San Diego, CA

How Sam the Cooking Guy Won the Internet | San Diego Magazine

Published

1 year ago

August 8, 2024

How Sam the Cooking Guy Won the Internet | San Diego Magazine

About seven to 10 years ago, Troy found himself on a flight from Chicago to San Diego, sitting next to none other than now-YouTube star and restaurateur, Sam the Cooking Guy. A bomb threat had diverted the plane to Phoenix instead. Amidst the chaos and fear, they found themselves calling and texting their loved ones back in San Diego, unsure of what was happening.

Sam the Cooking Guy is our guest on this week’s Happy Half Hour. Spoiler: He and Troy survived that fateful flight and remain happily trauma-bonded to this day (we get into details of what happened and how it all ended in the episode).

These days, Sam’s also sitting pretty at 3.7 million YouTube followers as of publish and just opened his latest restaurant, Basta, in Little Italy. The new concept joins his other restaurants including Not Not Tacos, Samburgers, Graze, and Coo Coo’s Nest. In classic Sam style, the food follows only a few rules, resulting in brain-bending, mouth-watering combos like deep-fried pate à choux gnocchi with cacio e pepe aioli. It’s one of the best things we’ve ever popped in our mouths.

Sam shared insights into his journey from being miserable in a corporate biotech job to finding success, fame, and, most importantly, happiness from taking the leap into his cooking and media career. “I was miserable. I knew I needed to find a way to make me happy,” Sam remembers.

Courtesy of Basta!

He took a bet on YouTube at the behest of his son who saw the platform’s promise and paired it with his dad’s love for cooking and irreverent personality. “He’s a really talented guy that learned how to cook live on TV and now is actually a great cook,” Troy says, describing Sam’s unique journey of becoming kitchen-fluent live and on-camera, while becoming famous at the same time.

Sam’s YouTube channel, which has now grown to nearly 4 million subscribers, is a testament to his perseverance, creativity, and adaptability. He recalled the grinding early days, which netted him only 30,000 subscribers after seven years. But a shift in approach—shorter, better-produced videos—catapulted his channel into the stratosphere.

“We started to make things that we imagined our audience would want to see,” Sam explained. This includes making mistakes, which he doesn’t edit out, and evaluating his viewers and playing to what he thinks they’d like to eat and cook. “It’s all part of the process,” he says.

The cover of Sam the Cooking Guy's new book — Courtesy of Amazon

Part of that now includes several restaurants, as well as a number of successful cookbooks. Sam continues to chug on–his latest cookbook, Sam the Cooking Guy: Between the Buns, showcases his love for comfort food with a twist, which reflects the kind of dishes you can find at his restaurants and in his videos.

We also dove into the local culinary news: A new Japanese fusion spot called Cherryfish is set to open in Pacific Beach this September. Owners Danielle and Carlos Marcos are eager to “contribute to the wave of culinary change in the area.” Meanwhile, chefs Nick Weber and Jacob Jordan are making waves in Oceanside with their Chinese cuisine pop-up, 24 Suns, which has been receiving rave reviews for its seasonal summer menu.

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San Diego, CA

Padres roster review: Sung-Mun song

Published

7 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Press Room

Padres roster review: Sung-Mun song – San Diego Union-Tribune

SUNG-MUN SONG

Position(s): Third base, second base
Bats / Throws: Left / Right
2026 opening day age: 29
Height / Weight: 6-foot / 194 pounds
How acquired: Signed as a free agent in December 2025
Contract status: A four-year, $15 million deal will see Song make $2.5 million in 2026, $3 million in 2027, $3.5 million in 2028 and $4 million in 2029 if he does not opt out of last year; Half of his $1 million signing bonus is due in January 2026 and the other half in 2027; There is a $7 million mutual option for 2030.
fWAR in 2025: N/A
Key 2025 stats (KBO): .315 AVG, .387 OBP, .530 SLG, 26 HRs, 90 RBIs, 103 runs, 68 walks, 96 strikeouts, 25 steals (144 games, 646 plate appearances)

STAT TO NOTE

.214 — Song’s isolated power in 2025, a career high as he prepared for a jump to the majors. Isolated power measures a player’s raw power (extra bases per at-bat) and Song had a .190 OPS in 2018, in his third year as a pro in Korea, before it dropped to .101 in 2019 and then a career-low .095 in 2023. Hitting 19 homers pushed Song’s isolated power to .178 in 2024 and then a career-high 26 homers push it even higher in 2025.

Idle — Drafted by the Heroes in 2014, Song debuted in the KBO the following year but didn’t become a regular until 2019. A drop-off in production — he had an .884 OPS in 78 games in 2018 and a .597 OPS in 103 games in 2019 — was followed by losing the 2020 season and a chunk of the 2021 season to military service obligations. Then three straight sub-.700 OPS seasons forced Song to rethink his approach to professional baseball, especially in the face of the likes of Ha-Seong Kim, Jung Hoo Lee and Hyeseong Kim generating big-league buzz. Song started with weight training and nutrition. A hitting coach also helped him with balance, pull-side power and the ability to catch up with the sort of fastballs that seem to dog Korean players when they arrive in the States. It all added up to a breakthrough year in which Song paired 19 homers, 104 RBIs and 21 steals with a .340/.409/.518 batting line. To prove it was no fluke, Song followed up his 2024 season with another strong effort that solidified his wish to try his hand in the majors. The ensuing, four-year, $15 million deal that Song signed with the Padres in December cost his new employer a $3 million posting fee to be paid to the Kiwoom Heroes.

