It’s been more than a decade since a local chef hosted a Friends of James Beard Benefit dinner in San Diego. Now, one of the city’s newest chefs — Cameron Ingle at Marisi in La Jolla — is bringing it back.
On Wednesday, March 20, Ingle will prepare a five-course, $350 meal, with all proceeds benefiting the James Beard Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit dedicated to celebrating, supporting and elevating America’s food culture. The organization gives annual awards for restaurants and chefs, as well as food media and industry leadership.
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Ingle started in August at Marisi, an Italian restaurant that opened in summer 2022 in the former Whisknladle space at 1044 Wall St. under the ownership of the team behind Puesto Mexican restaurant.
Before that, he spent four years as a sous chef and private dining chef for Michelin two-star chef Dan Barber at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Tarrytown, N.Y. Earlier, Ingle worked for Ori Manashe at Bestia and Bavel in Los Angeles and for Michelin three-star chef Thomas Keller at Bouchon Bistro in Yountville in the Napa Valley.
Ingle was born and raised near Detroit and grew up working in his family’s Italian restaurant. He’s a culinary adviser to the White Buffalo Land Trust for regenerative agriculture in Lompoc, an advocate for sustainable farming and an avid hunter. He and his wife live in Del Mar.
Ingle talked about his culinary journey and the upcoming dinner in an interview.
Q: What brought you to San Diego last summer?
A: I had another opportunity on the Central Coast that brought me back out here, but it didn’t pan out as I wanted. The Puesto team reached out, and they had a great reputation, plus it’s a beautiful restaurant. A lot of my childhood was doing Sicilian events and growing up in Italian restaurants. This is a return to my roots. I get to cook the food I really enjoy eating on a daily basis, and I like that a lot.
Q: You’ve worked for some of America’s greatest chefs. What are some lessons you learned from them?
A: When I’d been working for Dan [Barber] for a month and a half, he handed me this grain, an Egyptian purple barley, and told me to make something with it. I was intimidated. He said, ‘You’re the only cook in America to have this grain and you’re a cook, so cook.’ It was a light-bulb moment. I am a cook. So I boiled it with salt and it was delicious. It’s about understanding that simplicity and that a vegetable or grain is good on its own.
Q: How have you put your stamp on Marisi since you arrived?
A: Marisi was already a phenomenal restaurant when I got there, so the goal isn’t to change Marisi’s identity. My goal is to try and push it to the next step of us not just being a really great restaurant but a phenomenal restaurant. I want to dial in on things like honing the [foods of the] regions of Italy and making whole-grain pastas and breads.
Q: What are some dishes you’re working on now?
A: I’m working on a veal Milanese for spring, and I’m excited about that. I will also launch some new pasta but want to keep that under wraps for now. I’m a huge fan of chicories and bitter greens. One dish I always go back to that my mom makes me on my birthdays is Parmesan broth in escarole soup. That’s something I will incorporate into a dish.
Q: Why was it important to you to host the Friends of James Beard Benefit dinner?
A: This is the next step for Marisi, to get that level of excellence we’re reaching for. I’m excited to be working with the James Beard Foundation and everything they are doing for small independent restaurants and lesser-known chefs. I haven’t made it to the next level yet, but I’m phasing really hard to get there. It’s super exciting, and I’m excited for our team and for San Diego.
Q: What can diners at the James Beard dinner expect to find on your menu?
A: I don’t know the menu yet, but we chose a springtime date, which is my favorite time of year to cook because it’s a time of rebirth for things like morel mushrooms, ramps and green garlic. I’ll also try to focus on regenerative agriculture as a huge component and will try to utilize some things from the White Buffalo Land Trust.
When: 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 20
Where: Marisi Italian restaurant, 1044 Wall St., La Jolla
Cost: $350 (reservations required)
Information: opentable.com/r/marisi-la-jolla
— La Jolla Light staff contributed to this report. ◆
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Pam Kragen is the arts and entertainment editor, as well as the chief theater, dining and opera critic, for the San Diego Union-Tribune. She joined the Union-Tribune staff in October 2012 after 27 years at the North County Times, where she served as the Arts & Features Editor, as well as the paper’s longtime arts writer and theater and opera critic. She is the co-founder of the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from San Diego State University and completed fellowships in theater criticism at the University of Southern California and opera-classical music criticism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. And in 2022, she was chosen as one of the fellows in the prestigious National Critics Institute, run by the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterf, Conn.
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