This venture is the trio’s first new restaurant as a group, but Saupstad hopes it won’t be their last, saying they may formalize as a hospitality group. But for now, they’re building Freyja from the ground up with decor inspired by the Nordic goddess, with a green, white, and gold color palette, as well as roughly equally sized indoor and outdoor dining areas covering a total of 3,500 square feet with seating for around 60 to 80 guests total. Mayaudon says there will also be an open kitchen concept with a few bar stools for front-row seats, plus a shotgun-style bar with around 20 seats. 

As the executive chef, Saupstad says they plan to use as many local and seasonal ingredients as possible, sourcing produce from places like Sage Hill Ranch Gardens and Chino Farm and proteins from Perennial Pastures and Da-Le Ranch. Freyja’s menu will draw loose inspiration from the European coast with Nordic influence, which he says will allow them to explore a wide range of flavors. 

“The whole idea is blue collar fine dining,” he explains. “We’re all local guys that grew up here in North County, and we’ve all been in the industry for 20-plus years. We’re ready to step into our own style of what we consider elevated dining.”

Their opening menu will begin with eight to 10 shareable plates, with items like a Spanish-inspired tuna tartare with house-cured olives, fermented cherry, Spanish olive oil, preserved Meyer lemons, and a lemon vinaigrette. The rest of the menu will be styled like a classic steakhouse with à la carte proteins and shared sides, like a Peking duck–inspired duck a l’orange, as well as fresh pasta like an uni carbonara, fresh bucatini and his grandmother’s fusilli alla vodka. 

“Personally, I’m kind of on the mission to make old school cooking sexy again, in the sense of bringing back some of the mother sauces, and bringing back old-school style dishes and giving them a really refreshed look and taste,” says Saupstad. 

Mayaudon says he hopes Freyja will eventually become the late-night destination for Carlsbad, mainly for hospitality workers who don’t have a lot of options for dinner after 10 p.m. “We want to create places that we would like to go to,” he says. “We want to give ourselves the freedom to just make whatever is inspiring us in the moment.”

San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events

Come For The Food, Stay For The Party

AKA, which means “red” in Japanese and is pronounced “ah-kaw,” is slated to open at 611 Fifth Avenue in Gaslamp Quarter at the end of October. Founders Alessandro Minutella and Giancarlo Guttilla and their partner Vincenzo Loverso (San Diego Dining Group) took over the former Lavo Italian space for their new modern Asian fusion concept. Other parties include head chef Takuya Kuto (Nobu, Lumi, Zama), head mixologist Gerardo Bedolla (Zama), and designer Cassandra Builer from Huntress Decor (who also designed Roman Wolves, Rusticucina, and Vincenzo’s).

Minutella says despite the pandemic’s hit on Gaslamp, they’re bullish on downtown’s continued growth. Guttilla agrees, calling AKA “a dream come true… we wanted to create a space that not only offers an innovative Asian fusion experience but also helps breathe new life into the community we love.” The menu will focus on Japanese and Thai fusion dishes with a heavy cocktail element, and the vibe will lean heavily toward the nightlife aspect as well, with DJs almost every night of the week and brunch on Sundays. Initial operating hours will run from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. every day.

Beth’s Bites

• Blacktop Restaurant Group (Board & Brew, Casero Taqueria, Pure Taco) is opening Odie’s Pizza in Oceanside. The restaurant will serve Neapolitan and New York-inspired pies, as well as vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options. 
• ‘Tis the season—Bacon & Eggs season! The imperial coffee porter from Pizza Port Brewing Company is a perennial favorite of mine, despite my usual preference for beers falling well below eight percent ABV. (Hey, even I make exceptions sometimes.)

Have breaking news, exciting scoops, or great stories about new San Diego restaurants or the city’s food scene? Send your pitches to [email protected].

The post Same Same, Smoke & Salt Teams Launching Freyja appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

The Luxe Room is my personal favorite aspect of the 42-treatment-room spa’s recent multimillion-dollar revamp. Other new additions include vintage art (a throwback to the days when Jackie Kennedy spent time wrapped in the resort’s cozy robes), steam rooms scented with sandalwood and florals, and three hideaways tiled in salt crystals, said to ease stress and improve sleep. 

