Rancho Santa Fe Village's Dining Map, Redrawn by the People Who Eat There

After her tennis matches, Jennifer Fields went to The Bistro on Paseo Delicias nearly every day. She became one of its most loyal regulars and a friend of Mozy Jahanguiri, who had owned the place for 12 years. In February 2025, as he planned to retire, Jahanguiri asked whether she would take it over. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that she hesitated only briefly before saying yes.

That decision started a year in which the Village's dining map changed more than it had in a long time. Most of the change came from people who already lived in the Ranch. Most of what they opened serves the middle of the day: a sandwich at the counter, a pizza on a weeknight, a cone after school pickup.

Three counters in eleven months, each opened by a resident

Here is the order things happened, all within a few hundred feet of each other.

1. Paseo, November 2025. Fields took ownership of the former Rancho Santa Fe Bistro at 6024 Paseo Delicias, Suite C, on Nov. 1. She served on the patio while she put more than $800,000 into the interior. The building is a designated local landmark. It housed the first Rancho Santa Fe School, which held its first graduation in 1924 with a single student.
2. Rancho Sandwich and Creamery, June 2026. Chris Miller is a Rancho Santa Fe resident who owns the building at the corner of El Tordo and La Granada, under the clock tower. He turned an underused conference room into a sandwich and soft-serve shop at 6110 El Tordo.
3. Paseo Pizza and Gelato, September 2026. Fields opened her second spot next door at 6024 Paseo Delicias, Unit D, and held a grand opening on Sept. 25 and 26. The menu has 18 signature pies, build-your-own pizzas, rotating gelato flavors and craft beer brewed in-house.

Owning the building made a difference for Miller. He told the Union-Tribune that permits alone took a year, with sign-offs from six county and state entities and a new plumbing system. Friends and family helped build out the space using materials left over from his own home on Via de Fortuna.

Fields came to the job with experience. She spent 24 years in hospitality, including ten at the Bellagio, before moving to Rancho Santa Fe from Las Vegas in 2019. She now runs two neighboring storefronts at the same address.

What the new places added is daytime

The Union-Tribune called Rancho Sandwich and Creamery "a much-needed grab-and-go breakfast and lunch option." Miller said the shop drew more than 100 people a day in its first week with no marketing beyond a sign and some balloons.

"We wanted to do something really nice for the community." — Chris Miller, owner of Rancho Sandwich and Creamery, speaking to the Union-Tribune

Here are the hours each place lists for this week:

Sunday is where the table matters most. Paseo, Thyme in the Ranch and Rancho Sandwich and Creamery are all closed that day. The Cafe at The Inn serves espresso and pastries until 3 p.m., and Paseo Pizza and Gelato opens at noon and stays open until 9. Of everything that opened this year, the pizza counter is the only one that serves a Sunday evening.

Nick & G's returns to Lilian Rice's corner

The restaurant scheduled to reopen next sits in one of the Village's oldest dining rooms. The Union-Tribune traces the history of the Lilian Rice building at Paseo Delicias and La Granada. It was built in the 1920s as the home of the Millar family, one of the earliest families in Rancho Santa Fe. It was Delicias for 24 years and then briefly Ponsaty's. In 2017, local resident Sandra DiCicco-Bonar of the Grand Restaurant Group opened Nick & G's there and named it after her children.

The restaurant's site lists a closure from Oct. 19 through Nov. 15 for the redesign. That puts this Thursday inside the closure, with the reopening expected shortly after. The plans, as the Union-Tribune described them:

• The room. A large olive tree in the center of the dining room, custom banquettes and tables, and a new wine cellar that guests can see through to a lighter bar and lounge. The kitchen will also be visible from the dining room.
• The palette. Inspired by the Amalfi Coast, in shades of yellow, orange and blue with nature-inspired patterns. The design was developed with Rachael Lorraine Harris and Michael Soriano.
• Outdoors. A patio with plants under a new wave-shaped shade canopy, and a back courtyard with more greenery and water features.
• The menu. California-Italian, with handmade pastas, pizzas and seasonal shared plates.

Chef and partner Alex Carballo is leading the kitchen. He spent 20 years in San Diego restaurants, including Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens and Fox Point Farms, and was the opening chef at The Crosby Club. "You should feel like you're taken away someplace else," he told the paper.

The Ponsaty name has stayed in the Village too. Patrick Ponsaty, a French master chef and Maître Cuisinier de France, is now executive chef at The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe. His kitchen runs Lilian's, The Inn's signature restaurant, which is named for the same architect who designed the Nick & G's building. Lilian's has a Thanksgiving service on Nov. 26 from 1 to 8 p.m.

The Association's clubhouse runs on a longer schedule

The newer independent places took a year or less to open. The Rancho Santa Fe Association's own dining project is on a longer timeline. The Union-Tribune reported that the $9.4 million renovation of the Ranch Clubhouse at 5827 Via de la Cumbre would start with a final service on Christmas Eve 2025 and construction beginning Jan. 15, 2026. At the time, the plan was a grand reopening in August 2026.

In early October, the Association's Chief Administrative Officer, Dominique Albrecht, gave the Union-Tribune an update. Crews had spent a long time working behind the walls on wood rot and plumbing, and were moving on to wood flooring, wall finishes and restroom tile. The new kitchen had received a temporary certificate of occupancy from the county, so staff could begin prepping and training. The snack bar renovation, which adds a small upper patio, was aimed at finishing by the end of the year.

The entrance is next. On Oct. 1, the Association board approved an $850,000 plaza project at the golf club, funded entirely by the club. The new plaza will be 10 to 12 feet wider than the current entrance and will connect the clubhouse, restaurant, players' clubhouse, pro shop and snack bar, framed by two new oak trees. Tom Huesgen, the club's director of agronomy, is aiming to finish by the first week of February 2027. His biggest worry is the expected El Niño winter, and he expects some access challenges during construction. Albrecht added that much of the work is required to meet county stormwater rules.

The fixed points the new places opened around

The new counters fill gaps among places that have been here much longer. Bertrand Hug founded Mille Fleurs in 1985, and it still serves French and California seasonal cuisine at 6009 Paseo Delicias, with dinner and brunch service. When the Union-Tribune listed the Village's existing dining and coffee options in September, Caffe Positano and Rancho Roasters were on it.

There were also losses. Dolce Pane e Vino closed in July 2025 after 15 years in Del Rayo Village, and Garo Minassian took over the space with plans for a new concept.

The next date on the Village calendar is Nov. 15, the last day of the Nick & G's closure on its site. After that, Lilian Rice's corner at Paseo Delicias and La Granada is due to reopen as Nick & G's approaches its 10th anniversary.

If you'd like to know how the Village's changing storefronts affect your plans for a home in the Ranch, Danielle Short & Associates works from the Village and would be glad to talk it over. Let's Connect.