Our Chef of the Year, Jean-Pierre Dubray, has been engaging the public in appreciation of gorgeously showcased and inherently delicious food for more than three decades.
When he arrived in the states in 1980, he was part of the opening team at La Vie en Rose in Brea.
He ultimately gained widespread fame and raves in national magazines, even though his entire career has been in California. He’s a strong leader as the executive chef of the Pelican Hill Resort and all it encompasses.
One must consider that a resort’s executive chef has to direct many food outlets, each of them diverse. That’s very different from a chain operation using a cookie-cutter formula as much as possible to expand operations in various locations. Pelican Hill offers a lot of variation in dining that suits our moods and needs from morning to bedtime.
Casual breakfast comes with beautiful outdoor vistas. Lunch at the Coliseum Pool is so in tune with our California lifestyle. Dining in the Andrea is the haute couture of Italy in looks and food, yet not all of it’s terribly expensive.
Dining down the hill at the Pelican Hill Golf Club brings almost as much beauty and a perfect level of friendliness in the dining room or in the super-attractive lounge. There are also cafes for lighter fare at the resort itself and at the golf club.
Jean-Pierre, 55, seems to thrive on the diversity and intensity of his job. I’ve known him since he first arrived in the states and have never seen his easygoing style and appreciation of people change. What made him a top candidate for the Business Journal’s Chef of the Year is his ability to share with anyone his culinary style and his use of ingredients way beyond heading the culinary team in the restaurants.
He’s busy doing catering, big in-house functions, and the other requisites, but he often conducts cooking classes for small groups, usually held in one of the villas. He will introduce people to the newest varieties of produce or show them how to turn common ingredients into something spectacular, and he makes it fun.
He gives back to the community in this way and through participation in many charitable events.
Jean-Pierre came to America with a great love for good food and a creative urge to turn common ingredients into memorable meals.
His passion for food and cooking was homegrown. He grew up in the kitchen of his family’s country house in France’s Loire Valley, where they produced much of their own food. He enjoyed helping his mother prepare big family meals, and by the time he was 15, when he enrolled in culinary school, he had decided it would be his life’s work.
He joined the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. in 1984 as the first dining room chef of the new Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel. Three years later, he opened the Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage in Palm Springs. The Ritz-Carlton sent Jean-Pierre to 14 hotel openings, some overseas, to train the culinary teams.
Then, in 1991, he became executive chef of the new Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, achieving newfound success as he helped make the Dining Room one of the most honored restaurants in America.
Pelican Hill, when it opened in 2008, recognized he was the caliber of executive chef it wanted and considered it a coup to get
Jean-Pierre back to Orange County from his esteemed perch on San Francisco’s dining scene.
He sets the standard as the resort’s executive chef and leads the team of chefs de cuisine for each of the restaurants. It’s a big position, and one wonders how he can always be such a warm, gentle and smiling person. If a charming personality is what earns the blue ribbon, he’d get that hands-down.
Jean-Pierre is the epitome of what a chef can be beyond being a good cook. He treasures his family and employees. He loves interacting with and giving back to the customers and the general public. He sets an example of respect and friendliness for everyone.
We are so lucky to have him back in Orange County. The food of Pelican Hill reflects the teamwork that he and his culinary co-workers enjoy.
