“When I was young and coming up through the culinary rinks, being from America, Michelin was a fantasy — because it was only in Europe,” says Chula Vista, San Diego native William Bradley.
“It was only in France,” he continues. “So I gravitated to that because there was such a romance there. They were famous around the world, a small group of chefs. So, at that time when I started to look into this, [Anne-Sophie Pic’s] father was one of those chefs. We have these books, The Great Chefs of France, and it’s all the three-star chefs throughout France.”
This group of chefs also informed his career. “I worked for James Boyce and Alex Stratta. They all worked for Daniel [Boulud]. Daniel worked for [Paul] Bocuse. It all goes down the same lineage,” Bradley explains. “Almost everybody comes out of the Great Chefs of France book, when you look at the culinary lineage of most of the three-star chefs.”
The club was one he’d come to join. After receiving three James Beard Rising Star Chef nominations while executive chef at Arizona’s former Vu restaurant, in September 2006, chef Bradley opened Addison in San Diego’s Carmel Valley at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar hotel.
Credit: Courtesy Hublot
Bradley initially conceived of Addison — named after architect Addison Mizner, who pioneered the building’s Mediterranean style — as a modern interpretation of French cuisine and traditions, through the lens of Southern California. His tasting menu of pure, precise dishes served in an elegant dining room looking out onto the resort’s surrounding hillside instantly impressed.
In 2019, Addison became the first San Diego restaurant to receive a Michelin star, and it received a second in 2021. In December 2023, Addison became Southern California’s first three-Michelin-starred restaurant. (In 2025, L.A.’s Somni and Providence both received three stars, increasing the number of three-Michelin-starred restaurants in Southern California to three.) Most recently, Addison ranked No.31 on North America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2026 — and it’s been honored by La Liste and is among less than 100 standalone Relais & Châteaux restaurants worldwide.
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Originally French-leaning, Addison now leans more into California gastronomy and regional ingredients through a 10-course tasting experience. Diners will enjoy dishes such as N25 Kaluga Hybrid Caviar with koshihikari rice, smoked sabayon and sesame; and Shellfish Chawanmushi with broccoli, bok choy and daikon. To complement the food, Addison features a 10,000-bottle wine room and program highlighting small producers, rare Champagnes and new global discoveries.
To celebrate its anniversary, the restaurant underwent an extensive renovation for two months, beginning in March — marking the first time major changes were made to the design since it opened — and it debuted its new look in mid-May.
AddisonCredit: Courtesy Addison
“The renovation was a long time coming,” Bradley says. “We spent the last four to five years kind of planning it, thinking about it and finding the right time to make it special.”
California-based design firm Bishop Pass gave Addison’s dining room, lounge and private dining rooms a bright new look with warm tones, Murano glass light fixtures, gold metalwork and glowing metallic ceiling murals. Preserved elements from the original space — rosso marble columns, exposed wood beams and stone fireplaces — nod to the restaurant’s namesake.
“We wanted to capture the best interpretation of the juxtaposition,” he says. “Because this place is very grand, and we didn’t want it to feel too opulent, so we wanted to bring more neutral colors, sand, a little bit more subtle, pretty, kind of powdery [tones].”
Credit: Courtesy Addison
A new Champagne lounge greets guests upon entry, with glass and brass wine chillers displaying Champagne offerings in the salon, and a handsome central bar. Alongside the reopening, chef Bradley debuted a tartelette tasting menu that’s only available in the lounge. Here, guests can opt for an abbreviated experience ($198 per person) that includes five courses of composed canapés (three savory and two pastry) that are elegant takes on classic bar snacks, such as sweet pea, salmon and smoked cultured cream; turnip, A5, oyster and N25 Caviar; and carrot, passion fruit, coconut and vanilla curry. Pair dishes with expanded Champagne by-the-glass offerings served from Addison’s tableside cart. Walk-ins are welcome, or reservations are available from Tuesday through Saturday and can be made by calling (858) 314-2000.
The restaurant’s open, more modern dining room features a vaulted ceiling as well as light-colored sculptural chairs and curved settees. Bradley’s 10-course menu highlights signatures as well as new seasonal creations.
Credit: Courtesy Addison
And things have come full-circle for Bradley, who got the opportunity to team up with one of the chefs he’s always admired: French chef Anne-Sophie Pic.
“I’ve obviously been an admirer and a fan of [hers],” he says. “Of chef, and the lineage and the legacy of her family. So, myself being obviously impressed with her work and what she’s done over the years, then I got to a point where, when we got the third star, I felt a little bit more confident that I could approach other three-stars. You almost get brought into the club.” Bradley met Pic when they both participated in a Krug dinner event in Paris in 2023, and then in 2024, he took his daughter to her flagship restaurant Maison Pic in Valence, France.
Credit: Courtesy Hublot
An idea took root: Bradley knew they both worked with Hublot, the luxury swiss watch brand; Pic as an ambassador and he as a friend of the brand (on account of which, a Hublot clock hangs in the kitchen and he sports a Hublot watch on his wrist). The brand has also been expanding its West Coast presence and just unveiled a third Las Vegas boutique at The Palazzo Shops at The Venetian. Recalls Bradley, “I went to Hublot and said, ‘We would love to do, for our 20th[anniversary], a collaboration with Hublot, and I’d love to invite Anne-Sophie Pic. And then it just all worked out.”
