Cole Novak

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Web Content Editor at San Diego Magazine

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Articles

16 Things to Do in San Diego This Weekend: June 4–8 | San Diego Magazine

4 days ago | sandiegomagazine.com | Cole Novak

Festivals big and little are happening all over San Diego this weekend, from a Latina vendor marketplace in Barrio Logan to the music and author showcase of North Park Music Fest to the inaugural Artivál, which will feature all sorts of makers. At the Queer Mvmnt Fest, aspiring dancers and performing artists can find community at socials, workshops, and performances.
Pop-Ups Restaurants Everwhere

4 days ago | sandiegomagazine.com | Cole Novak
Behind San Diego's Food Scene: The Rebirth of A.R. Valentien

4 days ago | sandiegomagazine.com | Cole Novak

A couple decades ago, San Diego’s food scene had too much ho in its hum. A handful of standalone restaurants and chefs were doing good work (like Bertrand Hug at Mister A’s, Michael Stebner with Region, Trey Foshee of Georges at the Cove, and Jeffrey Strauss of Pamplemousse Grille), but most world-class food was being made at hotels and resorts—especially at The Lodge at Torrey Pines’ A.R. Valentien.
Everyone Featured on Our Best Restaurants Cover

5 days ago | sandiegomagazine.com | Cole Novak

On April 21, 2025, we gathered together 89 of San Diego’s Michelin stars, scrappy upstarts, bartenders, bakers, brewers, farmers, fishers, ranchers, innovators, scene-making lightning bolts at Leila in North Park for a cover shoot. Captured by San Diego’s star food culture photographer James Tran, this is one helluva 2025 yearbook photo of our city’s food and drink culture. Check out our key below to spot some of the industry’s finest.
Behind San Diego's Food Scene: Mister A's Turns 60

5 days ago | sandiegomagazine.com | Cole Novak

This 60-year anniversary wasn’t supposed to happen. Three years ago, Ryan Thorsen found out the iconic Mister A’s was scheduled to close. The lease was up, and there were plans to turn the god’s-eye restaurant into penthouse offices. Legendary run, good night. Thorsen had been GM and right-hand to restaurateur Bertrand Hug for 10-ish years. His crew of 100 employees were family. “What is going to happen to all of these people?” he asked. So, he got to work finding them a home.
Behind San Diego’s Food Scene: The Return of Starlite

5 days ago | sandiegomagazine.com | Cole Novak

This is by far the most emotional reinvention of a San Diego icon in a long while. Starlite was the brainchild of three San Diego music scene vets: The Casbah owner Tim Mays, musician Steve Poltz, and multi-hyphenate musician and artist Matt Hoyt. Matt ran the day-to-day, playing host and fixer and soul. The place became a low-lit, well-designed hangout for the city’s musicians, artists, and creative scene. Then Matt passed in 2021. It was unexpected—he was too young, and it happened fast.
How Caged Fish Could Be the Key to Saving Bluefin

5 days ago | sandiegomagazine.com | Cole Novak

Swimming above a thousand bluefin tuna in the deep waters of the Pacific, one feels a dizzying calm. Below, the fish move in endless, unhurried loops, slowly growing plump in their monotony. Weighing around 170 pounds each, the fish in this net-pen are considerable. Heavy as a man and as wide as a surfboard, they move like hydrodynamic refrigerators, pewter backs reflecting water-filtered light like suncatchers.
Communal Coffee Opening Fifth Location in Bankers Hill

1 week ago | sandiegomagazine.com | Cole Novak

Communal Coffee owner and founder Jen Byard knows you can’t force a community to come together. But she tends to do it organically. Byard launched Communal in 2015 in North Park. Since then, it’s become one of the county’s most popular craft coffee hubs, with locations in Oceanside, South Park, and that funny stretch of 30th Street that’s sort of North Park, but almost South Park. Come July, she’ll open the fifth Communal in Kaya, a mixed-use building in Bankers Hill designed by Jeff Svitak.
Unhinged, a Dating Series: San Diego Dates on a Budget

1 week ago | sandiegomagazine.com | Cole Novak

I’m three sips into my second handcrafted, small-batch, single-origin, barrel-aged cocktail of the evening. It’s delicious, of course; my date is gorgeous and chatty; the night is going well… and all I can think about is my wallet. Is $19 dollars a cocktail the price of meeting someone new? I think to myself, totally missing the punchline my Bumble match, Jen, just lobbed my direction. I calculate the cost of this night on top of my last few weeks of dating, and I cringe.
The Best Restaurants in San Diego 2025

1 week ago | sandiegomagazine.com | Cole Novak

Surviving life in hardscrabble San Diego with any joy in your heart requires a list. On it lives your favorite taco/sushi/burger/fries/stiff-but-drinkable drink in town. This is ours—from the readers (who offered a record 138,300-plus votes) and longtime food critic Troy Johnson. We chose the must-try dishes at some of San Diego’s best restaurants and unpacked the people and trends changing our city’s dining scene for the better. Hope you’re hungry, because it’s time to dig in.