When it comes to the ever-growing phenomenon of the celebrity chef, San Diego has its own version in the person of Chef Bernard Guillas. The creative culinary force behind La Jolla’s Marine Room restaurant, Guillas was named one of 15 “Rising Star Chefs” nationally by Rising Star Chef cookbook in 1996, and since then has only increased his television appearances, having just completed shooting for a week of television programming with chef Deborah Scott for Recipe TV.

In fact, Guillas seems to always have had a bit of star power attached to himself – after training formally in France at Le Bretagne Restaurant, in Qestermbert, in the late 1970s, Guillas jumped to French Guyana to be the chef de cuisine at Le Dolmen before moving to Washington, D.C. to work under Pierre Chambrin, the former White House executive chef, at Maison Blanche, in 1984.

Guillas was born into a family of butchers, bakers and restaurateurs.

“When I lived in France,” the 40-year-old Guillas recalls, “the smell of the sea and the lure of its bounty were constantly part of our table. I’m inspired by the variety and quality of the local produce and seafood found throughout our region. I love to use my classical training and my love for Pan pacific flavors in all our restaurants.”

Guillas arrived in San Diego in 1989 to spend five years as chef de cuisine at Grant Grill, in the U.S. Grant Hotel in the Gaslamp.

As executive chef de cuisine at the Marine Room, Guillas oversees all menus, wine lists and special events – he even has handpicked the place settings from a local potter, and painstakingly chooses the stem wear himself.

The result is extreme elegance in a downright cozy, neighborhood setting – and the ocean waves licking the window next to your table only increases the sensation of being on an extremely classy, romantic cruise.

Guillas isn’t being particularly modest when he sums up his work, but he’s somewhat accurate when he says: “A chef is a sorcerer who dispenses happiness on a plate.” He can work his magic with us, any time.