To celebrate the anniversary, for two nights in September, Bradley and Pic collaborated on a tasting menu presented by Hublot as part of its lifestyle gastronomy program (Hublot counts other famed chefs such as Yannick Alléno, Andreas Caminada, Clare Smyth as ambassadors, and Jorge Vellejo and Mingoo Kang as friends of the brand).
Credit: Courtesy Hublot
“I’ve heard about the cuisine of chef Bradley for a long time, but I didn’t [get to] discover it myself,” says Pic, who’s held three Michelin stars in France since 1997 and is the most Michelin-starred chef in the world, with eight stars across her four restaurants (in Valence – three stars, Paris – one star, Lausanne – two stars and London – two stars). Most recently, she opened the restaurant Anne-Sophie Pic Paris and the bar Utopic in Paris, and is excited to have her 21-year-old son join her in the kitchen. Of Bradley, she adds, “I think we have a link together. We are altogether fascinated by Japanese ingredients, Japanese cuisines. So it’s part of our story.”
Notes Bradley, “It was very natural for me to pick her food because, like she says, the similarities and the same mindset. I knew the synergy would be great.” In putting together a collaboration menu, he gives the visiting chef “carte blanche to pick their menu.” “She puts in every course that she feels will represent her well, and she can travel well with it, and the ingredients will react here. Then we will fill in to make sure it’s very balanced throughout the entire menu. We want to showcase her food and what she does the most, so then [diners] can travel to her restaurant when they go.”
Pic’s iconic Les Berlingots ASP pasta dishCredit: Courtesy Hublot
Fundamental for both chefs is sourcing good ingredients. “I am from a region [where] there are a lot of vegetables and fruits, so I like to cook very simple,” says Pic. Adds Bradley, “At the end of the day, what luxury means is cooking within the seasons — which people did so long ago, but I think as Americans we’re starting to understand that more. It’s because we are utilizing things within the season, which makes things feel more elevated. So if you take that mindset and you’re very intentional with how you handle a product and you give it the right texture, that’s very luxurious.”
In San Diego, Bradley is fond of the pervasive wild fennel. “It grows everywhere around here,” he says. “Our tomatoes are great — our seasons are longer here.” And Pic was impressed by the quail he sources. “We don’t use it so much in France,” she notes.
Pic’s sobacha tartlet with beeswax, tarama and caviarCredit: Courtesy Hublot
Together, the two devised a memorable 10-course tasting menu. The meal began with a tepache welcome drink created by Bradley with the fermented flavors of Mexico, followed by a sushi roll with kinuta maki, bluefin and yozu kosho, also from Bradley.
Next came a prelude course that both chefs collaborated on: Bradley’s sake-cured kanpachi nigiri; Pic’s sobacha tartlet with beeswax, tarama and caviar served alongside Bradley’s nasturtium tart with wild fennel and anchovy; and to finish, Pic’s “the rose,” a flower-shaped puff pastry with rose and tarragon.
Bradley’s sake-cured kanpachi nigiriCredit: Courtesy Hublot
Seasonal selections followed: A chilled Katsuobushi custard with uni, ponzu and pickled kumquats from Bradley; Pic’s iconic Les Berlingots ASP pasta dish, with aureate ge, Comte cheese, tomato, saffron and chamomile; Bradley’s steamed Amadai tile fish prepared with “onions” several ways and caviar; and Pic’s poached scallop with Rosmarinus, resinous trees, “bigrade XO” sauce and squid, inspired by her trips to Asia.
A house-made sourdough bread served with herbed goat’s milk and brown butter-honey from Bradley offered an interlude, and his Cantonese quail (Wolfe Ranch Quail sourced from Vacaville, California) with fermented black bean and peanut party rice finished off the savory courses on a high note.
Bradley’s house-made sourdoughCredit: Courtesy Hublot
A pre-sweets course from Bradley — a mangonada, lime and chamoy custard — served as a palate cleanser before an intricate chocolate honeycomb dessert, and final treats from the two (a sweet fish taco with caviar, chartreuse lollipop, carrot cake tartelette and chocolate bonbon).
Among the diners who came out for the collaboration event were other Michelin-starred chefs, such as L.A.’s three-Michelin-starred Somni chef Aitor Zabala and Aubergine’s two-Michelin-starred chef Justin Cogley.
Pic’s poached scallop Credit: Courtesy Hublot
Bradley isn’t done celebrating 20-year Addison’s anniversary just yet. “We have we have one more big thing,” he hints. “We had this great collaboration, we had the opening party and then in December, we’ll have one more collaboration.”
And he’ll always be focused on bettering his craft. “At this level, you have to [be] … you’re obsessed,” he says. In doing so, he looks to the past at the techniques of the great chefs he’s admired, while attempting to modernize things — in the same way Hublot approaches its watches, he points out.
Credit: Courtesy Addison
“If you go to the Maison in Switzerland, and you watch how everyone works, there’s the precision of an old watchmaker, but they’re modernizing through technique and innovation, and certain aesthetics and feel and texture. It’s the same way as chefs,” Bradley says. “We all, at this level, have a really good understanding of foundation of haute cuisine and where it comes from. But we’ve modernized it with the current times that we live in, in terms of look, feel, lightness, different colors and textures. It’s very different, very modern, but still has the [old] soul and the look.”
He adds, “The parallels are very similar with haute cuisine and haute couture, and great watchmakers: It’s a craft and an art.”
Credit: Courtesy Hublot
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