As we announced the other day, Consortium Holdings (Craft & Commerce, Neighborhood, etc.) has signed on for the former Proper Gastropub location at 8th & J Streets in Downtown. But they won’t be alone. They’ll be splitting that space with the biggest name in San Diego craft beer.
Stone Brewing Co. will take over the other half, formerly occupied by Wine Steals. They’ll be putting in their sixth Stone Company Store in San Diego, the second in the Downtown area after the recent opening of their Kettner location. Consortium will create a restaurant/cocktail concept. Stone, meanwhile, will use the wood-burning pizza oven that comes with their half of the space for a flatbread menu.
The question for Stone CEO/co-founder Greg Koch is: Will neighboring businesses, many of whom serve Stone beers, view them as competition?
“We welcome [it],” says Ty Hauter, who owns multiple concepts in the neighborhood, including Blind Burro, Cat Eye Club and Lucky’s Lunch Counter. “We’re looking forward to the added foot traffic and local business camaraderie Greg Koch brings to the mix.”
Koch is renown as an ambassador for craft beer, and not just his own. Instead of viewing other local craft beers as competitors, Stone puts them on their trucks and distributes them around San Diego. He’s also spearheaded the San Diego Craft Beer Hospitality and Tourism Economic Summit—a second, bigger installment of which he’s planning for Feb. 4.
“There are two models of business,” says Koch. “There’s the old model that you’re in business for the exclusion of everyone else. Clearly we don’t work in that realm. We believe in the cooperative/compatriot model of ‘Let’s do some awesome sh**.”
Consortium and Stone’s “awesome sh**” is tentatively scheduled to open next March.
**Note: The original story said Consortium chef Jason McLeod would be creating the menu for Stone. That’s incorrect.
Joann Cornejo is a mother, teacher, and co-owner of National City’s Machete Beer House and Chula Vista’s newly opened La Nacional. Her limited time is precious and her knowledge of South Bay limitless, so she knows exactly how to craft the perfect family day.
Courtesy of Franco’s Flapjack Family Restaurant
The morning begins at Franco’s Flapjack Family Restaurant in Bonita, an old-school diner known for large portions of classic breakfast dishes like country fried steak, eggs Benedict, and Belgian waffles. “My go-to is an omelet with a side of hotcakes,” Cornejo says. If he kids need to run off some sugar from their plates of syrup, she usually takes them to nearby Rohr Park, where multiple playgrounds appeal to little ones of all ages. There’s also a model train that runs the second Saturday and Sunday of each month (except in September) and an adult fitness area near the basketball courts. “If you’re lucky,” Cornejo adds, “you’ll see a few horses with their owners walking the trail.”
Courtesy of the San Diego Tourism Authority
For more family fun, head to Chula Vista’s Living Coast Discovery Center, where you can ogle sea creatures like turtles, jellyfish, sharks, and manta rays. Cornejo’s personal favorite critters, owls, live on the center’s Raptor Row. Be sure to check the website to see what animal encounters are on the schedule before your visit, and make time for a stroll down Living Coast’s marshland walking trail to catch a front-row view of the entire San Diego bay.
If Cornejo’s kiddos need a pick-me-up after an afternoon of aquatic exploration, Niederfrank’s is a quick drive up the 5. The National City ice cream shop has been an institution for over 60 years, making their old-fashioned scoops the same way they did back in the ’50s. Requisite flavors like chocolate and vanilla are mainstays, but they also offer creative varieties like papaya-pineapple, chocolate stout beer, and avocado-pistachio. Cornejo says she can’t resist a scoop of Kahlua Krunch.
Finally, she admits she’s biased, but she hopes locals and travelers alike will come check out the new La Nacional. “Your family can enjoy a delicious dinner and parents-slash-adults can unwind with a cocktail or mezcal, neat,” she says. After a day jam-packed with activities, a cocktail sounds pretty sweet.
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 Dirty Flat Top Cheeseburger at The Friendly is awesome, just don't ask for substitutions
It’s ugly. It’s delicious. It’s five bucks. It’s the Dirty Flat Top Cheeseburger.
By Troy Johnson
I’ve just eaten the burger at The Friendly. People rave about this burger. Now I’m one of those people. A couple guys took over an old pizza shop in North Park and serve pizza and burgers. Occasionally they’ll put foie gras on it, I guess. And other chef-y stuff. Like many awesome things and, especially North Park things, you’ve got to be in the know. But this burger in front of me is just their standard, every day option. And it lives not up to, not down to, but perfectly to its name: Dirty Flat Top Cheeseburger. It costs five dollars. Coffee costs five dollars and your dignity these days. Five dollars will buy you 30 percent of a movie ticket.
