Chef puts restaurant dream on front burner

Chef Aaron Kirsch has personally cooked for some of the biggest recording artists like Prince, Sheryl Crow and Mary J. Blige.

He has  cooked for Will Smith.  And was hired by filmmaker  Steven Spielberg as a personal cook.

Now Kirsch,51, brings  his cuisine to National City where in July  he bought Coronado Café at 801 National City Blvd.

His restaurant offers what Kirsch describes “California causal” cuisine with a deli element.  As of now, the menu focuses on breakfast, soups and salads.

He said owning the café has been part of a struggle for him but has noticed that  people are starting to get the word out.

Kirsch, an Imperial Beach resident, said he wanted to own a restaurant business on National City Boulevard because of all of the foot traffic there.

Kirch briefly served under the tutelage of chef Thomas Keller and Wolfgang Puck.

He said he could have stuck it out with Keller, but jumped at the opportunity to be a personal chef for San Diego philanthropist  Joan Kroc.

“Joan Kroc, the Heir of McDonalds, had a boat down here and they wanted to know if I wanted to be a chef on the boat and I said ‘No, I don’t but I would be stupid not to check it out,” he said. “I did the try out and I met her, she was awesome.”

He later cooked for Prince where he developed a long lasting and close  friendship with the musician.

“When I found out he was going on tour, I called some friends I have in the music industry and said ‘I want on  that [Musicology] Tour,” he said.

Kirsch said personal chefing for celebrities may sound nice but he regrets it because had he stuck it up with Keller he said he could have been one of the better known chefs in the industry.

“I rolled with some seriously famous people, who cares. Big Deal. Look at me now, I have this 1,1000 square-foot cafe,” he said.