San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour

Kelli Crosson bid her time, put in the work, earned this. The California native cooked alongside Jeff Jackson for 11 years at AR Valentien as his chef de cuisine (the iconic restaurant’s second in charge). Starting at The Lodge at Torrey Pines over 20 years ago, Jackson was the one of the earliest and brightest stars of San Diego’s food scene—doing farm-to-table before it was a marketing buzzword, cooking tip-to-tail when the rest of America was “just cook the sexy cuts.” Under his watch, the family-owned Lodge became a high-culinary attraction on par with the famed golf course it sits on. Still is. And now he’s stepping aside to let his beyond-ready apprentice take the reins. Crosson is now the executive chef of all things Lodge—A.R., The Grill, banquets, events. If you eat it, she’s had a say in its creation. Jackson is still very much “around.” The Evans family created an emeritus role for Jackson—corporate culinary advisor (soon you’ll see his guiding influence at the new restaurant at Evans’ family’s oth