Chew on this—a butter-drenched bible to our sizzling dining scene, bursting with all the bites, sips, chefs, and trends that make San Diego hallowed ground for food people.
When it comes to things on fire, in Wise we trust. This year, San Diego’s star steakhouse chef went national. Brad Wise had a great track record (Trust, Fort Oak, Cardellino, The Wise Ox), but his casual-ish take on the steakhouse experience—Rare Society—boomed at a different decibel. Why? Because he’s nailed the art of woodsmoke, which has 400-something more flavor compounds than oven- or pan-seared proteins. And Rare’s lazy-Susan “steak boards” offer commitment phobes a ménage à steak. He expanded the concept up and down the West Coast, from Santa Barbara to Washington (the sixth iteration will open in Vegas next year). But he’s not done here at home—his “French-ish” brasserie arrives in North Park next summer.
Kinme Omakase Photo Credit: Matt Furman
The Experience: Omakase-Only
By Troy Johnson
San Diego’s Japanese food scene owes a debt to Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Seven years after watching the 2011 documentary, John Hong opened Hidden Fish on Convoy Street. Like Jiro’s famed restaurant in Japan, Hong’s spot is omakase-only—no à la carte ordering. The chef simply serves you course after creative course, using the day’s best ingredients. Taking choice away from Americans? Scandalous, blasphemous, and gold. It was the first of its kind in San Diego. Hong received national press, as did his newest concept Hitokuchi. Now he’s not alone. In the last year, two more omakase-only spots opened: Kinme (in Bankers Hill, from the beloved Azuki Sushi crew) and Ichifuji (thanks to two chef vets from Michelin-starred spots). A third, Hasekura, is on its way in Barrio Logan. Choice is overrated.
Courtesy of Matsu
The Trend: Dry-Aged Fish
By Jackie Bryant
Finally, it’s being said. The supremacy of fresh fish is a myth. Sushi only gets its trademark silkiness when aged. Most beef served in high-end steakhouses is aged over 20 days, so why wouldn’t the same benevolent science work wonders on seafood? It does. While the craft was already popular in Spain (where aged, cured tuna is called mojama), San Diego fishmongers and chefs—from Tommy Gomes of Tunaville and the crew at La Jolla’s Marisi to Davin Waite of Oceanside’s Wrench & Rodent Seabasstropub (one of the OGs of the trade)—started tinkering with the technique this year. “Dry-aging fish is a game-changer when it comes to hedging the peaks and valleys in local fish supply,” Waite says. “It’s just like putting a piece of fish in the fridge, only it gets better with time, instead of worse.” Even though the process has “literally been around forever,” he adds, it’s still new to many of us. Not for long.
Matt Lyons & Ammanda Lopez-Minera of Tribute Pizza Photo Credit: Erica Joan
The Place: North Park
By Beth Demmon
North Park’s been billed as the heir to the city’s central food nerve for a long, long time. After a decade of revitalization, it’s finally happening. From Tribute Pizza (pictured) and Finca to Mabel’s Gone Fishing, Happy Medium, and Saigon Coffee, something delicious awaits every few feet. Three new concepts are incoming from some of the biggest names in the food and drink scene: Drew Deckman’s 31ThirtyOne (arriving around May), CH Projects’ Persian-fusion concept Leila (summer-ish), and Brad Wise’s French brasserie (sometime next year). The simmer is now a boil.
Asa Cafe Bakery Photo Credit: Kimberly Motos
The Treat: Asian Bakeries
By Beth Demmon
There’s a time and place for Boston creams and maple bars. And that time ended around when skinny jeans went out of style. This year, San Diego’s pastry adherents turned to melt-in-your-mouth Japanese milk bread, sugar-sprinkled Chinese doughnuts, and uber-fluffy red bean buns. SD’s Asian-owned and -inspired bakery scene exploded—probably because Asian desserts tend to be less excessively sweet than their Western counterparts, and the nation’s collective palate has shifted away from sugar bombs. Enter ube, black sesame, mango, and pandan treats. At places like ASA Cafe Bakery or Phoenix Dessert, you can switch up that iced vanilla latte in favor of royal milk tea, shaved ice with coconut milk and various fruits, or boba Thai iced tea.
Photo Credit: Matt Furman
The Arrival: José Cepeda
By Troy Johnson
The biggest news in the city’s dining scene this year was arguably the 6,000-or-so (okay, seven) concepts artfully shoved into North Park’s newly re-loved and relaunched LaFayette Hotel. The food had to make a statement as loud as the décor (not easy). CH Projects tapped elite chef Perfecte Rocher (El Bulli, Tarsan i Jane, Manresa) to quality control the whole operation, but the one to watch is Puebla, Mexico–raised José Cepeda, chef at the hotel’s signature Baja-goth restaurant, Quixote. “My grandmother used to tell me you get people from the stomach—that’s how people fall in love with you,” he says. Quixote’s menu is a mix of his family’s favorite dishes with twists learned during his time cooking alongside Joshua Gill at LA’s Mexican standout Mírame. Cepeda’s crab corn doughnut alone is a fairly romantic notion.
