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We set out to find the best plant-based locales in the city, here are 28 of our favorites
Our food landscape is exploding with plants. A veritable vegetable volcano flows through every corner of San Diego, with spices from all over the world seasoning our samosas and flavoring our phở. We’re lucky. Our veggie food scene is strong enough that we can skip meat without missing a beat (or a beet), which can be great for our bodies and our planet.People who eat a plant-based diet account for 75 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than those who eat meat. So whether you want to move in a more plant-forward direction for personal wellness or for planetary health, SD’s chefs have you covered. Throughout the county, meat-free dining is getting more delicious, more experimental, and more fun. It’s a great time to be eating plants.To celebrate, we scoured bars, restaurants, parking-lot food trucks, and strip malls to bring you our round-up of the best of plant-based dining in SD. They’re all vegan, except for a few marked (VG + VE) to indicate spots that use eggs or dairy. All you have to do is bring your appetite.
Try it all–you can’t go wrong with this galactic feast
Photo Credit: James Tran
The public posed Kory Stetina with a lifetime’s worth of questions regarding his plans for a follow-up to Kindred. He answered with a self-described crashed starship, an otherworldly vessel containing reimagined vegan street food and memorable cocktails. Located in a nondescript building in South Park, Mothership is decked with all the whimsy expected in a spaceship-themed build-out: an original soundtrack pressed into vinyl, a mirrored bathroom bathed in red light, and a star-speckled ceiling.
2310 30th St, South Park
This vegan, fire-engine-red food truck is developing quite a reputation from its perch outside a North Park gas station. The name of the game is street food, and the rules don’t exist. Queue up and choose buttermilk-battered corn dogs, brown mustard– smeared NYC hot dogs, or a Beyond patty burger.2404 El Cajon Blvd, University Heights
Perpetual lines at the Sunset Market in Oceanside heralded El Veganito’s residency within the Grossmont Center food court. With vegan cheese that actually melts, burritos the size of a first-grader’s arm, and cilantro- and onion-topped street tacos, El Veganito swiftly became a cornerstone for those wanting to transition to a plant-based lifestyle without sacrificing their culture and the foods they love.
5500 Grossmont Center Dr, La Mesa
Photo Credit: Lindsay Kreighbaum
Even more comforting than chef and owner Roy Elam’s cast-iron mac and cheese, his 72-hour fermented pizza doughs, and his seasonal selections of handmade pastas is the realization that he named his restaurant in homage to his late mother. Drop in for weekend brunch or daily lunch, or take a pizza-, pasta-, or vegan cheese–making class at the Banker’s Hill locale.
2949 Fifth Ave, Banker’s Hill
After Eve Encinitas shuttered a few years ago, the staff took a brief hiatus, then reopened under the name Eris Vegan Food Co. They’re bringing the same upbeat and cheery hospitality in new Oceanside digs with similar bistro-inspired fare as Eve. Think sunflower mozzarella-loaded fries, cast iron-seared veggie patties, and cilantro-lime rice–filled veggie bowls.
302 Wisconsin Ave, Oceanside
The Tiger Roll
Had Gorilla Eats Sushi been in the Aztec Food Hub during my days as a plant-based but cash-strapped SDSU marketing student, my life would have included fewer instant noodle packets and a lot more shiitake-and tempura asparagus–stuffed specialty rolls. Located in a midnight-blue building with white trim, the eatery also showcases a selection of two-piece nigiri, hand rolls, and classic rolls.
6334 El Cajon Blvd, College Area
If you pull up to your local drive-thru and request something plant-based, prepare to make a meal out of ice cubes, wilted trimmings from a head of iceberg, and the three french fries that took a swan-dive to the bottom of your brown paper bag. But why bother, when you could instead head to Evolution Fast Foods in Bankers Hill, San Diego’s first vegan drive-thru, and have your pick of burgers, fries, tacos, and burritos served with compostable packing and utensils.
2965 Fifth Ave, Banker’s Hill
A curry-scented plume embraces those opening the doors to Grains Cafe in University Heights. Inside, sibling co-owners Napatr Chayodom and Katiya Hendricks are serving reimagined versions of the aromatic Thai dishes that defined their upbringing. They’re pairing bites with a local draft beer selection, honoring our illustrious craft brew culture.
2201 Adams Ave, University Heights
Enmoladas
Around these parts, culinary magic can be found adjacent to convenience stores, across the street from the post office, or, like Phatties, in a nondescript Escondido strip mall. Phatties’ menu has everything from jalapeno-marinated oyster mushroom aguachiles to banana leaf-wrapped, rajas-stuffed tamales and cinnamon-sugar-dusted churros.
242 W Mission Ave ste d, Escondido
Green Door Cafe lies along a potted plant-lined patio tucked beneath exposed wood beams on a beachy La Jolla block otherwise abounding with yoga studios and boutiques. Chef and owner Martin Hall is to credit for the entirely from-scratch menu, which includes carrot lox bagels, a red chard and leek quiche, and tempeh-topped mushroom flatbread.
7644 Girard Ave, La Jolla
The aromas inside Hillcrest’s Hazel & Jade are a chorus of spices, freshly brewed espresso, and buttery croissants singing in three-part harmony. Walls paneled with floor-to-ceiling subway tiles assist the bits of natural light popping in from the patio in brightening the space. Display cases and a pastry shelf proudly house the day’s bounty, which might be white cake filled with strawberry buttercream and pistachio-rose cookie pieces, twice-baked pistachio chocolate croissants, or cheddar chive biscuits.
3852 Fourth Ave #100, Hillcrest
Strawberry Cheesecake
Peace Pies is San Diego’s only dedicated raw, vegan sit-down restaurant, and owner JP Alfred is entering his phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes era. He’s in the thick of rebuilding the Encinitas branch of Peace Pies, which suffered unrecoverable fire damage a few years ago. He’s bouncing back with an open, airy space in the same previously scorched structure while simultaneously running the inaugural Peace Pies on Voltaire in Ocean Beach.
4230 Voltaire St, Ocean Beach
A myriad of nuts (peanut, almond, cashew), seeds (sunflower), and olive oil are the unifying anchors helping Kula Ice Cream achieve its creamy, luscious mouth feel. Kula is a word of Sanskrit origin with widespread adoption in the yoga community, where it signifies togetherness and inclusion. It’s the same unity Kula spreads with its gluten-free, vegan ice cream sandwiches and pints (all of which are available at grocery stores throughout the county) that help bridge dietary gaps with dessert.
9883 Pacific Heights Blvd Suite F, Sorento Valley
Eggroll Burger
Photo Credit: Arlene Ibarra
Our favorite gothic cocktail bar recently reopened in South Park after undergoing cosmetic enhancements. The results are a mosaic floor with brass inlays, high-top bar seating, and a dinner menu brimming with international influences, like carbonara dressed in bucatini cream, an eggroll burger filled with cilantro and sweet chili aioli, and a crème brûlée with macadamia crumble and preserved citrus.
1503 30th St, South Park
Maya Madsen founded Maya’s Cookies in 2015 to craft what she felt the market lacked: an irresistible, soft-baked vegan cookie with imaginative flavors. Every variety is grounded in her travels and life experiences and can be found at her storefronts in Grantville and San Marcos, under her vibrant hot-pink tent at Saturday and Sunday farmers markets, or at your doorstep (if you opt for nationwide shipping).
4760 Mission Gorge Pl, Allied Gardens
Coconut Cortado
Rooftop aerial silk classes and infrared heated yoga adjacent to an organic, gluten-and soy-free café—did we even have to tell you it’s in La Jolla? At Trilogy Sanctuary, downward dog your way into a plate of Sunset Tacos (housemade corn tortillas, roasted red peppers, kale, mole-marinated jackfruit), or sip and savor one of their dozen-plus superfood smoothies.
