BRIAN REDZIKOWSKI

Lauded chef, Brian Redzikowski has led a prolific career, cooking in high-profile kitchens throughout the United States and providing his unique perspective on classic French techniques and Asian flavors. The native New Yorker currently oversees kitchen operations and creative menu development for all seven concepts under the SDCM umbrella, a boundary pushing hospitality collective based in Southern California.
Developing his talent early on in a family of chefs from Long Island, Brian started washing dishes in a restaurant in upstate New York and was instantly hooked. He later attended The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park on a scholarship from Wine Spectator where he graduated first in his class with high honors. During his schooling, he completed an externship at New York City’s acclaimed Le Cirque, as well as monthly stages at Alain Ducasse and Le Bernardin.
Post-graduation led to extended time off visiting family in Aspen, where Brian ended up joining his brother in the kitchen as Chef de Cuisine at Nobu Matsuhisa. A mere eight months later, Brian was running the kitchen. After three years at Nobu, he moved west to Las Vegas to accept a Sous Chef position at Joël Robuchon at the Mansion inside the MGM Grand. During Brian’s tenure, the restaurant was honored with the prestigious Three Star Michelin rating as well as numerous global best restaurant awards. He transitioned down The Strip to help oversee the opening of acclaimed Chef Akira Back’s Japanese restaurant and lounge, Yellowtail, at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino, eventually being invited to compete with the chef in Iron Chef America in 2008.
The lure to the West Coast brought Brian to Los Angeles where he was tapped as Executive Chef of Bond St. at the renowned Thompson Hotel in Beverly Hills, overseeing a team responsible for 24-hour dining service for the 107-room hotel. With stints in Beverly Hills and eventually Flavor Del Mar in San Diego County, Brian eventually joined the SDCM group in 2014 as the opening Executive Chef of Kettner Exchange, in San Diego’s Little Italy.
With an expanded role as Culinary Director of SDCM, Brian is responsible for sustaining and elevating culinary offerings for all current and future SDCM projects up and down the San Diego County coastline while flexing his artistic training in French and Japanese cuisines in the process. Since Fall 2020, SDCM has opened the Mediterranean-style Waverly in Cardiff-by-the-Sea and the Yucatán-inspired Camino Riviera in San Diego’s Little Italy. Both stretched Brian’s usual focus of progressive American cuisine with French and Asian influences into other global arenas. His menus are serious but approachable and draw inspiration from everything from Taco Bell to McDonald’s, his favorite fast-food chains.
Brian’s trajectory as a nationally recognized chef has seen him competing in Iron Chef America, cooking at the James Beard House in New York City, throwing down on Beating Bobby Flay, earning a coveted Michelin Bib Gourmand award at Kettner Exchange, being crowned the “king of pork” at the national Grand Cochon competition, and cooking regularly at Outstanding in the Field dinners, among others.
His philosophy as a chef is one of responsibility. Responsibility to the business. The world. To the farmers, fisheries, and butchers. And of course, responsibility to the guests.