North Park’s new era starts now. On Wednesday, Drew Deckman–the man responsible for one-third of Mexico’s Michelin stars for sustainability–is finally opening his first restaurant in San Diego. @bajafishingchef has spent years helming @deckmansenelmogor, cooking under pine trees in the dry, open wild of Baja, goggles blocking billowing smoke, giant tongs in hand. This week, he’s moving that free-range magic inside. All produce and greens at @31thirtyonebydeckmans
are from San Diego farms. Oysters from Baja. Food of its place.
@heytroyjohnson caught up with Drew inside 3THIRTYONE ahead of its opening–two friends talking dreams and shamans and the dismantling of ego. Link in bio for the full story.
Welcome to Fox Point Farms. A bucolic new agrihood in Encinitas filled with leafy greens and reclaimed wood and kids who eat their vegetables. Homes border regenerative fields; residents know farmers by name. And at the just-debuted Haven Farm + Table, led by chefs Alex Carballo and Kelston Moore, the menu is driven by the current harvest. (Think carrots al pastor, radish carpaccio, or tomato jam on a bison burger.) Also on property: a brewery. Marketplace. Apothecary. Chickens. More vitamins and minerals than a GNC. Link in bio for the full story on Haven and Fox Point Farms.
First Look: Ponyboy at The Pearl Hotel. Retro-inspired dishes and drinks, a badass team of big-name culinary and cocktail people (Addison alums among them), a velvety mid-mod aesthetic, a fetching little pool in the heart of it all. Soft opens tomorrow in Point Loma. Link in bio for the whole story. @theponyboysd
This week on our Happy Half Hour podcast: we catch up with Lia and Spencer Hunter, the mother-and-son duo behind @liaslumpia.
In Chef Spencer Hunter’s family, the adage could be, “like mother, like son.” When competing in Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race, his mom, Lia, was the only teammate he had in mind. After coming in at second place, Lia’s Lumpia, a San Diego-based Filipino food truck and restaurant, was born.
Restaurants are in Spencer’s blood: his grandmother opened the first Filipino restaurant in National City, San-Loy’s Lumpia and Food To Go. And though his family taught him to roll the thumb-sized, fried-and-stuffed rolls, Spencer also worked in Brian Malarkey’s kitchens and studied sustainable tourism in the rainforests of Panama.
Spencer and Lia talk through the journey from Grandma’s National City restaurant to food truck glory in a come-up that blends family tradition, cultural preservation, and innovative culinary fusion.
Link in bio to tune in.
With humble beginnings in 1970, the convention known as the Golden State Comic-Mini-Con drew only 300 attendees. Six years later, the first major Hollywood studio made an appearance, showcasing a little-known film called “Star Wars.” Fast-forward to today, and @comic_con is a cultural phenomenon attracting over 150,000 fans to San Diego every year.
2024’s iteration marks the return of Marvel with a panel featuring Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds. Other stars making their way to the convention center include Chris Hemsworth, Melissa Barrera, Keegan-Michael Key, Bella Thorne, and Jack Quaid.
While blockbuster film panels and limited-edition loot are always a hit, it’s the fans that give Comic-Con its magic. Cosplay has become the heartbeat of the convention, turning downtown into the ultimate crossover episode as fans don intricate, handcrafted costumes that often take months to create.
Yesterday, we roamed the Gaslamp Quarter to catch the most epic cosplays from day one. If you spot yourself or a fellow cosplayer in our footage, tag them in the comments below.
Live long and prosper! 🖖🤓 See you on the exhibition floor!
Video by @musiciswhatihear & @jeremy_sazon
After all the big things, the top of the restaurant world, the opening nights with the media whipping hoopla and The Bear-level pressures…. He finally found the right spot in a little box of his own in Barrio Logan. Born and raised in San Diego, Pablo Becker opened restaurants across the world with his cousin, famed Mexican chef Richard Sandoval. Opened a few of his own in San Diego. About six years ago, he had to close it. Lowest point of his life. So he went to Chicago, got a job not as a GM or operator but as a line cook. For five years, he just cooked.