Rooftop & Level 3, 7650 Girard Ave Suite 400, La Jolla
Plant Power Fast Food has locations sprinkled across San Diego in neighborhoods like Ocean Beach, Encinitas, and Escondido and on the SDSU and UCSD campuses. Plant Power sees its burgers as catalysts for chang—a means of demonstrating how care for the environment does not have to come at the expense of flavor or convenience.
Several Locations
Cräb Cake
Photo Credit: Israel Palacio
Here, “zero-waste” isn’t some trendy food marketing moniker, but the tangible efforts of co-founders Jessica and Davin Waite. They help combat the United States’ vexing food waste issue by operating an entirely vegan kitchen in Oceanside (a Carlsbad location is opening soon), composting, recycling, making plant milk in-house, and convincing farmers to deliver produce without first wrapping it in plastic.
1733 S Coast Hwy, Oceanside
The words “Vietnamese fusion” conjure visions of slurping phở and completing the ritual of squeezing a lime wedge and dunking bean sprouts into a deeply savory broth. Chefs often achieve phở’s signature richness by simmering bones with herbs and aromatics, so discovering a completely meatless version feels like finding a rare gem. The Purple Mint in Allied Gardens serves its phở with shiitake mushroom and rice noodles resting in a vegetable-based broth with your choice of soy protein.
6171 Mission Gorge Rd UNIT 118, Allied Gardens
Conchas
Find Split Bakehouse on the patio portion of the Grossmont Center food court, where panes of plexiglass are the only things separating you and a cache of fresh-out-the-oven pastries. You can go savory (jalapeño cheeze galette, jalapeño popper pocket) or sweet (conchas, cinnamon rolls, donuts), but don’t get attached. Split’s menu rotates seasonally, so a handheld peach tart today may be a lemon-and-powdered-sugar danish tomorrow.
5500 Grossmont Center Dr #219, La Mesa
Squinting while trying to read and pronounce the multi-hyphenated ingredients on a nutrition label can feel like studying for the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which explains why San Diego Vegan Market has become a cornerstone for the plant-based community. Leave your readers at home and close your Google app. It’s all vegan, all the time, and waiting for you off Mission Gorge in Grantville.
The Yasai – Vegetarian Vegan Restaurants Guide San Diego 2023
The Yasai is chef Junya Watanabe’s ode to fermentation. With locations in Little Italy and Convoy District, chef Watanabe, who also helms Convoy’s RakiRaki, collaborates with chef Hajime Matsuoka, crafting menus packed with vegetable-forward takes on ramen and specialty sushi rolls. Veggies assume a starring role on each plate and waste no time idling in the shadows for their shot at mimicking meat.
Little Italy and Convoy District
Thai curry is a revelation. A savory and aromatic reminder that some of life’s greatest joys are in a kaffir lime–and coconut milk–filled bowl with carrots, basil, and a sidekick of steamed rice. Veganic Thai Cafe in Hillcrest offers a varied curry selection (red, green, yellow, pumpkin, panang) with the option to add an array of soy proteins. The remainder of the menu features the classics: pad thai, drunken noodles, tom kha soup, and veggie stir-fries.
1417 Suit A, University Ave, University Heights
Sabudana Vada
Chef and owner Kanta Jina draws on her home culture of Kenya and her international travel experiences to craft Sattvik’s dangerously flavorful paneer curry, pea-packed samosas, and handmade, whole-wheat rotis. When Jina isn’t tending to her Miramar storefront, she’s out catering weddings, birthday parties, and corporate events.
8650 Miramar Rd ste b, Miramar
To avoid running the risk of offending the entire state of New York, I won’t call Liticker’s a bodega. What I will say is that this Ocean Beach outpost has it all: beer, wine, spirits, and convenience store goodies on one side, and a small-but-mighty kitchen on the other. With a menu where almost everything can be converted into a vegan-friendly offering, I’ll compromise by saying Liticker’s is bodega-ish (sorry, New York).
4955 Voltaire St, Ocean Beach
North Park’s Ranchos Cocina has been family-owned and -operated since 1994, so I figured they’d know a thing or two about making a killer agua fresca. What I wasn’t expecting was for the silky, rice-based bev to hit my table in a king-sized glass chalice. Sure, their 50-plus-item menu packed with tacos, tamales, and tortas galore keeps me coming back, but it’s the horchata (which left a constellation of warming spices across my beard) that really does the trick.
3910 30th St, North Park
Situated along the main University Heights drag, Plumeria shares a city block with coffee shops, ice creameries, breweries, and cocktail bars. As a Thai-fusion bistro, Plumeria distinguishes itself with noodle-forward entrées and family-sized vegetable stir-fries known for pops of lemongrass against the sourness of freshly squeezed lime balanced by the zing of Thai chilis.
4661 Park Blvd, University Heights
Sipz is a San Diego–based pan-Asian chain with locations in Clairemont, La Jolla, and North Park. The nearly identical menus lean into the defining flavors of tamarind, garlic, lime-flavored coconut milk, charred veggies, and toasted peanuts to achieve herbaceous dishes bursting with umami.
Several Locations
Jared Cross is a writer who grew up near the US-Mexico border in San Diego. He credits this experience with refining his appetite for food and culture.
With Sosal Line, Heidi Greenwood and Juerie Masters are importing traceable seafood from small producers and building a global pantry business along the way
No matter your job, it’s helpful to find some sort of joy in it to avoid going completely insane. Some people savor the variety of personalities when dealing with customers. Others find comfort in the predictability of closing a bar after last call, counting tips and wiping counters. Perhaps achieving Inbox Zero really gets your blood pumping, or shipping a new product design sparks joy.
For Heidi Greenwood and Juerie Masters, work doesn’t get better than logistics and operations.
“[We] both love all the unsexy parts of supply chain and backend management,” laughs Greenwood. Tracking outbound orders? Ensuring compliance? Managing inbound freight? Stop me if this is getting too hot for you!
Not enough people think about the unsexy reality of running a business before launch, but effectively and consistently keeping an eye on operations separates successful companies from out-of-business ones. Both Masters and Greenwood already own their own businesses—Greenwood is behind the wine zine Campestre Mag and runs the online wine shop Esquina, and Masters co-owns Clos Wine Shop and Fintastic Provisions in University Heights with her husband Paul. Apparently, these gigs weren’t enough to satisfy their collective yearning for spreadsheets and inventory maintenance.
So, they decided to start another business together—Sosal Line, a San Diego-based import and distribution company specializing in global pantry items. The pair launched Sosal Line at the beginning of 2025 and currently only sell three brands of tinned fish, but Greenwood says they plan to expand their offerings as they discover other small or family-run businesses that share their values.
“We want to work with brands and with products that really have a sense of place and actually tell a story—not just the product, but the people behind it too,” she says.
Masters and Greenwood are both Korean-American and named this burgeoning business after Haenyeo, the legendary free-diving women of Jeju Island in South Korea. Traditional Haenyeo equipment and garb include oribal (swim fins), yeoncheol (lead belts to help them sink), and the company’s namesake sosal, a hand-held fishing spear (sometimes called jaksal).
The average person, if sitting completely still, can stay underwater for up to a minute and a half at most. Haenyeo can hold their breath for up to three minutes while actively foraging, harvesting, and swimming. Scientists say these diving women spend more time underwater than any other group of humans on earth. Not badass enough for you? The average age of Haenyeo is around 70.