Photo Credit: Matt Furman
The Fermentalist: Tiago Carneiro
By Troy Johnson
Hard kombucha hasn’t yet made a huge splash nationwide, but it’s catching fire ($179 million in 2023, with a projected $17 billion market over next decade). San Diego is ground zero for the movement thanks to our athleisure souls and twin fangirling for both probiotics and happy hour. Brands like Boochcraft and JuneShine broke the seal, and now the emerging force is Tiago Carneiro and Nova Easy Kombucha. Raised in Brazil by a father obsessed with fermentation, Carneiro and his brother built and sold Brazil’s largest craft brewery, Wäls. He moved his family to San Diego and opened South Bay’s first brewery, Novo Brazil, in 2015. The pandemic had him on the edge of losing it all. “I said to myself, ‘This was the biggest failure of my life,’” he recalls. So he gave spiked booch a try, and Nova took off. His bright pink, just-sweet-enough La Ola Dragon Fruit—a collab with Wave FC— was the drink of last summer and this summer, too. Now he’s partnered with the Padres.
Photo Credit: Matt Furman
The Cocktail Whisperer: Beau du Bois
By Troy Johnson
His first move was to ditch bottled lime juice. To do this for an operation as large as Marisi (one location) and Puesto (nine), Beau du Bois hired a juice guy—a full-time role to keep fresh juice flowing, storing it in kegs to preserve shelf-life and eliminate waste. By opting for seemingly minor, time-consuming tweaks (like using a centrifuge to clarify peach juice for Marisi’s epic white peach bellini), du Bois and co-conspirator Derek Cram are producing some of the most craft-driven drinks in the city. No surprise, since the former was beverage director of a three-star Michelin (The Restaurant at Meadowood) before coming to San Diego. Up next is a 100-seat, Mexico City–inspired cocktail bar in downtown called Roma Norte, set to open this summer. The bar man says we can expect the best rum and Coke he’s ever had, using clear cola made from scratch.
For decades, museum food in the US was a forgery. Art on walls, shrugs on plates. Other cities realized Renoirs didn’t pair great with fridge-flavored pita wraps, so New York got Untitled from Danny Meier, Seattle got Taste from Craig Hetherington, and (finally) San Diego culture-seekers have Tracy Borkum and chef Tim Kolanko. Most know Borkum for her string of Italian cucinas (Urbana, Enoteca) and her Jewish deli, Goldfinch. But over the last few years, she has radically improved the mealtime fates of aesthetes in the city with Artifact at the Mingei and The Kitchen at MCASD La Jolla. Borkum got her art history degree from UC Berkeley, so maybe we owe a bit of gratitude to selfish pursuits.
Photo Credit: Matt Furman
The Vin-Garde: Chelsea Coleman + Coco Randolph
By Jackie Bryant
San Diego’s not historically a wine town. But that’s changing, thanks in part to juice nerds like Chelsea Coleman and Coco Randolph. Coleman is co-owner of three low-intervention wine temples—Mabel’s Gone Fishing, The Rose, and Bodega Rosette (along with sourdough bakery Secret Sister)—and she co-founded the natural wine festival Nat Diego, which lured national wine icon Alice Feiring to town. Randolph is wine director at North Park bistro Black Radish, as well as co-owner of the two-Michelin-star Californios in San Francisco. She won tons of accolades for her work at the latter, including Michelin’s 2021 Sommelier of the Year.
Photo Credit: James Tran
The Coffee: Saigon Coffee
By Maren Hawkins
Vinh and Tu Duong’s father set the bar high for how a husband should treat his wife. Growing up, the siblings—and Saigon Coffee founders—saw their dad travel to faraway villages in the central highlands of Vietnam to bring back the finest coffee beans for their mother. Their mom taught them to slow-brew java with time-tested Vietnamese phin filters (pour-over, but make it fancy). From humble beginnings in 2012 at the Hillcrest Farmers Market to two bustling brick-and-mortars in North Park and University Heights, Saigon Coffee creates every cup with this ancient technique. The rich egg foam that tops one of their strong, satisfying iced beverages is worth being late for work… which you will be, unless you rise with the baristas themselves to beat the omnipresent line.
