Campfire’s octopus, chorizo, and celery-root entrée.
Gage Forster
San Diego FC coach Mikey Varas and star Anders Dreyer have been named finalists for three of Major League Soccer’s largest postseason awards.
Varas has been named a finalist for the Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year Award, the league announced on Thursday.
The United States Men’s National Team’s former interim head coach, Varas has led SDFC to a record-setting season. Saturday’s win over the Portland Timbers extended the franchise’s record for most wins (19) and points (63) for an expansion team in Major League Soccer history. The No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, SDFC will host Portland on Sunday in Game 1 of the best-of-three first round of the MLS Cup playoffs.
Varas is one of three finalists for the award, joining Philadelphia Union’s Bradley Carnell and the Vancouver Whitecaps’ Jesper Sørensen. Philadelphia has won the Supporters’ Shield, given annually to the MLS team with the best regular-season record.
Dreyer is a finalist for both the Landon Donovan Most Valuable Player Award and the MLS Newcomer of the Year Award.
The 27-year-old Dreyer joined SDFC in January as the second designated player in club history, joining Hirving “Chucky” Lozano. Dreyer scored the first goal in franchise history in a Feb. 23 win over the LA Galaxy in Carson, and has gone on to post one of the best performances in MLS. Dreyer has scored 19 goals and logged a MLS-best 19 assists, accounting for 59% of SDFC’s 64 total goals.
Dreyer was named the league’s player of the month in both June and August.
Dreyer’s competition for the MVP award will be stiff. Lionel Messi, the league’s goals leader with 29, is another MVP finalist, alongside Denis Bouanga of LAFC, Sam Surridge of Nashville SC and Evander of FC Cincinnati. South Korean sensation Son Heung-Min of LAFC and Philip Zinckernagel of the Chicago Fire are the other candidates for the newcomer award.
The end-of-season awards are voted on by MLS club technical staff, MLS first-team players and select media members. Winners will be announced in the weeks leading up to the Dec. 6 MLS Cup final.
Portland beat Real Salt Lake 3-1 on Wednesday night, setting up their first-round matchup with SDFC.
Timbers defender Kamal Miller, who scored in Wednesday’s win, said “it’s important to celebrate” wins like Wednesday’s, but that the team is focused on what’s ahead.
“The group is happy, but we know what San Diego just did to us on our home turf. So we can’t get too happy,” he said.
Miller said the team will review film “to see all the areas where we went wrong against San Diego and what we can do better.”
Portland was admittedly sloppy in last weekend’s 4-0, rain-slicked loss at Providence Park. Miller said the Timbers “can’t turn the ball over like that” if they expect to beat the West’s top seed.
SDFC is “efficient and lethal,” Miller said. “They play 11 guys attack and 11 guys defend. They’re a good team.”
Originally Published:
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SANDY, Utah — SANDY, Utah (AP) — Sergi Solans had two goals and an assist, Diego Luna added a goal and two assists, and Real Salt Lake beat San Diego FC 4-2 on Saturday night to extend its unbeaten streak to six games.
Morgan Guilavogui scored his first goal in MLS and had an assist for Real Salt Lake (5-1-1). The 28-year-old designated player has five goal contributions in his first six career games.
RSL hasn’t lost since a 1-0 defeat at Vancouver in the season opener.
San Diego (3-3-2) has lost three in a row and is winless in five straight.
Luna opened the scoring in the fifth minute when he re-directed a misplayed pass by Duran Ferree, San Diego’s 19-year-old goalkeeper, into the net.
Moments later, Solans headed home a perfectly-placed cross played by Luna from outside the right corner of the 18-yard box to the back post to make it 2-0. Solans, a 23-year-old forward, flicked a header from the center of the area inside the right post and past the outstretched arm of Ferree to make it 3-1 in the 37th minute.
Guilavogui slammed home a first-touch shot to give RSL a three-goal lead in the 45th.
Marcus Ingvartsen scored a goal in the 14th minute and Anders Dreyer converted from the penalty spot in the 66th for San Diego.
Ingvartsen has five goals and an assist this season and has 10 goal contributions (seven goals, three assists) in 16 career MLS appearances.