“Fishing is a strong heritage for Koreans, and it’s the same here in San Diego with the Portuguese settlers,” Greenwood explains. (We aren’t the tuna capital of the US for no reason.)
Sosal Line carries 100 percent traceable, wild caught fish from Galicia in Northern Spain and the Pacific Northwest, all family-owned companies who don’t compromise on sustainable practices. Tinned fish has never been more popular—or more debated—but there’s more to it than cute labels designed for maximum Instagram reach. “I want to know who I’m purchasing from,” says Greenwood. One of their suppliers, Craft Fish Co., which is based in San Diego but fishes in the PNW, is run by JJ and Jessica Gerritsen. JJ catches, Jessica packages, and it’s a business relationship on a first-name basis. “You can’t find that when you’re working with some nameless brand.”
San Diegans can find Sosal Line products at local retailers like Clos/Fintastic (obviously), allmine in Oceanside, Always Hungry Grocery & Goods in Carlsbad, J. Brix Wines in San Marcos, Collins & Coupe/Tablespoon in North Park, and Green Acre in La Jolla. They’re also available in select retailers in Northern California, Oregon, Arizona, and strangely enough, South Carolina. Expanding its client base is, of course, a goal. But not at the expense of quality or joy of discovery.
“I would love to see people try food from different cultures and be excited about it,” says Greenwood. “Maybe make them want to travel to experience different areas of the world.”
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 folks behind Oddish Wine and Lost Cause Meadery are partnering with Bica to open an all-day cafe, coffee shop, wine bar, and restaurant near La Mesa Village
La Mesa: a bucolic, hill-dappled city long regarded as a somewhat frumpy, never quite trendy bridge between the urban cool of Mid-City and the rural sprawls of East County. La Mesa’s population clocks in at around 4 percent of the city of San Diego’s—fewer than Chula Vista, Oceanside, Escondido, Carlsbad, El Cajon, Vista, San Marcos, and Encinitas, in that order. It’s home to a killer Oktoberfest, one of the best charter high schools in the state, and a theatrical mayor who tools around town in a golf cart (and so far, hasn’t cut any arts funding or closed public bathrooms).
But any area that’s only 20 minutes from downtown San Diego and under 20 miles to Mission Bay will only stay under the radar for so long. Slowly but surely, bits and bobs from San Diego’s cultural tastemakers have been popping up all over town. Dark Horse Coffee and the boutique Small Batch both opened in La Mesa in 2018. Stella Jean’s and Pop Pie are coming later this year. Native Poppy is building its new headquarters and studio this fall. After a year in business, the new owners of JK’s Greek have established themselves as one of the best Greek restaurants in the county.
Next year, La Mesa will get one of its most ambitious projects yet. Billy and Suzanna Beltz, owners of Lost Cause Meadery and Oddish Wine, are pouring everything they have into renovating a 5,000-square-foot building between the Village and MacArthur Park to open a wine/beer bar, coffee shop, all-day cafe, and wine shop.
The concept doesn’t have a name (yet), and Bica in Normal Heights will come on as a partner to run the restaurant aspect and coffee program (which also won’t be called Bica. Still lots of naming decisions to be made). But the Beltz’s vision is to create something in La Mesa that doesn’t exist yet—a community gathering space open from morning until night that’s family-friendly, creatively designed, and well… cool.
The building has been around since the 1940s, first operating as a neighborhood market, then butcher shop, secondhand children’s store, electronics store, dry cleaners, and bike shop. The Beltzses say they plan to keep the “soul and character” of the space as much as possible, highlighting original details like a barrel-shaped wooden roof, brightening up the corner building by utilizing the large front windows, and eventually building an outdoor dining/drinking space and kid-friendly area—a must for the neighborhood’s plethora of young families. They tapped all locals for the design and build: Tecscape Design, design consultant Carly Miller-Chen (who owns Ayi boutique in South Park) to create the space, and local contractor CLTVT.