Photo Credit: Airyka Rockefeller
The Bread: Wayfarer Bread
By Amelia Rodriguez
If Crystal White’s sourdough starter were a human child, it’d be in second grade right now. But instead of learning to subtract, the bubbly colony of lactic acid and wild yeast is doing what it does best: making bread delicious, with help from White’s lovingly obsessive attention to details like humidity and the seasons. Trained by bakers at The French Laundry, Tartine, and Proof, White launched Wayfarer Bread in Bird Rock in May 2018 following a series of successful pop-ups. The humble outpost has since made like its starter and sent San Diego’s bread culture rising ever-higher. While White’s crackly baguettes and fluffy cream buns generate Disneylandish morning queues, weekend evenings draw fans for pizza nights, when Wayfarer lays down veg- and meat-loaded pies with—you guessed it—killer crusts.
Photo Credit: James Tran
The Pizza: Amalfi Cucina Italiana
By Troy Johnson
When four Italian friends who’d helped build the Buona Forchetta empire struck out on their own, some raised brows at the spot they chose—Lake San Marcos, a man-made, cult-loved boat community in suburban North County. Not exactly food-scene central. And maybe that was their stroke of genius. Putting a six-time World Pizza Champion (chef Marcello Avitabile) in a part of the county that’s been unfairly ignored by the culinary arts? Like putting a tiki bar in a PTA meeting. Huge hit. Now, the quartet has expanded to another un-hyped food neighborhood with Amalfi Cucina Italiana in Carmel Valley. The menu and specials are different, but both locations offer the same hefty Valtellina pizza, crafted with speck, provola di agerola, brie, caramelized onion, and sausage and wood-fired in a majestic Napoletano-style oven.
Courtesy of @dwurstdadjokes
The Breakout: Shawarma Guys
By Amelia Rodriguez
Shawarma Guys founder Bryan Zeto grew up in an Iraqi Chaldean family in Detroit and was hailed as a top-notch home cook. But he still had a lot to learn about Middle Eastern cuisine before launching his food truck in South Park in 2019. A month of daily munching on slow-roasted meat, falafel, and other dishes helped the former phone salesman hone his recipes, including his now-iconic Wagyu shawarma and an addictive “garlic paste.” The truck nabbed a feature on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, and, in 2020, Yelp named it the number-one restaurant in the country. The long lines that followed helped Zeto open a brick-and-mortar in La Mesa, with a Mira Mesa location on its way. His shawarma-stuffed egg rolls will melt you.
Courtesy of Tanner’s Prime Burgers
The Next Big Thing: Tanner’s Prime Burgers
By Troy Johnson
Get ready to hear this name. A lot. Years ago, Brandon Rodgers moved to San Diego to learn from iconic chef Tony DiSalvo of the now-defunct Jack’s before joining Gavin Kaysen at El Bizcocho (Rodgers cooked on Kaysen’s Iron Chef team, winning the battle against Michael Symon). After a stint at French Laundry, he helped his friend Corey Lee open Benu. Rodgers was chef de cuisine when Benu was awarded its third Michelin star. And now he’s back in San Diego for a burger with a hell of a resume. He teamed up with Eric Brandt of family-owned Brandt Beef to open the first Tanner’s in Oceanside. Their calling card is one-third-pound USDA prime patties, smashed then topped with beef bacon, caramelized onions, New School American Cheese, sauce, sweet onions, pickles, and tomatoes on a brioche bun. Oh, and they also serve a beef tallow ice-cream sandwich. Watch out, Shake Shack.
Courtesy of JPR
The Marquee Maker: Jojo Ruiz
By Troy Johnson
Some of the most promising chefs never get the support they deserve. Others get too much “support,” their talent and dreams sucked up by the bottom line of an unfeeling corporate structure. San Diego born-and-raised JoJo Ruiz seems to have found just the right fit with Andy Masi and Clique Hospitality. Together, they crafted marquee restaurants for two of the city’s top properties (Serẽa at Hotel Del and Lionfish at The Pendry), plus a sustainable sushi hand roll bar in Encinitas (Temaki). This year, their big unveilings were Lilian’s and Bing’s—the signature restaurant and bar, respectively, of the $100 million reimagining of the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe. Their secret? “JoJo’s passion is contagious, and it’s the soul of what we do together,” Masi says. A James Beard nod for Ruiz’s work in sustainable seafood doesn’t hurt, either. And they’re not done yet.
Photo Credit: Matt Furman
The Cornerstones: Mario + Morgan Jean Guerra
By Troy Johnson
Leucadia’s got loads of charms: unincorporated shagginess, farmy beach town chutzpah, cliffside homes with stairways once used to smuggle drugs. But, for decades, a thriving food scene was not one of them. Mario Guerra did something about that. Born in Mexico City, he moved to San Diego when he was young (he was GM at downtown’s sorely missed Candelas). He got “real jobs” in finance and manufacturing and moved his family to Leucadia, but he kept dreaming about that restaurant life. He traveled the world based on food scenes and became a hell of a home chef. And, finally, he couldn’t resist: He opened Moto Deli in 2015 as a little food truck, and now he and his wife Morgan (head of design) have seven concepts, including Hamburger Hut (good burgers meet tiki drinks), Corner Pizza, pheromonal date spot Valentina, and Vale Bodega. Leucadia’s food scene owes a debt to his inability to stay away.
