Ki's Restaurant in Encinitas's Cardiff-by-the-Sea has served organic California-coast cuisine from a two-story ocean-view building on South Coast Highway 101 since 1980. The Surfrider Foundation-certified Surfrider Foundation-certified restaurant runs a split-format operation — counter-service breakfast and lunch downstairs, full-service dinner upstairs — on the same Cardiff restaurant row where El Pueblo Mexican Food - Cardiff draws its own loyal following. Founded as a juice-and-vitamin stand in a converted beauty shop, the Holcomb family expanded the concept to its current location in 1994 and added wholesale distribution of house-made dressings, salsas, and baked goods throughout Southern California by 1997. The second-floor dining room delivers Pacific sunset views alongside an elevated dinner menu, drawing guests from nearby lodging at Cardiff by the Sea Lodge for the rotating fresh catch and seasonal wine pairings. Highest-complexity dinner service includes whole pan-seared sustainable fish preparations with miso-glaze reductions, truffle cauliflower purée, and heritage-grain risotto finished tableside.