San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour

San Diego Magazine
  • 4.8 (170)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Weekly

The weekly guide to San Diego's food + drink scene, hosted by award-winning food writer and Food Network host Troy Johnson and San Diego Magazine's culture brain, Jackie Bryant. Field notes and perspectives on restaurants, bars, and chefs—including dishes and drinks you gotta try, restaurant openings and closings, events worth your time, and laugh-cry interviews with chefs, restaurant owners, farmers, brewers, and makers who make San Diego's food + drink scene hum.

  1. 5d ago

    Inside Glass Box's Award-Winning Omakase

    Glass Box isn't your typical sushi restaurant. Tucked inside the Sky Deck in Del Mar, chef and owner Ethan Yang serves omakase from inside a literal glass box—a transparent kitchen built around the idea that what you see is what you get.  It's a fitting philosophy for a third-generation restaurateur whose food is rooted as much in family as technique. On this week's Happy Half Hour, Yang joins host Troy Johnson to talk about growing up in his family's Rancho Bernardo restaurants, learning to make dumplings and sushi rice alongside his dad and grandmother, and why one bowl of Taiwanese beef noodle soup still anchors everything he cooks. The conversation is equal parts family history and sushi master class. Troy breaks down why the best sushi isn't necessarily the freshest, the surprising journey of bluefin tuna from cat food to luxury ingredient, and why aging fish can actually improve its flavor. Yang shares the techniques behind his omakase, the dishes that have earned Glass Box back-to-back competition wins, and the philosophy that has made the Del Mar restaurant one of San Diego's most underrated sushi destinations. Naturally, the conversation turns into a friendly debate over the sushi rolls that introduced so many Americans to raw fish. Troy and Ethan draft their gateway favorites—from crunchy rolls and California rolls to spicy tuna and eel avocado—proving that even the chef behind one of the city's best omakase counters still has plenty of love for the classics. This summary was provided to you by AI. To hear from the humans, listen to Happy Half Hour wherever you get your podcasts.

  2. Jul 30

    A Steakhouse Worth the Mission Valley Detour

    The Remy occupies a building that's been serving San Diegan's steaks for more than 50 years. Longtime locals remember it as Hungry Hunter. Today, it's been reimagined as a modern American steakhouse—one that still nods to its past while carving out a new identity of its own. This week on Happy Half Hour, Troy Johnson, Jackie Bryant, and Bebemos co-founder Preston Caffrey head to a western-grit-meets-contemporary steakhouse for Golden Hour with chef José Ruigomez and Beverage Director Ken Fordan. Over Bebemos cocktails, they talk about the challenge of following a local institution, building a steakhouse for a new generation, and the dishes earning a spot on the menu—from Australian Wagyu and octopus with mint labneh to a burger and fries that's nearly gone by the time the cameras start rolling. Of course, no episode would be complete without a fantasy draft. This time, the crew picks the San Diego restaurants and bars they'd bring back from the dead, sparking a healthy debate over the city's most-missed dining institutions. This summary was provided to you by AI. To hear from the humans, listen to Happy Half Hour wherever you get your podcasts.

  3. Jul 22

    MADE: The Story of 4-Skin

    There's a new very serious skincare brand for men coming out of San Diego called... 4-Skin? Host Troy Johnson interviews founder Arturo Kassel—one of the city's top restaurateurs (Whisknladle, Catania, Gravity Heights) who watched a friend get fool-level sunburnt, made a joke about what it would take to get men to pay attention to basic skincare—and that's how he ended up launching a high-quality sunscreen and moisturizer with product names like "Morning Rub." Funny? Incredibly serious? Yes. Both.

  4. Jul 16

    How One San Diego Bartender Became One of America's Best

    Behind every great cocktail is at least one terrible idea. Sometimes it's a French onion soup martini. Sometimes it's setting a drink on fire inside the Casbah. And every once in a while, it's the kind of experiment that lands you on a list of America's best bartenders. This week on Happy Half Hour, Troy Johnson sits down with Dominique Muñoz of Polite Provisions, who was recently named one of the country's top up-and-coming bartenders by Punch. She talks about going from mixing sugary daiquiris at a neighborhood pizza joint to helping lead one of San Diego's most celebrated cocktail bars, where making a drink means understanding history, hospitality, and a little bit of chemistry. Along the way, she shares the stories behind some of her favorite creations, the spectacular failures that taught her the most, and why she's working to make cocktail competitions more welcoming through the mentorship collective she founded, Sirens & Spirits. Plus, Troy breaks down what's happening in the world of spirits—from America's surprising shift away from alcohol to the rise of canned cocktails and soju—before catching up on the latest San Diego food news, including Tribute Pizza's 10th anniversary fundraiser, MAKE Café's new permanent home, and the return of Rei Do Gado. This summary was provided to you by AI. To hear the full conversation between humans, listen to Happy Half Hour wherever you get your podcasts.

