San Diego Food and Drink: Year in Review | Food + Drink

hey you dear God. Thank you guys.

I’ve downloaded 276,977 podcast episodes this year. As a media company in San Diego, we’re just trying to create something worth learning and thinking about something different. This is a huge number. Joe Rogan would surely sneeze at that number, but for us it’s pretty great.

When we launched Happy Half Hour in 2016, we had no, or very little, idea of ​​what we were doing. Noisy with the mic. Loghorearing your way into the digital void. All we knew was that to stay relevant in the media, we had to embrace new forms of storytelling. David Martin was (and still is) in a band (you should listen to his band here). He knew how to record things.

Our friend Arsalun Tafazoli (who now owns CH Projects, the restaurant Jesus in San Diego, was a medium-sized bunch of creative madmen at the time) will be the first guest. They agreed. Former Editor-in-Chief Erin Chambers-Smith and I sat down with him to talk. It sounded like they were talking…and very loud in your ears, like people talking near them…and as we were…in the water…shouting in your ear But….

Afterwards, exhausted but excited that we had taken this leap of faith, David announced, “Yeah, we can’t put that on the air.” That recording resides on a hard drive somewhere and is partially or completely inaudible, but earnest and hopeful.

So I tried again, this time staying closer to the mic. We kept it within an hour. Developed several “segment ideas”. And we invited guest after guest from San Diego’s food scene. It has also won several national awards. When we were nominated, we laughed because we were battling Harvard, Red Bull, Inc. Magazine, and several other big media entities. And whoops they said we won. I still don’t know if that was true. They sent us awards, emails, etc. Kind of blacked out.

Not now. Claire and I are her SDM owners. I honestly had to take almost a year off to rebuild this lovely, iconic media company. And now we’ve rebuilt, got a team, and are back in the groove.We have big plans for ‘Happy Half Hour’ in 2023, including rebranding (we tried to change the name to , because it sounds too perky and I like to pretend to be more moribund and grumpy, but David said OK because that’s a terrible branding idea).

Anyway, for our final podcast of the year, we look back on the year. Hits make his list of “10 best things I ate this year,” including corn pinion soup from Wolf in the Woods, dirty hash browns from Born & Raised, and ube pancakes from The Holding Company. David presents his “Top 5 Soups,” including Wormwood Soup, Shank & Bone Soup, and a few other delicacies. If you’ve listened to this podcast, you know that soup is David’s love language, and since he was a former culinary instructor at his institute in New England, his culinary school, he has his own mirepoix. I know very well. Finally, we’ll cover some of the biggest news stories of the year (go, Convoy) and the trends that have made San Diego’s dining scene stand out (Dokodemo Biria).

Next, we speak to the creators of Javi’s Ranch Water, 100% Pure Agave Tequila, Soda Water, and Natural Flavors, which have become one of the official drinks of San Diego Magazine’s office. And who knows, owner/creator Josh Irving turned out to be a really likeable, soulful dude. He named the drink after his dog (Javi, the can’s mascot). Josh was a great golfer in high school who dreamed of becoming a pro. Lucky for us, he didn’t make it. He became a caddy. He befriends a man who runs a liquor store and offers him a job. He fell in love with tequila and the Mexican people and culture and started his own tequila company using his authentic his 100% agave his tequila. And he gifted us with a can of Javi sweets. This is currently ramping up or downsizing the production of the SDM team.

Once again, thank you all for your support. It’s still going on. Enjoy your holidays.