Then he came home, and opened this joint. A tiny hiccup on the main corner spot on Logan Ave. Called it Fish Guts.
“Being a line cook was the greatest five years of my life,” says Becker. “I just put my head down and cooked and cooked and cooked. Like most restaurants in America, almost all of the cooks were Mexican. In that kitchen, I got to learn about the cultures and food of cooks from Puebla, Guerrero, Michoacan… I learned more about my own culture than I probably had my whole life.”
His idea: come home, open a tiny little place where he could keep cooking. Mostly fish tacos and a killer fried fish sandwich, but made with 90% sustainable seafood, sourced from local fishmongers and boats. The blackened local swordfish is a star, a juicy-tender filet with jalapeño slaw and spicy aioli. Buying fish from local boats and fishermen costs a lot more; it’s what financial advisors might call “oh c’mon but why.”
“The ocean is right there, man,” he says, pointing out the window. “Why wouldn’t you use it? I wanted to do something that had meaning behind it.”
As for the name, he was arguing with a friend of his about what to call the restaurant. He said, “You know what, man, I’m done with this conversation, you can call it ‘Fish Guts’ for all I care.”
So he did.
This is SDM’s guide to San Diego Food + Drink. Favorite dishes, drinks, places, things found across the cit
First Look: Roma Norte at The Headquarters. A sexy little spot for the latest of late nights, with a novel-sized menu of cocktails by bar wizard Beau du Bois (@beaudub) and the acclaimed team behind Puesto and Marisi. @romanorte.sd opens tonight. Read the full story by @thedelightedbite with the link in our bio.
Video: @jeremy_sazon
Stephane Voitzwinkler was raised in a gas station in Alsace, France. Went with his mom every day to the butcher shop and bakery and grocer—gladly, because snacks. Salami or knackwurst, warm breads and oh man the cheeses. He learned to cook by his mom’s side, saw what good meals did to people. He learned work ethic sweeping his dad’s station.
“That’s where I learned the ethic of being quick and efficient,” he says. “Brooming, organizing, serving gas, cleaning windshields, keeping the station tidy. And that’s what I do here, now. It’s something I carried with me. Nothing is not my job here.”
That’s why Stephane has been the exec chef of Mister A’s—the icon in the sky of San Diego’s dining scene—for 21 years. That’s not a job, it’s a biography. Talent gets you in the kitchen, ethic makes you a part of the place.
The dish you gotta try: the duck. Duck is so good because it tastes like a protein that has an opinion. They constantly dry-age their own in the kitchen. Dry-aging is like reducing a stock or editing the rough draft of a story. You’re removing the fluff (in this case, moisture), and cranking up the best parts. He serves his with a carrot puree, harissa chickpeas, and huckleberry gastrique. It’s one heck of a canard.
Longtime GM Ryan Thorsen became the new owner of the iconic restaurant two years ago. Infused new life, revived the classic Blue Room, renewed the chakras and the buzz of the place. It’s packed in here now. A second or third or sixth life for a San Diego classic.
This is SDM’s guide to San Diego Food + Drink. Favorite dishes, drinks, places, things found across the city by food editor and longtime Food Network judge, @heytroyjohnson. The stories of the people who make the food + drink culture hum.
@misterasrestaurant
Video by the awesome @jeremy_sazon
Bold, brilliant women are actively shaping the future of San Diego—and you’re invited to help us honor them. Our Celebrating Women awards program is back, and nominations are open through August 4 at sdmag.com/cw-noms24. (Link in bio.)
Tell us about an incredible San Diegan in one of 15 categories:
Art + Design
Education
Finance
Fitness + Wellness
Food + Beverage
Healthcare
Law + Legal
Media + Marketing
Military + Public Service
Non-Profit
Real Estate
Sports + Entertainment
STEM
Tourism + Hospitality
Trade + Craft
Like last year, we have two awards for each industry. The Pioneers, those that have years of experience and are regarded as experts in their given field, and Rising Stars, the upstarts already making an impact and blazing a trail.
