Stone Brewing hires two new chefs

July 3, 2021 7:15 AM PT

Chefs Rich Sweeney, left, and Israel Ortiz 0 Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens

Stone Brewing has hired two new chefs to man its Stone Brewing World Bistro & Garden restaurants in Escondido and at Liberty Station.

Chef Rich Sweeney, who competed on “Top Chef” season 5 and most recently did menu development for Tocaya Organica, will oversee the Liberty Station location.

Chef Israel Ortiz, who has worked for Live Nation, Caesar’s Entertainment and Harrah’s Resort Southern California, will oversee the Escondido location.

Kragen writes about restaurants for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Email her at pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com.

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Pam Kragen

Pam Kragen is a feature writer who specializes in writing human interest, dining, theater and opera stories. She joined The San Diego Union-Tribune staff in October 2012 after 27 years at the North County Times, where she served as the Arts & Features Editor, as well as the paper’s longtime arts writer and theater/opera critic. She is the president and co-founder of the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from San Diego State University and completed fellowships in theater criticism at the University of Southern California and opera/classical music criticism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. She reports from the U-T’s North County office in San Marcos.