Food, Booze & Beds Archive

A number of San Diego’s top chefs — Amiko Gubbins, Trey Foshee, Jean-Michel Diot, Tom Dowling, Riko Bartolome, Martin Woesle, Matt Van Marter, Michael Stebner, Tom Atkins, Jack Fisher and Gernard Guillas — are participating in a dinner that will raise funds for the James Beard Foundation. Although the event won’t take place until October, the chefs gathered together last month for a photo shoot that will be used to promote it. The shoot took place on a deck overhanging the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean. Since the cliffs were on state property, a permit was necessary prior to the shooting. The photographer, Dave Siccardi, who was donating his services for the fund-raiser, was required to take out a $1 million insurance policy on the chefs. I, for one, am curious to know just who was named as their beneficiaries, their families or the owners of the restaurants who employ them.

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George’s at the Cove was inducted into the Nation’s Restaurant News Fine Dining Hall of Fame last month at the Ritz-Carlton, Chicago. George Hauer and partners Mark Oliver and Trey Foshee were on hand to receive the award. Nation’s Restaurant News tracks the country’s most popular and respected restaurants each year, making on-site visits and sampling the cuisine and service. A critical review process follows wherein a final list of nominees is chosen. This is the first local restaurant to be so honored.

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Ron Zappardino of Top O’ the Cove Restaurant has named Alain Redelsperger as executive chef. Zappardino conducted an intensive nationwide search to find just the right chef to oversee the restaurant’s new emphasis on “American Cuisine Extraordinaire.” Redelsperger comes to the Top after nearly four years as chef of The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton in Rancho Mirage, where he created a menu featuring French Mediterranean cuisine with California influences. Zappardino says the focus of the new cuisine is a fusion of French, Asian and Provencale influences on the American palette. The cuisine will be lighter, featuring natural sauces without compromising flavor. Redelsperger attended the Culinary School of Strasbourg and began his career in America as sous chef at the Le Regence Restaurant at the Hotel Plaza Athenee in New York. He replaces Gui Sockrider.

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Staying in La Jolla for just another minute, let’s talk about the newly opened restaurant, Monzu, located at 1250 Prospect St. (yes, the space next to George’s). The restaurant is located in the beautifully designed and built-out space on the ground floor, lower level, just to the right of George’s. I wrote about it in late 1999 when it was Lila’s, the endeavor of husband and wife team Kim and John Graham, who moved here from Toronto to open a restaurant. It closed its doors less than three months later and sat empty for a spell while they regrouped. They hired Kemo Sabe owner and chef Deborah Scott as operations consultant and hired Danny Jarvis as chef and then opened, only to close about six months later. I’m excited to announce that it now has a new name, new owners, and is under new management as well. Chris Williams, who has been in and out of the restaurant business, opened Monzu March 3. The menu, designed by chef/owner Williams, features contemporary California cuisine with heavy Italian as well as global influences. Monzu is open every night and features live jazz Thursday through Saturday from 8 to 11:30 p.m. A late-night menu is available until closing.

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I can’t seem to get out of La Jolla as we are all still patiently awaiting the opening of chef Michael Stebner’s baby, Nine-Ten, at the Grand Colonial Hotel down Prospect Street. Stebner made a name for himself at Azzura Point, which he took over for James Boyce a couple years ago when Boyce left for the Phoenician Hotel in Scottsdale.

I spoke to Stebner late last month and he told me that construction problems have delayed the project a couple of months. A new kitchen is being built in the restaurant space known for years as Putnam’s. As anyone who has remodeled an old house or building knows, you keep finding problems the more you get into it. Mid to late June is the new target date for Nine-Ten, and Stebner has been staying busy training staff in a makeshift kitchen he assembled in one of the guest rooms. And Nine-Ten is not the only baby he’s expecting. He and his wife Tiffany are having their first child in September.

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The Glorietta Bay Inn, a boutique hotel, has been honored with the national “Best Guest Relations Program” award given by the American Hotel & Lodging Industry at its annual convention in Chicago. Lisa Reopelle, g.m., attributes the award to her employees, whom she calls “the very best in the business.”

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Last month I featured The Grove Steakhouse at the Viejas Casino in my review of casino dining. I failed to mention the other dining establishments at local casinos which also serve up more than just buffets.

The just-opened Pala Casino in Escondido features The Oak Room, an upscale dining room that serves prime cuts of Iowa corn-fed steaks and chops, as well as lamb, chicken and a fish of the day.

Sycuan’s fine dining offering, Pearls of the Sea, focuses on seafood and Asian cuisine including a sushi bar.

Barona Casino boasts the Iipay Café, casual American fare in a homey atmosphere.

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Tequila connoisseurs are in luck. Now available in San Diego is Gran Centenario, a gourmet brand created in 1857 to commemorate the centennial anniversary of granting the license to produce tequila in Mexico. Three versions of the spirit are debuting in the Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and New York City markets.

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Michael Maggiore is the new assistant g.m. of hospitality at Barona Casino. Maggiore was previously at the Las Vegas Hilton.

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If you read this month’s feature about the Food Network coming to San Diego to film some of our local chefs and restaurant owners for an upcoming episode of FoodNation (see Page 73) you might think the restaurant business is pretty darn glamorous. Allow me to clear the stars from your eyes. The National Restaurant Association’s 2000 Restaurant Operations Report reveals that for every dollar taken in, 34 cents go to salaries, wages and employee benefits, 33 cents are spent on purchasing food and beverages, 21 cents are spent on expenses such as utilities, insurance, repairs and other direct costs and 7 cents go to the landlord. When it’s all said and done, the owner only takes home a nickel — and that’s before taxes.

The report also indicates that restaurant traffic breaks down like this: dinner attracts 52 percent of diners, lunch pulls 37 percent and breakfast captures the remaining 11 percent of the trade. You’ve got to sell an awful lot of pancakes these days to keep the power on.

Terryl Gavre spends her entire day thinking about what she is going to eat for dinner. She believes the world would be a better place if everyone worked once as a food server. She is owner of Café 222, Downtown, and can be reached at food@san.rr.com.