Troy Johnson is the magazine’s award-winning food writer and humorist, and a long-standing expert on Food Network. His work has been featured on NatGeo, Travel Channel, NPR, and in Food Matters, a textbook of the best American food writing.
Jackie is a long-time freelance journalist covering cannabis, food/restaurants, travel, labor, wine, spirits, arts & culture, design, and other topics. Her work has been selected twice for Best American Travel Writing, and she has won a variety of national and local awards for her writing and reporting.
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.
Maren Hawkins is a freelance writer in her last year at San Diego State University. When she is not writing, she spends her time playing beach volleyball, thrifting for the cutest clothes, and traveling whenever possible.
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.
As a child, Chantal Partolan never considered cooking as a viable job route. Rather, it was a passion she could turn to as a way to flex her creative muscle, from the time she was in school all the way into adulthood working in a corporate space.
“I never felt like [cooking] was a chore, like some other people feel,” she says. To feed that passion, she started hosting supper clubs in 2022, creating menus and full tablescapes to bring together friends and family. With each successful gathering, she wondered: Could she take this further?
In 2024, she did. Officially launching as Bik-Lun, she began small, hosting baking pop-ups in Long Beach before moving back to her hometown of San Diego in 2025. Now, Partolan still mostly pops up at small local businesses like Moniker General and Joon Shoppe, but now also offers small batch catering and private chef services, all centered around her father’s Filipino and her mother’s Chinese heritages.
Photo Credit: Megan Jane Burgess
Bik-Lun (pronounced bik-LUHN, like “fun”) is named for her mother. “When she migrated to America when she was younger with all her siblings, they all got American names,” Partolan says. She doesn’t strictly adhere to rigid culinary rules—instead, she lets memories drive her creations.
“Now that my grandparents are no longer here, trying to revisit those memories and share them with others has been a really important part of this journey for me,” she explains. Ingredients like red bean and black sesame reflect her Chinese roots, while more savory items like sinigang (a sour and savory Filipino soup) pay homage to her father’s family.
You can next catch Bik-Lun on September 27 at Home Ec + Best Bud with Magnaye (formerly One of One), October 3 at Patine’s new location in Bankers Hill, and October 10-11 at the Mingei Museum for Merkado Kultura, a makers market for Filipino producers. Partolan says since most customers are familiar with her sweet products, she’s planning to offer more savory items—like a breakfast sandwich—at the Home Ec event to give people a taste of her creative versatility.
Eventually, she hopes to add some permanent residencies to Bik-Lun’s schedule—a few are already in the works, so stay tuned—while also looking for ways to combine her food and photography expertise. (A cookbook? Maybe, she says.) But in the meantime, Partolan will remain curious about where she comes from—and how it can take her to where she’s going.
Courtesy of Izola Bakery
San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events
Beth’s Bites
Izola Bakery has long discussed its expansion plans, and at long last, there’s finally some traction. The award-winning East Village bakery will officially move into its second location at the former California English space in Sorrento Valley, hopefully by the end of the year, according to owner Jeffrey Brown. In the meantime, the downtown location will continue to churn out plenty of buns, croissants, sourdough, and more to keep your carb cravings at bay.
Why settle for beer at Oktoberfest when you can have cider? Bivouac Ciderworks is throwing their version of Septemberfest, on Saturday, September 26 from noon to 5 p.m. at their North Park taproom and restaurant. Entry is free, and there will be plenty of German-inspired bites and eats to enjoy. I’m particularly eyeing the apple strudel cider float and Bavarian cider-kraut, but in all likelihood will also be getting a soft pretzel or two as well.
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.
As a kid, Jacob Chen scrounged up whatever odd jobs he could—running lemonade stands, organizing garage sales, reselling appliances on Facebook Marketplace. But there was something about cooking that kept him coming back to the kitchen. “It started as a way for me to spend time with my mom,” he says. “In a way, I think it was inevitable that I would begin a food-based business.”
That business ended up being Made for MeiMei, a line of low-sugar, high protein and fiber mochi flavors like ube, matcha, red bean, black sesame, peanut butter and jelly, and chocolate hazelnut. “‘Mochi’ is derived from ‘mochigome,’ which is the special type of short grain rice that gives mochi its stretchy, chewy texture,” he explains. Traditionally served in Japan as a dessert to celebrate the new year (similar to bibingka in the Philippines and nian gao in China), American-style mochi tends to taste sweeter and often comes as mochi ice cream. However, Chen points out that wasn’t always the case.