Starting in the morning, the space will offer coffee and light breakfast items before transitioning to lunch and dinner menus, plus a full bar that will feature Oddish and Lost Cause products as well as other local wines, beers, ciders, and other beverages alongside an aperitivo program and low-ABV cocktails and spritzes. Food-wise, they plan to install a wood-fired oven and rotisserie, but expect more menu details to be revealed closer to opening.
There will also be a small retail space focused on natural wines and ciders from places like Raging Cider & Mead in San Marcos and other San Diego and Baja California makers. But don’t expect run-of-the-mill options from the guy who makes weird wines and mead, the oldest alcoholic beverage in human history (hardly TikTok trend material). “We have a unique perspective… Hopefully we can expand some palates and minds in the process,” says Billy.
Community is the heart of the project, more than food, more than drinks. “We have a young family. [Bica owners] Manny [Da Luz] and Charlie [Knowles] have families,” says Billy. Suzanna adds: “People want a space that they know they’re going to get really amazing food, really fun drinks, but they can also feel like they can bring their kids during the weeknights.” It won’t be North Park 2.0, although many families now living in La Mesa came from various neighborhoods across Mid-City (like the Beltzes). It’s filling a void. It’s something they can build from the ground up. And just maybe, it’s something that will surprise people who have yet to discover La Mesa’s potential.
Oddish Wine/Lost Cause Meadery’s new concept is projected to open by the end of 2027 at 8495 La Mesa Blvd.