2026 OUTLOOK

Like Kim before him, Song appears to be joining the Padres as a utility player with the hope that he blossoms into more as he gets comfortable in a new country and league. Song had experience in Korea at third base (500 starts), second base (149 starts) and first base (38 starts). Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller even mentioned outfield reps in passing as he assessed how Song could help the Padres in 2026.

Former KBO player Sung-Mun Song shakes hands with Padres vice president of amateur and international scouting Pete DeYoung after signing a contract with the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Saturday. (Photo by Armond Feffer/San Diego Padres)

ROSTER RANKINGS

24. INF Sung-Mun Song
25. RHP Matt Waldron
26. OF Bryce Johnson
27. RHP Ron Marinaccio
28. RHP Bryan Hoeing
29. LHP Kyle Hart
30. RHP Jhony Brito
31. INF Will Wagner
32. OF Tirso Ornelas
33. RHP Garrett Hawkins
34. RHP Miguel Mendez
35. RHP Daison Acosta
36. RHP Ty Adcock
37. RHP Alek Jacob
38. INF Mason McCoy

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San Diego, CA

Poway removes hundreds of trees to make city safer

Published

19 hours ago

January 5, 2026

Press Room

Poway removes hundreds of trees to make city safer

Drivers traveling through the city of Poway may have noticed a dramatic change to the landscape. Since September, more than 1,400 trees — many of them eucalyptus — have been removed as part of the city’s hazardous mitigation grant project aimed at reducing wildfire risk and improving public safety.

Poway is spending roughly $3 million on the effort, which focuses on removing trees that are dead, dying or considered dangerous. Much of the cost is being reimbursed by FEMA. Officials say the project is designed to make emergency evacuation routes safer while improving the overall health of trees along major roadways, rights-of-way and open spaces.

“I was relieved that there were some efforts being put into improving our resiliency to wildfire in our community,” said Poway Fire Chief Brian Mitchell.

Mitchell said spacing out trees can slow the spread of a wildfire and prevent roads from becoming blocked during an emergency.

“That certainly has the potential to block our first responders from accessing somebody’s house in the middle of an emergency,” Mitchell said.

City leaders also point to storm safety as a key reason for removing hazardous trees under controlled conditions rather than risking falling limbs or entire trees during severe weather.

“I don’t want to be driving down that street and just a random limb just happened to collapse, you know, just hit me,” said Poway resident Dawn Davis.

Davis said she also worries about the threat the trees pose to nearby homes.

“I don’t want anybody’s homes here to be damaged, either by them or fire,” Davis said.

A Poway spokeswoman said a certified arborist evaluated nearly 6,800 trees in Poway. About 2,800 invasive trees were recommended for removal.

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication.

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San Diego, CA

Aztecs land twin transfers from Michigan State to bolster offensive line

Published

1 day ago

January 5, 2026

Press Room

Aztecs land twin transfers from Michigan State to bolster offensive line

The front of the Fowler Athletic Center at San Diego State includes a pair of double doors that open from the inside out. Replacing them with revolving doors would seem appropriate, given all the comings and goings nowadays.

SDSU had two dozen football players — including five starters on the defense — enter the NCAA transfer portal, which opened Friday. The first wave of candidates to replace them visited over the weekend.

And by Sunday afternoon, SDSU announced its first two signings. It was a package deal.

Sophomore offensive linemen Charlton and Mercer Luniewski are Michigan State transfers from Cincinnati. And twins.

Charlton Luniewski’s social media says that he goes by “Big Chuck,” although Mercer is listed as an inch taller and 13 pounds heavier at 6-foot-6, 320. Mercer is also, by the way, 45 minutes older.

Charlton profiles at guard and Mercer at tackle, though SDSU typically works players in multiple spots to find the ideal fit. The twins are expected to challenge for spots on the two-deep if not the starting O-line, which lost three starters to graduation.

The twins were highly recruited two years ago out of Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, where they also competed in track and basketball. They have three years of eligibility remaining.

The Luniewskis were among a dozen transfer recruits who visited SDSU over the weekend. Commitments have come from half of them. More recruits are scheduled for the coming this week as the Aztecs look to replenish the roster.

SDSU also received a commitment Sunday from Nate Henrich, a 6-6 edge from Division II Gannon University in Pennsylvania. Henrich had six tackles at Gannon, but he is viewed as having high upside with good size and length. He could provide needed depth at a position where the Aztecs lost four players to the portal.

SDSU also expects commitments from Oregon State edge Kai Wallin, Portland State safety Isaiah Green and College of the Sequoias wide receiver Marshel Sanders.

Wallin is a 6-5 senior from Sacramento who played in nine games this season (seven starts) for the Beavers, making 17 tackles with one sack and four quarterback hurries. Green, a 6-1 junior from Oxnard, had a team-high 101 tackles at Portland State. Sanders is a 5-11 junior from Fresno who had 70 receptions for 929 yards and four touchdowns.

Bostick back

SDSU wide receiver Jacob Bostick announced on his social media Sunday that he is returning for the 2026 season.

His post read, in part: “Excited to get back to work with my coaches and teammates.”

Bostick had 11 catches for 157 yards and three touchdowns over six games before suffering a season-ending knee injury during practice six games into the season. He anticipates being ready to return by fall camp.

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