Courtesy of Made for MeiMei
“Before mochi was synonymous with ice cream and refined sugar, it was simply a rice based snack filled with whole food ingredients,” he says. “That’s the version of mochi we’re trying to bring back.”
Made for MeiMei’s primary ingredients are rice flour and coconut milk, plus the featured ingredient for each flavor. But rather than using refined sugar, Chen sweetens his mochi with monk fruit and uses organic pumpkin seed protein and chicory root fiber to create what he calls “the first better-for-you mochi.”
Recent collaborations include a mochi-wrapped gelato with An’s Dry Cleaning, strawberry daifuku cream puff with Mon Chourie, and a funfetti chantilly cream dip mochi with The Clovery, but Chen has his sights set on retail expansion. Currently, Made for MeiMei products are available online, locally at Easy Does It Cafe, Bodega Market, or at upcoming events like Embolden Beer Company’s Taste of Shogun on September 27 (admission is free!) and a pop-up with Organic Oren on October 5.
Courtesy of Made for MeiMei
Besides being better for you nutritionally, Chen’s goal for the business is to also be better for the world. He’s worked in rehabilitation clinics and volunteered at San Quentin when he lived in Berkeley—experiences that transformed his worldview. “It really doesn’t take much to be on the other side of the fence,” he says. That’s why he donates portions of proceeds to organizations like Second Chance San Diego (which helps formerly incarcerated people find steady employment), Immigrant Defenders Law Center (a nonprofit deportation defense law firm), and Border Angels, an advocacy group working to reduce fatalities of people crossing the United States and Mexico border.
Chen has his sights aimed high, hoping to bring Made for MeiMei to more local grocery stores and cafes before hitting national retail shelves. Will he stop at mochi? Maybe not.
“There are so many childhood treats that could use an ingredient upgrade,” he says. “Mochi is just the beginning!”
Courtesy of Roppongi Restaurant & Lounge
San Diego Restaurant News & Events
Leave It Up To The Chefs at Roppongi
There’s no such thing as too much omakase, and we’re leaning in. On September 24, chef Davin Waite (The Plot, Wrench & Rodent) will join chef Mark Correa at Roppongi Restaurant & Lounge for a one-night-only, eight-course omakase experience with an optional (but personally recommended) beverage pairing curated by sommelier Humberto Ramirez. You definitely need to snap up a reservation for this one before they’re gone—and with a dream team like this, they will be gone.
Courtesy of Swells Sourdough Bakery
Beth’s Bites
Another weekend, another food festival—not that I’m complaining! On October 3, the 15th annual Taste of North Park hits the streets with over 50 tastings and 15 beverage stops awaiting your arrival. The event sells out every year (for real), thanks to participants like the newly opened One of Us, Falafel Heights, Finca, and many, many more. (Leave the parking stress at home—this is the ideal time to take advantage of the not-utilized-enough North Park parking garage.)
Swells Sourdough Bakery is movin’ on up—to Little Italy, that is. The farmers market favorite officially opens at 2254 India Street on October 1, but eager patrons can stop by during the soft opening starting September 26. Swimsuit season is over, people. It’s time to get our bagel on.
Longtime Point Loma watering hole Paradise Lounge & Grill is closing its doors, but only temporarily. I’m keeping an eye out for an official opening date, but the business has posted they hope by the end of September. Hopefully, it’ll be in time for the Padres to make the playoffs—manifestation!
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 Del Mar Wine & Food Festival’s Grand Tasting, the walk between food tents can take a while. You might stop to watch a chef competition, get pulled toward the DJ, or find yourself playing mini golf before you remember which bite you were after.
Across the Del Mar Polo Fields, there’s also line dancing, a 1961 red Beetle ready for photos, and an aviation-themed pop-up with Reno Tahoe chefs and mixologists. Need a slower stretch? Check out the wellness stops or browse the shops. Here’s what to look for as you make your way through the festival’s zones:
Courtesy of Del Mar Wine & Food Festival
VIP First Bites & First Sips
VIP ticket holders get a head start, with the VIP Reception running from 11:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. and serving first bites, first sips, and a few surprises before the Grand Tasting officially gets going. Champagne Telmont will make the festival’s first pour, while Cohn Restaurant Group brings carajillos alongside pours from Karl Strauss, Licor 43, Tap Truck San Diego, Bebemos Tequila, and Devil’s Grin Gin.
The bites are just as good. Celebrity chef Beau MacMillan will serve a first bite, while Warung RieRie is bringing one of its highly coveted dishes. Yes, this is the restaurant that currently has an eight-month waitlist. You’ll also find bites from The Shellfish Affair, The Waverly, Wolf in the Woods, Dora Ristorante, Cori Pastificio Trattoria, An’s Gelato, Pacific 333, Vintana, and more.
