San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour

#348 This week on Happy Half Hour, Tommy and Daneyel Walker of The Mental Bar serve more than just coffee—they tell us about the cultural haven they built in Encanto. Their hallmark is comfort food and signature drinks like "Sexual Chocolate," a cold brew mixed with strawberry lemonade, and other drinks with adaptogens. When floods devastated the area, The Mental Bar became a community lifeline, offering resources and support. For the Walkers, this isn’t just a café; it's a passion project aimed at creating the "third space" they never had growing up, where everyone can connect and thrive. To follow The Mental Bar click HERE.

Discover more at San Diego Magazine HERE.

#347 In this week’s episode, we dive into the history of San Diego’s iconic Bali Hai, a restaurant that’s been a cornerstone of San Diego’s tiki culture for 70 years. Our guests are the Baumanns, the family who’s been running the show since the beginning, pouring more Mai Tais than anyone in town—and making sure you don’t have more than two in one sitting. (For real, they’ll cut you off.) To follow Bali Hai click HERE.

Discover more at San Diego Magazine HERE

#346 This week, the HHH crew revisits a favorite episode with Lolita's Mexican Food, an iconic family-owned business celebrating 34 years in the burrito biz. Jorge Farfan shares the story behind the beloved chain, the evolution of their authentic recipes (Cali burrito, anyone?), and the challenges of running a multi-location restaurant. Farfan reveals Lolita's connection to Roberto's, another legendary family name in the local taco shop scene, and talks about his family's hope that Lolita's continues to be a family business for generations to come.

Discover more at San Diego Magazine HERE

#345 This week’s Happy Half Hour dives into the challenges of parenting picky eaters with special guest Kendra Vallone Matthews, founder of Hidden Foods Co. Kendra shares her journey from golf pro to hidden food expert, revealing how her frustration with her child’s picky eating led her to create a line of nutrient-packed foods that taste great and appeal even to the pickiest eaters. She candidly discusses how she transformed a culinary shortcut—jarred pasta sauce—into an innovative, good-tasting solution that integrates vegetables, vitamins, and proteins into everyday foods. We talk about convenience food, how it has shaped eating habits, and why it doesn’t have to be that way. To follow Kendra click HERE. To follow Hidden Foods click HERE.

Discover more at San Diego Magazine HERE

#344 Our guest on this week’s podcast is Bill Toone, the founder of ECOLIFE Conservation and a celebrated conservationist. Our chat is filled with emotional highs and lows, as Toone reflects on the milestones that defined his fascinating career and the seemingly coincidental moments that led him to found ECOLIFE, an organization that prioritizes improving human lives as a path to conserving nature. He shares about his work helping to rescue the California Condor from extinction, with which he’s co-credited, and reveals his more recent work introducing better and safer cooking stoves to communities experiencing high levels of poverty around the world. To follow Bill click HERE. To follow ECOLIFE Conservation click HERE.

To read the article click HERE

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#343 Sam the Cooking Guy is our guest on this week’s Happy Half Hour. The YouTube star, cookbook author, and local restaurateur is sitting pretty at 3.7 million YouTube followers and just opened his latest restaurant, called Basta, in Little Italy (He’s also got Not Not Tacos, Samburgers, Graze, and Coo Coo’s Nest). In classic Sam style, the food follows only a few rules, resulting in brain-bending, mouth-watering combos like deep-fried pate à choux gnocchi with cacio e pepe aioli. It’s one of the best things we’ve ever popped in our mouths. We talk about the challenge of running restaurants, what it’s like becoming famous for learning to cook on YouTube, and recall a terrifying bomb threat that left Troy and Sam happily trauma-bonded forever. To follow Sam click HERE. 

To read the article click HERE

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#342 We’ve never met anyone who felt merely “so-so” about local craft scoop shop Stella Jean’s and its mostly salty other half, Pop Pie Co., so Troy and I decided to have its founders and owners, Steven Torres and chef Gan Suebsarakham onto the podcast to find out what makes their treats so special (spoiler alert: in part, it's the dairy). Pop Pie Co. was founded by Steven Torres and Gan Suebsarakham in 2016 when the two decided to reinvent comfort food in their way, which started with sweet and savory pies. They opened Stella Jean’s in 2018, and, since then, they have expanded to 11 locations in San Diego and beyond, opening scoop and pie shops and forming what’s now called the Sweet & Savory Collective. To follow Sweet & Savory Collective click HERE. To follow Pop Pie Co.™ click HERE. To follow Stella Jean’s Ice Cream click HERE.

To read the article click HERE

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#341 We can’t get enough good produce here at San Diego Magazine. That’s why we brought on to Happy Half Hour Jimbo, himself, of Jimbo’s Naturally, the natural foods grocer that is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Jim “Jimbo” Someck is not only a real, actual person (many fans of the chain have wondered over the years), but a native New Yorker who ended up in OB in the late 1960s after a short stint at Cornell, working at the original Ocean Beach People’s Food Co-Op breaking down boxes when it was still an old Craftsman cottage. After leaving People’s, he bought and started what has now become the Jimbo’s chain in North Park. Today, there are three other stores in Escondido, Carlsbad, and 4s Ranch. To follow Jimbo's Naturally click HERE.

To read the article click HERE

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#340 This week’s Happy Half Hour features mother-and-son duo Lia and Spencer Hunter of Lia’s Lumpia. Their come-up story is a fascinating blend of family tradition, cultural preservation, and innovative culinary fusion that began long before the Hunters’ foray into food competition TV. Spencer learned how to roll the thumb-thin Filipino fried and stuffed rolls from his mom, who learned from her mother, Spencer’s grandmother, who opened the first Filipino restaurant in National City, called San-Loy’s Lumpia and Food To Go. After stints cooking for the Malarkey universe and in the Panamanian jungle, he and his mom decided to strike out on their own with their unique soul food lumpia and other fusion dishes. To follow Lia's Lumpia click HERE.

To read the article click HERE

Discover more at San Diego Magazine HERE

This week’s Happy Half Hour features mother-and-son duo Lia and Spencer Hunter of Lia’s Lumpia. Their come-up story is a fascinating blend of family tradition, cultural preservation, and innovative culinary fusion that began long before the Hunters’ foray into food competition TV. Spencer learned how to roll the thumb-thin Filipino fried and stuffed rolls from his mom, who learned from her mother, Spencer’s grandmother, who opened the first Filipino restaurant in National City, called San-Loy’s Lumpia and Food To Go. After stints cooking for the Malarkey universe and in the Panamanian jungle, he and his mom decided to strike out on their own with their unique soul food lumpia and other fusion dishes.