Team
David Gingrass, Corporate Chef
David Gingrass is a food and beverage operations professional with a career spanning more than three decades. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, David cooked in the Bay Area for two years before landing a job at Wolfgang Puck’s original Spago Restaurant in West Hollywood. He was soon promoted to kitchen manager and managed the operational and expense control aspects of Puck’s iconic restaurant for the next four years. In 1989, Puck selected David to open his first restaurant outside of Los Angeles, Postrio, which opened to rave reviews and soon became the #1 popular Bay Area restaurant in the prestigious Zagat survey.
Five and a half years later, the opportunity to open a restaurant of his own presented itself. Hawthorne Lane opened in 1995 and was a San Francisco dining institution for over twelve years, catering to the likes of Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Mayor Willie Brown, James Carville, President Clinton and First Lady Hilary Clinton. He closed Hawthorne Lane at the end of its fifteen-year lease in 2009 to build a consulting practice for the hospitality industry.
Most recently, David was the corporate chef for internationally renowned Trader Vic’s restaurant chain before joining Pacific Catch in 2014. As Pacific Catch’s corporate chef, David will drive the vision and strategy of the company’s food, menu, training, and all things culinary.
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