As the food writer for SDM since 2011, Troy has been compiling the "Best Restaurants" list in San Diego Magazine for the past 15 years. All year long, he eats throughout the city and keeps a running Notes document filled with the best restaurants and dishes and drinks he finds. It operates like his personal leaderboard.

He shares that list in the issue every year alongside the readers' picks. He's putting this year's list together right now, out June 1.

For this episode of Happy Half Hour, he pulls back the curtain on the process. How this massive issue comes to be. He also reveals his short list for a couple categories—Best Burger, Best Italian, and Best New Restaurant. Then asks the audience for their recommendations to go try as he finalizes his picks.

"Everyone tells me I have to try North Park Beer Co's burger, so I'll start there," Troy says. "What else am I missing? Tell me my picks are dumb, show me the error in my burger ways."

More from the episode:

02:25 The story of how Troy nearly killed "Best Restaurants" when he and Claire took over San Diego Magazine, and what made him change his mind

05:20 The criteria for making his picks. Michelin only takes into account food—not ambiance, plating, or service. Troy takes in the ambiance. "I go to a restaurant to be transported, otherwise I'd eat fried chicken in my backyard," he says. "But that doesn't mean it has to be a million-dollar buildout. One of my favorite ambiances is Fathom Bistro, which is a tiny hot dog stand on a fishing pier."

Troy also takes into account the values/ethics of a restaurant. "If I've got a tie and I know one chef treats people really well and buys as sustainably as possible, I'm going to go with that restaurant," he says. "We eat with our mouth but also our heart—values matter."

04:52 How he doesn't overvalue his own opinion. "I've been studying food for a long time and have been lucky to eat out a lot, try food from some of the best chefs in the country," Troy says. "But I don't eat with your mouth. I don't propose this is the ultimate list or any such hooey. It's just my list that I give to family and friends I care about whenever they ask, 'What's the best Thai restaurant in San Diego?'"

03:20 The annual question of whether or not lists like these are pay for play. "Not even close—you don't work for 20 years getting an audience to trust what you say and then throw that away," Troy says. "I have so much respect and gratitude for the restaurants who support what we do at SDM. But I don't think they want me doing that, either. I trust they want to support a real media co that doesn't bullshit people. If they're just trying to buy the list, it's probably not a long term relationship anyway."

SDM's annual Best Restaurants issue is out on June 1. You can vote now at https://bosdvote.sdmag.com/.

The industry built this one. Had it been half-ass, it never would've worked. Lion's Share opened up 14 years ago, a sliver of a dark den of a craft cocktail bar and semi-restaurant near Seaport Village. But on the wrong side of the street. Not a destination. Foot traffic, zilch.

And yet, the bartenders were some of the best in the city, experimenting with the fringes of what was possible. Back then, craft cocktails were actually a new thing. We were coming hot and heavy off of the bottled-juice-and-vodka generation. The concept was quirky enough—cooking alternative proteins (boar, frogs legs, venison, elk, etc). The owners lived upstairs.

Lion's Share became where your favorite bartender ate, an icon among those in the know. It got new owner blood last year with two chef brothers, Dante and Danny Romero. One had cooked briefly at the three-Michelin-star Addison. The other rose through other kitchens, eventually overseeing a massive casino food program.

Together, they were the opening chefs at Wormwood in North Park. They formed a pop-up dinner series called Two Ducks, then debuted Service Animals with cocktail guy Ian Ward, and now handle the food program at Ponyboy in Point Loma.

The brothers come into SDM to talk about life in Calexico, in the kitchen, and the evolution of a city's food culture. Oh, a furry lion visits the studio, too. Check out Lion's Share HERE.

Discover more at San Diego Magazine.

San Diego's next-gen Filipino American chefs are bringing their adobo roots to the top kitchens

Multiple-time James Beard nominee Tara Monsod comes in to talk about kitchen life and the rise of Filipino food—the fare she grew up with—in San Diego. She and host Troy Johnson run through their list of the best date spots in the city, including oysters on the only rooftop hideout in North Park (Deckman's North), a tuckaway in Mission Hills that Troy named "Restaurant of the Year" (Wolf in the Woods), a Point Loma classic laden with enough candles to conjure even the sleepiest libido (The Venetian), and other spots where food doesn't disappoint the ambiance.

As for Filipino food, it was just a matter of time. Sisig and lechon kawali would not be denied their rightful glories. San Diego has one of the strongest Filipino American communities in the US. For decades, the cuisine was represented by a few staples in National City (shout out, Tita's Kitchenette). The best adobo was in the parks, cooked by local families. The kids of those families who chose to cook for a living learned in French and Italian kitchens.

Eventually, they'd turn those skills to the dishes they grew up with. In San Diego, chefs like the late Anthony Sinsay, Craig Jimenez, Phil Esteban (White Rice) and Tara are leading the way. Follow Tara HERE.

Discover more at San Diego Magazine.