The burger’s pretty ugly. It looks sad. It looks like a good burger had a bad day. Or maybe a good burger has a hangover. This burger needs to take its B vitamins.
The bun is white bread. The sort of bread whose nutritional value can be summed up as “white.” The sort of soft bread that, when you grab it, your fingerprints stay in the bread. Fitting, because how good this burger tastes is kind of a crime. Between those two lovely, food-esque bread items lay two patties, grilled on the dirty flat top, as advertised, until they have a nice caramelized crust all around them. The patties are thin. This would be an amuse-bouche for Michael Phelps, whose high-performance dolphin body reportedly requires 12,000 calories a day. But for normal humans with normal appetites, it’s enough. Atop the patties are caramelized onions, garlic aioli, and a melted slice of American cheese. American is the Hasselhoff of cheese—widely slandered and mocked, but also one of the best things man has gifted to this Earth.
So, yes, it’s delicious. As required by modern media and modern human instinct at the current time, I post a photo to social media. And the first question is: “Does their ‘No Substitution’ rule bother you?”
Well, no. And I get this question a lot about restaurants.
When restaurants removed salt from the table, people got testy. When Neighborhood refused to serve ketchup with their burgers and fries, people smear campaigned against the snobbery. And now there are complaints about The Friendly not letting you sub-out or special-order or make substitutions on your Dirty Flat Top Burger. Here are the reasons why this is totally within their American right to do so:
1. It’s a burger for five bucks. Obviously, their business model banks on volume. They’ve got to sell a ton of these to survive. They don’t have time to navigate your special dietary wants and needs. Their ramshackle, DIY assembly line is not designed to whim-cater. If gluten is really bumming you out or if you think mayonnaise is better used as wrestling oil, you can go somewhere else.
2. Restaurants are not your mom. Why do we expect American restaurants to customize their kitchens to our needs? Because they’ve got a long history of being able to adapt, that’s why. It’s a distinct advantage of the food retail industry. If you want to buy a shirt, but wish that shirt was in orange and not yellow, a clothing store owner can’t change the color of the shirt. But if you want to “strike the mayo,” from your burger, a restaurant can do that. But should they be required to? Absolutely not. Businesses of all sorts make a product, and sell it. You wouldn’t walk into a high-end furniture store and say “I like this couch, but can I just buy it unassembled and I’ll put it together at home with an allen wrench?” If you’d prefer to buy furniture that way, there is a store I can point you to that will gladly oblige. Restaurant owners get into this business because of passion, not economic glory. They develop their recipes, and are proud of them, and want to share them with you for a small sum. Due to their long history of graciously catering to our quirky desires and needs, we’ve come to see restaurants as custom-order shops. The best place to custom-order food is at your home. While it’s nice if restaurants are willing to do that for you, it’s not their obligation.
3. It’s a five-dollar burger. You’re one lucky person.
Would the Dirty Flat Top Burger be better if it had some sort of acid? Like, say, a pickle or mustard? You bet. Does it taste pretty glorious just as is? You bet. Your parents may have been short-order cooks. God bless them. But restaurants aren’t legally required to feed you and make sure your elaborate, detailed needs are met. And that’s OK.
The Friendly, 4592 30th Street, North Park. 619-892-7840.
Your Special Order Isn’t Special
It’s ugly. It’s delicious. It’s five bucks. It’s the Dirty Flat Top Cheeseburger.
They said don't do a steakhouse. So the damn kids did.
By Troy Johnson | Photography by Paula Watts
Following the crowd is a good way to find a crowd. But the truly successful have always zigged when the crowd zags. It’s the Frostian, road-less-traveled philosophy of doing shit right. So while every American restaurateur is going the fast-casual route, trying to become “the Chipotle of X cuisine,” it makes perfect sense that Consortium Holdings opens a $7 million, sit-down steakhouse with table-side food-art circus tricks.
Born & Raised is arguably the biggest opening of the year in San Diego, and Consortium (Neighborhood, Ironside, Underbelly, Craft & Commerce, Soda & Swine, Polite Provisions, etc.) is arguably one of the only local restaurant groups who could shoulder the significant investment.
The 10,000-square foot location (seats 200-250) at the corner of India and Fir in the middle of Little Italy is the Times Square of San Diego’s hottest restaurant neighborhood. Consortium helped bring the renaissance to the area, and they didn’t want the marquee spot in their hood to fall into less inspiring (corporate) hands. So they took on the gigantic project, and as usual, didn’t shave a single corner on the build-out with their long-term design guy, Paul Basile of Basile Studio.
