VAGA Restaurant & Bar is the signature dining room inside the Alila Marea Beach Resort in Encinitas's Leucadia, launched in 2021 under a James Beard Award semifinalist and Top Chef alumna. The name derives from the Spanish word for wanderer, and the menu reflects that global-meets-local identity with dishes like Baja sea bass, yellowtail crudo with fermented pineapple, and scallops with macadamia nut and roasted plantain purée, using ingredients sourced from Chino Farms and local purveyors distinct from the chain-sourced proteins at The Regal Seagull down the coast. Floor-to-ceiling windows in the main dining room frame ocean-bluff views, and a retractable panoramic window behind the bar opens the lounge to the coastline. The current executive chef runs the kitchen, with the founding chef continuing as consultant and creative visionary for the resort's bespoke culinary experiences, building on acclaim that includes Esquire's 2018 Best New Restaurants list for her previous work at El Jardín and a spot on Michelin's Bib Gourmand list — a pedigree absent from the casual Leucadia surf-shop corridor near Leucadia Surf School. The octopus carnitas dish braises whole tentacles in a mole-spiced liquid, then crisps the exterior on a plancha and serves it over a bed of heirloom corn and pasilla chile purée.