Podiatrist in Del Mar, CA

A San Diego restaurant received the highest culinary honor on Monday, earning three Michelin Stars for its "exceptional cuisine."

Addison joins the likes of the Bay Area's French Laundry and Manresa, becoming one of seven California restaurants with three Michelin stars.

A total of 18 California restaurants earned Michelin Stars on Monday, with the majority located in Southern California.

Addison, located in San Diego's Fairmont Grand Del Mar, has received many honors over the years, including five diamonds from AAA and five stars from Forbes Travel.

"Chef William Bradley has helmed the stoves at Addison since 2006, transforming this Southern Californian oasis into a world-class dining destination," the Michelin inspector said.

Addison is now only one of 142 three-star restaurants in the world.

The Michelin inspector's comments highlight the chef’s “Californian sentimentality,” especially in his sesame-seasoned Koshihikari rice with applewood-smoked sabayon and Regiis Ova reserve caviar.

The restaurant's full tasting experience is by reservation only, though customers can walk in to enjoy drinks in the lounge.

San Diego's Addison is now a "world-class dining destination," thanks to the Michelin honor.

"From chicken liver churros to a riff on chips and dip, dishes are playful yet polished," the Michelin inspector noted. "Opening bites such as Kumamoto oysters with pickled green strawberry or Iberian ham folded over a gloriously golden potato display finely tuned flavor."

Addison's nine-course tasting menu is priced at $298 per person, according to the restaurant's website.

The price point isn't uncommon among three-starred restaurants. The tasting menu at Napa Valley's famed French Laundry tops $300, with gift experiences starting at $950. The tasting menu at Manresa in Los Gatos is $595 per guest in December, the restaurant's website says.

California restaurants awarded one Michelin star this week include:

Music and visual arts at Del Mar Pines School are part of a curriculum focused on giving students the academic, social, and critical thinking skills they need to be successful adults. What is unique are the many opportunities offered for students to create and respond to music and art, as well as to share their expressions and interpretations with each other.

Art and music are not just about learning notes and colors, but also discovering, analyzing, and interpreting what a song or a painting is communicating. Every student in every grade has an hour of art and an hour of music each week, and during those times the chances for exploration mean all students can find an instrument or musical genre, or visual medium, that suits them.

Students at Del Mar Pines start with the fundamentals, including music theory, how beats and rhythm support the melody, and the various music genres. They immediately put what they learn to work through musical instruments, starting with the xylophones and various types of percussion from kindergarten through second grade.

From third through sixth grade, students have the chance to try the recorder, electric guitar, piano, drums, chime bells, and the ukulele. And there is the chance to practice playing in front of others at school events, small and large.

Del Mar Pines has what might be the only elementary school piano orchestra in the world, a group of about a dozen that provides the live accompaniment for the annual musical. Voices are heard as well at the Spring Sing, an end-of-school festivity featuring all students.

Visual arts also provide a wide range of experiences, including painting, drawing, sculpture, weaving, collage, and digital photography, all built on the basics, including color theory, and incorporating the history of different eras of art.

Our art teacher lets our students’ creativity shine through, and there is always art on display throughout the school. This not only gives the students the chance to see their own work on display but also the work of their peers.

Students can also share the creativity and skills they’ve developed during two talent shows per year. The dozens of acts include magic, art displays, singing, dancing, jokes, and even karate. Even kindergarteners step on stage with short songs, because it’s never too early to learn confidence and how to be in front of an audience.

Del Mar Pines School is a secular, private elementary school (grades K-6) in the Carmel Valley area of San Diego California. Founded in 1978, Del Mar Pines School continually provides students with excellent academic programs which promote children’s curiosity for learning, confidence and determination, while also developing well-rounded children of strong character.

For more information visit www.DelMarPines.com.

Del Mar and the North County Transit District are at odds over the best way to spend $300 million the state has allocated for work needed to reroute the rails around a trouble spot on the fragile coastal bluffs.

The transit district recently sent a letter to the San Diego Association of Governments asking for some of the grant money to be used to finish the long-planned San Dieguito to Sorrento Valley double-track project just north of the bluffs.

"The rail realignment off the Del Mar bluffs can only be successful if this time-sensitive project is completed first," states the Dec. 16 letter from the NCTD board to SANDAG.

Del Mar officials disagree. They want SANDAG to use the entire $300 million to pursue construction of the tunnel and to look elsewhere for the San Dieguito double-track money.

"The city of Del Mar expresses strong opposition to the board's request that SANDAG pursue alternative uses of the $300 million," Del Mar Councilmember Terry Gaasterland said on a Zoom call at the transit district's recent board meeting.

