Eight months after closing its penthouse dining venue for renovation, Hotel La Jolla formally opened its latest concept for the ocean-view restaurant space May 15.
Sea & Sky is the hotel’s sixth incarnation of the iconic location that decades ago was regarded as one of San Diego’s best jazz venues. It’s undergone a top-to-bottom reinvention — both in decor and menu — that hotel management hopes will lure locals and tourists alike for breakfast, lunch, dinner and weekend brunch.
The overhaul of the 11th-floor space, previously occupied by Cusp Dining & Drinks, is part of a larger $8 million renovation of the 110-room Hotel La Jolla at 7955 La Jolla Shores Drive.
Cusp was closed a week after Labor Day weekend last year for the start of the renovation. The new restaurant was expected to open in December, but permitting and construction delays due partly to major changes to the restaurant’s show kitchen set the timetable back.
“There’s a [permitting] process with the city [of San Diego] and you find stuff you might not be expecting,” said hotel General Manager Adam Lund. “We also have made significant changes to the space, including this show kitchen that brings everyone into the action. That component did lead to typical construction delays and also some permitting delays that put us behind schedule. …
“It was definitely worth the wait. It’s just a warm and inviting space. You get there and see the Pacific Ocean and the high-end finishes that the designer used.”
The new 100-seat fine-dining restaurant marks the latest iteration of the hotel’s signature dining space that originated with Elario’s, which did double duty as the hotel restaurant and a widely known spot for top-notch jazz performances. Several other concepts followed after Elario’s faded out in the early 1990s, including the Crescent Shores Grill, Clay’s and The Grill at Hotel La Jolla.
In addition to lightening and modernizing the decor, the renovation included enclosing the restaurant’s existing open kitchen in the dining room with glass. That made it possible to highlight a key feature of Sea & Sky — floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors that open to the outside. For years, they were sealed because of the open nature of the show kitchen.
The restaurant also features new Italian marble on the top and face of the new bar, new stone tabletops and intricate tiling around the base of the bar.
Lund said he’s especially excited about the restaurant’s executive chef, Anthony Wells, a James Beard Award semifinalist for best California chef in 2022 who ed Hotel La Jolla in December. He had led the high-profile Juniper & Ivy for eight years.
His new dinner menu features entrees such as vegetable cassoulet, Hokkaido scallops and whole pink snapper accompanied by a pistachio romesco sauce.
Live music has been a staple at the penthouse site for years, but Lund said he’s still working out what that will entail at Sea & Sky. He hopes to launch jazz weekend brunches in June, but beyond that, no specific schedules have been set yet.
“We have really placed such a focus on the chef and his evolving menu with these super-fresh ingredients, and he’s a huge er of local farms,” Lund said. “We specifically brought on Anthony Wells, who has some amazing ideas for all the meals.”
The renovation of the hotel, which is operated as part of Hilton’s Curio Collection, includes a makeover of all the guestrooms, which was finished in March. A second phase, expected to start later this year, will include a revamped lobby area, a landscaped entrance, a courtyard and an al fresco pool lounge.
— La Jolla Light staff contributed to this report. ◆