Each of the latter rooms has a pair of those high-tech, thigh-high boots that squeeze your legs like blood pressure cuffs. They’re a helpful recovery tool for athletes, but after trying them and the spa’s “reflexology path”—a trail of embedded stones intended to poke the pads of your feet in therapeutic ways—I decide I’m more into the relaxation side of a spa day: letting the outdoor waterfall shower give me a second, informal massage; devouring carrot hummus at the onsite Spa Café.

The area’s serene energy differs wildly from the vibe at the Omni La Costa’s adults-only Edge Pool, which, on a Saturday, is crowded in a fun way, its shallow depths packed with drink-clutching hotel guests like a Vegas pool party. A DJ spins the afternoon’s bumping soundtrack, drowning out the happy shouts of children whipping down water slides at the nearby family-friendly Splash Landing Pools. 

After a margarita each, my partner and I return to our room to change for dinner. The hotel’s 600 guest rooms and 170,000 square feet of meeting spaces also got recent updates, and the coastal-California-meets-Spain aesthetic sensibilities that have always defined its exteriors now further carry over inside. Our home for the night has high ceilings, soft colors, plush furniture. 

But for me, a hotel is only as good as its amenities, so it’s a good thing the 400-acre property has no shortage, especially following the remodel. In addition to eight pools, the Omni La Costa houses two golf courses, including the freshly reopened, $25 million North Course, where college-aged golfers will compete in division-1 NCAA tournaments at least through 2026. A new putting green and practice range give guests a place to warm up before hitting the links. One could pass an entire week onsite without feeling the need to venture out, between six places to eat, a 9,100-square-foot gym, even shops vending vacation-y apparel.

In the summer, the property hosts open-air concerts, which my partner and I tune into while sipping drinks from the thoughtful craft cocktail menu at Bar Traza. (If you’re into produce-driven California food, dine here instead of Bob’s Steak and Chop House, a classic white-tablecloth, meat-and-potatoes joint that’s tasty but by-the-book.) 

Dubbed “Of All Things,” my cocktail is full of pleasantly bitter and tangy stuff: grapefruit, rhubarb, Aperol. A breeze lifts off the golf course and plays through my hair while a jazz singer croons in the courtyard below Bar Traza’s elevated patio. Tomorrow, I’ll drive the 30 minutes up the road to University Heights, return to grocery runs and meetings. For now, I close my eyes and savor the feeling of being somewhere else—Carlsbad, Spain, maybe another planet entirely.

The post Finding Serenity at the Refreshed Omni La Costa Resort & Spa appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

After being linked to a norovirus outbreak in January, the facility ceased public tours in May and launched an online auction of items in July but did not publicly announce plans for the future. Carlsbad Aquafarm CEO Thomas Grimm says that, despite the move, it’s not the end. “We are not going out of business,” Grimm says. “We’re going to continue our work, but not in that location, and so the public-facing parts of that will no longer be open to the public or anybody else.”

NRG Energy, Inc., which operated the nearby Encina power plant until its decommissioning in 2018, owns the land that Carlsbad Aquafarm currently occupies.

“The city’s general plan [for the location] will guide the nature of the planning and overall development of this important part of Carlsbad,” NRG says. “The Encina power plant has now been removed and the ocean desalination plant is installing a new water intake structure. In addition, the Encina site hosts temporary Fire Station No. 7 for the city of Carlsbad. As far as the future of the former Encina power plant site is concerned, community engagement is key.”

Grimm says that while he does not know what the company has in store for the space, he’s grateful to NRG for allowing the farm to operate for decades and hopes to work with NRG again. 

He adds that he hopes the existing network of shellfish in the Agua Hedionda Lagoon can remain to continue filtering runoff from nearby agriculture. One oyster can filter up to 50 gallons daily, which helps deter algal blooms and other pollution issues. “The amount of water filtered by our oysters and mussels at the lagoon accounts for hundreds of millions of gallons a day,” he says. “If you don’t have the shellfish eating that stuff, that’s going to be a challenge … To try to do that with engineering processes is impossible. It’s just not feasible.”

Grimm says the next iteration of Carlsbad Aquafarm will focus solely on living shoreline restoration projects to combat issues such as erosion and carbon sequestration using shellfish aquaculture—work the team has been doing for years. It will now be their primary aim. But don’t expect any farm tours or consumer oyster sales again anytime soon.