And because every good first act needs a soundtrack, there will be live painting and music, with Courtney Govan bringing live jazz to the reception. It’s the perfect opening act before the main event.
Live Cooking & Culinary Moments
During the VIP Reception, chefs Tommy Gomes and Jeff Roberto will conduct a live ahi cutting. Plant Paradise brings another culinary angle, with celebrity chef Zuliya Khawaja joining the plant-based lineup. The area combines chef talent with plant-forward restaurants and brands, giving guests a chance to see just how creative plant-based cooking can get.
Throughout the weekend, The Stage keeps the cooking demonstrations coming, with celebrities and chefs sharing techniques, recipes, and plenty of inspiration for anyone who plans to actually cook something when they get home. Before you know it, you’re watching a chef demo, casting your awards vote, and sipping mezcal on the grass with friends you just met in line.
Courtesy of Del Mar Wine & Food Festival
DJs, Music, & The Party
At the Grand Tasting, dancing just sort of… happens. A DJ drops the right song. Someone’s holding a taco in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. The country zone breaks into a two-step. Friends convince friends. Strangers become temporary dance partners. By the end of the day, everyone’s forgotten they were ever worried about looking cool.
DJ TENAX will be spinning in Plant Paradise, bringing house, techno, and UKG to an open-air dance floor that’s hard to leave. Chris Cantore, a veteran San Diego broadcaster, takes over the VIP Tent, while BootScootin Line Dance and PVO Events bring country-style line dancing to the Polo Fields, so you can work off your tasting itinerary one two-step at a time.
Then a live guitar hum in the distance leads you to a fuchsia boa over at the Pride Zone, where you’ll find yourself covered in sequins and having the lawn party of a lifetime.
Sports, Tailgates, & Games
Not every activity at the festival requires a tasting glass (although it’s certainly encouraged).
The Matchday Experience brings San Diego FC and San Diego Wave FC into the Grand Tasting, complete with interactive tents and plenty of game-day energy. Athletic Brewing is also sharing activation space with San Diego Wave FC, bringing a fun nonalcoholic option into the mix.
For golf fans, the Los Angeles Golf Club is bringing a Dryve Box golf simulator to the festival. And if your competitive streak is less fairway and more miniature windmill, SD Pop Up Mini Golf has you covered.
The Beach Zone gets in on the action, too, with surfing-inspired elements and Playavole paddle courts. Hemlock Hats and other California brands add to the coastal atmosphere, but the real draw is having somewhere to actually play. And don’t worry, you can cool down in COOLA’s turquoise beach chairs, too, and when your bestie suggests reapplying sunscreen, obviously you do. Basically, there are plenty of ways to work up an appetite between tastings.
Courtesy of Del Mar Wine & Food Festival
Photo Ops & Instagram Moments
You’re going to want to take photos, and the festival has made that extremely easy.
A Timeless Day is bringing multiple photo moments to the Grand Tasting, including a 1961 red Beetle at The Italian Getaway and a teal VW bus in The Beach Zone. For something a little more polished than the standard group selfie, head to the Locals Zone for Pixster Photo Booth and San Diego’s version of a Glam-Bot, complete with a grass red carpet.
Bebemos Tequila is also bringing back its festival-favorite hidden speakeasy. If there’s ever a time for a photo, it’s here. Otherwise, people might not believe you. The speakeasy serves bone marrow shots straight from the bone, with candlelight, a lounge area that makes it hard to believe you’re in a tent outside, and little orange shot glasses. This is “first slide of your festival photo dump” material.
You can also grab your squad and head to LaCroix’s bright and ridiculously cute setup, or swing by San Diego Magazine’s area, where you might stop for a photo in front of the larger-than-life SD Magazine sign and find yourself watching a painting come to life.
But really, you’re in Del Mar. The ocean is essentially your backdrop, and every zone gives you an excuse to stop for the obligatory “totally candid” photo. And yes, the best strategy is to get the group shot before everyone has been sampling wine for three hours.
Shop, Browse, & Take Something Home
The Grand Tasting also doubles as a little shopping excursion, with local makers, fashion, vintage finds, jewelry, and lifestyle brands scattered throughout the grounds. Smoke Revival Vintage Vault brings the thrill of vintage treasure hunting, while Nortte Hats and Hemlock Hat Company make a pretty good case for leaving with a new accessory.
Keep an eye out for jewelry and creative vendors, too, including Iris Studio Jewelry and New Nightfall Jewelry, plus local artists and makers featured throughout the festival.
You can come for an all day food and wine festival, but still leave with something shiny you definitely did not plan to buy.
Wellness & Reset Moments
We know, at some point, even the most dedicated grazer has to come up for air. The Novo Dia Wellness Zone is designed for exactly that, bringing together mocktails, coffee, hydration, wellness brands, and even bites from Parakeet Cafe.
