Though it has been a fixture in La Jolla for 40 years, George’s at the Cove restaurant has changed a lot in its time on Prospect Street.
To celebrate the milestone anniversary, the three-tiered ocean-view establishment will host a series in which several of its former employees who have become successful chefs will present special tasting events from February to October.
“We have never celebrated any of our anniversaries previously because George [Hauer, the founder of George’s] and I don’t want people to think of us as an old restaurant,” said George’s chef/owner Trey Foshee. “But you can’t hide what’s obvious. Something about the 40-year mark made me want to tell the story in a new way.”
George’s has changed concepts and approaches over the years, and the management team “continues to reinvent ourselves” to keep up with the times, Foshee said.
In the beginning
George’s at the Cove opened Aug. 9, 1984, at 1250 Prospect St. to be a California-style restaurant inspired by other popular establishments of the time.
“George always wanted it to be like Wolfgang Puck [restaurants] and be a California restaurant,” Foshee said. “That has always been its identity. So whatever a California restaurant was in those days, we did. For example, we had a heavy, heavy California wine list.”
At its opening, “it was originally just in the lower level and the bar level,” Foshee said. “The rooftop terrace [Ocean Terrace] didn’t open until June 1991.”
Foshee ed the restaurant in 1999, and changes soon followed.
“The restaurant was pretty consistent until we renovated the downstairs portion to become California Modern [in 2007],” he said. “But when we did that, we went through a different menu structure. We broke it up into different sections like a pasta section or a salad section or a raw section so you could build the menu as you wanted. You could have three [appetizers] or an app and a main.”
In 2009, Foshee started to notice a need for vegetarian options. “Our main menu was structured around the seasonality of [ingredients] and what was coming from local farms,” he said. “It seemed silly to not take vegetarian options more seriously. I looked at what we could make from what we already have. We printed that on the back of the menu, which felt novel at the time.”
In 2011, Foshee started TBL3 (Table Three), a 14-course tasting menu available for only one table per night on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, designed to showcase local ingredients and the creative abilities of the kitchen staff.
Foshee took over as operating partner in 2016, with Mike Grave as general manager and Masa Kojima as executive chef.
Changing needs
As the years went on, Foshee noticed that George’s started to become a “special-occasion restaurant,” and management leaned into that. The team started creating tasting menus and special events for birthdays, anniversaries, graduations and more.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in early 2020, and restrictions on indoor dining and gatherings slowed the restaurant’s progress. As restrictions lifted, plans to change the lower-level California Modern started to take shape.
“We didn’t know how California Modern would survive because there was such a focus on eating outdoors,” Foshee said. “I didn’t want to open it if we couldn’t be what we were, and we lost cooks during COVID. So we closed it. But then we started getting party requests for special occasions, so it became an event space.”
The downstairs area will host the Guest Chef Dinner Series.
“We have heavy hitters in the industry that started with us as line cooks,” Foshee said. “That’s the benefit of being around for 40 years.”
Reservations are available for the first two events in the series and will be available for the rest starting Wednesday, Feb. 21.
Here is the schedule:
• Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 19-20: Connor McVay and Christine Rivera. McVay is now executive chef of Hotel Bel-Air and Rivera is food services manager at The Bishop’s School in La Jolla. 5:30 p.m. both days. $200 per ticket.
• Saturday, March 16: Sam Peters and Stephen Kurpinsky. Peters is now owner of SPK Bar Hospitality & Training and Kurpinsky is the U.S. brand ambassador at Mr. Black Spirits. 6 and 9 p.m. $80 per ticket, including snacks and three featured cocktails.
• Tuesday, April 2: Christopher Kostow, currently owner and operator of The Charter Oak and Loveski Deli and operator of Ciccio, all in the Napa Valley
• Tuesday, May 7: Jon Bautista, Brad Chance and Lori Sauer. Bautista is most recently executive chef of The Fishery in Pacific Beach, Chance is executive chef of Ember & Rye in Carlsbad and Sauer is executive pastry chef for Cafe Monarch & Reserve in Scottsdale, Ariz.
• Tuesday, June 11: Stephanie Prida, a pastry chef who now works for Bay Area bakery Manresa Bread
• Tuesday, July 16: Elizabeth Murray and Yulanda Santos. Murray currently is chef at Littler in Durham, N.C. Santos is pastry chef at Aubergine restaurant in Carmel.
• Monday, Aug. 19: Anthony Secviar, who now owns Protégé restaurant in Palo Alto
• Tuesday, Oct. 15: “The Pendry Crew” — The Pendry Hotel of San Diego’s executive sous chef, Brandon Sloan, and sous chefs Dara Steinrichter and Jon Hawkins
For reservations and more information, visit georgesatthecove.com/40-years-dining-series.
Going forward
Citing the ability to look forward as a secret to George’s success, Foshee said: “You can’t not look beyond the 40th anniversary. You can’t survive this long without change. You can’t be stagnant and hope it will be OK. So we’re constantly looking one or two years down the road.”
Management is continuing its strategic planning process, with leadership going to other food destinations for inspiration and practice. Every department has a budget to resolve issues as they come up, and there is a “growth mindset … whatever that takes,” Foshee said.
“This year we have these dinners lined up that will inspire us into 2025,” he said. “We don’t know how yet, but it is going to be creative and unique.
“George’s is the best it’s ever been … and with the change of California Modern, we can keep the talent we have … and up our food game.”
The Ocean Terrace is scheduled for a remodel at the end of this year. No timeline has been set, but Foshee said he expects it to start sometime after Thanksgiving. ◆
