Chef Emily Brubaker is no stranger to glitz and glamour.
For nearly two decades, she cooked her way through some of Las Vegas’ flashiest kitchens—from Joël Robuchon’s namesake three Michelin-starred restaurant at the MGM Grand, to Hubert Keller’s Fleur de Lys at Mandalay Bay, to opening Sage at Aria. She’d held her own under judge Martha Stewart’s discerning eye on Food Network’s Chopped in 2018. Last year, she moved back to her hometown of La Costa to become Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s executive chef, overseeing the property’s eight outlets. So when she got an Instagram DM inviting her to interview for a new television show with the producers from Top Chef, she thought, “Why not?”
NBC’s Yes, Chef! was designed to be more than a cooking show. To participate, someone had to nominate each chef and give a specific personality trait they’d need to work on to become better in the kitchen—and better at life. Brubaker was nominated by her husband Jake, who’s also a professional chef at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club (and formerly exec chef of the Las Vegas Raiders). With marital courage, he declared she needed to work on two things: stubbornness and self-confidence.
“It was really the idea of just, ‘How do I get out of my own way?’” she says. “I need to get over these things, because it has been a stint in my career.”
The show’s judges, Martha Stewart (everyone’s favorite acid-tongued food queen, an Emmy Award-winning entrepreneur, and Snoop Dogg’s BFF) and José Andrés (globally celebrated chef, author, and founder of the humanitarian organization World Central Kitchen), oversaw each of the 11 professional chefs through different challenges, all while offering advice and mentorship over 10 episodes.
At the end of it all, only one chef remained—Brubaker. She took home the $250,000 prize.
Finding out she won the first season “was surreal,” she explains. Jake joined her on the show as sous chef. She says cooking alongside world-class chefs—and getting feedback from Andrés and Stewart on how to navigate the emotions of working in high-stress kitchens—changed her life forever. Plus, she adds, the show’s focus on mental health has never been more timely.
“The strongest you could be is to ask for help,” she says. “The chef culture is really changing… We’re trying to be better. We’re trying to be better people, to make our staff better, and to understand why we do things the way we do.”
The show’s finale aired on June 30, but the fun will continue at Omni La Costa July 11 through 13 for La Costa Legacy Weekend. Five Yes, Chef! contestants (Zain Ismail, Lee Frank, Jake Lawler, Peter Richardson, and Ronnie Miranda) will join Brubaker to celebrate the property’s 60th birthday and host a weekend of vintage-inspired activities from takes on TV dinners (think Salisbury steak, but actually delicious) to Saturday’s pool party, a four-course dinner with all chefs later that night, a casino night, and Sunday’s Persimmon Classic golf tournament with chef-driven snacks served before teeing off.
“We’re calling it ‘cart-cuterie,’” she laughs.
After the festivities die down, Brubaker says she’ll carry the experience with her for the rest of her life.
“The pride of words from Martha and José—they’ll stick with me forever,” she says. “Not only do I want to be a great chef, but I want to be a good person… What a great feeling.”
San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events
Vive la France In Carlsbad This Bastille Day
A mère et fille duo (that’s “mother and daughter” to non-Francophiles) are bringing a taste of France to Carlsbad on Bastille Day (July 14). The French holiday commemorates the start of the French Revolution in 1789, and often features parades, fireworks, various expressions of national pride—food included. Elissa Benjamin, the younger half behind The French Door Café, is a French-trained pastry chef specializing in artisan chocolates, and will officially open the family-run cafe that day. They open at 10:30 a.m. at 2205-C Faraday Avenue, and if you show up early enough, you may be able to snag one of the brown butter chocolate chunk cookies given to the first 50 customers.
Beth’s Bites
- I don’t think enough San Diegans realize how truly blessed we are when it comes to fresh seafood. It’s almost unfair how amazing it is that pretty much anywhere you go in the county, you can choose from simple and affordable basics to high-end omakase options and all the way up to Michelin-grade sushi. But as Cady Heron says in Mean Girls, “The limit does not exist,” and I herald the arrival of every new sushi restaurant with gusto. The latest entry, Turi’s Sushi, just opened in Vista, and I say welcome to the club—I’ll be by for a rainbow roll ASAP.
- Hinar redefined the late(r) night cafe concept when it opened its first coffee and dessert bar in East Village in 2023. It took a few years to expand, but it recently opened its second location on the north side of Scripps Ranch. From the looks of the pics, the new space is as dreamy as the first.
- After a meteoric rise in the craft beer scene, Modern Times Beer has taken some hits, shrunk, grown again, and reinvented itself more times than Madonna. It lost its production facility in Point Loma last year and have closed all but two of its taprooms. Still, the persistent local beer brand soldiers on and hopes to shift toward a more pub-forward approach with Timestead, which will replace The Local at 1065 Fourth Avenue. The “1970s sci-fi western” theme centers around “the idea of a space cowboy who’s chosen SD (his favorite city) as home,” explains Ethan Ward, who handles sales and marketing for Modern Times 4.0. (Not an official designation.) Subtlety was never the brand’s strong suit, so I’m sure we’re all in for quite something when it opens in early August.
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