HALL OF FAME - George's at the Cove, Voted San€¦ · ClSan Diego Homige/GardenFSLifestyles' HALL OF FAME • GEORGE'S ATTHE COVE Born in Hawaii and raised in Ojai, Trey Foshee graduated

San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles'

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BY WAYNE CARLSON

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GARY PAYNE

Intwo decades, San Diego has grown, culinarily speaking, from a one-coursetown with a few treasures here and there to a coveted destination renowned forits bounty of beautiful restaurants and rock-star chefs offering international

cuisine from around the world.To honor those chefs, and also the restaurateurs and restaurants, San Diego Homel

Garden Lifestyles has created a Chefs Hall of Fame. We thought it only appropriatethat we do the honors since we have observed, covered, praised, panned and pro-moted San Diego restaurants for 31 years. The rise in the quality and quantity of ourdining options in these last 20 years has been nothing short of spectacular.

Chefs Trey Foshee, Carl Schroeder and Jason Knibb are the first inductees intothe new Hall of Fame. This inaugural class of 2010 was elected by fellow chefs incountywide balloting conducted by this magazine. Virtually every top chef in thecounty participated.

Schroeder is executive chef/partner of Market Restaurant + Bar of Del Mar. Knibbis executive chef at Nine-Ten Restaurant and Bar in La Jolla. Foshee is executive chef/partner of La Jolla's George's at the Cove, comprising George's California Modern,Ocean Terrace and George's Bar.

The three were virtually deadlocked in the chefs' balloting, each winning 10 percentof the total points awarded. In all, more than 50 chefs cast some 150 votes.

As top vote-getters, Knibb, Schroeder and Foshee become permanent members of theChefs Hall of Fame and, as SUci1, will be ineligible to receive votes in subsequent elec-tions. But, of course, they may continue to cast votes in the annual election and also willbecome members of this magazine's San Diego Chefs' Hall of Fame Advisory Board.

We thank all chefs for their participation and support and encourage them to startmapping their strategy now for next year's election campaign. «?>

Where to find it, page 119

96 SAN DIEGO HOME/GARDEN LIFESTYLES I DECEMBER 2009

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CligFSHALL OF FAME•

GEORGE'S AT THE COVE

Born in Hawaii and raised in Ojai,Trey Foshee graduated from the

Culinary Institute of America in ewYork at the age of 19. He worked atL'Orangerie in Los Angeles and La Foliein San Francisco before becoming chef decuisine at the Five Diamond Mauna LaniBay Hotel & Bungalows in Hawaii andthen executive chef at Robert Redford'sSundance Resort in Utah.

He came to George's at the Cove in 1999as not only executive chef but also partner.

Today, he is nationally known. In 1998Food & Wine magazine named Foshee oneof America's Ten Best ew Chefs. GQmagazine has given him its GoldenDishAward and he has been a guest chef at thefamed James Beard House in New York.Among the national magazines that havefeatured him are Bon Appetit, Travel & Lei-sure, Ski and Gourmet.

"To make really good food," he says,"you have to be completely aware ofwhat's going on with the ingredients. It'sabout combining them in ways that bringout the individual flavors yet allow themto bounce off each other."

Foshee's menus are highly seasonal anddishes made with invention and thehesr-possible local ingredients. That's hisnd of California Modern cooking. w:>

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San Diego Home/Garden Liftslyles'

CliJ~FSHALL OF FAME•

MARKET

Carl Schroeder apparently knew -at least subconsciously - where he

was going from an early age. As a boy inSan Diego he hunted guail and duck andfished the Pacific for prizes like yellowtailand white sea bass.

"I always liked the idea of knowingwhere the food that I was eating camefrom," he says.

After earning a degree in businessfrom the University of Redlands, Schro-eder rook a summer cook's job, whichsealed his fate. He enrolled at the Culi-nary Institute of America in Hyde Parkin New York, then worked for restaurantsin the Northeast before returning ro theWest Coast, where he worked and learnedfrom two outstanding Bay Area chefs- Michael Mina and Bradley Ogden.In 2002 he joined Ogden ro help openArrerra in the Marriott Del Mar. Fouryears ago he opened Market Restaurant togreat acclaim in east Del Mar.

Honors have followed Schroeder wher-ever he's been, including Best Hotel ChefSeries from the James Beard Foundation

d 2004 California Chef of the Yearfro the California Travel. Schroeder,

o owns Market, bases his ever-cha ing menus on ingredients that arein season. "If it grows together, it goestogether," he says. "Also, keep it simple."

His favorite recipe happens to be thenature dish at Marker: Caberner-ised shorr ribs using grass-fed beef. Cij'.)

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C!i§FSHALL OF FAME•

NINE-TEN

At Nine-Ten Restaurant in the GrandeColonial Hotel in La Jolla, the dishes

executive chef Jason Knibb puts togetherare all abour naturally raised meat, freshingredients and tasty sauces and mari-nades. He pairs his regional food with abig international wine list. Various food-ies and restaurant reviewers have dubbedhis cuisine New American, Contemporary,California and Eclectic, and all the tags fit.

"Jason is truly an ideal parmer for us,"says Terry Underwood, general managerat the Grande Colonial. "He blends thebest of the environment with his ownvision of New American cuisine by tak-ing traditional dishes and giving them asimple, healthful new twist."

Knibb joined Nine-Ten in 2003 afterserving as executive chef at Robert Red-ford's Sundance Village resort in Utah.The native of Montego Bay, Jamaica, wasraised in Southern California, where hetrained under such star chefs as WolfgangPuck in Los Angeles, Roy Yamaguchiin Maui, Hans Rockenwagner in SantaMonica and La Jollan Trey Foshee at Sun-dance Village.

"Each of my mentors has a simple com-m hilosophy about cooking," Knibb

ey create regional cuisine usingt local products available. Thisly in sync with my 'earth-to-

proach at Nine-Ten." ~

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