SDM’s Guide To San Diego Food + Drink: Jeune et Jolie

Get the croque madame. Oh man. That thing. A ham sandwich with ambition.
As Common said, it doesn’t take a whole day to recognize sunshine. It’s just special in here. Not one person makes it that way. The designers, who managed to pastel without doily-ing up the place. The audio nerd who built that retro sound system that looks like Rick Ruben’s dorm room. Owner John, who started the dream in 2018. The staff who bought in, buys in. A fairly obsessive yet somehow still laidback culture of tweaking and refining and being productively unsatisfied.
But today the story of @lejeuneetjolie chef, @ericbost. Grew up in the kitchen of his grandparents’ steakhouse in Raleigh, North Carolina. After a career of training under the greats (Alain Ducasse, Guy Savoie), he made the leap and spent two years building his own dream restaurant in L.A. Auburn opened in 2019. Rave reviews. Then, Covid. He lost it all. Hard to move on from that.
“It was devastating, to say the least,” he says.
But he moved on-to San Diego, where he joined John and Jeune. A year later, they earned their first Michelin star.
This is SDM’s guide to San Diego Food + Drink. Favorite dishes, drinks, places, things found across the city by food editor and longtime Food Network judge, @heytroyjohnson. The stories of the people who make the food + drink culture hum.
“For me I think it’s about all the different components of what the experience is,” Bost says. “It’s not just about the cooking. It’s about the actual personality of the restaurant. Talking to farmers and fishermen. There are so many building blocks that you need to be involved in in order to get the result that you want.”
As for that croque? Brioche is toasted in clarified butter, so all four sides are browned. Bechamel and shredded gruyere, torched to caramelize the natural sugars. Then two of the world’s greatest salt alternatives-jamon Iberico de bellota and caviar (the eggs that make it a “madame”). It’s pretty incredible.
Video by the awesome @jeremy_sazon.