George’s at the Cove is marking its 40th anniversary with a year-long celebration featuring special events including a guest-chef dinner series by alums who started there.

George’s at 1250 Prospect St. boasts stunning ocean views and an award-winning culinary team. The establishment is renowned for offering an unforgettable dining experience showcasing fresh, locally sourced ingredients along with an extensive wine list.

Owner-founder George Hauer saw the infinite potential of opening a restaurant on Prospect Street in La Jolla offering sweeping ocean views from all three levels, one of the restaurant’s trademarks. Yet after 40 years, the core value of the business – to continually improve – is still very much intact.

In 2024, plans are for Georges to invite guests to a celebration of the immense amount of work and dedication that has allowed it to thrive for four decades.

Special events will take place beginning in February and continue each month throughout the year. One such event will be a Level2 Bar takeover by Stephen Kurpinsky and Sam Peters, with tasting menu-style dinners served in the lower-level events space.

Trey Foshee, executive chef/partner at Georges, said the restaurant has not celebrated anniversaries because it “never wanted to feel old” and because it “continually reinvested and changed. We’ve had 40 years of constant improvement and have continually been moving forward when we could have rested on our laurels.”

Foshee noted Georges has refreshed its image and brand over the years. “That’s required a commitment,” he said adding Georges has now “transitioned into more of a special-occasion restaurant.”

A pivotal remodel of Georges’ dining room in 2007 allowed Foshee to evolve the concept away from a traditional menu structure to a looser design based on what was locally available from farms such as Chino Farms and seafood companies like Catalina Offshore.

Georges California Modern menu concept also influenced many other San Diego restaurants at the time, while Georges’ decision to implement an entire vegetarian menu in 2009 was cutting edge at the time.

In 2011, Foshee started TBL3 (Table Three), a 14-course tasting menu experience designed to feature the creative abilities of the kitchen and local ingredients at their peak. Available for only one table per night and only on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights, it was groundbreaking for San Diego restaurants and the foodie culture. It quickly sold out and became recognized on a national scale.

In 2016, the Ocean Terrace at Georges was expanded to include a new bar and quickly became one of the premier open-air bars in Southern California with an ocean view. In 2022, after being closed during the pandemic, California Modern was transitioned into a dedicated events space for corporate or social events, book signings, holiday events, and special dinners.

Regarding the future of Georges, Foshee is optimistic. “I’m excited about it,” he said. “We’ll be using these guest-chef dinners as an inspiration for using our event space differently and elevating it, taking our skills and abilities to do creative and unique dining experiences.”

HISTORY OF GEORGES

Georges at the Cove opened its doors on Aug. 9, 1984. Originally occupying the lower and second levels of 1250 Prospect St., in June 1991 the Ocean Terrace was opened creating a three-level ocean view dining destination. Founder George Hauer, general manager Mark Oliver, and chef Scotty Meskan ran the restaurant for the first 16 years until Trey Foshee, having just received Food & Wine magazine’s Best New Chef award for 1998 while at Robert Redford’s Sundance Resort, was brought on as executive chef/partner. In 2016, Foshee took over as operating partner with general manager Mike Grave and executive chef Masa Kojima.

For four decades, Georges at the Cove has been committed to improving through an annual strategic plan to formalize growth in three mission-critical areas: people, products, and the environment. Each year, the partners meet and theoretically tear the restaurant down and build it back up, always asking what can be improved in each area. Out of these meetings came many ideas that shaped the restaurant and the San Diego dining scene.