The corner of Coast Highway and Daphne Street held Mozy Café for years. The menu that The Coast News reviewed there in late September has khao piek sen, the Lao chicken noodle soup with hand-cut rice noodles, and an avocado curry that a Coast News columnist called "very Leucadia." Directly behind it, the old Peace Pies space is being turned into a 30-seat oyster bar. Farther up North Coast Highway 101, the former Mrkt Space now takes sushi reservations.
Three of the four restaurants opening on or near this part of Coast Highway are run by people who already operate a restaurant somewhere else. In most cases the owners describe the Leucadia location as different from the first one, on purpose. Some cook more seafood, some have more room, and in one case it's the owner's first kitchen after years of waiting. The one exception was built to stay the same, and it's the reason the others stand out.
The Mozy Café corner, adapted for the coast
Coast Thai-Way opened at 698 North Coast Highway 101. The owners are Stella Bayphouthongkham and Bee Sukcharoen, who also own Mekong Cuisine Lao & Thai on Convoy Street. The partners met at 18, when Bayphouthongkham took her first restaurant job at a local Thai place. Her family came to San Diego from Laos in 1990 and stayed.
The Coast News review on September 22 lays out how the Leucadia menu differs from Convoy. The kitchen leans on seafood, seasonal produce and Southern California influences, alongside the Lao and Thai dishes Bayphouthongkham's family has cooked for generations. Crispy calamari and crab fried rice are the seafood additions. The ingredient standards are written for this crowd: organic and seasonal produce when available, pasture-raised chicken, grass-fed or grass-finished beef, and cooking with non-GMO avocado oil.
The familiar curries and noodles are there, including panang, massaman, pad see-ew and drunken noodles. The Lao dishes, plus a Northern Thai noodle soup, are the part that's harder to find on this stretch of the 101:
- Nam khao tod, a crispy coconut rice salad with cured pork sausage and a chili-lime fish sauce vinaigrette
- Sai oua, Lao herbal sausage with jeow som and sticky rice
- Grilled pork collar with tiger tamarind sauce
- Khao soi, the Northern Thai curry noodle soup, with chicken, tofu or beef
The drinks list carries Lao and Thai beers alongside local craft beer, sake, and natural wines that include a sparkling orange. Bayphouthongkham calls the corner her dream restaurant location.
Behind it, a first kitchen built around one fish technique
Marbella Oyster Bar is going into 133 Daphne Street, the former Peace Pies space right behind Coast Thai-Way. It's the first restaurant for chef Armando Martin del Campo and his co-owner, Jhonathan Velazquez. Unlike its neighbors, Marbella has no original location to adapt. Martin del Campo told San Diego Magazine that getting his own kitchen took a long time:
"It took me so many years to have my kitchen in San Diego, up north in Encinitas. I feel more prepared and blessed and experienced and mature in other ways… the timing was just perfect."
The defining choice is ikejime, the Japanese method of killing fish instantly with a spike to the spinal cord. San Diego Magazine explains that it reduces stress in the fish, keeps lactic acid from damaging the texture, and preserves the compounds that give fish its umami. Few local restaurants use it because it's hard to learn and takes more work. The rest of the announced menu follows from that: oysters, crudo, sashimi, ceviche, Spanish bomba rice, and tacos on non-GMO corn tortillas. There will probably be a steak too, since Martin del Campo spent more than 13 years exporting beef across the border.
The room will be small and minimalist, with about 30 seats indoors and out and a Euro-centric wine list. The centerpiece is an open-seating seafood bar where diners watch the fish being prepared. Martin del Campo compares it to eating at a taco stand in Mexico, where you eat at the bar and move on.
On timing, San Diego Magazine's May 26 report gave an opening window of August or September 2026. As of early October we haven't found confirmation that Marbella is open, so check before walking over.
