San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour

Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour! This week, we chat with Starr Edwards, founder of Bitchin' Sauce, a popular almond dip that is vegan-friendly. You may have it seen at local farmers' markets (and mistaken it for hummus) or at the grocery store. The company started in Carlsbad and is still headquartered there, but has increased distribution to nearly 7,000 stores nationwide, including Costco, T...

We're excited to have Maya Madsen, the founder of Maya's Cookies, on the show this week. Maya's Cookies is a line of soft-baked cookies that are completely vegan but also popular with non-vegans. Maya founded the company in 2015 when she couldn't find any vegan cookies that she liked, so she started baking her own. Today, her company is the No. 1 Black-owned gourmet vegan cookie company in the cou...

Happy New Year! We took a break from taping during the holidays, and now we're back and looking forward to 2021. We kicked off our first episode of the year with chef William Bradley of Addison, San Diego's first restaurant to receive a Michelin star, which it was awarded in 2019. William is a San Diego native, and he's been leading the kitchen at Addison since 2006. He's been nominated four times...

Happy Holidays to all our listeners, and welcome to the last episode of 2020! We are wrapping up this unprecedented year with our most memorable guests, our favorite foods, and some predictions and hopes for the new year. Note: This was recorded on December 12.08.20. Troy, Marie, and David all reminisce about the first podcast we recorded after the pandemic and how it felt to be back on the air af...

Our special guest this week is Arturo Kassel, CEO of Whisknladle Hospitality, which brought us restaurants like Prep Kitchen, Catania, and Whisknladle in La Jolla. He also owns Gravity Heights Brewery, which opened last summer in Sorrento Valley, and the Park Commons food hall. Arturo and his business partner, chef Ryan Johnston, opened Whisknladle in La Jolla in 2008. After 12 years in the neighb...

Welcome back to another Happy Half Hour episode! Today's special guest is Accursio Lota, chef and owner of Cori Pastificio in North Park. Before opening Cori Pastificio, he was the head chef at Liberty Station's Solare Ristorante for seven years. During his time there, he was presented with the prestigious Tre Gamberi by Gambero Rosso, an Italian award similar to the Michelin star system. Just one...

Welcome back to Happy Half Hour! Today's special guest is Steven Torres, founder and CEO of Pop Pie Co. and Stella Jean's ice cream. Steven and his husband, Gan Suebsarakham, own the two shops in University Heights, which feature modern takes on American dessert staples: pie and ice cream. Leaning on his background in business and accounting, Steven handles the day-to-day operations and oversees a...

Welcome back to Happy Half Hour! We honor Veterans Day this week with our special guest, Timothy Parker, co-founder of Chula Vista Brewery! Timothy is from Chicago, and he moved to San Diego to pursue a career in the Navy, where he met his wife, Dali, and was introduced to Chula Vista. He opened up Chula Vista Brewery on Third Avenue as a way to bring quality craft beers to South Bay. He retired f...

Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour! Just like last week's episode, we are out here once again at our sponsor the Hotel del Coronado's new Sun Deck enjoying the sun, beach views, and this time, refreshing cocktails courtesy of our special guest Amanda McNeil, the hotel's director of beverages. Amanda has been at Hotel Del since 2018, overseeing 10 of their outlets. She is a Level 1 Sommelier, and...

Welcome back to Happy Half Hour! This is our first live recording of the podcast since this spring. We taped this episode, at our sponsor, the Hotel Del Coronado's brand new Sun Deck, a bar and restaurant that overlooks Coronado Beach. It was the first time in seven months we've been outside and together for a podcast (socially distanced, of course!), and the fresh air and ocean view made for a we...

Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour! Our special guest today is Sandy Vuong from Dumpling Inn and Shanghai Saloon. Dumpling Inn was one of the first restaurants in San Diego to offer xiao long bao, Chinese soup dumplings. Sandy's family also owns Minh Ky, a beloved Chinese restaurant in City Heights. Sandy moved to Orange County to study at UC Irvine, and after graduating she moved back to San Die...

Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour! Today's guest is Hanna Tesfamichael, chef and owner of Hanna's Gourmet in Normal Heights. Born in Eritrea, Hanna came to San Diego to study food and nutrition at San Diego State University. She worked for a while at Jenny Craig, and then in 2008 she opened her own catering kitchen before opening Hanna's as a full-service restaurant in 2011. Hanna chatted with u...

