San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour San Diego Magazine

Jordan Howlett just needs a minute. Give him that, and he’s liable to have you hooked. Thanks to his highly recognizable, signature mirror-selfie videos, Howlett (San Diego Magazine’s cover star for our 2024 Best Restaurants issue) has amassed upwards of 30 million followers across his social channels by sharing fast food hacks and wisdom with deadpan delivery and a genuine love of food. Some 70 million people see his videos every month on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. He's a one-minute, one-man daily Netflix special.

But it hasn’t been easy. Growing up financially strapped meant that Howlett’s opportunities were often limited. Stress has been a theme. He’s been belittled and bullied. He slept in his car while chasing a dream. It took a maniacal work ethic and healthy amount of delusion to propel him to the social media stratosphere.

“I didn’t realize how creative my parents were until I realized just how much we were really struggling,” Howlett tells us in this episode of Happy Half Hour.

Born in LA County, Howlett moved to Oceanside in the fourth grade after spending his early life in the desert town of Victorville. Howlett began attending Oceanside High as a sophomore, where he joined the baseball team.

“Originally, I was thinking maybe football,” Howlett says. “I’m on my way to the football field and the baseball coach sees me, and he points me right at the baseball field and says, ‘Why don’t you go over there?’”

That interception changed the course of Howlett’s life.

At 16, with no sports experience, Howlett became hooked on baseball. Before long, he started dreaming of playing Division 1 ball. He wanted to go pro. But his teammates had been playing since preschool. Howlett had some catching up to do and 100 people—teammates, coaches, everyone—telling him he had no chance. But Howlett didn’t care. He just got to work, training every spare minute, working three times harder than everyone else.

It paid off. Howlett found himself on fields he was never supposed to see… at least until Covid killed his baseball career. Then it was back to low-wage fast food jobs—until that work ethic came in handy for growing a social media audience.

In this episode of HHH, Howlett joins us in the studio to recount his childhood in Oceanside, his path from awkward high school baseball wannabe to Division 1 athlete, and his road to internet superstardom. Along the way he recalls how his Fast Food Secrets Club came to be, recoils from pickle pizza, and tells us about one of his absolute favorite local spots to eat.

Want to see his videos? Follow him at @jordan_the_stallion8.

This week’s Happy Half Hour extra special guest is a longtime friend of San Diego Magazine, Feeding San Diego. If you tune into our channels, this fantastic organization probably doesn’t need much of an introduction. And if you’re lucky, you would have caught Troy emceeing their gala last month (in a sequin jacket, of course).

But for the uninitiated, Feeding San Diego is easily one of the most impressive non-profits in town. We’ve covered ‌food insecurity before in the magazine’s pages. Through our other partnerships with the organization on social media and online, and in this episode, we continue to shed light on one of our region’s most dire problems. In partnership with a network of nearly 350 local community organizations, including local charities, schools, faith communities, healthcare providers, and meal sites, Feeding San Diego collects food and financial donations, moves and distributes food to communities who need it, and advocates to end hunger.

Feeding America says nearly 300,000 people in San Diego County, including almost 80,000 children, are hungry. Feeding San Diego is Feeding America’s only local partner food bank, established in 2007, and beyond just banking and distributing food, it rescues 1.2 million pounds of high-quality, edible surplus food monthly from local grocery stores alone. It also manages around 875 pickups of food donations a week from local retailers and provides food assistance to kids, families, seniors, college students, military families, veterans, and the unhoused via about 300 food distribution sites around San Diego County.

“There are many faces of hunger,” says Kate Garrett, Feeding San Diego’s Director of Supply Chain, who represented the organization on this episode. “It can be your neighbor, a coworker, a kid your child goes to school with, seniors on fixed incomes living in rural towns, military families, and veterans. Hunger can affect anyone.”

Garrett, who in a past life was once a zookeeper at a zoo in Greece and is an accomplished horseback rider, has been with the organization for over six years and was a shortlisted nominee of the Food Chain Global Youth Champion Award in 2022. She’s responsible for figuring out the logistics of all the aforementioned, which is no small task considering the numbers involved.