Up the highway, the one built to stay the same
Oto Sushi is the exception, and it says so. Owner Ash Cintas spent nearly two decades in operations at Tao Group Hospitality and Ace Hotel, then opened the first Oto in Laguna Beach in 2024. The Leucadia location at 782 N. Coast Highway 101 is a test of whether that model can be repeated. "Encinitas is the next step in proving that model can scale," she told San Diego Magazine, and she hopes to open six to eight coastal locations across Southern California.
The choice of North County was still personal. Cintas spent time in San Diego growing up visiting family, and her grandfather built a fishing business here. Her twin sister, Alysha Rabb, designed the Japanese coastal interior in the former Mrkt Space. It covers 3,200 square feet with an indoor dining room, a large patio and a private dining room, seating 95 in total.
What carries over from Laguna Beach is the method. Much of the sushi is served yakumi-style, already seasoned so it doesn't need soy sauce. The fish comes from Smart Catch and Seafood Watch-approved suppliers, and there are many gluten-free options. Chef Connor Mathison, who has more than 15 years behind the sushi counter, adds robatayaki grilled over binchotan charcoal, plus karaage, bento and Wagyu burgers. Beverage partner Gavin Grum runs the drinks list of scratch cocktails, sake and Japanese whisky.
Oto is open now. Its Resy page lists the restaurant under Leucadia with a 4.6 rating from 46 reviews. Hours are less clear. The June announcement said 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Oto's website now shows dinner only Monday through Wednesday, starting at 4:30 p.m., but doesn't say which location that applies to. Check before planning a weekday lunch.
A full rebuild on Coast Highway, still on the way
The Brant comes from brothers Travis and Drew Brummett. Their first location opened in Huntington Beach in 2023. The Encinitas restaurant at 806 Coast Highway 101 replaces Beachside Bar and Grill. San Diego Magazine reports that the brothers rebuilt the space completely, adding a 1,500-square-foot rooftop bar and an indoor dining room much bigger than the Huntington Beach one. Travis Brummett says the extra room lets them expand the menu and experiment. Drew is moving here to run it.
The starting point is the Huntington Beach menu: pretzel bites, clams in white wine, spicy tuna tartare tacos, a Kobe beef burger, bone-in ribeye and fresh halibut, plus craft cocktails. Encinitas will serve lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. "We really want to focus on being a part of the local community in Encinitas," Brummett said, describing the goal as a "family neighborhood restaurant vibe" on Coast Highway.
The latest target we found was late summer 2026, from a January report. We haven't confirmed an opening as of October 4.
Where things stand this week
| Restaurant | Address | Replaced | Status as of Oct. 4, 2026 | Distinguishing feature here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coast Thai-Way | 698 N. Coast Hwy 101 | Mozy Café | Open | Coastal seafood added to a Convoy Street Lao-Thai lineage |
| Oto Sushi | 782 N. Coast Hwy 101 | Mrkt Space | Open, taking Resy bookings | Yakumi-style nigiri, robatayaki, 95 seats with a private room |
| Marbella Oyster Bar | 133 Daphne St. | Peace Pies | Announced for Aug. or Sept., not confirmed open | Ikejime fish, about 30 seats, open seafood bar |
| The Brant | 806 Coast Hwy 101 | Beachside Bar and Grill | Announced for late summer, not confirmed open | Rebuilt space with a 1,500-sq-ft rooftop bar |
These four join a part of town that San Diego Magazine already considers strong for dining. It names Valentina and Atelier Manna, which holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, among the 92024 restaurants that keep the area competitive with anywhere in San Diego. The new arrivals are adding Lao sausage, binchotan-grilled skewers, ikejime crudo and a rooftop bar to that mix, and three of the four come from owners who say they chose this stretch of Coast Highway specifically.
At Maxine & Marti Gellens, we keep track of how blocks like this one change, because a neighborhood's dinner options shape daily life there as much as the homes do. If you'd like to talk through what's happening along the 101 in Leucadia, or anywhere else on the coast, please contact us.
