Executive Chef Quinnton Austin is the owner of Louisiana Purchase, a restaurant in the North Park neighborhood of San Diego that aims to “bring New Orleans to North Park” with a soulful menu of savory bites. Likemany other small to midsize business owners during the pandemic, Austin (aka “Chef Q”) was forced to continually adapt to ever-changing regulations with real impacts on his business. Austin’s flexible attitude and ability to “rise to the occasion” unexpectedly created new opportunities for the restaurant, even amidst a global pandemic.
Using his Cox Business Internet account, Austin relied on software programs like Plate IQ to keep up with trends that required Louisiana Purchase to constantly change their menu items. “In current times, it’s more beneficial to have automation, especially when it comes to frequent menu changes where you need to price out each dish based on overhead and revenue goals,” he explained.
At the height of the pandemic, Louisiana Purchase was forced to come up with innovative ways to spread the word about their offerings. “The shutdowns changed the way we approached business,” said Austin. “We started to utilize all our social media platforms to tell our story, from behind-the-scenes content and new dishes to giveaways and to show how we were supporting frontline hospital workers with meals and students in low-income neighborhoods with school lunches,” he continued.
Louisiana Purchase continues using their Cox Business Internet to power other restaurant technology tools like Toast 365 and Shamrock for order processing to ensure the unique dishes on the menu are always available to area foodies.
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And Louisiana Purchase isn’t just drawing in the locals; the restaurant’s excellent food and welcoming vibe are luring foodies from all over Southern California. “The biggest silver lining of the pandemic was that people seem less scared to try new things, and they are willing to go out and have culinary adventures. On average we welcome 20 customers each week from Los Angeles who come to experience our menu and atmosphere,” said Austin. “We just had a family of about 40 who took the train down from L.A. the weekend before Mardi Gras!” he exclaimed.
Austin and his team have worked hard to curate the distinctive, hospitable New Orleans feel of Louisiana Purchase, and they have extended that convivial warmth into the community by helping to connect Black professionals and chefs within the industry. Austin recently launched “Bad Boys of Culinary,” a community of Black chefs who visit various cities and restaurants to showcase their talents. The group also hosts culinary expos for the public, with two events upcoming in San Diego.
There’s no doubt that Austin’s instinct for innovation will continue to take him (and his endeavors) to great heights. Soon, he and fellow Bad Boys of Culinary Chef Kelston Moore are opening a new spot in Oceanside called Q&A Restaurant and Oyster Bar, which vows to “bring NOLA vibes to Oceanside” with first-class service and food. Southern California dining enthusiasts, rejoice!
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A perfectly designed home rarely happens by accident. Those kitchens that feel effortless and rooms that seem to tell a story the second you walk in? They’re usually the work of someone who knows exactly what they’re doing.
It’s knowing which ideas will actually work, which materials will hold up over time, and how to turn a collection of choices into a space that feels intentional. That’s where a professional interior designer comes in.
For the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) California San Diego Chapter, the goal is to help people see interior design as more than just the finished look. Behind every well-designed space is a process built on technical expertise. Designers are educated in everything from professional software and construction details to building codes, space planning, materials, and functionality.
Courtesy of ASID
“People don’t always realize how much goes on behind the scenes,” Kirsten Recce , current president of the ASID California San Diego Chapter, says. “Our designers are not just doing furniture placement and color selection and picking out new fluffy pillows. That’s not what they’re trained for.”
ASID members bring formal education, continued learning, and industry knowledge to their projects, helping create spaces that are not only beautiful, but designed to work. A paint color that changes completely depending on the lighting. A material that looks beautiful in a showroom but doesn’t make sense for everyday life. A layout that photographs well but doesn’t function for the people living there. These are the details where professional guidance can make all the difference.
Still, one of the biggest misconceptions about hiring an interior designer is that it’s reserved for massive renovations, luxury homes, or people who already know exactly what they want. The process can feel intimidating. Where do you begin? Is a designer worth the investment? What if you only need help with one room?
ASID’s answer: start with one hour.