One of the biggest misconceptions about food rescue and re-distribution, Garrett says, is that people assume the food collected is expired or somehow lesser quality. “Our goal is to make food as accessible as possible,” she says. “And not just any food, but edible and nutritious food. Want to make sure that what we're providing is really high-quality and good for people to eat.” She adds that the food they collect is merely surplus, meaning it is still perfectly edible and within sell and use-by dates. A good example she gives is supermarket bread: it’s baked fresh every day, but not every loaf will sell, and they are required to throw it out at the end of the day. It’s still in perfect, fresh condition, of course. But now it’s become surplus. That’s where Feeding San Diego comes in, to give just one example of what they do and the types of logistics Garret manages.

In addition to solving local hunger issues (one can dream), we also talked about local food news. Donut Bar opened its augmented reality donut experience on Columbia Street near the waterfront (and SDM HQ), Anime’s Tara Monsod is a finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef, California award (the first from San Diego to get this far, ever!), and Shorebird Restaurant, which has outposts in Newport Beach, Palm Desert, and Sedona under the WildThyme Restaurant Group umbrella, will open in Seaport Village some time in 2024.

Our Happy Half Hour guest today is the local chapter CEO of probably one of the most beloved and recognizable charities in the world: The Make-A-Wish Foundation, San Diego chapter.

We invited Suzanne Husby, who garnered her title in 2021, to talk all things Make-a-Wish at Matsu in Oceanside. Husby has been with the foundation for 17 years, moving up the ranks from intern to wish coordinator, a few more big titles, and finally ending up as chapter CEO most recently.

Her specialty was overseeing wish-granting operations, volunteer management, and medical outreach, and she was key in granting a whopping more than 3,200 wishes for local children.

Recently, the Foundation decided to partner with executive chef/owner William Eick of Matsu to host their upcoming gala and collaborate on special appearances to benefit Make-A-Wish. When gala chair Dai Logan first approached chef Eick, it was instant kismet. Logan had been a superfan of the chef while chef Eick has always had big heart for the organization. The pair formed a new friendship and partnership shortly after.

In the episode, Husby chats wish fulfillment and details several wish-making missions that have taken place in San Diego during her decades-long tenure at the organization.
As we chat, Logan opens up about her Happy Half Hour fandom as well as her recent trip to Japan, during which she existed solely on chef Eick’s recommendations, and shares a special bottle of sake with us that she brought back to the states. Finally, we get the scoop on the foundation’s Make-a-Wish gala which takes place on October 12 at the Park Hyatt Aviara with chef Eick.

Closing out the show, Troy discovers radishes at Marisi; Jackie finally finds NY-style pizza that she likes; 24 Suns pop-up is teaming up with IRS Cocktails to open Swan & Fox in Oceanside; the Puesto group is opening a CDMX-style restaurant at The Headquarters; and The Del is opening beer spot The Laundry Pub as part of its new sprawling reno.

“Close my eyes, she's somehow closer now / Softly smile, I know she must be kind / When I look in her eyes / She goes with me to a blossom world”

The lyrics to the iconic Beach Boys song “Good Vibrations,” penned in part by Mike Love, are likely about a woman from long ago. But they could just as easily be about the flavors and sensations from his brand new rum, Club Kokomo Spirits.

We had Love in-house along with his children who work for the spirits company to chat all things San Diego, award-winning rum, and good vibes on this week’s Happy Half Hour.

Also joining us was Geoff Longenecker of Seven Caves, the brand's distiller, who was shaking up mojitos for us in real-time. In case you aren't already aware, he’s one of the preeminent spirits distillers in San Diego. “It’s pretty damn good, isn’t it?” Love whispered loudly to me, leaning in as he sipped. Indeed.

Both Love and The Beach Boys have a storied history in San Diego. They shot the Pet Sounds album cover at the San Diego Zoo. They played countless concerts at the Rady’s Shell, Del Mar Fairgrounds, and what was formerly Jack Murphy Stadium; Mike Love used to live in Rancho Santa Fe (where his daughter went to Cathedral Catholic); and, of course, the fact that it’s distilled right here.

Love’s aspirations started years ago when he was enjoying a “perfect” mojito in New York with his wife, Jacquelyne, while humming the chorus of his co-authored hit song, “Kokomo.” His penchant for wordplay took over as he uttered the word “Kokomojito,” and ever since, Mike’s dream has been to share the spirit of Kokomo with the world, he says.

Currently, Club Kokomo Spirits makes award-winning rum and gin-based canned cocktails and a line of bottled rums. The company prides itself on using high-quality ingredients, including natural sugars and flavors, like a unique blend of demerara cane sugar rum and traditional Jamaican pot still rum.

