Longtime area chef Stephen Gage has been promoted to the Executive Chef role at the oceanfront JRDN restaurant in San Diego's Pacific Beach.
Chef Stephen Gage moved to San Diego in 2009 to attend the San Diego Culinary Institute, where he received a Diplome de Culinare in "World Cuisine." After culinary school, Gage worked at the now-defunct Steakhouse at Azul in La Jolla, before moving on to the iconic La Valencia Hotel where he worked as Sous Chef for La Valencia and Café la Rue before becoming Chef de Cuisine. He then took the Chef de Cuisine role at the short-lived Blush Ice Bar before getting his first Executive Chef position at Underbelly North Park in September 2015. In 2016, Gage went on to take the helm in the kitchen at Blind Lady Alehouse in Normal Heights before leading the kitchen at now-defunct Pacific Standard Coastal Kitchen in July 2017. Gage has been working at JRDN at Tower 23 Hotel in Pacific Beach under previous Executive Chef David Warner since 2019. Warner has been promoted to food & beverage director for Eat.Drink.Sleep, the parent company that owns Tower 23 Hotel.
"I've been working for Eat.Drink.Sleep for about a year and a half now, both at JRDN and the E.D.S. property on Catalina Island, Bellanca Hotel," explained Chef Stephen Gage. "I'm super excited to take over JRDN, coming out this crazy year we've had with COVID, it's really an amazing place. I have just launched both a new lunch and dinner menu."
Gage has already revamped the lunch and dinner menus at JRDN. Newcomers to the lunch menu include several new sandwiches like a Cubano, seared albacore tuna, fried eggplant, and a smoked tri-tip French dip. The dinner menu also has been completely updated with new standout dishes like an oxtail pasta, braised short ribs, and a 28 ounce Porterhouse steak.
JRDN restaurant is located at 723 Felspar Street in San Diego's Pacific Beach. For more information, visit t23hotel.com/jrdn.
