Lilo in Carlsbad has quickly become one of San Diego County’s most exciting dining destinations, earning a coveted Michelin star just months after opening. Conceived by restaurateur John Resnick—known for Campfire and Jeune et Jolie—and led by chef Eric Bost, the restaurant offers a tasting experience that balances California’s coastal bounty with refined global technique. Its 12-course menu takes diners on a seasonal journey punctuated by chef interactions, house fermentations, and delicate pacing, all within one of the most intimate dining rooms in the region. Designed for conversation and connection, Lilo represents a new chapter in North County San Diego’s culinary reputation, emphasizing intimacy over scale, precision over excess, and storytelling over spectacle.
Atmosphere & Setting
- Intimacy by design
- Only 22 seats: primarily a curved chef’s counter plus two chef’s tables for direct interaction with the kitchen.
- Arrival ritual: begin in a lush, wood-lined garden patio with lounge seating and a central campfire, then transition into the sleek dining room for the main meal.
- Design language: earth-toned textures, panoramic windows, and coastal accents produce a grounded, cozy, and refined mood.
- Flow and mood
- Counter choreography creates a sense of theater; service touchpoints are interactive but unforced.
- Lighting and acoustics enable relaxed conversation while keeping focus on plating and pacing.
- The garden patio serves as a liminal space for welcome bites and nightcaps, reinforcing a celebratory arc.
Menu & Culinary Highlights
-
- Format and approach
- Tasting menu: typically 12 courses, with frequent changes based on tide, farm, and foraged micro-seasons.
- Technique: a cosmopolitan mix of Japanese, French, and Californian methods; precision in temperature, texture, and seasoning.
- Pantry: coastal produce, pristine fish and shellfish, thoughtful grains; house ferments and dry-aging for depth and continuity across courses.
- Signature dishes (subject to seasonal change)
- Dry-aged Japanese kinmedai with ragout of geoduck and bone marrow.
- Kaluga caviar tartlet with grilled spring peas, stracciatella, and egg yolk jam.
- Squab with burnt vanilla oil and laminated brioche.
- Wood-fired Brittany turbot with Pineau des Charentes sabayon.
- 40-day aged rib-eye with kombu and gurumelo mushrooms.
- Desserts: sweet cream gelato with hoja santa and finger lime; dessert beignets filled with toasted rice cream.
- Throughlines
- Seasonality as operating system: menus pivot quickly to honor peak ripeness and catch.
- House fermentations (e.g., citrus kosho, kelp stems), koji and dry-aging add umami and length without heaviness.
- Chef-led presentations sustain momentum and intimacy; garnishing and saucing occur at the counter for immediacy.
- Format and approach
Beverage Program
- Pairings and pours
- Bespoke wine pairings emphasize mineral-driven whites, structured reds with fine tannin, and sparkling selections with backbone.
- Vintage spirits offered as contemplative single pours for key courses.
- Zero-proof cocktails engineered for gastronomic pairing; examples include the Okinawa Spritz that balances tea tannin, saline, and citrus bitters.
- Philosophy
- Drinks frame salinity, acid, fat, and aromatics rather than dominate; glassware and temperatures are tuned for each course.
- The aim is lift and clarity—complementing the meal’s “coastal soul.”
Service & Accolades
In June 2025, Lilo was awarded its first Michelin star, a landmark moment for Carlsbad and North County San Diego’s emerging culinary landscape. Recognition builds on the foundation laid by Resnick’s earlier ventures: Campfire’s elemental warmth and Jeune et Jolie’s curated finesse are fused here into a tighter, counter-driven expression of hospitality.
Service is interactive in spirit but disciplined in execution—staff provide context, provenance, and method with succinct clarity, allowing both storytelling and pacing to remain seamless. Dinner service only, scheduled Tuesday through Saturday evenings, ensures an uninterrupted rhythm and focus. Accessibility is made a priority both inside the space—thanks to wheelchair-friendly layout—and outside, with convenient free lot and street parking.
Value & Practicalities
The tasting menu at Lilo begins around $265 per person, excluding beverages and gratuity. While not inexpensive, the value lies not only in the ingredients or labor but in the holistic arc of the evening. Guests experience thoughtful staging from the welcoming patio to the final petit four, a precision of pacing often elusive in tasting-menu dining. Dialogue with the kitchen during counter service, the layering of flavors through ferments and dry-aging, and the celebratory integration of space and food all coalesce to deliver meaning alongside pleasure.
Located at 2571 Roosevelt Street in Carlsbad, the restaurant is cozy and upscale, aligning itself with romantic evenings, special occasions, and destination dining trips. Reservations are essential given the limited seating and high demand.
Who Will Love Lilo
The restaurant appeals to adventurous diners who seek not just food but narrative—a story of coastal California ingredients expressed through French and Japanese precision. Intimacy seekers and travelers wanting something beyond the standard fine-dining expanse will find the scale refreshing. Counter enthusiasts who love chef interaction and culinary storytelling will view Lilo as an ideal stage. And for celebrants, every detail from the arrival ritual to the nightcap garden ensures a memorable occasion.
For those pursuing world-class dining on an intimate stage, Lilo positions itself as one of Southern California’s essential new destinations, epitomizing how precision, seasonality, and narrative design can elevate a simple meal into a transformative experience.
For more information, please visit Lilo.