“Aruba, Jamaica, ooh, I wanna take ya / Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama / Key Largo, Montego / Baby, why don't we go? / Jamaica…”

Again, the song is about something else, right? Or…? Love says, “Kokomo is a state of mind.” He smiles and takes a sip, and grins once again.

Everyone’s favorite Mission Hills karaoke joint, the Lamplighter, has brought its talents down the hill to the Gaslamp—and so has this podcast. The team, led by fourth-generation bar owner Frankie Sciuto, launched the Gaslamplighter, a new upscale cocktail and karaoke bar, in January. Sciuto joins us on the Happy Half Hour podcast today as we check out the bar’s digs.

Sciuto hopes the Gaslamplighter will become the go-to spot for San Diego’s nightlife scene, like its successful sister hangs, The Lamplighter and Side Bar. (In other words, it's not just a joint for tourists.) “It’s an honor to follow in my family’s footsteps,” he adds. “After working through the ranks in the nightlife industry from a barback to a bar owner, I am incredibly proud to bring this concept to life.”

Surely you’ve heard that the “mob wife” aesthetic is trending on the internet? The Gaslamplighter is that brought to life, and it’s a blast. Designed by GTC Design Studios, the 1,600-square-foot venue took over Ciro’s Pizzeria and Beerhouse. Sciuto says the bar pairs “classic style with a vintage-industrial 1920s flare,” which he hopes invokes nostalgia for better bar-drinking and song-singing days. It’s intended to look like an art-deco speakeasy, with shades of green and navy and plenty of rose-gold metal.

Of course, the drinks add to the glitz and glamor. Its cocktails have a luxury bent: Picture a white negroni topped with 24-karat gold, a carajillo, and an “Instagrammable” dirty martini with caviar. Guests will also find a mocktail menu and many more options.

Karaoke runs from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. You can sign up the old-school way by putting your name down on a sheet at the DJ booth, but you might want to warm up those vocal cords first—your rendition of “Sweet Caroline” may be followed by a surprise performance from a local underground star. Guests can book private booths or opt for bar seating, and the whole space is available for private rental.

Of course, the Gaslamplighter isn’t the only hot spot downtown. News today focuses on the neighborhood, especially with the Pads’ home opener happening this weekend. Otay Mesa’s Vega Caffe replaced Lolitas next to Petco Park with an expanded menu, and Puesto brought back cans of Clara, its 4.7 percent ABV Mexican lager, to Petco Park. Plus, the owners of Verant Group (which is behind such lauded locales as Barleymash, Mavericks Beach Club, Tavern at the Beach, and Sandbar) are opening a new hotel called Casa Nova in Valle de Guadalupe with other partners.

If you received this month’s San Diego Magazine, you already know about Warung RieRie. Happy Half Hour host and food critic Troy Johnson dubbed it “the star of the city's thrilling backyard restaurant scene.”

Wait. There’s a thrilling backyard restaurant scene in San Diego?

Indeed, there is, and the individual restaurants are formally dubbed MEHKOs—Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations.

We had Chef Rie Sims and her right hand—husband, sous chef, host, and marketing manager Dave Sims—in to talk about their Sumatran hut that they transported via Bali to their Serra Mesa backyard. In that hut is Warung RieRie, a fine dining restaurant operated out of their home kitchen.

“For chefs like Rie, MEHKOs are a way in, or just a different way,” writes Johnson in this month’s review. “Few people can afford to open a restaurant, which can run (at the very lowest end) tens of thousands to millions of dollars and lock dreamers into long-term leases. In 2013, California implemented the Homemade Food Act, allowing anyone to make and sell low-risk foods (granola, jam, the like) out of their homes. Hot meals were a no-go, deemed too dangerous.”

“But on Jan. 1, 2019, AB 626 allowed cooks in California to run restaurants out of their homes, serving all but the most notorious get-sick foods (like oysters and tartare). The new restaurants were called MEHKOs.”

With a year-long waitlist, Warung RieRie is undoubtedly the city’s most famous backyard joint. We hear about the couple’s movie-worthy love story, their journey from Bali to the US, Rie’s former career as one of the most prominent film directors in Indonesia, and that time she cooked traditional Indonesian food for the Indonesian Prime Minister.

As for news, we discuss LA-based Brewjeria Company opening in Chula Vista; Padres will re-debut their “Clara” beer at Petco Park; and Vega Caffe will open just next to the park, as well.