Step away from the food and drink frenzy for a few minutes, relax in the shade, try some skincare, stretch with prAna, and maybe grab some Instant Hydration Electrolytes before round three.
There’s also nothing wrong with stopping to smell the roses at Green Air Botanicals while devouring a dairy-free cheese dip. It’s less about disappearing from the party and more about making sure you have enough energy to keep going.
The zones give you somewhere to wander, and the activities give you a reason to keep going. So grab your tasting glass, check the schedule, and leave a little room in your afternoon for something you didn’t plan on doing. At Del Mar Wine & Food, that’s usually where things get interesting.
Isabella Dallas is a freelance writer for San Diego Magazine and the Arts and Culture Editor at The Daily Aztec in her final year at San Diego State University. She previously worked as an editorial intern for SDM, but when she’s not writing, you can find her trying the best coffee spots in SD, devouring the latest rom-coms, and indulging in anything and everything pop culture.
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.
Courtesy of Herb & Sea
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.
Courtesy of Herb & Sea
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.
Courtesy of Herb & Sea
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.
Courtesy of Herb & Sea
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.
Around the world, people prize wine from hyper-specific regions. We know that grinding whole coffee beans results in a richer cup than using preground beans. So why do so many of us rely on preground spices to flavor our food?
Dharti Jadav wants us to change that perception of spices, using her own childhood memories from growing up in Ahmedabad, a city in western India in the state of Gujarat. She’s lived in the United States for 20 years, but never had to settle for substandard, stale spices from an old spice rack in a random grocery store. Her mother, who visited every year, would always bring along as many spices from India as she would need until the next year.
Courtesy of Koshna
That changed with the pandemic. “I’m used to a certain freshness level in the spice,” she explains. When the world went into lockdown, she resigned herself to shopping at a large grocer to refill her shelves.
It didn’t go well.
The cumin tasted like cardboard—nothing like the piquant, aromatic herb her grandfather grew in India. “It literally felt like somebody was taking away my memories,” she says. She couldn’t let that happen. So she decided to launch Koshna to present spices in a way that actually showcases their depth.
Sharing a variety of fresh spices for people to fully experience their vibrancy is one thing. But Jadav’s business plan ensures all Koshna products are also sourced individually from small-scale farmers in India, who harvest and deliver the same year to ensure full potency. For comparison, mass-market spice brands can take two years or more to hit shelves, and every day in storage diminishes its vitality and flavor.
Plus, most spices aren’t just one flavor from one place, she explains. “There are varieties of specific turmeric that have their own nuances and grow in a specific region,” she says. But if you look at 99.9 percent of turmeric bottles on mass market shelves, the label will just say “turmeric.” We don’t simplify wines into just “white” or “red.” So why don’t spices, the commodity that literally launched global trade routes we still use today, get the same specificity, in stores or in restaurants?
Courtesy of Koshna
“All these restaurants, they’re all about farm-to-table,” says Jadav. The menu often says where the local lettuce was grown or where the fish was caught. “I have yet to find a restaurant that says ‘my spice comes from this farm.’” Most people don’t even know where black pepper originated from. (Hint: it’s also from India.)
Jadav sells Koshna spices online, various farmers markets in San Diego, seasonal pop-up events, and small shops like Home Ec, Bica, and Fox Point Farms. Currently, her product line features spices like Lakadong turmeric (from Umnari in the Meghalaya region), Chambal coriander (named for the Chambal River flowing through the Khera Rudhda in Rajasthan), Aaji fennel (named for the Aaji River flowing through the Ramod in Gujarat), Resham Patto chilli (from Ramod, Gujarat), and of course, the spice that started it all—Banas cumin (named after the Banas River flowing through Dungala, Gujarat).
She knows it can feel intimidating to go from a shaker of flavor to having to grind your own. But it’s worth it, she promises. “Just play with it,” she laughs. “Cooking, it’s like the simplest thing. Nothing wrong can come out of it.”
Courtesy of Mike’s Red Tacos
San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events
Beth’s Bites
Bocktoberfest is coming! German-inspired South Park beer bar Bock is hosting a three-weekend shindig with different “tents” each weekend. Things kick off with Paulaner, followed by Seek Beer and Enegren Brewing, and culminating with Hacker-Pschorr. Come thirsty, ready to hold a stein for longer than you would think (!), and hungry for classic Bavarian bratwurst.
I’m biased in that I believe every season is cider season, but fall is when the juice really starts to flow. In San Diego, Newtopia Cyder is gearing up for the season and beyond, recently inking a distribution deal that will bring their ciders to nine states in the east and southeast, with more on the way. Part of their expanded lineup includes the flagship Venom Imperial Cyder, a collaboration with Wu-Tang Clan’s U-God, with rollout that coincides with the upcoming Wu-Tang tour. San Diego cider ain’t nuthing ta f’ wit.
