San Diego County has more small farms than any other county in the United States, and agriculture remains one of the region’s most important industries. Yet despite an abundance of local produce and seafood year-round, the dining scene has long leaned casual—think fish tacos and design-forward hot spots from hospitality group Consortium Holdings—with William Bradley’s Addison at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar the lone fine dining outlier.
If San Diego leans casual, the cluster of coastal towns in North County—Carlsbad, Del Mar, Encinitas, Escondido, Oceanside, and Solana Beach—has had an even sparser fine dining scene. One duo has been instrumental in changing that: restaurateur John Resnick and chef-partner Eric Bost, who have been steadily building a restaurant empire in Carlsbad. That growth accelerated over the past year, with the opening of Wildland—a family-friendly all-day bakery and restaurant focused on wood-fired pizza and fresh pasta—in December, followed by the fine dining crown jewel, Lilo, a 22-seat chef’s tasting counter that debuted in April. Carlsbad is finally stepping into the national culinary spotlight.
From Fish Tacos to Fine Dining: A New Era for North County
When Resnick—previously with Consortium Holdings—opened his first Carlsbad restaurant, Campfire, in 2016, he recalls there wasn’t much of anything along the walkable stretch of State Street just a few blocks from the beach. Today, he and Bost have four restaurants along that same corridor, covering just about any occasion.
“State Street in Carlsbad Village always felt really unique,” Resnick says. “It’s so central, so walkable, and yet there wasn’t much here—so we could create our own gravitational pull and help shape the neighborhood.”
Resnick opened the elegant French bistro Jeune et Jolie a couple of years later in 2018, but just as it began to build momentum, the Covid-19 pandemic temporarily halted his ambitions. He had long admired chef Eric Bost’s food from afar but never managed to take his management team to dinner at Auburn in Los Angeles as he’d planned. The two had mutual friends, and when they first connected in the summer of 2020, their initial conversation lasted three hours—like a serendipitous first date.
“I knew very quickly that he was somebody I wanted to work with,” Resnick says.
Bost says the two connected over their shared vision for restaurant and company culture, and the prospect of leaving Los Angeles for Carlsbad was appealing. He and his wife, Elodie, had enjoyed visiting North County for short getaways and always believed in the region’s potential.
“There are great farms around here with amazing products, and it’s a beautiful coastal community,” Bost says. “We have so much going for us. I felt like there was a ton of potential to do more in the dining scene and build interesting restaurants.” Bost spent most of his 30s opening restaurants for legendary French chef Guy Savoy in Las Vegas and Singapore. One of his biggest takeaways was the commitment to quality ingredients, which now surround him. “Ingredients are the foundation,” Bost says. “Buy the best stuff that you can, and create really long-lasting relationships with purveyors.”
Bost moved to Carlsbad in September 2020 and resurrected both Jeune et Jolie and Campfire, earning the former its first Michelin star the following year with a new four-course prix fixe menu format.
“Jeune’s success helped us think we could continue,” Resnick says. “It gave us more courage, to think that we could build something really personal.” Resnick and Bost first walked the 10,000-square-foot space that now houses both Wildland and Lilo in October 2020, and the restaurants have been four years in the making. “I didn’t do any market research,” Resnick says. “We live here and we felt like this is missing and we want it to exist.”
