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THE EXIT: Camron Woods

Longtime Amaya chef bolts for The Ranch in Laguna Beach

By Troy Johnson March 18, 2014

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Last month we reviewed Amaya La Jolla, the spare-no-cost offshoot from high-end resort Grand Del Mar. Though the restaurant is drastically under-attended, we found nothing but positive things to say about the cuisine from exec chef Camron Woods. That said, we didn’t photograph him for the review because we heard he was being courted elsewhere. Now it’s official. Almost seven years after the chef helped open the original Amaya, Woods has left to become executive chef of the restaurant at The Ranch in Laguna Beach (not associated with the world-class country music venue in Anaheim). The Ranch will be the name of the newly remodeled Aliso Creek Inn—and the early publicity materials are claiming it will be the “coolest hotel in Laguna Beach.” Woods’ team is still at Amaya, but no exec chef replacement has been named. Amaya isn’t the kind of place you can leave “nameless” up top and expect people to pay high prices.