The grant money was designated for design, engineering and environmental work needed to prepare the tunnel project for construction, she said.

"This funding is a major step towards achieving the environmental, financial, feasibility, and design objectives for the rail realignment project," said Del Mar City Councilmember Dwight Worden, then serving as mayor, in a letter to NCTD in October.

"As you well know, the railroad tracks pose a significant threat to the bluffs, structures, commuters, and the public, and this crucial funding will advance the project's timeline for being shovel ready and competitive for more critically needed funding," Worden said.

The San Dieguito realignment project is already "shovel ready," transit officials said. It would add a second set of rails for about one mile and replace the century-old bridge with a wider, double-tracked bridge just north of the proposed tunnel, which also would be double-tracked.

An optional piece of the San Dieguito segment is a proposed platform at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, so people could ride the train to events there such as the annual horse races and the San Diego County Fair.

About three-quarters of the 60-mile train corridor between downtown San Diego and the Orange County border has been double-tracked so far. The second set of tracks allows more frequent, faster trains and makes it easier for people to use mass transit.

Environmental work was completed in 2015 for the San Dieguito double-track project, which is ready for construction when money becomes available. Construction costs are estimated at $152 million for the tracks and the bridge, and an additional $82 million for the fairgrounds platform.

The new railroad bridge will be eight feet higher than the existing bridge and wide enough to allow two sets of tracks. Most of the engineering and design work has been done, and the bridge is scheduled for completion in 2025.

The higher bridge is essential to prevent the tracks from being overwhelmed by floodwaters, especially with the expected rising sea levels, and to stop floodwater from entering the tunnel, said NCTD Executive Director Matt Tucker.

"You can't do the realignment until the San Dieguito project has been done," Tucker said. "That's all this item is. This is not a big grab or a steal away from anyone."

Construction of the tunnel could cost more than $4 billion and will take until at least 2035 to complete, SANDAG has said.

This is not the first time Del Mar has fought with the transit district. The city and the transit district have been battling for several years over a safety fence NCTD wants to build along the tracks atop the bluffs.

Del Mar residents say the proposed fence would restrict their access to the beach, obstruct their views of the ocean and lower coastal property values. The transit district says the fence would prevent trespassing on the railroad right-of-way and save lives. Most of the rail corridor already is fenced.

Negotiations have essentially reached a standstill pending the outcome of a petition the transit district has filed with the federal Surface Transportation Board. If approved, the petition would give the district the authority to build the fence without any permits or other approvals from the city or the state.

SANDAG and NCTD have been working more than 20 years on a series of Del Mar bluff stabilization projects including seawalls, pilings and drainage structures to protect the tracks on the eroding bluffs until an alternate route can be built.

The $300 million grant from the state's Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program was announced July 1 as part of Gov. Gavin Newsom's $308 billion state budget.

Officials said at the time that the money would allow SANDAG to complete the preliminary engineering and environmental documents for the realignment project and to start the partially funded final design phase.

Money from the grant also was to be used to form an executive task force to help find funds for construction.

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.

©2022 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Visit sandiegouniontribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Idina Menzel, the Tony-winning star of “Wicked” and vocal powerhouse behind Elsa in Disney’s animated “Frozen,” will star in “Redwood,” a world premiere musical that will close La Jolla Playhouse’s 2023-24 season in February of next year.

“Redwood” will feature a book, lyrics and direction by Tina Landau and score and lyrics by Kate Diaz.

The musical will tell the story of Jesse, a successful businesswoman, mother and wife who is hiding a broken heart. Finding herself at a turning point, she leaves everything behind and drives to the West Coast, where she ends up in California’s redwood forest and finds community and healing. Christopher Ashley, the Playhouse’s artistic director, said in a statement that the musical “overflows with invention, inspiration and empathy.”

“The Playhouse has been developing this piece since we reopened our doors, working with the dynamo team of Tina Landau, Kate Diaz and Idina Menzel — each a visionary artist in her own right — to create an extraordinary work that reaches for the sky and touches the soul,” Ashley said.

Menzel has been a star since making her Broadway debut in 1996 as performance artist Maureen in “Rent.” Then in 2003 she become a superstar as the high-flying green-skinned witch Elphaba in “Wicked.” Besides her Broadway work, Menzel has worked on television and in film and she is a songwriter.

Last year, Menzel and Diaz co-wrote the the title song for the HBO documentary “A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting.” Menzel has said in interviews that she considers Diaz “brilliant” and she enjoys collaborating with Diaz because she understands Menzel’s voice and vulnerabilities.

