Chef
Anthony Wells
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- San Diego, California, United States
i. Biography
Before the executive chef role at Lana in Solana Beach, the training path behind Anthony Wells moved through West Virginia, New York, Atlanta, San Diego, and coastal California. The useful through-line is kitchen discipline: technical schooling, exacting restaurant work, an opening in Atlanta, and long service in a high-volume Southern California dining room. Each stage added pressure-tested habits around product, timing, and restraint. Coastal cooking at Lana is built from proximity: seafood, seasonal vegetables, and a Southern California pantry treated as primary material. Wells brings fine-dining polish to that work, but the emphasis stays on product condition, sourcing, and the amount of technique needed to make the ingredient clear.
The Trajectory
Technical formation came through California Culinary Academy, where Anthony Wells built the base for work in demanding kitchens. Oran Mor, Per Se, and Lincoln added the daily grammar of precision: repetition, clean execution, controlled seasoning, and plates edited enough to hold their line. Restaurant opening work tests a different part of the craft. Helping launch The Spence in Atlanta required Wells to move from inherited systems into building systems: translating an idea into prep, service, staffing rhythm, and a functioning dining room. Southern California sharpened the ingredient side of the work. At Juniper & Ivy in San Diego, CA, Wells served as Chef de cuisine (2014–2015) before becoming executive chef (2015–2023). The kitchen’s pace and the region’s produce rewarded control without heaviness, with freshness and timing carrying more weight than excess construction. Coastal hotel dining added another setting for that discipline. Wells was executive chef at Hotel La Jolla, Curio Collection by Hilton in La Jolla, CA (2023–2024), and headed the new restaurant Sea & Sky at Hotel La Jolla in La Jolla, CA (2023–2024). The work placed seafood, market product, and coastal context close to the center of the plate. Today, Anthony is executive chef of Lana (since 2025).
Current Practice
The executive chef role at Lana in Solana Beach, held by Anthony Wells since 2025, centers on carefully sourced seafood, sustainable ingredients, and the local and seasonal rhythms of Southern California. The cooking is refined, but its structure depends on responsiveness: what is available, who produced it, and how much handling it needs. Sourcing is part of the technique. Relationships with local wild-capture fisheries, environmentally responsible marine aquaculture, and small-acreage growers of heirloom, ethnic, and specialty crops shape the menu before the first cut is made. Those supply lines determine cadence, texture, color, and freshness; Wells’s job is to give that material enough structure to read clearly without covering its origin. The continuity from earlier kitchens is discipline. At Lana, the expression is coastal and ingredient-led, with technique kept in service of flavor and with attention to the people who grow, catch, and raise what the restaurant serves.
Signature
Signature dishes include A slow-roasted preparation with marinated cucumbers and Biscuit with smoked butter. The slow-roasted preparation works through patience and contrast: warmth against cool acidity, tenderness against snap. Biscuit with smoked butter keeps the form familiar while shifting the butter into a more deliberate register through smoke.
Standing
Anthony Wells has received Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand recognition for Juniper & Ivy (2019). Recognition includes Best Chef: California semifinalist (2022) and Bib Gourmand recognition for Juniper & Ivy (2019). For Anthony Wells, those markers sit alongside a practical record of ambitious kitchens, opening work, long executive leadership, and a current coastal restaurant built around sourcing and restraint.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Anthony
Who is Anthony Wells?
Anthony Wells is executive chef.
Where did Anthony Wells train or study?
Anthony Wells trained at California Culinary Academy.
What recognition has Anthony Wells received?
Best Chef: California semifinalist (2022).
