Hitting The Shores for Oysters & Champagne

What’s old is incredible again. The former Galaxy Taco is now Sandpiper Woodfired Grill & Oysters, the go-to spot in La Jolla Shores for oysters, wood-smoked dishes, and house-baked pies from the chefs of George’s at the Cove: Trey Foshee, Christine Rivera, and pastry maven Aly Lyng. Order a bottle of Champagne and they’ll send out a dozen oysters—mostly west coast and Baja varieties. “The guys raising oysters in Baja are doing a great job,” says Foshee.

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“The water’s clean and cold because of the Humboldt current, and there are a lot of nutrients. They’re a little milder than others you find on the West Coast.” The runaway hits of the debut menu are a double-cut pork chop brined in molasses, maple, ginger, and spices, cooked over red oak; a black garlic-glazed rib eye; a hoe cake that’s the pinnacle of that cornbread life; and Lyng’s pies, which she sends down the hill from George’s daily.