It is your weird, arty friend’s steak house. The punks have scaled the walls of yet another stuffy institution. It’s custom-built with brass and walnut and green marble and camel leather and fur on the seats. Instead of oil paintings of old white men, a steakhouse staple, they have massive framed photos of gangster rap icons like Ol’ Dirty Bastard. The upstairs (not yet finished) will be build like a garden from the atomic age, with black velvet booths and views of Downtown. It’s mid-century, it’s art deco, it’s the kind of place that’s built to outlive trends or whims.
For the menu, Michelin-star chef Jason McLeod are using a 40-foot, glassed-in dry-aging room to season their own steaks. The main menu will have all the classics (filet, New York, Flat Iron, Ribeye, Porterhouse, Ribeye, Tomahawk, etc.), plus specials like tournedos Rossini (foie gras, truffle, Madera), slow-roasted prime, rib of beef with Yorkshire pudding and peppercorn sauce, steak Diane, and Wagyu. There’ll also be a vegan “steak Dyyyanne,” plus charcoal-roasted lamb, dry-aged duck, pork, roasted chicken, whole fish, caviar,and four different types of potatoes. Steak without potatoes, after all, is like eating cereal without milk.
On the apps section, you’ve got crab claws, crudo, lobster bisque, spaghetti (with uni, chile, and lemon), dry-aged meatballs, escargot, and a French Onion soup.
And then the tableside presentations, on ornate-as-hell carts—hand-tossing Caesar salads, omelets, mushroom tartare, steak tartare, shrimp Louie, etc.
The whole idea is a grand, elaborate investment in America’s past. The steakhouse is as much an American tradition as jazz and blues. And CH is a sucker for near-lost American pastimes (soda fountains, speakeasies, meatballs, etc.).
Multiple restaurateurs I spoke with about this project seem to think that CH is crazy for trying to pull it off. In the current industry trend toward casualization and the rise of vegetarianism and yoga pantsism, it’s a risk. Then again, they said the same thing when CH opened a craft beer bar (Neighborhood) before craft beer was really a “thing.” And they said the same when they opened a cocktail bar (Craft & Commerce) and refused to serve America’s favorite spirit, vodka.
Let the grand experiment that is CH continue on.
Enough talk. Please enjoy the first photos of Born & Raised, opening this weekend if all goes right.
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.”
Matt Furman Photography
Building the Infrastructure Behind Clean Energy
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.”
Developing Medicine One Patient at a Time
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.”
Matt Furman Photography
Growing a Beach-Town Brand into a National Business
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.
Carlsbad gets one hell of a new spot from Craft & Commerce vet
By Troy Johnson | Photography by Paul Body
My lamentations about the lack of good dining options in North County are being attacked day by day. The news of Campfire opening in Carlsbad, for instance. This is big for the sleepy coastal beach burgh, and one of the most anticipated openings of the year.
Campfire is the project from one of the best front-of-house men in San Diego—John Resnick, who spent years opening the hyper-creative concepts of Consortium Holdings (Craft & Commerce, Ironside Fish & Oyster). Campfire is the first project of his own, a 6,000 square-footer in the former home of an auto shop. Instead of doing it in hipsterville, he smartly brought it to a part of town that isn’t flooded with creative concepts.
Just like Consortium projects, Campfire is big on design. They tapped local firm Bells + Whistles (Bracero, Starlite) to create a rustic spot intended to evoke the times you and the fam spent those vacations camping in the great outdoors.
The main building is a WWII-era Quonset hut with corrugated metal arch salvaged from the Camp Pendleton Marine base up the street. There’s a handmade, 12-foot banquette from San Diego designers Bradley Mountain, a 25-seat copper bar, a three-dimensional wood-carved mural of a mountainscape, and, outside, a 12-foot custom teepee for the kids.
The menu from executive chef Andrew Bachelier (ex-Cucina Enoteca and Addison) will be open-fire on a custom 12-foot hearth powered by a Grillworks grill that’ll burn wood, charcoal, embers, and ash. That means a lot of roast and smoke on dishes like duck liver pate with grilled date, pecans, red wine and griddled bread; carrots with goat cheese, licorice, honey and almond; long beans with opah belly, soft-boiled egg, olives and shallots; seafood pozole with mussels, white fish, calico corn and guajillo chile; leg of lamb with Sea Island red peas, lettuce, goat milk and pistachio; and, of course, s’mores with five-spice graham phylo dough, chocolate and marshmallow.