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.
At The Delicate Squash, Shannon English is rethinking cookies, cakes, and pastries with seasonal ingredients and natural sweeteners
Midway through my phone conversation with Shannon English, owner of The Delicate Squash, I hear an alarm shrilling in her background.
“Sorry, I’ve got to pull some cookies out of the oven right now!” she apologizes. After a few beats, she picks the phone back up and laughs. “I feel like I’m bouncing around all over the place.”
After hearing her run through a list of her professions and current hobbies, I’d have to agree. English runs The Delicate Squash, a gluten- and dairy-free bakery; teaches cooking demos; pops up at farmers markets; wrote a book of poetry (Deep Water came out this month from Beyond the Veil Press); hosts a monthly open mic night; dipped her toe into ballet; recently joined a running club; volunteers at local farms; and finally, teaches at a play-based, nature-based preschool.
I’m tired just talking to her.
Surprising no one, English seems to have unlimited energy and enthusiasm for all this work, notably in education. Early childhood education is one of the most pivotal times for nurturing lifelong learning, but she also aims to educate the public on how to eat cleaner, feel better, and support your local food systems. She started The Delicate Squash in late 2023 after discovering she has a chronic illness, going through the typical standards of care and even strict elimination diets, to no avail.

“I’m not going to say I found a diet that has ‘cured’ me, but I have found that taking a more mindful approach to a lot of things, including diet, has made symptoms far more manageable for me,” she says.
Even people with dietary restrictions deserve a little treat from time to time, but she had a hard time finding anything that tasted good and made her feel good. Thus, The Delicate Squash was born.
All of her baked goods avoid gluten and dairy, and use natural sweeteners like coconut sugar or maple syrup as well as herbs, fruits, foraged flowers, and other natural flavorings. Her signature cookie, the “Delicate” cookie, is a sea salt dark chocolate cookie that’s soft, a little salty, a little sweet, and made with oatmeal to keep it gluten-free. Other crowd favorites are thumbprint jam cookies with jams made from scratch with change seasonally; breakfast pastries like orange, dark chocolate and cardamom scones; brownies; orange and black sesame banana bread; seasonal pies; and custom and seasonal cakes (currently, the late summer flavor is a dark chocolate coconut milk ganache with berry jam).
English says some people are surprised she can produce such a variety of goods with the dietary restrictions she adheres to. “A lot of feedback I get is ‘I could never do that,’” she says. But if she can do it, she assures me that anyone can. “I like to say ‘practice makes progress, not perfection.’”
Her advice? Focus more on being present than presentation, and don’t be afraid to experiment to keep things interesting. And if that doesn’t work, you can always hit her open mic night to ask for tips.
Customers can order from The Delicate Squash’s online store, check her upcoming schedule of pop-ups, or find her goods at various independent retailers around San Diego.
Escondido is getting in on the listening bar phenomenon. On September 5, musicians Mat Rakers, Kevin Capacia, and Billy Petty will open Plot Armor, a Japanese-style vinyl listening bar that Rakers says they aim to feel “curated and intelligent.”
“Currently, there are not a lot of ‘cool’ spots in Escondido,” he says. Backed by The San Diego Music And Art Company and The Escondido Music And Art Company, Plot Armor will soon offer sake, wine, beer, and soju cocktails, plus Japanese non-alcoholic options and cold brew. Eventually, they’ll add Japanese-inspired snacks, but the focus will be creating a small place (very small—the seating capacity is 20) where vinyl junkies can come listen, linger, and libate.