Go nominate, then mark your calendars–People’s Choice voting runs August 19 to 25.
Link in bio for full details on the Celebrating Women awards process, or just head to sdmag.com/cw-noms24.
Videos: @jeremy_sazon
It’s her. She politely agrees to sit for a portrait, but then retreats to the kitchen to check on staff, guide a hand if needed. Her son-in-law Michael Tu carries on the Phuong Trang torch these days, but all he can do is talk about her and what she built.
About 40 years ago, Tina Tran started cooking meals for local families who had just arrived from Vietnam—a tradition called “month of meals.” In her Linda Vista kitchen, she’d make dishes that gave them a taste of home as they adjusted to a new culture, new life. Her food a constant welcome.
It grew so popular that they opened a little shop. Word spread, so did the lines. In 1992, they opened Phuong Trang on Convoy Street. Decades later, it’s been a community gathering space for generations of Vietnamese families, and where a lot of San Diegans got their first taste of pho, of banh xeo, of those sticky-salty-sweet fish sauce glazed chicken wings.
“The amount of people that she was able to please with the month of meals and with the fish cakes pretty much stuck with her,” he says. “That’s what made us so successful, is that these people, these working people, were so supportive. It’s such a blessing. Such a blessing. All I’m trying to do is honor her.”
The dish you have to try is the whole catfish marinated and oven-roasted and then topped with toasted sesame seeds, peanuts, scallions, fried onions, and vermicelli noodles. It’s a signature feast from one of the families who helped bring the food and hospitality of Vietnam to San Diego’s food culture.
This is SDM’s guide to San Diego Food + Drink. Favorite dishes, drinks, places, things found across the city by food editor and longtime Food Network judge, @heytroyjohnson. The stories of the people who make the food + drink culture hum.
@phuongtrangrestaurantsd
Video by the awesome @jeremy_sazon
Get the congee. A rice porridge. Porridge may sound like an olde English word for bland, but at Kingfisher it’s a revelation.
Seventeen years ago, a family opened Crab Hut Restaurant ( Official Page) on Convoy. Their first restaurant, dedicated to how they grew up eating in Vietnam—tables full of seafood boil. They bootstrapped it. Chaos was not in short supply, and so were the people who showed up. Kingfisher is the ambitious extension of that dream.
This is SDM’s guide to San Diego Food + Drink. Favorite dishes, drinks, places, things found across the city by food editor and longtime Food Network judge, Troy Johnson. The stories of the people who make the food + drink culture hum.
Kingfisher exec chef David Sim was born and raised in San Diego, his parents refugees from Cambodia. They worked long hours at their sewing shop to make a new life. So he started cooking at age seven, playing “Iron Chef” with his brothers and cousins. “We didn’t have much—maybe just some onions and rice,” he says. “So we would make onion fried rice. It was simple, but it taught me how to make good food out of basic ingredients.”
Get that congee with morels, crispy garlic, garlic chives, cilantro, egg yolk, and spicy housemade “Sim”-bal sauce. Also, the the smoked dry-aged duck with XO sauce and nước mắm chimichurri (sells out almost every night). But to taste where he’s from, order the fantastic whole fried fish in ginger sweet and sour sauce. “That’s my childhood on a plate,” he says. “My mom would make this every weekend, and it was always my favorite thing.”
Get the congee. A rice porridge. Porridge may sound like an olde English word for bland, but at Kingfisher hands it’s a revelation.
Seventeen years ago, a family opened Crab Hut on Convoy. Their first restaurant, dedicated to how they grew up eating in Vietnam—tables full of seafood boil. They bootstrapped it. Chaos was not in short supply, and so were the people who showed up. Kingfisher is the ambitious extension of that dream.