For cocktails, they’ve pulled one of Consortium’s better talents, Leigh Lacap, who created drinks for Ironside, Sycamore Den, and Coin-Op. He’ll be putting a little camp into the glass, too, with a whole section of drinks called “From the Fire.” Drinks like “Roasted Corn” with tequila, charcoal, lime and salt; or the “Smoked Almond” with mezcal, rice, pecan, lime and cinnamon. Don’t be scared—he’ll also have a “Shaken & Refreshing” selection of cocktails, as well as a “Stirred & Direct” for spirit heads.
Campfire debuts on Sept. 14, and will be open 11 a.m.-midnight on Sun-Thur, and 11 a.m.-1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
False Idol may only be 1,000 square-feet, but it’s a big deal. It marks the fifth bar for America’s first man of tiki, Martin Cate—a partnership with San Diego’s premier cocktail group, Consortium Holdings. Cate owns and operates Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco, considered by many the best tiki bar in America.
Opening Sunday, False Idol is the second shoe to drop on the corner of Beech and Kettner Streets. The first was the multimillion-dollar renovation of Craft & Commerce, which opened yesterday. False Idol is the “hidden” Polynesian oasis attached to C&C.
Guests step through a walk-in cooler in Craft & Commerce, and emerge into False Idol. The space is a throwback to the golden era of tiki, before canned juice and corporate chains ruined the movement. There are vibrant pieces from tiki artists Bosko Hrnjak and Ignacio “Notch” Gonzalez. There are false idols everywhere. The ceiling is covered in glass buoy balls. Maori-style wall carvings. Petrified puffer fish. The whole place is exploding with tiki paraphernalia.
As for the drinks? Cate reportedly has the largest collection of rare rums, and he’s showcasing some of his favorites at False Idol. He and CH beverage director Anthony Schmidt worked with CH designer, Dane Danner, to create custom-designed tiki mugs for their tropical drinks, including a Trader Vic Mai Tai and Eastern Sour. They’re also paying tribute to San Diego’s once-thriving tiki scene, excavating recipes from the former Luau Room and Barefoot Bar.
False Idol opens Sunday, September 4 at 6pm. And it will be open every day thereafter from 6pm on. Make reservations at FalseIdolTiki.com.
If you’re anything like us, it can be easy to get so caught up in taking care of everyone else, that your own needs get lost in the ether. But while this may be a cliché, that doesn’t make it any less true: You can’t give your best self to other people unless you’re taking care of yourself.
Sometimes, that looks like stopping in for your regular acupuncture or chiropractic appointment. Other days, it means giving your body the fresh, organic fuel it needs to truly feel and function at its best. And some other times still, it involves leaving your responsibilities behind for a weekend to pamper yourself at an incredible resort and spa.
Only you can decide what your truly need. We’re just here to help you find the best ways to get it.
Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort & Spa
Island living meets desert luxury at the Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort & Spa in Indian Wells. When you step onto the 11-acre property, you’ll be surrounded by sweeping view of the Santa Rosa Mountains with olive trees and fragrant citrus groves decorating the grounds. In other words, everything about this relaxed but refined resort is primed to help you let go of the stress from home and enjoy easy sun-soaked days and gorgeous starry nights.
The rooms blend calming, woven textures with Tommy Bahama’s signature tropical prints and feature private lanais, making it easy unwind the moment you walk in the door. If you book one of the four Villa Suites, you’ll be treated to exclusive Tommy Bahama furniture and unique personal touches to further that feeling of instant ease.
At the award-winning Spa Rosa, the expert team will help reset and recharge your body and mind using methods and rituals inspired by the desert. The 12,000-square-foot retreat includes outdoor soaking pools, eucalyptus steam rooms, and outdoor cabanas, as well as massages, facials, and body masks—all aimed at creating a day dedicated to you. We’re particularly partial to the Day Long Escape, an indulgent all-day affair of CDBs soaks, renewing scrubs, life changing massages, and transformative facials.
Following your treatment, continue the experience with a meal on the patio at Grapefruit Basil. We love the Hamachi Crudo, a light, citrus-forward dish featuring premium yellowtail, house-made ponzu, creamy avocado, and fresh seasonal garnishes.
Whether you’re strolling the gardens, relaxing beside its saltwater pools, or indulging in a restorative treatment, you’ll be able to escape in style and relax in luxury at the Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort & Spa.
