McLeod confirmed to SanDiegoVille that he is starting immediately and said he’s “really happy to be back in the SD chef community and excited about cooking delicious food,” adding that after time away, he’s looking forward to focusing his attention on “one location” again and is “super stoked to work with the local fisherman again.”
For longtime San Diego diners, this isn’t just another chef shuffle. McLeod was the culinary standard-bearer during CH’s most respected food era, and Ironside was the clearest expression of what he brought to the group: technical discipline, seafood fluency, and a menu that didn’t need gimmicks to land. When Ironside opened in 2014, it carried real weight because it was McLeod’s project, rooted in his background and built around oysters and the raw bar culture San Diego never fully claimed despite being a coastal city.
Since McLeod’s 2022 departure, there has been a noticeable, widely discussed shift in how CH is perceived on the culinary front, especially among industry people and regulars who once pointed to Ironside as proof that the group’s aesthetic ambition was backed by serious kitchen leadership. CH didn’t stop expanding, but “who’s driving the food?” became a fair question more often than CH probably liked.
For longtime San Diego diners, this isn’t just another chef shuffle. McLeod was the culinary standard-bearer during CH’s most respected food era, and Ironside was the clearest expression of what he brought to the group: technical discipline, seafood fluency, and a menu that didn’t need gimmicks to land. When Ironside opened in 2014, it carried real weight because it was McLeod’s project, rooted in his background and built around oysters and the raw bar culture San Diego never fully claimed despite being a coastal city.
Since McLeod’s 2022 departure, there has been a noticeable, widely discussed shift in how CH is perceived on the culinary front, especially among industry people and regulars who once pointed to Ironside as proof that the group’s aesthetic ambition was backed by serious kitchen leadership. CH didn’t stop expanding, but “who’s driving the food?” became a fair question more often than CH probably liked.
The group eventually filled the top culinary post with chef Perfecte Rocher in early 2023, a respected hire on paper and a clear attempt to restore credibility, but the arrangement never felt permanent. Rocher’s run lasted roughly two and a half years before he moved on in mid-2025, and he has since surfaced as the executive chef/owner behind The Rochers at the Ranch House in Ojai. The churn underscored the uncomfortable truth: you can’t “replace” a chef like McLeod with a press release and a resume and expect the market to pretend it’s the same thing.
The return of McLeod lands with extra weight because Ironside, more than any other CH property, has carried the public baggage of his absence. In July 2023, the restaurant was temporarily shuttered by San Diego County health inspectors after violations were found, including major hot and cold water issues and other compliance problems, a rare public stumble for a restaurant that once represented CH’s highest culinary bar. The restaurant reopened after repairs, but the closure became part of a broader narrative that the group’s food consistency, particularly at McLeod’s former “baby,” had lost some of its edge without the chef who built its blueprint.
McLeod’s return to Ironside lands as a symbolic reunion. Ironside was his restaurant opening with CH, the one that proved the company could build a restaurant around food, not just vibe. In that sense, his return reads less like a nostalgic cameo and more like a recalibration, both for Ironside specifically and for a hospitality group that has spent the last few years being praised for design while taking shots for consistency. San Diego has never lacked for beautiful rooms. What it always hunts for, and rarely keeps, is kitchen leadership that holds the line day after day.
McLeod told SanDiegoVille he’s excited to be back, refreshed, and ready to cook in San Diego again after time in Las Vegas. He also confirmed that the previous chef leadership at Ironside has been gone “for a while,” reinforcing what many regulars had already sensed: the restaurant has been in a transitional stretch, and the timing is right for a reset.
McLeod’s return also intersects with another major local project still on the horizon. He remains attached to The Boatyard, the long-delayed Point Loma steak and seafood project planned for Shelter Island, where he was previously announced as the chef tasked with leading the kitchen ahead of its eventual debut. While The Boatyard has continued to move forward in fits and starts, Ironside is open, operating, and positioned to immediately benefit from McLeod’s hands on presence.
That reality has led to a question quietly circulating in the industry: is Ironside simply the immediate landing pad, or the first step in something larger. McLeod has not publicly stated that he is returning to an overarching corporate culinary role at CH, but his choice to start with Ironside, paired with his prior history as the group’s culinary engine, reads to some as a potential test run. He is now a new father, a life change that often shifts what “running an entire company’s kitchens” looks like in practice. A return through a single flagship restaurant, especially one he built, would be a logical way to reenter San Diego service culture and evaluate what a broader leadership role might require before committing to it.
For CH, bringing McLeod back into Ironside is the kind of move that is measurable, not theoretical. It is not a brand refresh or a room redesign. It is a bet on standards. If Ironside snaps back into the form it was known for at its best, the ripple effect will be felt beyond India Street, because McLeod’s return reintroduces a level of culinary authority the group has struggled to replicate since he left. Whether this stops at Ironside or evolves into a bigger leadership reset remains to be seen, but in a city where chef driven consistency is harder to sustain than hype, this is one of the more consequential kitchen moves in recent memory.
Ironside Fish & Oyster is located at 1654 India Street in San Diego’s Little Italy. For more information, visit ironsidefishandoyster.com.
Originally published on January 15, 2026.
