Last Updated on April 22, 2026 by Daily News Staff

SAN DIEGO, CA — The award-winning JOEY Restaurant Group is continuing its U.S. expansion with the debut of its first San Diego location, JOEY La Jolla, opening April 23, 2026. The new restaurant will be located at Westfield UTC, one of Southern California’s premier retail and lifestyle destinations.

A New Dining Destination for La Jolla

Set in the heart of La Jolla, the 10,600-square-foot restaurant is designed to deliver a vibrant, upscale-yet-approachable experience. Guests can expect a seamless blend of indoor and outdoor dining, complete with a welcoming fire feature, lush landscaping, and a covered patio that opens into an expansive, modern interior.

Inside, the space features a lively bar and lounge area, complete with a DJ booth for select evenings, a curated wine wall, and contemporary art installations. The dining room centers around a striking olive tree beneath a wood canopy, creating a warm and immersive atmosphere ideal for everything from casual lunches to late-night gatherings.

Elevated Cuisine Meets Global Inspiration

JOEY Restaurants has built its reputation on globally inspired dishes and high-quality ingredients—and JOEY La Jolla is no exception.

The menu will showcase a wide range of offerings, including:

• Premium steak cuts like Bone-In Prime Ribeye and Tomahawk
• Fire-torched sushi and fresh seafood
• Shareable plates and handcrafted bowls
• Signature creations like Truffle Udon Carbonara

The beverage program is equally robust, featuring a curated wine selection and handcrafted cocktails such as the Good Life Margarita and Woodsmoked Old Fashioned. Guests can also explore “JOEY Supers,” a creative take on the classic highball with a refreshing twist.

Leadership Behind the Experience

The culinary and beverage program is led by an award-winning team, including:

• Matthew Stowe, Executive Chef and Top Chef alumnus
• Jay Jones, Bar Development Leader and Hall of Fame inductee
• Jason Yamasaki, Group Sommelier

Their combined expertise is expected to elevate JOEY La Jolla into one of San Diego’s standout dining destinations.

Soft Opening and Reservations

Diners eager to get an early look can reserve a table during the restaurant’s limited preview period from April 18–22, ahead of its official grand opening on April 23. Once open, JOEY La Jolla will offer full-service dining daily, including lunch, happy hour, dinner, and late-night service.

Hours of Operation:

• Sunday–Thursday: 11 AM – 12 AM
• Friday–Saturday: 11 AM – 1 AM

Location:
4489 La Jolla Village Drive, Suite 1600
San Diego, CA 92122

A Strategic Expansion into Southern California

According to company leadership, the move into San Diego marks a significant milestone in JOEY’s broader growth strategy. With its strong culinary culture and coastal lifestyle, La Jolla provides an ideal backdrop for the brand’s signature blend of hospitality, design, and globally influenced cuisine.

As San Diego’s dining scene continues to evolve, JOEY La Jolla is positioned to become a go-to destination for locals and visitors seeking a dynamic and elevated dining experience.

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• JOEY Restaurants Official Website
• Westfield UTC Shopping Center
• Explore Shopping in San Diego

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Santa Barbara Wine Country is about to get a fresh reason to linger a little longer. Presqu’ile Winery has announced a new collaboration with Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND), the nationally recognized nonprofit known for taking contemporary art out of traditional museums and galleries and placing it directly into the environments that shape it. The result: curated, site-responsive works—some created specifically for the property—installed across Presqu’ile’s Santa Maria Valley estate.

A winery becomes an open-air gallery—at no cost

Under the partnership, Presqu’ile will serve as a host site for LAND programming, opening its estate to the public for free. Visitors can expect contemporary art integrated into the vineyard setting, with select installations shaped by the landscape itself. The goal is simple and ambitious at the same time: expand no-cost access to contemporary art along California’s Central Coast while creating a cultural experience that feels inseparable from the place it inhabits.

LAND’s approach is rooted in the belief that art should be experienced where people actually live, work, and gather. Rather than building exhibitions around white walls and controlled lighting, LAND supports projects driven by place—work that engages the environment, the community, and the lived experience of the artists creating it.

“Nourishing reciprocity” between art, landscape, and community

Laura Hyatt, Director of LAND, emphasized how the Central Coast setting opens new creative possibilities for artists.

Hyatt noted that collaborating with Presqu’ile gives artists the opportunity to engage with the region’s natural beauty and unique ecology—placing artworks in what she described as “nourishing reciprocity” with the landscape and the visitors moving through it. She also highlighted the long-term potential of the partnership, which allows for deeper exploration over time, expands LAND’s geographic reach, and strengthens connections between Southern and Central California.

For Hyatt, the collaboration is personal as well: her family has roots in the area going back five generations, adding another layer of community connection to the work LAND hopes to cultivate.

A shared mindset: tradition, experimentation, and a sense of place

Presqu’ile framed the partnership as a natural extension of what the winery already does—balancing tradition with experimentation. In the same way winemaking can honor time-tested methods while still pushing toward new expressions, contemporary art can offer new ways of seeing familiar processes and landscapes.

Matt Murphy, co-founder of Presqu’ile Winery, said the family’s appreciation for the visual arts made the collaboration an easy “yes.” He pointed to the opportunity to create “fun, compelling and unexpected” ways for the community to engage with both the installations and the estate itself—and to experience Presqu’ile through each artist’s creative lens.

What happens next

In the near term, LAND will install artworks developed through its programming on the Presqu’ile property, with public access remaining free. The collaboration is designed with community benefit at its center, positioning the estate as a cultural and agricultural destination—not just a tasting room.

