What about your restaurant, Chick & Hawk, in Encinitas? How did you and Chef Andrew Bachelier bring that concept to life?
During Covid, I was going to his restaurant (Atelier Manna in Leucadia) and getting takeout almost every day, so we got to know each other. Then we started talking about our love for food and what we would like to see in San Diego, and he and I both landed on hot chicken – like spicy chicken sandwiches – because it was still this kind of underground thing at the time. Now that there’s a groundswell of more interest, a few places have come and gone, but I feel like we have the magic recipes.
Our spot in Encinitas has a lot of folklore to it. It’s an awesome spot. Our speciality is The Birdman sandwich – I order it with 720 sauce – but I feel like the dark horse menu item is The Seabird. It’s amazing… in fact, I just had one last night.
You’re friends with a lot of incredible chefs doing great things in San Diego right now. That includes Chef Brian Malarkey at Animae downtown, and Chef Claudette Zepeda, whom you partnered with on the restaurant Novecientos Grados at the San Diego International Airport. How did you first cross paths with them?
When Chef Brian Malarkey said he was going to do a restaurant in Encinitas, I asked him about getting involved as an investor, just because I knew I’d be eating there a lot. When I went there, I realised… this is the best fine-dining restaurant in San Diego. Tara, the chef, is super cool. She has a really different perspective, a different style of cooking. She takes a lot from her Filipino roots; I really like her unique flavours.
Chef Claudette Zepeda is a total renegade, super talented. She brings her Hispanic culture into her art, into her food. We met each other at an event near downtown that was sort of a one-off pop-up chef thing, and she was a dessert chef in it. We clicked instantly because we both grew up in the same era of San Diego and have similar tastes in music and our approach to life. I followed her career when she created her restaurant, Vaga, at Alila Marea Beach Resort. Then we got to do the restaurant at the airport together, and we just kind of threw our name in the hat. It was never some grand plan; it was more like, “Hey, that’d be fun. Let’s say we’re available to do that.”
You’re a big traveller, so San Diego International Airport is a home to you, too, in a way. Whenever you get back to San Diego, what’s the one thing that makes you feel like you’re home again?
Authentic Mexican food – and it’s tricky to pick just one. There’s a place called Mexico Viejo, which I think is one of the most solid taco stands. Other than that, Pavlos Tacos in Encinitas, which used to be a place called Rico’s. And I mean, as a San Diegan, I grew up on Roberto’s Mexican Food, so I’m always kind of going there for the rolled tacos with guacamole and cheese.