Richard Blais Partnering to Open Two More San Diego Restaurants

Dining room rendering.

As celebrity chefs and high-profile hospitality groups continue to branch out of traditional restaurants to develop establishments that also function as on-site amenities for some of the city’s industry-leading office campuses, “Top Chef” All-Stars winner and former Juniper & Ivy chef Richard Blais will soon be joining the mix with at least two new projects coming to the Sorrento Mesa neighborhood of Sorrento Valley.

Blais, who opened Ember & Rye in March 2021 at Carlsbad’s Park Hyatt Aviara and is currently co-hosting the show “Next Level Chef” on FOX, has partnered with Longfellow Real Estate Partners, the world’s largest privately held investor and developer of life science buildings to bring restaurants to its “live-work-play” sites in San Diego.

Bar rendering.

Outdoor patio rendering.

The first is due in early 2023 at Longfellow’s Biovista campus at the corner of Mira Mesa Boulevard and Scranton Road. With a style described as “SoCal meets Great Britain”, California English will be a 6,000-square-foot restaurant that includes an outdoor patio, lawn area, and cocktail bar on the veranda. Putting his twist on a casual European bistro, Blais is creating an all-day menu that’ll interpret classic dishes through Southern California ingredients.

Blais is also creating another, yet-unnamed restaurant for the nearby Bioterra campus. A rep for Longfellow, who tells Eater that the company would like to continue to develop more projects with the well-known chef, says the second restaurant will likely open in 2024.