Veranda Debuts at Hotel Del After $550M Glow-Up
San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour
Release Date: 07/10/2025
Viral TikTok Star Katie Brooks on Hand-Making Gnocchi on a Plane
San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour
#407 You’ve probably seen the video: A woman casually hand-rolling gnocchi on a cross-country flight, dusting flour across her tray table like it’s just another day in the friendly skies. That woman is Katie Brooks, founder of Buona Pasta, and she joins Happy Half Hour co-hosts Troy Johnson and Jackie Bryant on this week’s episode to talk about how a mid-air pasta moment went viral—and how it all started long before that flight. From leaving behind a stable corporate job to honoring her parents through handmade Italian recipes, Katie shares the story of building her business and her...
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How Craft Beer Built San Diego’s Food Scene and What’s Brewing Next
San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour
#406 On this week’s Happy Half Hour, Troy Johnson traces how our beer nerds turned San Diego into a food town—from Karl Strauss in ’89 to the Brewers Guild in ’97, the 2018 peak of 150+ breweries, and today’s saner “new normal.” Guests Estela Davila (Guild president), Kevin Hellman (Capital of Craft co-founder), and Brandon Kroegel (Coronado Brewing) preview San Diego Beer Week and its kickoff party, Capital of Craft. The event takes place Saturday, Nov. 8 at San Diego Harley-Davidson with more than 40 breweries participating and special collab pours. We discuss West Coast...
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Lana Puts a Fresh Spin on Coastal Dining in San Diego
San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour
#405 This week on Happy Half Hour, co-host Troy Johnson heads north to Solana Beach, where LANA has transformed the old California Pizza Kitchen space into a relaxed, wood-fired restaurant with real neighborhood soul. Co-owners Travis LeGrand and Mark Wheadon have built something rare for the coast: a spot that’s stylish but still feels local, where dishes like gold-spotted Baja sea bass with agua chile and a half-roasted Jidori chicken that’s fast becoming a San Diego classic. At the bar, beverage director Brandon Curry keeps things bright and balanced with creative cocktails...
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San Diego Restaurant News, Chefsgiving & Claudette Zepeda Makes Moves
San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour
#404 This week on Happy Half Hour, co-hosts Troy Johnson and Jackie Bryant go solo for a special Halloween episode. They talk restaurant news like Chefsgiving at Provisional Kitchen on November 13 benefiting the San Diego Food Bank; Valle’s four-year anniversary dinner; and celebrity chef Claudette Zepeda’s departure from Leu Leu to focus on filming projects, Chispa Hospitality, and her upcoming book. They also preview Orexi, a new Mediterranean-California spot opening in Little Italy, and Puesto’s move to become the first Mexican restaurant group in the US to go completely seed-oil...
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Crashing The Marine Room’s High Tide Dinners
San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour
#403 This week on Happy Half Hour, co-hosts Troy Johnson and Jackie Bryant head to the Marine Room, La Jolla’s oceanfront dining landmark waves slam against windows and the food matches the drama. Chef Derek Dupree introduces new fall dishes, including roasted king trumpet mushrooms with garlic miso emulsion, butternut squash with goat cheese espuma and toasted hazelnuts, and blackened swordfish with crawfish and forbidden rice. We also sip Bebemos Tequila with founder Preston Caffrey, who joins us to talk about what makes the spirit work across savory courses. GM and wine director Nicholas...
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Longtime restaurateur Sami Ladeki Shares His Unlikely Career Path to Food
San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour
#402 Happy Half Hour co-hosts Troy Johnson and Jackie Bryant sit down with Sami Ladeki, one of the most influential figures in San Diego dining to trace his long and unlikely career. He shares stories of leaving Lebanon in his twenties, washing dishes in Germany, running food and beverage at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and eventually landing in San Diego to open Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza in 1989. Ladeki reflects on the rise of California-style pizza, the lessons of building a restaurant empire, and why he’s bringing back Roppongi, the La Jolla restaurant that once defined Pacific Rim...
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How to Earn a Michelin Star in Only Six Weeks
San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour
#401 After the economic sucker-punch of Covid robbed chef Eric Bost of his LA restaurant Auburn, he entered into a values-first partnership with restaurateur John Resnick. Despite months of permitting and supply snags and personal and operational hits, the two succeeded at last in turning an old Carlsbad boogie-board factory into all-day bakery and cafe Wildland and the smaller, tasting-menu-only Lilo, which nabbed a Michelin star just six weeks after opening. On this week’s episode of Happy Half Hour, the duo joins hosts Troy Johnson and Jackie Bryant to break down Lilo’s...
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Inside City Farmers Nursery’s 52-Year Legacy in City Heights
San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour
#400 On this week’s Happy Half Hour with hosts Troy Johnson and Jackie Bryant, we’re joined by siblings Sam Tall and Rebecca Tall-Brown, the second-generation owners of City Farmers Nursery in City Heights. They talk about their family’s 52-year journey turning discarded plants and reclaimed materials into a thriving nursery, the importance of biodiversity and community support, and how Nate’s Garden Grill—operated on site by a family friend and lessee—has grown into one of the city’s most beloved live-music-and-food hangouts. In “Get Some,” we shout out local...
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Chef Carl Schroeder’s Exit Interview
San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour
#399 This week on Happy Half Hour, Troy and Jackie sit with one of San Diego’s most influential chefs, Carl Schroeder, who rarely interviews. After years at the helm of Market Restaurant + Bar, Schroeder has sold his shares and is stepping back. We talk about the glory days of Market, the early 2000s when “farm to table” actually meant something, his start in storied San Francisco kitchens, and why he’s finally ready to trade the pressure of a fine-dining kitchen for time with family (and maybe a pool float). To follow Market click . Discover more at
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Happy Half Hour Hits Monarch with Bebemos Tequila and a San Diego Burger Draft
San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour
#398 On this week’s Happy Half Hour, Troy and Jackie camp out on Monarch Ocean Pub’s waterfront deck in Del Mar Plaza where owner-operator Drew Vick runs plates of halibut ceviche, pepperoni-and-broccolini flatbread, and that five-day–brined short-rib pastrami while Bebemos Tequila cofounder Preston Caffrey pours crisp paper planes and talks zero-additive agave and San Diego roots. We hit festival season high notes like, cough cough, Del Mar Wine & Food kickking off here next week, and then slide into a lively burger draft that swings from Drugstore Burger at The Lodge to Rocky’s,...
info_outline#390 This week's HHH is posted at Veranda, the breezy new restaurant inside the freshly renovated $550 million Hotel Del Coronado, and features a feast of scallop risotto, charred artichokes, and massive secret-menu tomahawks. Executive Chef Brian Archibald joined Troy and Jackie to talk about rebirthing one of America’s most iconic resorts (and why he left Florida for San Diego). Also at the table is Michael Feuerstein of Nature’s Produce, whose family has sourced local fruits and vegetables for generations. We also chat the news: Barrio Logan's new Café Madeline, Wildwood Flour’s East County comeback, and a food-nerd deep dive into the San Diego Zoo’s fine dining scene. To follow Veranda at the Hotel Del click here.
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