ASID’s Spruce Up events break down one of the biggest barriers between homeowners and professional design: knowing where to begin. Held twice a year, the community program gives homeowners the chance to work directly with an ASID designer through a one-hour, $125 consultation in their own home. Whether you’re looking for advice on furniture placement, window treatments, kitchen and bath updates, remodeling ideas, vacation rentals, color selections or something else entirely, the upcoming September 2026 event offers an approachable way to get expert guidance before committing to a full project. Signups are open through Sept. 7, with consultations taking place Sept. 21 through Oct. 31. Proceeds benefit ASID San Diego’s educational and community programs. Register here!
Courtesy of ASID
“It’s a great opportunity for people who are in that exploratory phase,” Recce says. “Maybe they’re not sure they want to hire an interior designer yet, or they think it sounds daunting or expensive. This gives them a chance to discover what working with a designer is actually like.”
Design is personal. A good designer isn’t just creating a beautiful room; they’re helping create a space that fits the way someone lives.
“We’re a resource to all of San Diego County,” Recce says. “It doesn’t cost anything to pick up the phone and call and ask. We’ll answer.”
It’s estimated that one in five people in the U.S. will develop skin cancer at some point in their lives. When you factor in living in a sun-soaked city like San Diego and the outdoorsy lifestyle that comes with it, that figure can jump to as high as one in three, which makes early detection and intervention all the more important. Dermatologists at Bighorn Mohs and Dermatology Center are using innovative imaging methods and advanced surgical techniques to diagnose and treat skin cancer. For certain cancers in sensitive spots, like the face, dermatologists perform Mohs surgery, removing skin tissue layer by layer until reaching healthy, cancer-free tissue. They also use a process called immunohistochemistry to view tissue samples taken during Mohs surgery in far greater detail than previous methods. Read more about how Scripps is advancing skin cancer care here.
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When endurance athlete Isaac Sanchez learned he had cancer, he felt blindsided. He was healthy, surfed often and was training for an Ironman triathlon. But he had to put that on hold to undergo treatment. His physicians at Scripps Cancer Center developed a plan to treat the cancer in his tonsil and lymph nodes that included six-and-a-half weeks of near-daily radiation and weekly chemotherapy. He also worked with a Scripps Cancer Center dietitian to enhance his nutrition to promote strength and healing. Today, Isaac’s back to doing what he loves. Read more of his story here.
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While glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agents have been used to treat Type 2 diabetes for more than 20 years, their recent emergence as weight-loss wonder drugs marked a new frontier in medicine. But their effectiveness has left some patients wondering what to do once they’ve reached their goal. Stopping the medication could mean regaining some, if not all, of the weight. A Scripps Clinic internal medicine physician recently conducted a small study of whether GLP-1 patients who had reached their goal weight could maintain that weight by taking their regularly prescribed injection every other week instead of weekly. Spoiler alert: 30 of 34 patients did. Read more about the study here and what that may mean as pharmaceutical companies roll out oral GLP-1s.
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Chemotherapy and radiation have long been considered gold standards of cancer treatment, but they can cause severe side effects. A promising new approach called theranostics—a combination of “therapeutics” and “diagnostics”—could offer patients with certain types of metastatic cancers new hope. It’s a two-step process that uses a drug that binds to specific receptors on cancer cells. Advanced imaging detects this radioisotope, allowing doctors to then use a second radioisotope that binds to the cancer cells and destroys them. Click here to learn more about how specialists at Scripps Cancer Center are using theranostics.
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Nearly everyone experiences a sleepless night once in a while. But for those with a circadian sleep disorder, being well-rested can feel out of reach. A circadian sleep disorder occurs when a person’s internal clock doesn’t align with their desired or socially required sleep schedule. This can significantly impact quality of life, mental health and physical well-being. Scripps Circadian Sleep Disorders Clinic, launched in 2019, was the first of its kind in the state. Its specialists diagnose and treat conditions like delayed sleep phase disorder, shift work sleep disorder and non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder. Many patients have spent years—or even decade —thinking there was no hope for their sleep behavior. A solution can be life-changing. Read more about the Scripps Circadian Sleep Disorders Clinic here.
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