This is SDM’s guide to San Diego Food + Drink. Favorite dishes, drinks, places, things found across the city by food editor and longtime Food Network judge, @heytroyjohnson. The stories of the people who make the food + drink culture hum.
Kingfisher exec chef David Sim was born and raised in San Diego, his parents refugees from Cambodia. They worked long hours at their sewing shop to make a new life. So he started cooking at age seven, playing “Iron Chef” with his brothers and cousins. “We didn’t have much—maybe just some onions and rice,” he says. “So we would make onion fried rice. It was simple, but it taught me how to make good food out of basic ingredients.”
Get that congee with morels, crispy garlic, garlic chives, cilantro, egg yolk, and spicy housemade “Sim”-bal sauce. Also, the the smoked dry-aged duck with XO sauce and nước mắm chimichurri (sells out almost every night). But to taste where he’s from, order the fantastic whole fried fish in ginger sweet and sour sauce. “That’s my childhood on a plate,” he says. “My mom would make this every weekend, and it was always my favorite thing.”
CHECK. THIS. OUT. It’s our big, beautiful Best of San Diego issue, full of the best bites, brews, and buys this side of the Salton Sea.
On the cover: the top teenage soccer player in the country, record breaker, Wave FC and USWNT phenom… Jaedyn Shaw. Shot at one of the coolest hangouts in the city, Winyl Club, in Balboa Park. (Check out that custom Wave jacket, too, created by our friends at Sew Loka.)
Jaedyn is a walking superlative. She’s the best, indisputably. And that’s the energy you’ll find throughout these pages. The Best of San Diego issue is made for tearing out pages–we won’t mind–and putting ‘em in your wallet for future reference. Lists on lists on lists. The city’s best liquor store sandwiches. The city’s best breweries. Even the best chocolate chip cookie. You can check out the full Best of San Diego feature on sdmag.com now. Also in the July issue: we’re checking in on 50 years of SD Pride, catching up with a few of the city’s top young sports talents, and sharing your San Diego love stories. And for this month’s food review, our followers voted on where our intrepid food critic should go, and you sent him to Rocky’s Crown Pub for perhaps the city’s most iconic burger.
Get your copy now with the link in our bio. But also, you should subscribe. Our mag is even better IRL.
As a young Black chef in San Diego, Kelston Moore hit some hurdles that just shouldn’t have been there in the first place. So he and mentor Quinnton Austin decided to do some hurdle-toppling, help clear a path for the next generation of African-American chefs in the city.
They formed Bad Boyz of Culinary (@badboyzofculinary).
Bad Boyz organizes events to showcase the talent of the chefs they mentor—like festivals and pop-up dinners at local restaurants. They raise scholarship funds, train the chefs themselves, create a community.
For Kelston, his cooking and his work honors the stories and memories of growing up in Barbados, where his dad cooked pig tails for the neighborhood. And with Bad Boyz, he and Quinnton and other chefs from across the city—like Duval Warner (Ranch 45) and Tony Bennett, Jr.—help the next gen tell their own stories through the food they cook.
This is SDM Guide to San Diego Food + Drink. Favorite dishes, drinks, places, things found across the city by food editor and longtime Food Network judge, @heytroyjohnson. The stories of the people who make the city’s food + drink culture hum.
@chefkelston
@chefworks86
@chefduvalwarner
@cheftony78
San Diego has tons of churches, temples, and other religious sites. But there’s also a hallowed home for produce here. We’re sort of kidding, sort of not, but in case you didn’t know, now you do–this is @specialtyproduce, the culinary destination where chefs (and in-the-know locals) shop.
Founded in 1989 by the Harrington brothers, Specialty Produce is a key player in the city’s food scene. The warehouse is a hub for the freshest and most vibrant fruits and vegetables, including rare varieties not easily found elsewhere, and throughout San Diego, there’s hardly a restaurant in town without a Specialty Produce truck parked out front.
