Today we’d like to introduce you to Lori Sauer.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Lori. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Growing up, I knew that I wanted to be a pastry chef. I started working in the industry at sixteen where I had a few kitchen jobs before I went to a culinary academy. My first real pastry job was at Pechanga Resort & Casino in 2003 where I worked for Executive Pastry Chef Jean Marie Verhoven. In 2006, I moved to San Diego from the Inland Empire to work for Chef Bradley Ogden and Chef Jim Phillips to open Anthology Supper Club. Shortly after working there, I went to work at The Lodge at Torrey Pines for Chef Jeff Jackson. After three years, I accepted my first Executive Pastry Chef title when I joined the exclusive member’s only resort The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe. It was a little over a year later that I felt it was time to move onto a more challenging role and push the boundaries with my culinary skills. So, I stepped into the role as Executive Pastry Chef at George’s at the Cove in 2011 working for Chef Trey Foshee for six years. In 2017, I decided to take on the biggest role of my career thus far — becoming the Executive Pastry Chef of Blue Bridge Hospitality and their collection of restaurants.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Every chef that I have worked for gave me so much support, guidance, and trust along the way and they still do to this day. Nothing in my life has just ever been handed to me. I have had to push myself to succeed and gain respect. It wasn’t easy and it never gets easier. There will always be challenges. I don’t think I would have survived this far without having a strong work ethic.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Blue Bridge Hospitality story. Tell us more about the business.
Blue Bridge Hospitality is a local San Diego restaurant group that was begun by born-and-bred Coronado native David Spatafore. Helping to raise the bar on San Diego’s culinary reputation since its start in 1998, Blue Bridge has received critical acclaim from national outlets including Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Vogue, Sunset Magazine and Los Angeles Times amongst others. From casual ice cream, pizzerias and barbecue shops to a high-end steakhouse and the city’s first food hall, Spatafore takes innovative approaches to diversifying his current portfolio of eleven unique concepts. The newest concept that readers can look forward to is the forthcoming Little Frenchie, which opens on Orange Avenue this May!
Who do you look up to? How have they inspired you?
There have been so many along the way, but I think the first industry females would have to be Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken. I used to watch them on TV in the early ’90s. I remember on one specific episode they were talking about scraping all the ingredients out of the bowl because if you didn’t, then what was the point of even measuring them out in the first place. That has always stuck with me.
Contact Info:
- Website: bluebridgehospitality.com
- Email: lori@bbhca.com
- Instagram: 8lolo1
Image Credit:
Jim Sullivan
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