Once you get San Diego in your blood, it's hard to stay away for too long. Just ask Chef Paul McCabe. Chef McCabe is in the process of leaving his position as executive chef of T. Cook's at the Royal Palms Resort in Phoenix, Arizona, a position he's held for about a year and a half. He will return to San Diego in May to assist in revitalizing the Town and Country Resort & Conference Center in Mission Valley.
Although an Arizona native, Paul McCabe has deep roots in America's Finest City. Chef McCabe was the longtime Execute Chef at Kitchen 1540, L'Auberge Del Mar's signature restaurant, from 2004 until 2011. McCabe then went on to take the chef/partner role at Delicias in Rancho Santa Fe for about a year before being lured back into the resort life in late-2012 to lead the kitchens at La Valencia Hotel in La Jolla. Chef McCabe left San Diego in June 2013 to return to Destination Hotels' employment and oversee the revitalization of T.Cook's, the signature restaurant at Arizona's Royal Palms Resort and Spa. McCabe's return to San Diego is less of a job change and more of a promotion, as Town & Country in Mission Valley is the largest property owned by Destination Hotels, which also owns Royal Palms and L'Auberge Del Mar. Town and Country will soon undergo a $75million renovation. Another former San Diego chef, George Morris, who left Beaumont's in Bird Rock for Royal Palms late last year, will continue as Chef de Cuisine at T. Cook's when McCabe departs.
McCabe began his career as an apprentice for Chef Michel Blanchet of L'Ermitage restaurant in Los Angeles. He has won a number of awards, both locally and internationally, including the Golden Sceptre & Golden Bacchus awards from the Southern California Restaurant Writers, the Wine Spectator Magazine Award of Excellence and Best Hotel Dining by San Diego City Search. Chef Paul is also a frequent guest chef at the James Beard House in New York.
Chef McCabe's transfer to San Diego will take place sometime in May. Be sure to pay him a visit at Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, located at 500 Hotel Circle North in Mission Valley.