Four years and 200 episodes later, and we're here sharing our landmark episode with a very special guest, Brian Malarkey. Over the past ten years, Brian has built a successful restaurant empire throughout the country, starting in San Diego. He was the founding chef and partner of Searsucker and Herringbone restaurants, which sold majority stake to Hakkasan Group in 2014. Since then, he's opened He...

Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour! This week's episode is our first international one, and our special guest is Fernando Perez Castro, the founder of La Lomita Winery and Finca la Carrodilla in Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California's wine country. Fernando founded the winery in 2009, and it's the first certified organic winery in the region. La Lomita's Pagano grenache is on the wine list at the a...

Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour! This week's special guest is Anchi Mei, senior program manager of the International Rescue Committee in San Diego. The IRC is a nonprofit devoted to helping refugees and asylees set down roots and build a new life. Anchi runs its MAKE Projects (Merging Agriculture, Kitchens, and Employment), which include a small working farm, a café, and a culinary program rig...

Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour! We didn't release an episode last week, as we took Labor Day weekend off, but we're back and excited about this week's guest: Eric Bost, who was recently named the new executive chef at Jeune et Jolie. Eric and his family just relocated from LA and he's still getting settled in North County, but he took the time to chat with us about his new venture. Eric has a...

Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour! While San Diego may be the craft beer capital of the US, we also have a less-talked-about but flourishing wine scene. We're learning all about it from Denise Clarke, owner of Altipiano Vineyard in Escondido. Altipiano is also the only Black- and female-owned winery in San Diego, and we ran a profile on Denise in the current issue. Denise shares her journey in b...

Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour! We have two special guests for this week's episode: Brett Roggenkamp, lead organizer for the San Diego Chapter of Frontline Foods; and Rodnia Attiq, owner of El Borrego, a popular barbacoa restaurant in City Heights. El Borrego is one of roughly 40 local restaurants that Frontline Foods has teamed up with to provide meals to health care professionals and other...

Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour! We had so many questions about the state of San Diego's restaurants that we went into overtime with today's guest, Jeff Rossman. Jeff is the owner of Terra American Bistro in La Mesa, a longtime advocate for local farmers, and president of the San Diego Chapter of the California Restaurant Association, one of the largest advocacy and lobbying groups for the ind...

Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour! Today we're sipping beer virtually with Esthela Davila and learning about the educational nonprofit she cofounded, Mujeres Brew Club. Mujeres means "women" in Spanish, and Esthela created the monthly club along with Carmen Favela of Border X Brewing to provide a safe space for women, especially Latinas, to network, learn about craft beer, and break barriers in...

Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour! This week's guest is Kris Buchanan, owner of Goodonya Organics and Goodonya Organic Eatery in Encinitas. Kris has been in the restaurant business for a long time, having founded the organic deli back in 2001 and expanded it to five locations before opening the full-service restaurant in 2015. She tells us how she got into the business, and we learned that she i...

Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour! Today we're admiring the striking food photography of Brittany Wright, and getting a behind-the-scenes look at the art of food styling. Brittany is from San Diego and resides in Golden Hill; her work has been featured everywhere from the pages of Food & Wine to packaging for Fresh Cosmetics, and she published a book of her photography, Feast Your Eyes. How does...

Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour! San Diego has long been a craft beer destination, but the city is also home to a burgeoning small-batch distillery scene. How has the pandemic affected these companies, since tasting rooms have to remain closed? We invited Michael Skubic, founder of Old Harbor Distilling Co., to talk about this. Michael got his start as a homebrewer when he was just 21, and aft...

Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour! When we taped this episode, the state of California had just announced the re-suspension of indoor dining at restaurants. Over the past few weeks, local restaurants have had to weather reopening, closing, and converting their dining spaces outdoors. We checked in with Tommy Nguyen, who owns Cross Street Chicken and Beer, the Korean fried chicken emporium with l...

Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour! At the time of this taping, indoor dining at restaurants in San Diego has been shut down for at least the next three weeks, and bars remain closed. We've been wondering what this means for the industry, and also how this will affect the live music scene and the venues that host them. So we brought in Tim Mays, who owns The Casbah on Kettner Boulevard—a landmark...