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.
The 29-year-old culinary director at Herb & Sea is making seafood sexy (and approachable) again
Implementing a farm-to-table model hardly deserves acknowledgement these days. It’s not a stretch. It’s not innovative. “It’s the bare f**king minimum,” says Herb & Sea‘s executive chef Aidan Owens.
When I arrive at the Encinitas restaurant, I’m ready to talk sustainability, farm-to-table stuff, with Owens. “Did you see the chin on that?” he says of the extra big jiggly chin on the sheephead that just arrived with the day’s fresh catch. I did. It was Jay Leno adjacent.
I learn quickly that he somehow oozes both charm and stone-cold honesty. Maybe he could construct a new dish with chin goo, like he did when he had a bunch of tuna scraps and voila’d it into a smooth and crowd-pleasing ‘nduja. “I want to know what’s in there,” he says.

The instinct to look closer, to dig into what others might discard, says a lot about the chef’s approach. I guide him back to our topic, but he has something else on his mind. “We’re overcomplicating food—what happened to just cooking good food and having fun with it?”
Owens grew up on a farm in Byron Bay, Australia, where sustainability wasn’t a concept you chat about so much as a way of life. Think dirt roads, backyard chickens, pulling vegetables straight from the ground, and a mother who believed that if you couldn’t pronounce the ingredients on a package, you shouldn’t eat what was inside.
Food wasn’t precious or performative. Making it was what you did because you were hungry and that’s still what inspires Owens today. “I like to cook good food because I like to eat good food,” he says.
His approach to sustainability at Herb & Sea began so naturally that it felt just like instinct. “I was just like, ‘Let’s order food from the people who live and work here,’” he says.

And why wouldn’t he when lives in San Diego? Cities all over the world vie for our goods. Our tuna is sent overseas. Our spiny lobsters hit dinner plates in China and Japan. Not to mention California’s producing a third of the country’s vegetables and three-quarters of its fruits and nuts.
“Why would we outsource when it’s all here?” Owens asks.
Sustainability, in this context, is about cooking what exists in abundance, nearby, right now. “I love the local fish here. It’s f**king delicious and San Diego citrus, I mean, it is so f**ing good,” he says.
Instead of importing ingredients, Owens also looks for nearby alternatives. “You can find really cool things in the local waters,” he says, pointing out that stingray cheeks taste similar to scallops.

Whatever he finds in that sheephead chin might just be the next substitute for marrow. But to make this work, it means getting diners amped up about the slightly unfamiliar.
Tasting menus, where diners are completely in his hands, become an opportunity to gently push boundaries. “I’ll serve mackerel, because people think they hate it,” Owens says, noting that the abundant local fish can have some fishiness. “But when it’s fresh, it’s arguably one of the best fish in the ocean.”
He also tweaks the language on the menu so people might feel more compelled to give dishes a try without preconceived notions. He might use “lengua” instead of “tongue.” “Whelk” instead of “snail.” When he puts “stingray throat” on the menu, he disarmingly calls it “skate.”
To reduce waste, scraps aren’t always discarded but rather turned into something new. Sometimes they’re smoked, cured or fermented. Apples going bad turn into apple ponzu. Lemons turn to marmalade, which stretches their usefulness far beyond peak season. “And it’s super tasty on our pizza,” he says.
What makes the food even richer, is the relationships he’s built with farmers. Though it didn’t always feel natural, Owens sought personal connection first. He recalls approaching a fisherman at the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market. “I was awkward,” he says. “I went up to him and said, ‘I like your fish.’”
Owen’s is now so close to his suppliers—like fishermen Ryan Sebo and Joe Daly—that he gets texted pictures of fresh catches right as they flop on the boat. The messages always ask if he wants first dibs. “I say yes to a lot of fish,” Owens says, noting that Herb & Sea can go through 2,000 pounds of seafood a week.