Beyond a local perspective, Specialty Produce is also home to teams of passionate foodies, data wizards, and explorers, tracking produce trends across the globe. Digitally, they use advanced analytics to help you stay in the know about what produce items are the most sought after locally, regionally, and globally. They also send researchers worldwide to scour farms and markets in urban and remote destinations, all to share the story of fruits and vegetables. And now we’re sharing it with you.
Link in bio to browse the Specialty Produce site, and to tune in to our Happy Half Hour podcast episode with founder Bob Harrington.
Storytelling works. We’ll show you how we do it–or take the reins and do it for you.
We’ve spent 76 years covering this city. And now, we’ve built a house of storytelling for brands.
We humbly present SDM Studios, our creative studio. Tell us about your business, brand, or idea, and we’ll translate it into award-winning writing, photography, and video.
Every great brand is just a dream brought to life.
Email [email protected] to get started.
The Everything Under The Sun issue: out now.
On any given day in SD you’ll find people playing volleyball on Mission Beach, hiking Cedar Creek Falls, climbing El Cajon Mountain, playing pickleball in Poway, biking in Bonita, dirt biking in Dulzura, and sailing every swell, skating every park, and surfing every break from Oceanside Harbor to Silverstrand. San Diegans love the sun, and all the fun we get to have under it. So roll out a blanket, crack something cold, and dive into our June issue celebrating getting outside.
This month, we’re exploring the passion and the fashion at three local skate parks, and calling out what your favorite surf spot says about you. Are you a grom, a noserider, a kook? Only way to find out is to get your sandy hands on one of these issues. We’re also exploring the Del’s $550 million refresh, and nodding to some of the best spots to hike, climb, and trail run. Not to mention the latest restaurant review from our national award-winning food critic. You might say this issue is a bright shining star.
And so is our city. We’ve grown up here and gathered here because there’s simply no place like it. Our weather, our beaches, our year-round flip-flops. This place is heaven. So meet us outside where we’re loving everything under the sun.
If you’re a subscriber (hi, we love you), go check your mailbox. If you’re not, go change that with the link in our bio, and we’ll deliver July (our Best of San Diego issue!) to you next month.
On the cover: a quiet moment at Swami’s, shot by legendary local photographer @toddglaser. His latest work with Rob Machado is cool as hell. Go check it out.
Before he was the cover star of our Best Restaurants issue and the leader of the Fast Food Secrets Club, Jordan Howlett was a D1 athlete. And before that, he was an awkward high school baseball wannabe. @jordan_the_stallion8 joined us on our Happy Half Hour podcast and recounted his road to internet superstardom, from his Oceanside childhood to his skyrocketing career fueled by mirror selfies and quiet charisma. Link in bio to tune in.
The people who brought Billy Joel to Petco Park want to plan your wedding. Kinda.
Petco Park Events (the company that makes things happen at their namesake venue and the Rady Shell) is adding a third San Diego space to its roster this June: Eve, a 12,000-square-foot castle in the sky overlooking the San Diego Bay, the Coronado Bridge, Point Loma, and the ocean.
While the average Joe with no major life milestones planned in the near future may be able to stop by Eve at a public music or movie night, the space’s main MO will be private events. In other words—if you want to tie the knot in front of 1,000-or-so of your closest friends, with the rest of San Diego beyond, she’s your huckleberry. Catering, florals, even linens are all part of the package… though the Piano Man, sadly, is not.
Link in bio for more on Eve, as written by @thedelightedbite.
Hear ye, hear ye. Our annual Best of North County party is only a month away. You’re invited, but you better get your tickets quick. The details: Friday, June 7 from 6 to 9 pm. The Carlsbad Flower Fields and the sunset as a backdrop. All you can eat and drink from 40+ of the best restaurants, brands, and booze north of the merge, from ice cream to oysters to ramen. Link in bio to see the lineup and get your tickets.
Big thank you to our sponsors!
@pncbank
@hoehnmotors
@solento_tequila
