Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Hotchkiss.
Chef Hotchkiss is the Director of Culinary Operations for the Patio Restaurant Group. In his role, he oversees the operational management, menu development and culinary experience of all restaurants within the Patio Group.
He comes to The Patio Group with over 30 years of industry experience. Previously, he held the Corporate Chef position at both the Cohn Restaurant Group and Whisk N Ladle Hospitality. Before relocating to San Diego, Jason was the Executive Chef for Bottega Louie in Los Angeles where he was responsible for food consistency, quality, timeliness and 80 person kitchen staff.
Throughout his culinary career, he has held several positions including Culinary Partner at PF Chang’s, where he participated in menu development and helped grow the organization from 6 restaurants to more than 200. Other notable restaurants on his extensive resume include San Francisco’s highly acclaimed L’Entrecote de Paris and Café Kati.
He graduated from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco where he appeared on “Cooking at the Academy”. In his spare time, Jason enjoys fishing the local San Diego waters and is passionate about connecting local providers of fish, game and vegetables more closely with restaurant kitchens.
Has it been a smooth road?
Working the hours that I work, effects my home life but when you love what you do things don’t seem to be that hard
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Encontro Northpark story. Tell us more about the business.
We, at Encontro like to have fun, we have themed nights. Monday after 230 we have flip night, if you order a beer or wine we will flip a coin, if you guess the coin toss correct your drink is a dollar. Tuesday night is baja night, we have a chef inspired baja street taco and our baja wine is 5 $ a glass. Wednesday night is date night, we put black table cloth a candle and a carnation on the table, along with our dinner menu we have a price fixe menu and your second bottle of wine is 10 cents we like to make your experience fun
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Restaurants and food have evolved quicker than anything even faster than the iPhone. I think the crazier life gets will all that’s going on people will want more comfort food, something they can feel warmed by and bring back the good memories food wine tends to do that.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3001 University San Diego CA
- Website: encontronorthpark.com
- Phone: 619-291-1220
- Email: jason@encontronorthpark.com
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