The next evolution of sustainability, in his view, will be chefs working directly with producers such as his alliance with Sebo, cutting out middlemen and purveyors where possible. “It will put more money in the pockets of the people doing the work,” he says.
It will mean that chefs can’t just know their local farmers and producers, but they’ll choose to work with the ones who have the best practices. Dining and sustainability will become much less about the final plate. “It will be more about the impact that plate has on the Earth,” he says.
Ultimately, he believes sustainability doesn’t need to be loud. It doesn’t need hashtags. It just needs to be honest.
“We aren’t saving lives. We’re feeding people good food,” he says.
And yet, in feeding people well—simply, thoughtfully, responsibly—something meaningful happens. Guests leave satisfied. Ingredients are respected. Local ecosystems are supported and food returns to what it has always been at its core: nourishment, pleasure, and a quiet reflection of the place it comes from.
No buzzwords required.
After a blind taste test, these four desserts came out on top—see the winners here
Basque grandmothers have not been making it for centuries. If you’re a millennial, there’s a strong possibility you’re older than the dessert itself. Yet somehow in less than 40 years, the Basque cheesecake—a half-pudding, half-cake creation with a top that looks like a mistake—managed to ooze its way onto menus all over the world.
It became the undisputed dessert star of San Diego’s restaurant world this year. So we invited 19 of the top restaurants, pastry chefs, and bakers to bring their best to the San Diego Magazine office for a blind taste test to find the best in the city.
First, a little history and context.
In 1987, after failing to find a job as an electrician, Santiago Rivera started working as a bartender at his parents’ unassuming pintxo bar La Viña, in San Sebastián, Spain. He was a naturally curious, self-taught cook who spent his free time testing recipes, tinkering with ingredients, and tweaking techniques.
So when it came to the cheesecake—which hadn’t changed much since its invention (a rudimentary version was served at the first Olympics in Greece 4,000 years ago, and the modern New York version in 1872)—he got radical with it.
He removed the crust (partly just to speed up the process because time is money for a small business). Without the crumbly crust, the experience was far creamier, less granulated. Then he cranked the oven to 400 degrees, nearly 100 degrees hotter than the normal baking temperature.
The result? The top became deeply caramelized, almost burnt, while leaving the center luxuriously soft and loosely set. The restaurant became a legend because of this breakthrough in the dairy arts, and his father never let him stop making it after that.
Now, 67 years after the restaurant’s opening, La Viña stands out for the unceasing line spilling onto the street, and the remarkable amount of curd cultists standing nearby, hovering over cream-smeared plastic containers. It’s the kind of scene that makes you stop and think: What the hell are they eating?
Now, the blind tasting. To keep things fair, the contenders were divided into four categories: Restaurant Traditional, Restaurant Flavored, Bakery Traditional, and Bakery Flavored. (It’s a tad unfair to pit a baker who specializes in the one glorious thing against a restaurant that cooks dozens of things.) Each entry was served blind and judged on texture, flavor, and number of vaguely inappropriate food moans.
The logistics were chaotic, to say the least. Our fridge—not a walk-in, sadly—was packed to the brim. Each cake was sliced, secretly labeled, and shuffled onto plates while the team gathered in the conference room. The whole shebang was not in any way sponsored by Lactaid, despite our various attempts to convince them of this ripe marketing opportunity.
The judging became gloriously unhinged. We heard it all, from “I don’t care how the cheesecake gets in my mouth, it just needs to happen,” and “Is it supposed to be this jiggly?” to “Kind of a baby throw-up situation,” “Straight cheese,” and “I’m getting vague socks there.”
But four Basque cheesecakes stood out among the rest, earning themselves the title of Best Burnt Basque Cheesecake in San Diego.

A restaurant for the people. Rosarito native chef Juan González and Megan Strom are the ideal married couple to be running a farm-to-table joint. She’s been a farmer for decades, selling top-notch produce to some of the best restaurants in California—which is how the two met. A couple years ago, she started working at the small organic farm in Valley Center run by Mike Reeske, who had spent decades breeding the perfect heirloom beans for SoCal’s climate. He recently retired, and gifted those strains to Strom—who grows them (and other crops) for their tiny Escondido taco/burrito shop specializing in guisados (Mexican stews).
A Basque cheesecake in a taco shop? You bet. Juan’s got family roots in Spain and has cooked in Spanish kitchens.
Mesa Agricola’s winning Basque is by far the most “burnt” of all contenders—so much so that an Instagram follower declared it a mistake. But as Chef Juan notes, there’s an art to hitting the sweet spot where “the bitterness of the char balances the richness and sweetness without turning it into ‘chicharrón.’” Plus, char is a core charm of Baja cooking. It’s the perfect Basque for the people who prefer setting their campfire marshmallows fully on fire.

With red leather booths and a retro steakhouse vibe, Moe’s in Mission Beach is a good cheat day destination. The menu is flavor maximalism—dry-aged steaks, housemade pastas, brown liquors, and sides like the lobster truffle mac ’n’ cheese. Pastry chef Eli Peralta (whom some might remember as the creator of The Patio on Lamont’s “Twisted Elvis”—a peanut butter-banana brûlée stunner) brings that same intensity to the dessert menu.
Baked at sister restaurant Molly’s (6 feet away), his Basque is served on a bed of caramel with walnut brittle and a dollop of whipped cream, an indulgent recipe that converted the pastry chef himself. “I wasn’t crazy about cheesecakes,” Eli admits. “Then I started making different flavors, and I started to like them.” He’s not the only convert: During our blind tasting, one judge likened the cake to crème brûlée, concluding, “I don’t even like crème brûlée, but I like this.”