Looking ahead, Presqu’ile has submitted plans for approval to develop expanded spaces intended to support free public art, cultural programming, and community gathering. If approved, those improvements would signal a long-term commitment to integrating arts and culture into the estate experience and welcoming future partners whose work aligns with Presqu’ile’s values of openness, creativity, and place-based expression.

Additional details—including participating artists and installation timelines—will be announced as the collaboration progresses.

About the partners

Presqu’ile Winery

Presqu’ile (pronounced press-keel) is a family-owned estate winery in Santa Maria Valley on California’s Central Coast. Founded in 2007, the winery produces cool-climate wines from its sustainably farmed estate vineyard and from a select group of growers across Santa Barbara County. The name—French Creole for “almost an island”—reflects the Murphy family’s Gulf Coast heritage and the winery’s deep emphasis on place.

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Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND)

Founded in 2009, LAND is a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to connecting people and places through site-responsive public art and programs. Over 15 years, LAND has presented more than 500 artists across 300+ programs and exhibitions, ranging from large-scale sculptural commissions to billboards, roadside screenings, workshops, and city-wide video presentations—reaching millions of people.

Why it matters

This collaboration isn’t just about adding art to a winery—it’s about rethinking where art belongs, who gets to access it, and how landscape can become part of the creative process. For the Central Coast, Presqu’ile and LAND are setting the stage for a new kind of cultural destination: one where a walk through the vines can also be a walk through contemporary ideas, made visible in the open air.

Source: Presqu’ile Winery

Organization: Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND)

• Presqu’ile Winery on Instagram (@presquilewine)
• LAND on Instagram (@nomadicdivision)

• Presqu’ile media contact: diana@solterrastrategies.com
• LAND media contact: kyle@hellothirdeye.com

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New York City is about to get a crash course in “wines with a sense of place.” Volcanic Wines International (VWI) announced the 5th International Volcanic Wines Conference (IVWC), set for June 10, 2026 at Manhatta in Manhattan. The one-day event brings together producers, sommeliers, buyers, journalists, and educators for tastings and masterclasses focused on wines grown in volcanic soils—an increasingly talked-about category known for its tension, mineral-driven structure, and unmistakable origin.

Why volcanic wines are having a moment

Volcanic vineyards sit on some of the planet’s most dramatic landscapes—think steep slopes, black sand, and lava-strewn terrain. But the conference isn’t just about scenery. The IVWC is built around a simple idea: volcanic terroir can shape wine in distinctive ways, influencing everything from texture and acidity to aromatics and perceived “energy” in the glass.

As VWI co-founder John Szabo, MS put it, volcanic wines often stand out for their “energy, structure, and clear sense of origin,” making them a natural fit for wine lists that prioritize discovery.

A global tasting tour—without leaving Manhattan

Hosted in what VWI calls the largest and most influential wine market in the U.S., the conference offers a rare side-by-side look at volcanic regions from around the world. Participating producers are expected from territories including:

• Etna (Sicily)
• Santorini (Greece)
• Canary Islands (Spain)
• Hungary
• Pantelleria (Italy)
• Lake County (California)

Masterclasses, seminars, and a Grand Tasting

The June 10 program is designed for wine professionals who want to go deeper than a quick sip. Attendees can expect guided tastings and educational sessions exploring how different volcanic soils—and the climates that surround them—can influence grape varieties and wine styles.

Seminars are slated to spotlight volcanic wines from:

• Soave (Italy)
• Etna
• Hungary
• Canary Islands
• Lazio (Italy)

The day also includes a Grand Tasting, where exhibiting wineries will pour for a curated audience of sommeliers, buyers, importers, educators, and media.

A new “Volcanic Origin” certification will be announced in the U.S.

One of the headline moments: the conference will host the official U.S. announcement of a new Volcanic Origin certification, created by the Vinora association of Auvergne, France. The certification is designed to help recognize authentic expressions from volcanic regions worldwide—an important step as interest grows and consumers look for clearer signals of provenance.

Volcanic Wine Awards + JancisRobinson.com partnership

VWI also highlighted a major media partnership with JancisRobinson.com for the Volcanic Wine Awards, an international competition celebrating standout wines from volcanic regions.

Award-winning wines will be featured on JancisRobinson.com and showcased in a dedicated space during the NYC conference.

“Volcanic regions produce some of the most characterful wines in the world,” said Tara Q Thomas, Managing Editor at JancisRobinson.com, adding that the partnership aims to bring greater attention to these terroirs.

The big picture: story-driven wine in a crowded market

Beyond the technical details, the conference is tapping into something the wine world is actively chasing: narrative and identity.

“Today more than ever, the wine world needs compelling stories that reconnect wine lovers with place and identity,” said Gino Colangelo, President of Colangelo & Partners and partner in VWI. Volcanic wines, he noted, offer “dramatic landscapes, ancient soils, and wines with unmistakable character.”

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How to attend or exhibit

For information about exhibiting or attending, VWI directs inquiries to Bianca Panichi at bpanichi@colangelopr.com. Updates are also available at www.volcanicwinesinternational.com, with social channels on Instagram (@volcanicwines_intl) and Facebook (Volcanic Wines International).

What to watch for (STM Daily News)

• Whether the new Volcanic Origin certification becomes a widely adopted benchmark
• Which regions and producers dominate the Volcanic Wine Awards spotlight
• How volcanic wines continue to move from “sommelier obsession” to broader consumer demand

Hungry for what’s next? STM Daily News’ Food and Drink section dishes up the latest in restaurant news, beverage trends, seasonal recipes, culinary events, and food culture stories readers love to share.