SAN DIEGO — On Thursday, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the state is dedicating $192 million to helping people move out of tents on the streets and into homes.

“It’s not what you see; it’s what you don’t see. It’s cleaning up these encampments,” Newsom said when asked what difference people will see in their communities when this funding is implemented.

The Governor’s office revealed a list of cities that will receive a portion of the funding. San Diego was not on the list.

A spokesperson for the City of San Diego says the City did not apply for this round of funding, saying: “We have three significant awards under this grant program and are focusing our resources on delivering results with the money we’ve been awarded.”

Those awards include:

• Downtown – E Street: $2.45 million
• County Collaboration – San Diego Riverbed: $3.7 million
• I-15 Corridor: $3.2 million

Newsom also issued a fact sheet addressing increasing oversight when it comes to how local agencies are spending the funding.
The announcement comes just over a week after a state audit reported that San Diego needs to improve how it spends and keeps track of money used to tackle homelessness.

In response to the Governor’s announcement, Mayor Todd Gloria issued a statement reading in part:

In San Diego County, Oceanside is the only city receiving money from this round of funding.

A full list of jurisdictions awarded money is below:

• The city of Anaheim will receive $3.1 million
• The city of Chico will receive $2.7 million
• The city of Fresno will receive $10.9 million
• The City of Los Banos will receive $11.8 million
• The City of Oakland will receive $7.2 million
• The City of Oceanside will receive $11.4 million
• The City of Ojai will receive $12.7 million
• The City of San Bernardino will receive $4.6 million
• The City of Santa Cruz will receive $4 million
• The Humboldt County Continuum of Care will receive $3.4 million
• Los Angeles County will receive $51.5 million
• Marin County will receive an award of $18.2 million
• Monterey County will receive an award of $11.1 million
• Nevada County will receive $2.5 million
• Santa Barbara County will receive $7.9 million
• San Mateo County will receive $14.1 million
• The Tehama County Continuum of Care will receive $14.1 million

Sometime in 2018 or 2019—he’s not sure exactly which—Brandon Rodgers called Eric Brandt. At the time, Rodgers was chef de cuisine at Benu, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in San Francisco. He’d also done stints at The French Laundry and In Situ at SFMOMA and represented the US at the Olympics of culinary competitions, the Bocuse d’Or, where he initially met Brandt in 2007.

“He said, ‘Have you ever thought about doing a fast casual burger joint?’” recalls Brandt. “I’m like, ‘Brandon, you just got three Michelin stars. What are you thinking about a burger joint?’ And he’s like, ‘It would be the best burger joint in the world.’” 

The pair percolated over the idea and decided to try it, first as a concession concept at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert in 2021 and then at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in 2023. But winning the Avocado Cup Culinary Competition at the inaugural Del Mar Wine + Food Festival last year convinced them to turn it into a full-fledged restaurant, with Brandt as owner/CEO and Rodgers as co-founder and chef.

“When we won that, it was kind of like, ‘All right, we probably better do a brick and mortar,” laughed Brandt

Tanner’s Prime Burgers, a brick-and-mortar restaurant, officially opens this Friday, April 19 at the Freeman Collective in Oceanside. The 2,000-square-foot space will feature inside and outside seating and will use 100% USDA prime-grade beef supplied from Brandt Beef, Brandt’s family ranch, which has operated in the Imperial Valley since 1945. 

“This whole concept is about the beef,” explains Rodgers, adding that they will make every item on the menu with Brandt’s beef, from the bacon to the ice cream. But with burger in the name, it’s still definitely the star of the show. “We have one burger. You can get a single, or you can get that double,” he says. “We want to keep it simple and do it right.” 

But it will be the details that set them apart. The cheese is more than just cheese—it’s a unique aged cheddar that melts like American cheese, created especially for Tanner’s by Eric Greenspan from cheese company New School. Nearby, Artifex Brewing will brew the Tanner’s Lager and Tanner’s IPA. Honey for their sweet tea comes from Avery Girl Honey, another family-owned company near Brandt’s ranch. Even their Tanner’s Prime Hot Sauce is homemade, made with a 14-day fermented chile mash and blended with vinegar. 

Other menu items include options for kids, like a slider or all-beef hot dog, fries that come plain, cheesy, or “dirty” with beef tallow, a juicy, rich beef flavor rendered from beef fat. Yes, it’s decadent. But it’s outrageously delicious, and what Brandt says makes their ice cream extra creamy. 

“That creaminess from the beef tallow just holds—it can be a hot sunny afternoon, and it doesn’t melt all over you,” he laughs, pointing to their Fatty Patty, which is a scoop of the beef tallow ice cream sandwiched between two homemade chocolate chip cookies. “You can’t leave without trying a Fatty Patty.”

Rodgers and Brandt’s commitment to using as much of the animal as possible goes beyond the food. They also incorporated it into the design by Michael Francis, principal at SAINT (Studio for Architecture and Interiors), who used Brandt leather to create red leather barstools in the dining area. Rodgers says they took inspiration from fast-casual places like Chipotle and Shake Shack for a “functional, but simple” interior where people can get unpretentious food that will still knock their socks off. 

Rodgers says the potential to captivate even more people by elevating a classic dish was a huge reason he left a three-star kitchen. “As a Michelin-starred chef, you’re preparing the best 40 meals a night, max,” he says. “What an opportunity to be able to try to prepare a burger that someone’s had 1,000 times, and try to serve that to 1,000 people a day. If you could touch 1,000 people versus 40 people a night, for me, that’s a great feeling.”

After April 19, Tanner’s will be open seven days a week from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. The duo says they’ll see how it goes, but future locations are not off the table. “I’m focused on one, [but] Eric is focused on 21,” Rodgers jokes. Brandt agrees but says getting this off the ground has been an incredible journey already.

“I get chills thinking about the fact that we’re actually opening our first brick-and-mortar,” he says, recalling that prescient phone call from years ago. “This is a toast and a cheers to that call.”