Every creative pursuit starts with a muse—and Lada Sadovnyk’s has been the Basque cheesecake for years. In Ukraine, she baked them for friends and family gatherings, never imagining she would one day build an entire bakery around them in the US. “When we moved to San Diego,” she explains, “I kept thinking, ‘What can I do? What do I really love to do?’”
The answer is pretty fantastic.
After obsessing over proportion and techniques, chasing that molten center and deeply caramelized top, what began as an online recipe evolved into something entirely of her own.
She moved from her home kitchen to a rented commercial kitchen close to Sports Arena. The orders kept coming, and so did the pressure. “At one point, I was thinking about divorcing my husband,” she says with a laugh (while sitting next to him). The grind paid off: Today, Muse Cheesecakes bakes roughly 1,200 cheesecakes a month and is planning to open its first brick-and-mortar home in Pacific Beach.
For our competition, the expectations met reality. Muse has made a quick name in San Diego as the Basque to beat. In a blind taste test, there’s no bias, no reputational shine to sway a room. The response on reveal: “Oh, of course.”

Husband-and-wife duo Alex and Anastasia Kiperband pulled off the number of failures (and then some) that are required of any search for the best recipe. After adjusting baking temps, sugar rations, and experimenting with different brands of cream cheese and heavy cream—they finally landed on something worthy of a business license.
“When we started this business in America, we were really nervous,” Anastasia says, co-owner of Bite Cheesecakes & Bakery.
Once they won over those first customers, their confidence grew enough to start tinkering. When Dubai chocolate took social media by storm, they developed their own version, making the pistachio paste from scratch before layering the buttery kataifi pastry beneath a glossy chocolate shell to create its signature Dubai Chocolate Basque Cheesecake.
“In a lot of situations, we’re converting cheesecake haters to cheesecake lovers,” they say. “That’s probably the best feedback that we get.”
Camila Ibarra Gallego is a CaliBaja native pursuing a master's degree in culinary journalism at the Basque Culinary Center. Shaped by the culturally rich, bicultural megaregion, she's passionate about sniffing out stories that connect people, territory and culture through food. When she's not tumbling down internet rabbit holes, you can find her pretending to be a wine connoisseur at a local wine bar or nose-deep in a good book.
The team behind El Agave and Nómade will open a breezy new restaurant with tapas, housemade pasta, seafood, and plenty of wine this September
After running El Agave Restaurant & Tequileria in Old Town for 30 years and opening Nómade Tapas & Records in North Park in 2025, owner Juan Carlos Gomez wasn’t actively on the hunt for a new project. But sometimes, you have to grab the opportunities as they come, unexpected though they may be.
He was taking a stroll in Bankers Hill last year when he noticed Barrio Star was closing after 17 years. “[It] was a neighborhood staple for a long time,” he says. So he figured he’d take a look. “We were talking with ownership and threw out an offer, and then it was accepted. So we were like, ‘Okay, cool, guess we’re going to get a new concept going!” (Much respect to the YOLO business style.)
That new restaurant is nearing completion. Filo will open early in September. The restaurant’s name, pronounced fie-low, references phyllo, the Greek word for “leaf” and an unleavened pastry dough commonly used in Mediterranean (often Greek) cuisines. Gomez says the menu will range from all over the Mediterranean region.
“I’ve always been a fan of European cuisine, obviously, but I can’t land on just one,” he laughs. “I’m part Spanish, so we wanted to do something Mediterranean, have a little bit of Spanish, have a little bit of French, Italian, Greek… a lot of olive oil, a lot of sea salt, and very, very light seasoning.”

Although the menu feels European, Gomez says expect the vibe and ingredients to feel very Southern Californian. There will be tapas, of course, and other small plates, along with housemade pastas, salads, with lots of seafood (like a whole branzino) coming from local purveyors. The accompanying beverage program will feel equally breezy, “fresh, very light, citrusy, salty,” he says. “We’re going to have a pretty hefty wine list and full bar.”
Gomez’s goal for Filo is for it to feel like a laid-back, seaside eatery on the craggy Mediterranean coastline—light colors, white oak, lime wash, flowing between the indoor dining room and outdoor patio. Personally, a European escape sounds pretty awesome right about now.
Filo opens at 2706 Fifth Avenue in early September. Initial operating hours are 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily, with lunch and happy hour coming soon. (Subject to change.)

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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.
Laika Nur, MD, takes her love of volleyball from the court to the clinic as team physician for the San Diego Mojo
Growing up, Laika Nur, MD, Scripps Clinic sports medicine specialist, loved watching beach volleyball when the Association of Volleyball Professionals tour came to her hometown of Chicago. A talented volleyball player herself, she remembers sitting in the stands all day, and once, even got a couple autographs. Years later, Dr. Nur was attending a professional event focused on women’s sports, and the discussion turned to a new professional women’s volleyball league. The general manager and coaching staff for San Diego’s team, the Mojo, happened to be in attendance, and Dr. Nur took the opportunity to ask them if they needed a team doctor. Flash forward to the Mojo’s inaugural 2024 season, when Dr. Nur officially became the team physician. Click here to read more about Dr. Nur and how she incorporates lessons she learned on the court into her practice.
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