Rafael Cabral had three saves for RSL.
Ferree finished with five saves.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/soccer
When John Resnick opened Campfire on a quaint little street in Carlsbad, Calif., in 2016, some locals weren’t sure what to think. The coastal enclave wasn’t exactly awash in innovative, chef-driven establishments, so it was a shock to see the dining room consistently full. Early on, one woman wondered aloud to Resnick, “Where did all these people come from?”
It’s a moment he remembers vividly. “I was struck by her statement, because I think she was surprised that so many other people in Carlsbad were there,” Resnick says.
The rest of the culinary world would take some time to catch up to what was happening. In 2019, when Michelin expanded to rate restaurants throughout all of California—not just the San Francisco area—Addison was the only one in San Diego to earn a star. But since emerging from the pandemic, the region’s food scene has grown dramatically. Driven by outstanding farms, ingredients, a bumper crop of talented chefs, and a G.D.P. approximately the size of New Zealand or Greece, San Diego County has become one of America’s most underrated dining destinations.
Campfire’s octopus, chorizo, and celery-root entrée.
Gage Forster
Perhaps no single restaurant is a better emblem for this shift than chef William Bradley’s Addison, which opened in 2006. After landing his first star, Bradley knew he wanted more. To get them, he transformed his French-leaning fare to serve what he calls California Gastronomy, which combines the cultures of SoCal with impeccable ingredients and wildly impressive techniques, prizing flavor over flair. Michelin responded, awarding Addison a second star in 2022, and making it the first Southern California three-star restaurant just a year later. The accolade has created a halo effect, attracting culinary tourists from around the world.
Berry beet tartlets at San Diego’s three-star stalwart Addison.
Eric Wolfinger
“Earning three stars forces the global dining community to pay attention to a place that may not have been on their radar before,” says chef Eric Bost, a partner in Resnick’s four Carlsbad establishments.
Resnick recruited Bost, who spent time at award-winning outposts of Restaurant Guy Savoy, to run Jeune et Jolie, which he led to a star in 2021. They’ve since taken over an old boogie-board factory down the street and converted it to an all-day restaurant and bakery, Wildland. The space also hosts an exquisite tasting-counter experience called Lilo, which was given a Michelin star mere months after opening in April 2025. And as Resnick and Bost grew their successful Carlsbad operation, chef Roberto Alcocer earned a Michelin star for his Mexican fine-dining spot Valle in nearby Oceanside.
The stylish tasting counter at Michelin one-star Lilo in Carlsbad.
Kimberly Motos
About 25 miles to the south, another affluent coastal community is going through its own culinary glow up. In La Jolla, chef Tara Monsod and the hospitality group Puffer Malarkey Collective opened the stylish French steakhouse Le Coq. Chef Erik Anderson, formerly of Michelin two-star Coi, is preparing to launch Roseacre. And last year, Per Se alums Elijah Arizmendi and Brian Hung left New York to open the elegant tasting-menu restaurant Lucien, lured by the ingredients they’d get to serve. “A major reason we chose San Diego is the quality and diversity of the produce,” Arizmendi explains. “San Diego County has more small farms than anywhere else in the U.S., and its many microclimates allow farmers to grow an incredible range of ingredients year-round.”
Wildland’s spicy Italian sandwich.
Gage Forster
Chef Travis Swikard has also been a tireless advocate for the region’s ingredients since he returned to San Diego, his hometown, and opened Mediterranean-influenced Callie in 2021. There’s no sophomore slump with his latest effort, the French Riviera–inspired Fleurette in La Jolla, where he’s serving his take on classics like leeks vinaigrette and his San Diego “Bouillabaisse” with local red sheepshead fish and spiny lobster. Its food is bright, produce-driven, and attentive in execution, while the dining room maintains a relaxed and unpretentious style of service. And Swikard sees that approach cohering into a regional style with a strong network of professionals behind it.
“It’s really nice that we are developing our own identity, not trying to be like L.A. or any other market, just highlighting what’s great about the San Diego lifestyle and ingredients,” he says. “Similar to New York, a chef community is starting to develop where chefs are supporting each other. There is a true sense of pride to be cooking here.”
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