New Executive Chef at Bernardus Ready for His Close-Up

August 2, 2022 – There are various ways to introduce new Bernardus Lodge executive chef Christian Ojeda. 

They include career highlights (awards at 5-diamond Montage Deer Valley Resort, Hubert Keller’s Fleur de Lys, Auberge Resort Collection’s Calistoga Ranch); promotional language from when he came onboard last January (“He’s progressive in approach, with a fresh take on classics and integration of local influences”); or hype from his GM (“His depth in flavor-forward techniques and presentation are a perfect fit for Lucia”).

But the more helpful ways to introduce him are 1) slowly, and 2) lemongrass.

Slowly because Bernardus presents a lot for a new leader to process, in glorious and challenging ways: 

• Consider the massive number of restaurant buy-outs, weddings and other private events, including the hopeful return of the epic Heirloom Tomato Dinner next month; the 2,300 square feet of terrace and dining room seating; the expansive garden, where on a recent harvest Ojeda and culinary gardener Mark Marino pulled in 200 pounds of lemons. 

• Recall the lone executive chef the property has known pre-Ojeda is a local legend (aka Cal Stamenov). After the first and only love of your life leaves, rushing into the next relationship isn’t wise.

• Note that unlike, say, Ojeda’s stint in Utah, the extensive network of hyper-local growers takes some time to get to know. “One of reasons I came back to California is getting back in touch with purveyors,” Ojeda says. “I’m old school like that. In Utah it’s harder, with a much shorter growing window.”

Lemongrass helps in its own way: 

• In dishes like Ojeda’s take on avocado toast, it sings in the lemongrass vinaigrette on the crowning slaw, flagging the sort of attention to detail you want at this price point.

• As part of his college dissertation he penned 20 pages about lemongrass and lemongrass alone. In other words, Bernardus has right organic ingredient geek (ingredigeek?) for grounds that are currently popping with everything from blackberries to white Parisian mulberries that Ojeda pickles and uses on his charcuterie boards. 

• Lemongrass is just one of more than 100 species in the garden, with olive trees and harder-to-find herbs and vegetables on the way. “You can get cantaloupe anywhere,” Ojeda says. “Let’s grow a snow leopard melon.” 

• That enthusiasm helps make Saturday garden tours, co-hosted with Marino, an early hit of his tenure. “If you can create a memory with a guest, you have a customer for life,” he says. 

• Starting in low season like he did—after a long search—helped get in tune with the grounds, but it also allowed him to assimilate with the team gradually. “When I need to talk I have to find him,” says Bernardus sales and marketing chief Alissa O’Briant, “He’s not in the office, picking up the phone, he’s in the kitchen, or the garden, or the wine cellar.”

Spoiler alert: His food helps eaters understand Ojeda’s approach too. But before the food comes the drink.

Food and beverage director Colleen Kelly, who’s also a sommelier and a mixologist, is having her own sort of fresh-ingredient fun. After being merged for COVID purposes, the Lucia bar and restaurant are again developing distinct menus and identities.

Drawing from her new beverage list, she served up two Carmel Valley- and August-appropriate expressions.

The house spin on an Aperol spritz, for instance, tastes like a summer soiree with an interesting assortment of friends. In fact, the bitter edge of the Aperol is lifted by small-batch Wild Roots peach vodka seamlessly enough you wouldn’t know the Aperol was there if not flagged. Flowers that Kelly collects from the garden (and then dries) provide aromatics and set off its look. 

Her Prickly Fire Margarita proves even more electrifying and reveals why a once-seasonal item has become perennial by way of 1) customer demand; and 2) a prickly pear syrup that allows yearlong creations. 

She promised it would “brighten up” my palate, which was both accurate and right on time for what came next. 

Chef Ojeda curated the sequence. The plates landed in different spots along the seduction spectrum, but each demonstrates thought, playfulness and creativity that honors the produce and proteins.  

Case in point: The now-ubiquitous avocado toast surprises with little touches like the lemongrass vinaigrette and lime zest, mint and sage worked into the soft fruit to provide a bigger outcome.

Atypical details on the Swank Farms heirloom tomato salad include an airy mozzarella cream and brioche “crumble” croutons.

Monterey king salmon (from Robbie’s Ocean Fresh Seafood), meanwhile, receives just enough of a crust-and-seasoning kiss. Subtle and superb. A sweet corn succotash with sunburst squash, roasted sweet peppers, and a silky buttermilk squash emulsion provide the other notable detail here.

A side-by-side of two 2021 Rosés—one with local grapes, one with French—adds depth.

Ojeda testifies tableside on behalf of the next taste, saying simply, “Short rib does it for me.” 

His version honors his enthusiasm for the dish, which he plans to make a pillar with rotating seasonal styles and sides. In this case, it’s incredible, a surprise highlight of the afternoon for me since I don’t eat much red meat. The pillowy mouthfeel and rich Toma flavor (from Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company) in the potato make short rib-potato combo bites mandatory. 

More indulgent mouthfeel helps elevate the closing dish too, with a to-swoon-for whipped Meyer lemon yogurt on a reimagined strawberry shortcake built around light little chiffon cake discs. 

“Lucio farms is our strawberry producer and the quality of the strawberries created the dish,” Ojeda says. “Sometimes I like to pull things apart and re-identify them without losing their character.”

Which is what’s happening with the dessert in front of us, and the wider Bernardus food operation around him.