for aesthetic artistry with her philanthropic nature. Harfouche is one of only a handful of providers using dermal fillers to treat patients with lip asymmetry and scarring resulting from cleft lip surgery. Patients travel from around the country for this transformative treatment, noting increased confidence and a restored identity. She hopes to eventually launch a training program to help fill the void in this space.
“My passion has always been connecting with people and giving back in any capacity that I can,” she says. In the rapidly advancing landscape of aesthetic medicine, you can place your confidence in Harfouche and KQ Aesthetic Society to deliver exceptional care. To learn more or book a consultation, please visit kqaestheticsociety.com.
