When George Hauer, owner of George’s at the Cove restaurant, sat down with business partners in 2005 to take a long, hard look at the direction his restaurant was headed, he had a revelation.
“I recognized we had a business model based on how people behaved 15 years ago and not how people behave today,” Hauer said of the three-tiered, fine-dining facility at 1250 Prospect Street.
By renewing the business lease for an additional 20 years, Hauer has allowed himself to think in broad terms and create a new vision for the lower-level restaurant, which will be renamed George’s California Modern and will undergo a complete remodeling ” an estimated $2.5 million project that got under way at the beginning of the new year. Construction is expected to wrap up in mid-February, Hauer said.
Renovations include a larger menu with more detailed food categories, but a continued emphasis on freshness and quality. Trey Foshee will carry on as head chef, while putting a new creative twist on menu selections.
A partnership with Jennifer Luce, whose self-named studio recently received the Architectural Record’s “Design Vanguard” award, making it one of the top ten design firms in the world, has taken Hauer’s project ideas to the next level, he said.
A foyer will be transformed into a long communal-style bar area, allowing passersby to drop in spontaneously to socialize over a drink and appetizer, the owner said. Color schemes will also be more bright and alive and the overall feel of the restaurant will be increasingly modern.
Although he has never enforced a strict dress code, Hauer said the restaurant will have a more casual feel and that he wished to allow people to be as fashionably casual as possible.
Of course, pants with holes in them are unacceptable, but Hauer even plans to wear a nice pair of jeans, along with a designer shirt and sport coat to the restaurant’s re-opening, he said.
The rest of the 10,000-square-foot building, which features a bar on one level and the Ocean Terrace restaurant on the third, will remain open to the public despite construction on the main level, according to Hauer.
Hauer said he hopes that George’s, after being a part of La Jolla for 23 years, will impress its new patrons and equally satisfy its longtime ones.
“We are trying to redefine what fine dining is and make it a more modern experience,” he said. “It’s a fresh beginning and an exciting, new beginning.”
George’s at the Cove is one of only eight Green Restaurant Association (GRA) certified restaurants in the San Diego area, and the only one in La Jolla. To achieve GRA certification, restaurants and coffee shops must recycle all products that are accepted by local waste collection companies and not use any polystyrene foam products.
For information about George’s at the Cove, call (858) 454-4244.