‘A real evolution’: George’s at the Cove celebrates 40 years

Last Updated on May 1, 2025

Founder George Hauer and chef/operating partner Trey Foshee look back at four decades of distinction in dining.

On a gorgeous morning exemplifying the views George’s at the Cove is known for, its leadership team gathered on the rooftop terrace 40 years to the day after the iconic La Jolla restaurant opened to commemorate the occasion.

Cutting into the giant cake baked for the occasion, founder George Hauer said while nothing has changed with the view outside, everything inside the restaurant “is different. The food is different, the employees are different.

“It’s been a real evolution for all of us,” Hauer said. “We have kept up with the times for 40 years.”

George’s at the Cove opened on the first and second levels of the building at 1250 Prospect St. on Aug. 9, 1984.

“The first year, it was all about survival,” Hauer told lajolla.ca. “But we always had a vision of where we wanted to be, … and that vision shifted as time went on.”

The restaurant opened its rooftop “Ocean Terrace” in June 1991.

Chef/operating partner Trey Foshee came aboard 25 years ago, shortly after receiving Food & Wine magazine’s Best New Chef honors in 1998 while at Robert Redford’s Sundance Resort.

“A lot of how we measured our progress had to do with what was going on in New York, San Francisco, L.A. and the big culinary cities,” Hauer said, adding “every year we would go to one of those places and spend a week eating and talking to fellow restaurateurs, trying to see where they thought that the industry was going.”

The George’s team spent “a lot of years seeking ways to improve and to get better,” he said.

Along the way, Hauer, Foshee and the team “helped put San Diego on the map for sure,” Hauer said, remembering when premier industry publication Nation’s Restaurant News voted George’s into the fine dining hall of fame in 2000 or 2001.

That was “one of the first times that the national press began to take notice of what was going on in San Diego,” Hauer noted.

“It’s funny, because when I started 25 years ago, it felt like [George’s] was already an icon,” Foshee said. “I feel like my role is just to continue that evolution, continue to make sure that we’re changing and we’re evolving, and we’re moving forward every day. That’s what gets us to 40.”

Now George’s serves about 300,000 meals per year, Hauer said; the restaurant earned Michelin Plate recognition in 2019.

It’s unclear what the next 40 years will look like, Hauer and Foshee agree.

“There’s been so many shifts in the direction for the restaurant over the 25 years,” Foshee said, from having a vegetarian menu and various tasting menus to the expansion over three levels.

The bottom level, formerly fine dining, has now transitioned into more of an event space, and Foshee hopes that will also lead to more creative work and inspiration for special one-night dinners around a particular theme.

The restaurant will also undertake a renovation this year of its Level 2, which offers the same menu and view; its rooftop terrace is slated for a major redo at the end of next year, Foshee said.

Hoping George’s remains a La Jolla icon another 40 years, Hauer said “I just want to thank you all and thank San Diego for supporting us over all this time.”