  5. Jul 9

    How Ciccia Osteria Became a Barrio Logan Staple

    Sometimes the best restaurant is the one everyone tells you not to open. This week on Happy Half Hour, Troy Johnson and Jackie Bryant sit down with chef Mario Cassineri, who left Michelin-starred kitchens behind to make handmade pasta in Barrio Logan. Raised in Milan, he trained under Italy's first three-Michelin-star chef before trading fine dining for a burned-out building everyone else overlooked and building Ciccia Osteria from the ground up. Mario talks about why he chose Barrio Logan, why hospitality matters more than accolades, and the brutal math of running an independent restaurant right now. He also tells the story behind Ciccia's mushroom flan—a dish that sounds like it should be a terrible idea and is instead one of Troy's favorite bites in San Diego. Because Italian cooking is a little cruel that way. The fewer ingredients you use, the fewer places there are to hide. This summary was provided to you by AI. To hear the full conversation (and plenty of Mario's signature unfiltered wisdom), listen to Happy Half Hour wherever you get your podcasts.

  6. Jul 6

    From Michelin Kitchens to San Diego's Best Mochi

    Fresh fruit, pillowy mochi, and a philosophy rooted in slowing down. This week on Happy Half Hour, Troy Johnson and Jackie Bryant sit down with Gemma Matsuyama Yamada, the pastry chef behind Kimochi, whose seasonal fruit mochi has quietly become one of San Diego's most sought-after pop-ups. After honing her craft at some of the country's most celebrated restaurants—including Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Michelin-starred n/naka—Gemma traded fine dining for a more personal mission: creating handcrafted mochi that celebrates California's best fruit and the joy of being present. Raised by a Japanese father and an Italian mother, Gemma shares how food became the common language in her household, why mochi is far more than the chewy wrapper most Americans know from ice cream, and how she sources pristine fruit from local farms to make each piece. Along the way, Troy and Jackie sample strawberries, peaches, figs, mangoes, and Asian pears wrapped in impossibly soft mochi while diving into Japanese food traditions, the craft behind great pastry, and the beauty of letting exceptional ingredients speak for themselves. The episode also covers San Diego restaurant news, including several notable closures, the city's ever-changing dining landscape, and why hospitality should be a lesson everyone learns. It's a conversation about food, family, craftsmanship, and finding meaning in the simple act of sharing something delicious. This summary was provided to you by AI. To hear from the humans, listen to Happy Half Hour wherever you get your podcasts.

  7. Jun 25

    North County Finally Has Its Hidden Cocktail Den — and We're Not Supposed to Tell You About It

    Encinitas just got its first-ever speakeasy — or rather, its first hidden cocktail den — and the Happy Half Hour crew couldn't even find the front door. In this week's episode, hosts Troy Johnson and Jackie Bryant broadcast live from inside Anigma, the stunning new bar tucked behind the legendary Roxy on First Street, joined by Bebemos tequila CEO Preston Caffrey to sip on some of San Diego's best agave and name their favorite hidden gems across the city. Built by the same team behind the Roxy — hospitality vet Paula Vrakas and former 91X radio guy Mark Dobbins — Anigma's five-plus years in the making and every inch shows it: velvet curtains hand-sewn by Paula's mom, an 1860s bullet-riddled tin ceiling rescued from a Cheyenne, Wyoming saloon, and a light fixture salvaged from the beloved, now-closed Captain Keno's that greets guests as they walk in. Reservations drop on OpenTable at noon on Wednesdays, two weeks out, for the 50-person space open Wednesday through Saturday — and yes, you'll need to decode a riddle just to find the entrance. The crew also rounds up their favorite under-the-radar spots across San Diego, from Alchemy Choose Thy Poison's menu in Barrio Logan to the 92-year-old diner at Tobey's 19th Hole overlooking Balboa Golf Course, proving once again that this city's best discoveries are the ones you have to earn. This recap was written with the help of AI. For the full story — with all the laughs, detours, and cheese math — listen to Happy Half Hour, San Diego Magazine's podcast.

  8. Jun 16

    All the Winners of the San Diego County Fair-tastic Food Competition

    We tried 18 dishes across savory and sweet categories, these are our favorite dishes Every year, the San Diego County Fair becomes the city's biggest pop-up restaurant with 150+ vendors, a million visitors, and one very serious food fight. In this episode of Happy Half Hour, Troy Johnson and Jackie Bryant go behind the scenes of the Fair-tastic Food Competition, now in its fourth year. Troy and Jackie try all 18 dishes across savory and sweet categories before sitting down with the winners. First up: Nathan Marcus of West Coast Weenies, whose Korean Churro Dog—a mozzarella stick cloaked in churro batter and rolled in corn flakes—took home Best in Show for the third year running. Then, People's Choice winner Nema Causey of Candy Me Up, whose Pistachio Dubai Chocolate Ice Cream Bar stopped the judges (and Jackie) in their tracks. It's a love letter to fair food, San Diego food culture, and the multigenerational families who travel fair to fair to feed us. Don't miss this one. This summary was provided to you by AI. To hear from the humans, listen to Happy Half Hour wherever you get your podcasts.

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4.8
out of 5
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About

The weekly guide to San Diego's food + drink scene, hosted by award-winning food writer and Food Network host Troy Johnson and San Diego Magazine's culture brain, Jackie Bryant. Field notes and perspectives on restaurants, bars, and chefs—including dishes and drinks you gotta try, restaurant openings and closings, events worth your time, and laugh-cry interviews with chefs, restaurant owners, farmers, brewers, and makers who make San Diego's food + drink scene hum.

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