“Hopefully, we’ll find a way to find operation space where we do engage and have that public face, which we love, but that’s not our current plan,” he says, adding that they are open to developing a farm in a new location should the opportunity arise in the future. Whatever happens, Grimm says everyone should be paying attention to what’s happening in our oceans—not just ecologically, but economically. The vast majority of seafood in the United States is imported, which puts domestic food security at risk depending on international trade relations.

“The future is not overharvesting wild fisheries. It’s [raising] things that are helping the ocean, like oysters, mussels, [and] seaweeds … Those are improving the ecosystem, improving the carbon footprint, absorbing CO2, [and] providing local food for people that’s sustainable,” he says. “That’s been my philosophy, and I am never going to stop doing that and work on other conservation projects.”

The post Carlsbad Aquafarm Closing Longtime Location appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

After the damage, Ember & Rye had to close for repairs while the hotel unveiled a $60 million renovation. Despite what had to feel like epically irritating timing, the restaurant will be back on Saturday, June 22. From the ashes comes a new restaurant, now with executive chef Jonathan Bautista (Kingfisher, The Fishery) and general manager Julien Lardon on board.

“Ember & Rye’s re-opening marks an incredibly unique opportunity to re-introduce one of North County San Diego’s most celebrated culinary establishments to the market,” says chef Richard Blais. “I couldn’t be prouder to do so alongside our talented new executive chef, Jonathan Bautista.” 

Blais says return guests can expect some old favorites from the menu but with a few new Bautista-led touches. The menu will focus on “fresh ingredients and innovative menu concepts” and emphasize local produce. (Don’t worry—the sprawling views are as unspoiled as ever.) 

Signature items include a beef rib chop “Storm Breaker cut” (40 ounces of Brandt beef!); diver scallop crudo with embered Fresno chile, pineapple, radish, tomato, ginger, and anise hyssop; and summer squash with squash blossom cream, corn, cotija cheese, and Espelette pepper. One particularly Instagrammable (and delicious) cocktail is the Smoking Ember cocktail, with mezcal, grapefruit, agave, lemon, and lime all encased in a citrus smoke bubble. 

Reservations are now available starting on June 22. If you can’t wait, there’s always the other signature restaurant Ponto Logo, putts and pints at the onsite Topgolf, or more mentally centered nourishment from the Miraval Life in Balance Spa Aviara. Blais says they’re ready for you, promising, “we couldn’t be more excited to introduce the new iteration of Ember & Rye and welcome in guests and locals for a one-of-a-kind culinary experience.”

San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events

Whiskey Specials For Father’s Day

On Father’s Day, Sunday, June 16, if you haven’t already marked your calendars—The Whiskey House at 420 Third Avenue is offering 10 percent off all private barrel bottles, including some rare finds like Eagle Rare and others from the largest whiskey collection per the Guinness World Records. (That should make both whiskey and deal-loving dads happy.) Whiskey flights will also be available for curious connoisseurs, including one called the “Insane Pappy,” featuring 15-, 20-, and 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle. (Maybe gift Dad a rideshare home as well.) 

Beth’s Bites

• We said goodbye to You & Yours Distilling Company last month, but ‌turns out it was just, “See you later.” The woman-owned distilling company launched a summer event series at The Loma Club in Liberty Station called Clubhouse Suppers, where every dinner will feature a spirit or winemaker. Tickets are available here.
• Hasta Mañana, a coastal Baja-inspired eatery, is now open at 310 Fifth Avenue in Gaslamp Quarter. Sign me up for their “holy trinity” of tacos, tequila, and creating unforgettable moments. (Although I have questions on achieving #3 if #2 gets a little out of hand…)
• We talked about Korean fried chicken, but here comes Chinese fried chicken. Zhengxin Chicken Steak has over 20,000 locations worldwide, but only one in California. The chain’s second location in the Golden State will open on 4609 Convoy Street, sometime this year. They earnestly have something called the “huge sandwich” on their menu—the stuff of dreams!!

Have breaking news, exciting scoops, or great stories about new San Diego restaurants or the city’s food scene? Send your pitches to [email protected].

The post Chef Richard Blais’ Ember & Rye Set to Reopen on June 22 appeared first on San Diego Magazine.