U-God isn’t the only celeb tapping into San Diego food and drink. NBA superstar LeBron James just joined Mike’s Red Tacos as an investor, helping the Southern California birria brand keep up its rapid nationwide expansion. King James and birria? Now that’s a slam dunk.
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.
Not all monsters have to be scary. In fact, entrepreneur Pinyada “Ada” Primpray’s is delightful. Sea Monster, a small cafe that will serve poke bowls, fresh spring rolls, and matcha, will open in Mission Valley by the end of the year.
“The concept is a Hawaiian- and Japanese-style cafe,” Primpray explains. She calls it Sea Monster in homage to her friend’s popular restaurant Big Monster Sushi & Thai in Hawaii, but “the idea really started to take shape after I came back from a solo trip to Italy,” she says. The experience inspired her to start her own concept that mixed her culture, experience, and passion for food.
Sea Monster will be her first restaurant as an owner, but Primpray has worked in restaurants for 15 years in places like Kauai, Chicago, New York, and San Diego. She realized a similar health-conscious, seafood-forward, quick-service restaurant could work here, especially in that corner of Mission Valley where pizza and burgers reign. Plus, she points to the massive development plans for the area—between Riverwalk bringing thousands of new homes to the area and even more coming from San Diego State University, there are lots of new locals looming on the horizon.
She brought on Head Chef Wasu Gibb Palipote from Sushisamba in Los Angeles to develop the menu and signature sauces, like ink wasabi and a larb sauce. “Every couple of months, we plan to introduce a new signature sauce created exclusively for Sea Monster by [Chef Palipote],” she says. All the sauces will be homemade, including a basil creamy sauce and sesame vinegar.
Courtesy of Pinyada “Ada” Primpray
Sea Monster’s menu centers around fresh poke bowls—mostly locally-caught bluefin tuna and hamachi as well as salmon, served California-style rather than Hawaiian-style (the sauces are added to order rather than marinating on the fish, which can overpower its flavor). Toppings will range from the usual, like edamame and green onion, to upscale, like uni (sea urchin). She’ll also serve fresh salad rolls, a popular light snack in Vietnam and her native Thailand, with vegetables and seafood like salmon, shrimp, and imitation crab. Everything will be served to-go, although there will be very limited seating for people who want to dive in right away.
The matcha program will start small, with six iterations planned for opening and potentially more in the future. “I really want to have mango sticky rice,” she adds. Beyond adding items to the menu, Primpray says she hopes Sea Monster will be more than a restaurant. “I want it to grow into a lifestyle brand with its own little world,” she says, pointing to the restaurant’s mascot, Smoo. A monster with aspirations of growing bigger and bigger until it takes over? Yeah, sounds about right.
Sea Monsterwill open daily for lunch and dinner in late 2026 at 6110 Friars Road in Mission Valley.
Oktoberfest season is closing in fast, and one of the first dirndl-laced events of the year kicks off at AleSmith Brewing Company this weekend. AleSchmidt Oktoberfest runs every Saturday from September 12 through 26, and the family-friendly event is chock-a-block with German food vendors, live oom-pah bands, stein holding, and a whole lot more. The free event starts at 11 a.m. each Saturday, and from personal experience, I recommend posting up on the early side to snag a seat.
Japanese fine dining restaurant Shio soft opened in August, bringing elegant plates and sunset views to La Jolla. (The area was hardly hurting for either, but I think we could always use some more sushi in our lives.) Has anyone checked it out yet? Let me know what I should order by dropping me a line at [email protected].
Restaurateur brothers Danny and Dante Romero have been on a tear the past few years, consulting at places like Una Mas and taking over The Lion’s Share last summer. It’s understandable to see they recently decided to pause their recurring pop-up concept Two Ducks to recalibrate and figure out its future in a permanent location, but it’s still a bit bittersweet. If it’s “see you later” and not “goodbye,” I can live with that (for now).
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.
NewBridge School is San Diego’s only school dedicated to the education of students with dyslexia and related learning profiles. For 30 years we have successfully served students with dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, receptive/expressive language disorders, ADHD, executive functioning and memory deficits. Students transition successfully into academically rigorous high schools and colleges across the country. Why NewBridge? Training, training, training (plus intensive individualization, and comprehensive program design). All teachers are trained and retrained biennially in Orton-Gillingham, the only approach proven to remediate dyslexia based on Science of Reading research, and complete a year-long training program. Every aspect of our program is designed around our students’ learning styles and needs. Every class is taught by a highly-trained expert, and our Speech/Language and Occupational Therapy teams embed throughout the day. Our multisensory, multi-tiered math program has been developed in conjunction with sister schools and experts across the country. Don’t wait—early intervention is magic!
