Ina Garten is due at Jacobs Music Center tonight for an onstage conversation about "Simply Ina," the cookbook she built around make-ahead work and, in her own phrasing, barely cooking. Downtown San Diego is one stop on a short tour that also takes her through Brooklyn, Boston, Costa Mesa and Chicago.
The appearance is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 12. UC San Diego Today lists tickets from $79.75 to $191.20 and includes the conversation among the highlights of ArtPower at UC San Diego's 2026–2027 season. ArtPower places the hall at 1245 Seventh Ave.
A Cookbook That Tries Not to Cook Much
ArtPower describes "Simply Ina," published by Clarkson Potter in October, as 85 recipes designed for maximum flavor with minimal effort. On her Substack, Garten put the method more bluntly: "My next cookbook is filled with make-ahead, prep-ahead, shortcut, and 'barely cooking' recipes."
The ticket ladder is less minimal. The top listed price, $191.20, buys a conversation about shortcuts, though select seats include a signed copy of the book. Some buyers are paying for the hour onstage. Others are also paying to leave with the object the hour is about.
A Concert Hall, Not a Concert
KPBS lists the night as a Jacobs Music Center rental presented by ArtPower, not a date slipped onto the symphony calendar. The San Diego Symphony says its orchestra does not appear. The room is a concert hall. The program is a cookbook conversation.
Warwick's will be on site selling selected Garten books, ArtPower says. The bookstore table is the part of the evening that does not require a seat upgrade.
Five Cities, Plus a Nashville Asterisk
Garten wrote that fans can join her in five cities: Brooklyn, Boston, Costa Mesa, San Diego and Chicago. She also said she is making a stop in Nashville with Ann Patchett, with details still to come. San Diego is a named date on that published list, not the open-ended add-on.
For anyone heading to Seventh Avenue tonight, the useful facts are the 7:30 start, the listed price range and the signed-copy seats. The orchestra stays home. The recipes, at least on the page, are supposed to be the easy part.