Healcove Chiropractic
There’s no shortage of ways to stay active in San Diego—but if you really want to enjoy everything the city has to offer, you’ve got to make sure you’re giving your body its tune-ups. Enter: Healcove Chiropractic. The board-certified chiropractors and wellness professionals at Healcove are experts at addressing that stage where you’re not injured, exactly, but you’re not at 100%, either. Maybe you’re feeling a bit tense or stressed out. Or it could be that you’re not quite moving the way you want to. Sometimes, it’s just that the accumulation of days, weeks, or even years of daily strain is starting to take a toll. No matter what stage you find yourself at, the Healcove Chiropractic team can provide integrated, preventative care centered on long-term, science-backed approaches that ensure you can always stay active and live the life you want to live pain-free.
This starts by providing truly individualized care. Every patient can expect a thorough 60-minute consultation session that includes a posture and movement screening. This allows the team to develop a completely personalized plan. That plan might include chiropractic care, acupuncture, or massage therapy, as well as functional fitness training, vibration and sound therapy, and Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization, a clinical rehabilitation method that retrains the body’s stabilization systems. Whatever the team recommends, you can be sure that it’s tailored to meeting your body’s needs today and the future.
There’s a reason that San Diego Magazine named Healcove the “Best Chiropractor in San Diego”—don’t wait until you’re struggling with an injury to find out why. Book an appointment today for holistic, integrated care that helps ground and heal your body before it reaches a crisis point.
Juice Holler
West Coast wellness culture meets the community feel of Southern Appalachia at Juice Holler. Juice Holler’s menu consists of made-to-order smoothies and smoothie bowls, as well as grab-and-go cold-pressed juices, wellness shots, salads, and more. It operates from the blissfully simple premise that fueling up with food and drink that’s guilt-free and good your body should be simple, accessible, and, above all else, delicious. And if you haven’t yet made it out to the Encinitas café, which opened just this year, let us be the first to tell you: Juice Holler delivers on each and every of these fronts.
We love the Supercharger smoothie, a mood-lifting and body-fueling option made with banana, almond butter, blue spirulina, maca, grass-fed whey protein, raw cacao nibs, medjool dates, and coconut milk. We’re also partial to the Thrive Alive smoothie bowl, where avocado, mango, sea moss, spirulina, mint, coconut milk, and agave are mixed and topped with coconut, chia seeds, strawberry, mango, and chocolate drizzle. The wellness shots include the Detoxifier, a cleansing blend of kale, cucumber, lemon and spirulina, plus a shot specially designed to fight inflammation (named, fittingly, Anti-Inflammation). Probiotic overnight oats, lemon turmeric bars, and strawberry shortcake chia pudding are other standouts on the grab-and-go menu.
Much of the vibe feels beachy North County chic—think green tile with orange and pink accents, grounded with greenery and natural wood—but Juice Holler founder Kelly Sergott, a longtime Encinitas local, has also enfused the space with her Kentucky roots. In Appalachia, a holler is small valley between hills and mountains, where nature reigns, community is king, and nourishment comes right from the land. At Juice Holler, Sergott has created a holler for the busy modern times, using local ingredients to create a spot for people to come together and enjoy fresh, fast, feel-good fuel for their day.
Everwell Acupuncture
We’ve all had that experience with a medical professional where we’ve felt rushed, ignored, or misunderstood—and ultimately, like we didn’t get the answers that we needed. But at Everwell, the holistic acupuncture practice located in Solana Beach, the care team wants to transform your understanding of what healthcare can look like.
Patients at Everwell experience care rooted in intentional listening and radical empathy—and trust us, those aren’t just corporate buzzwords. This place actually puts those ideas into practice. You will always be given the time you need to tell your story— initial in-take appointments are two hours long—and you can rest assured that your story will be believed. Every single question and concern will be addressed by a dedicated practitioner who wants to find the specific solutions that work best for you, and you’ll receive care that’s aimed at healing the body, mind, and spirit.
Everwell’s highly trained, doctorate-level practitioners blend evidence-based acupuncture with the practice of classical Chinese medicine. (If you’ve never tried acupuncture before or aren’t sure if the team will be a fit, we’d highly recommended Everwell’s complimentary 20-minute consultations.) Research shows that by stimulating specific points on the body, acupuncture activates a natural healing response in the body, helping to restore balance, regulate the nervous system, and improve overall wellbeing. This allows the practice to address an incredibly wide range of conditions from chronic pain and autoimmune disorders to digestive issues, from stress and burnout to headaches migraines, fertility and postpartum struggles, hormonal imbalances, sleep concerns and more.
At Everwell, you can expect to feel heard, trusted, respected, and cared for. This is a space that doesn’t want to be just another healthcare provider you visit; it wants to provide patients with dedicated partner who will be there for their entire health journey.
