San Diego Magazine

09/07/2025

A year after debuting in North Park, zero-waste refillery Origins Grocer is putting down roots on 30th Ave.—and it soft-opens Sept. 12, just in time for Taste of South Park.

Origins owner Maria Herrera believes progress beats perfection when it comes to waste. Since opening last year, her vision has been to help people take even small steps to reduce their impact—whether that’s buying locally roasted coffee, eggs from Ramona, or any of the nearly 1,000 bulk goods (herbs, nuts, seeds, grains) at Origins.

The new South Park location is much larger than the North Park suite, with room for more retail, fresh and refrigerated goods, bistro tables, and a space for workshops, group dinners, and classes. Community and collaboration have always been keystones of Origins—and Herrera is betting South Park will embrace them just as much as North Park did.

Read the full story at the link in bio.

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09/01/2025

For our September review, SDM food critic and content chief visits in Carlsbad, the new home of chefs Elliott and Kelly Townsend.⁠ (, )
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After years of raved-about pop-ups like Long Story Short, cheffing as house guests in borrowed kitchens and even out of Kelly’s trunk, the Townsends have teamed with another couple—Little Victory creators Jeremy Simpson () and Kirsten Potenza ()—for their first permanent spot.⁠
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Inside their petite cooking sauna, the Townsends cook with what’s right here: melons from Escondido’s , sirloin from Ramona, bluefin from . Food picked at peak season down the road and served as immediately as possible, writes Troy, puts a total ass whipping on food picked unripe and shipped across the country.⁠
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Simpson—bar manager at LA’s Bestia turned beverage director at Michelin-starred and —is a level-three sommelier who’s fallen hard for natural wine. It’s the language of Little Victory: natty wines that aren’t groomed or modified, but express the soil, hillside, and wild yeast where they’re grown. What traditionalists call blemishes, natty fans call charms.⁠
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On the table: killer roasted romanesco with pistachio crema and pesto, sirloin tartare in house-made Caesar, bluefin crudo with watermelon consommé and Thai salsa, rigatoni with squash, saffron, miso, and roasted tomatoes. Like San Diego summer on a plate.⁠
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Read Troy’s full piece here or in the September issue—out now.

https://sandiegomagazine.com/food-drink/review-little-victory-wine-bar-in-carlsbad/
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Photography by

08/29/2025

San Diego’s Sweet & Savory Collective (parent company to Stella Jean’s and Pop Pie Co.) has built a small empire in SD and OC. This October, they're debuting their first coffee and pastry shop, Little While, in Normal Heights.
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Expect pastry ingredients like guava jam, chile crisp, banana ketchup, and Chinese sausage; a full espresso bar, plus matcha and traditional Thai tea; and a cozy, warm vibe.
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https://sandiegomagazine.com/food-drink/little-while-new-coffee-shop-normal-heights/

08/29/2025

When the filmmaker Cameron Crowe needed a stadium to look like it was from the 1970s for his 2000 movie Almost Famous, he turned to his hometown. He filmed the scene when protagonist William meets the rock band Stillwater for the first time at Sports Arena Stadium (now called Pechanga Arena). ⁠Twenty-five years after the release of Almost Famous, the 1966 stadium still looks much the same—but maybe not for long.

Now the site is slated for a massive multi-billion dollar revamp dubbed “Midway Rising.”

The plan is to replace the original Pechanga Arena (which currently seats about 10,000) with a new 16,000-seat stadium, along with 2,000 affordable apartments, 2,250 market-rate apartments, 130,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, and 14.5 acres of parks and public space.⁠
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If all goes according to plan, this will be the largest affordable housing project in the history of California.⁠
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Is there excitement? Yes. Concerns? Yes. ⁠
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Find out all the details here:

https://sandiegomagazine.com/features/midway-rising-redevelopment-project-san-diego/

08/19/2025

“I’m on all fours in a dark room, throat tight, body heaving, panting like an animal,” writes San Diego Magazine Art Director Samantha Lacy. “My hair sticks to my sweat-soaked face, covering my eyes. All around me, like a scene from some ancient pagan ritual, women howl, curse, bawl, their bodies shaking in feral agitation. This is RAGEher, and we’re only halfway through the evening.”
her is the brainchild of , whose background in transformational leadership and somatic experiential coaching led her to navigate her own relationship with anger. She found few resources, so she started hosting women-focused pop-up experiences as a way to help people express what can be an intimidating emotion in a healthy, collective way and channel it into joy, community, and relief. The event is modeled after a wild “girls’ night out”—the word “rager” is the loose basis for RAGEher.

went inside RAGEher’s latest Encinitas event to consider the ways that acknowledging and releasing anger can help transform our physical and mental health.

Read about her experience at the link in our bio.

Photography by Amy Boyle

08/18/2025

Incoming: a Western-style saloon is set to open in Old Town mid-September. Doc Holliday's—from restaurateur Pietro Busalacchi (El Sueño, Trattoria Don Pietro)—will feature fresh takes on American fare, like lobster mac n’ cheese, smashburgers, and plenty of cocktails.

New San Diego bar, Doc Holliday’s from restauranteur Pietro Busalacchi, brings a Wild West–inspired saloon to Old Town this September.

08/17/2025

Xin Bao, the San Diego Zoo’s four-year-old female panda bear, is tearing at bamboo, the splintered detritus collecting on her fuzzy belly. In the enclosure next door, Yun Chuan, the five-year-old male, lies in repose, chomping bamboo leaves. These pandas consume 30 kilos of the stuff each per day. That’s roughly 70 pounds. 140 together. 980 a week. Close to 50,000 pounds a year.

But you can’t Amazon 25 tons of bamboo or buy it from Target. It must be carefully cultivated.

That’s where horticulturists Raj Brown and Andres Guerrero come in. It’s their job to grow massive amounts of the plant to nourish America’s first panda transplants in more than two decades.

The zoo invited San Diego Magazine for a special behind-the-scenes peek at what it takes to feed Xin Bao and Yun Chuan. Visit the link in our bio to learn more.

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