Chef Patrick Ponsaty Leaves Grand Restaurant Group | Fate Of Namesake Rancho Sante Fe Restaurant Uncertain

July 28, 2017

French Master Chef Patrick Ponsaty has parted ways with the Grand Restaurant Group after four years working for the North San Diego County-based company, and his branded restaurant Ponsaty's in Rancho Sante Fe will close this August, changing its name Nick & G's.

The Grand Restaurant Group's longtime Corporate Executive Chef Patrick Ponsaty opened his namesake restaurant at the former Delicias space at 6106 Paseo Delicias in Rancho Sante Fe less than a year ago. Operated by Grand Restaurant Group, which also owns Bellamy's Restaurant in Escondido and The Ranch at Bandy Canyon, Ponsaty’s offered a menu of classic French and Spanish cuisines and recently launched a secret back dining room. The restaurant remains open.

We have received reports that Ponsaty's restaurant will soon be renamed now that its namesake chef is gone. Ponsaty's will close on August 13, reopening on August 18 sa Nick & G's - an Italian restaurant serving housemade pasta, flatbreads, steaks and seafood - under the culinary leadership of new Executive Chef Brian Freerksen, who previously worked at Urge Gastropub and La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club. Former Executive Chef Alain Delahaye was also recently released from Ponsaty's, and rumors are swirling that this termination combined with a the appointment of a new president of GRG and a revised product sourcing policy caused dissension between Chef Ponsaty and his employer. We reached out to representatives from Grand Restaurant Group and to the company's known public relations company, but they refused to comment. We were told that a press release would be issued on Monday.

Chef Patrick Ponsaty is a 5th generation chef, hailing from Southern France. He began cooking early in his life at the age of 15, developing his craft at Michelin-accredited restaurants in Monaco and Spain before relocating to New York. Ponsaty ventured to San Diego in the late 1990s to assist chef Jean-Michel Diot open Tapenade restaurant, before moving on to the position of chef de cuisine at the El Bizcocho restaurant at Rancho Bernardo Inn. In 2003, Ponsaty opened Bernardo’O restaurant in Rancho Bernardo. He soon moved on to La Bastide in Scripps Ranch, then Loews Coronado Bay Resort before joining The Grand Restaurant Group in 2013. Along with Bernard Guillas of The Marine Room, Ponsaty is one of only two French Master Chefs in San Diego. We sure hope he stays in America's Finest City.

For more information on Ponsaty's, visit ponsatys.com.