The Lodge just completely shuffled the chef deck with some Michelin-adjacent names, and here’s why this matters. Few resorts have kept a steadfast resolve for growing the food culture in San Diego like the Lodge has. Some have given it a shot, gaped at the price of heirloom turnips, and pulled back.
Before it became a branding concept, longtime Lodge chef Jeff Jackson (now a semi-retired advisor/mystic) was farm-to-table. Jackson had a daily box at Chino Farms with his name on it. Fishermen fileted their catch at the tables of AR Valentien, then sat to eat. Ranchers had access to the side door. Winemakers were flown in, put up, brought their rarest and experimental bottles.
The resort gave pretty free reign to its chefs’ passion for growing, cooking, and eating local; management let them bring all their talented weirdo chef friends onto the lawn to cook alongside farmers, winemakers, ranchers, people who grow and ferment and raise things. That event, “Celebrate the Craft,” broke the seal on a lot of the food events we have now.
In summary, the Lodge really helped build this…