‘It was everything I knew’: Daughter of La Jolla chef carves out own life in restaurant business

Trey Foshee may be a familiar name in the La Jolla food scene through his longtime role as chef/partner at George’s at the Cove, but now another Foshee is making her way in local restaurants.

But rather than create in the kitchen like her father, Amanda Foshee is working the front of the house. After serving as a hostess at George’s for seven years, she was assistant manager of Sandpiper Wood Fired Grill & Oysters in La Jolla Shores for the past year.

Now she’s working at Lilo, a Michelin-recognized restaurant in Carlsbad, with aspirations of opening her own restaurant one day.

But that career path almost didn’t come to be.

Growing up with her father often busy in the George’s kitchen, Foshee said there was some early discomfort with the restaurant industry.

“My dad worked throughout my childhood in the restaurant business, so that meant not having him around for holidays and him working long hours,” Foshee said. “So for a long time I didn’t want to be in the restaurant business. I had a negative viewpoint of it.”

Nevertheless, she got a job at a restaurant in her teens and eventually moved on to George’s.

“It was intimidating for a bit,” she said. “I also wanted to branch out because everything I did was tied to his name. Not that he ever put pressure on me, but I naturally felt like everything I did reflected on him. And you always want to make your dad proud.”

Trey Foshee said “Amanda has been independent from an early age” and has since developed “everything we look for in a team member — well-spoken, empathetic, hard-working and takes her career seriously.”

“The future of the industry needs her generation, growing up with social media and a different relationship with work and success,” he added.

While Trey “had the creative vision for food,” Amanda craved the social aspect of restaurants and interacting with guests. So she reported to different managers and never worked directly under her father.

Still unconvinced she would pursue a career in restaurants, Amanda went to the University of San Diego to earn degrees in marketing and real estate. After college, she traveled to Italy, where she constantly found herself visiting, photographing and evaluating restaurants.

“That was all my dad and I talked about,” she said. “When I got back, he encouraged me to get into the restaurant business. So I thought about it for a month and realized I eat, sleep and drink the restaurant business. … It was everything I knew.”

She got back into the restaurant scene in management and front-of-house roles.

“At any job, it’s easy to get into a routine because, for us, we are going to work,” Foshee said. “But most of the people at a restaurant … come because they are celebrating something or are excited because it’s their first time going. You want to connect with them and create a memorable experience.”

But that’s not to say a restaurant of her own where she might work in the kitchen is not a possibility … eventually.

“It’s definitely not off the table,” Foshee said.