Diaz is a prolific Los Angeles composer, songwriter and producer who writes music for film, television, trailers and commercials.

Landau is a writer and director who conceived and directed the 2018 Broadway musical “SpongBob SquarePants.” She also co-wrote with composer Adam Guettel the off Broadway musical “Floyd Collins,” which had a production at San Diego’s Old Globe in 1999. La Jolla Playhouse also premiered Landau’s fairy tale-inspired play “Beauty” in 2003.

“Redwood” will conclude a Playhouse season that begins in June and includes: Anna Deavere Smith’s tennis-themed play “Love All”;” Jenn Freeman, Sonya Tayeh and Holland Andrews’ dance-infused piece about neurodiversity “Is It Thursday Yet?”; Joe Iconis and Gregory S. Moss’s “The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical”: Lisa Sanaye Dring’s wrrestling-themed play “Sumo”; and “Babbitt,” Joe DiPietro’s adaptation of the Sinclair Lewis novel, featuring film and Broadway star Matthew Broderick. For more on the season, visit lajollaplayhouse.org.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas has never disappointed me, presenting an incredible variety of the newest, state-of-the-art products and technology. This year’s show was no exception — even including some auto racing: a follow-up round of the Indy Autonomous Challenge at Las Vegas Motor Speedway!

I returned home a little past midnight last night, with suitcases full of material to share with you in the weeks and months ahead but, since today’s column is due shortly after noon, in today’s column I’ll share with you a story from the road — about my harrowing drive to and from Las Vegas.

I always drive to Las Vegas. It is very helpful to have a car there, to drive back and forth to the various CES venues. I have stayed at the Excalibur Resort for several years. It is comfortable, convenient and even has free EV charging for my RAV4 Prime! I did all of my driving in Las Vegas on that free electricity.

I left for Las Vegas a week ago yesterday (Monday). I’d planned to leave early in the day but, as is usually the case, I was busy working on my column and ended up leaving very late — about 7 p.m. That was very unfortunate.

By the time that I left San Diego it had begun to rain, which fell intermittently throughout my drive to where I stopped to take a short nap at a rest stop on the California side of the I-15 highway, a few miles from the Nevada border. It turned out that my having done so was very fortunate.

When I returned to the highway, to complete my drive to Las Vegas, almost immediately I encountered a terrifying, white-out blizzard. It was very late at night, and the rain that I had been driving through earlier had turned to a very wet, very heavy snowfall. It quickly turned into whiteout conditions, falling so heavily that the highway markings (the reflective Bots dots included) were completely covered-over with fresh-fallen, deep snow, and visibility ahead was almost non-existent.

Decades ago, I grew up in Alberta, Canada, so I was no stranger to driving in snow — albeit of the much colder, drier variety. Little did I know when I left balmy San Diego on Monday evening that I would need to draw upon that experience on my drive to Las Vegas, but that I did. My life, and the lives of the drivers around me, depended upon that.

First, I slowed way down to about 30 mph. Like the other drivers, I turned on my vehicle’s four-way flashers, so that I could be seen — in case someone was foolish enough to come barreling along too fast and not see that I was there.

Since I could not see the road, I decided to follow another vehicle’s taillights. I slotted in behind a tall vehicle (a motorhome, I think), with lots of rear lights. As I followed him, I began to feel vibrations, as if I were driving on a progressively rougher road. Fearful that the motorhome may have been heading off of the road, I pulled in behind a Target semitrailer truck. He (or she) had even brighter taillights, and seemed to know where he was going. Eventually we emerged safely from the snow.

Unfortunately, my return trip a week and a day later was not much better. I had checked out of my hotel at 1 p.m., but I chose to use the afternoon and early evening to shop and take photos on the Las Vegas Strip. By the time I’d had something to eat and was ready to drive home to San Diego, it was again after 7 p.m. Once again it was raining. Unfortunately it progressed from a light rain to one so heavy that again I could barely see. At least in the rain I was still sort of able to see the lane markings in the road. Once again I, like most of the other drivers, turned on the four-way flashers and managed to make it safely through the deluge, returning home after midnight last night.

To explore a wide variety of content dating back to 2002, with the most photos and the latest text, visit “AutoMatters & More” at https://automatters.net. Search by title or topic in the Search Bar in the middle of the Home Page, or click on the blue ‘years’ boxes and browse.

Copyright © 2023 by Jan Wagner – AutoMatters & More #774