San Diego Mag's Chef of the Year (2024) Looks Back at 10 Years

San Diego Magazine's Happy Half Hour · Apr 10, 2026 · 57m

Brad Wise of Trust, Fort Oak, and Rare Society talks restaurant wins and terrors and names the best sandwiches in San Diego.

"We were scraping by, praying that we were going to have a busy weekend to make rent and—not only that, but payroll," recalls chef Brad Wise.

Thank god his food was good and his wife had a job.

It's been 10 years since his first existential terrors as a restaurateur. A decade of woodsmoke in nice places. When Wise and team first opened Trust around the corner from the main drag in Hillcrest, there wasn't anything like it. I'm sure there were outliers, but it sure felt…