Del Mar’s revered farm-to-table restaurant Market sold

Carl Schroeder said he always figured he’d grow old running his Michelin-recommended 19-year-old Market Restaurant + Bar in Del Mar.

How else could the chef/owner ensure that his acclaimed tasting-menu spot’s farm-to-table mission and high standards were upheld and all of his roughly 50-member staff keep their jobs?

Then, just over three weeks ago, loyal customers Monica and Bernd Brust approached him with an unexpected offer. They would buy Market from him, operate it just as he had from the beginning, keep the staff employed and invest in long-needed upgrades to the building at Via de la Valle and El Camino Real.

After thinking about it overnight with his wife and co-owner Brandi, who manages Market’s operations, Schroeder decided to take the leap.

“I work hard every day and never take one guest or plate for granted … We do all of this because we love this place,” he said, in a phone interview  Tuesday. “But I think it’s time to pass the torch. I don’t want to be the old chef that held on too long … I couldn’t think of a better ending for everyone.”

The sale of Market was official on Monday. The purchase price was not disclosed.

New owner Monica Brust said she and her husband are excited to carry on the Market legacy that they’ve always enjoyed in the past as diners.

“We are honored to steward such a cherished restaurant,” she said, in a statement. “Our goal is to build on the strong foundation Carl and the team created and to deliver a warm, memorable experience for every guest during every visit.”

Bernd Brust was recently appointed the CEO of Maravai LifeSciences in San Diego. Next year, the couple will move permanently to San Diego, where they plan to raise their two sons, Jan and Luuk.

Both of the Brusts have more than 10 years of experience in the restaurant industry, Monica in Houston where she grew up, and Bernd in Cleveland after he moved to the United States from Amsterdam.

Schroeder said Bernd Brust told him he wanted to invest in Market as a sign of his commitment to the local community.

“He and his wife want to be embedded here. Their children will go to school here and they want to anchor themselves in the community and do great things,” Schroeder said.

Market’s menu will now be overseen by longtime chef de cuisine John Thompson, who has worked by Schroeder’s side since 2002, first at Arterra Restaurant and then on the opening team at Market in 2006. Schroeder will remain at Market for as long as he is needed by the Brusts for the transition.

Some of the changes the Brusts envision are expanding the restaurant’s opening hours, growing the wine program and refreshing the interior décor, including upgrading the restrooms and improving sushi bar offerings, Schroeder said.

Born and raised in San Diego, Schroeder got his start in the restaurant industry 32 years ago. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., he moved to the Bay area, where he interned under chef Michael Mina at the now-shuttered Aqua in San Francisco and was later mentored by farm-to-table dining pioneer Bradley Ogden at the former Lark Creek Inn in Larkspur.

“When I got to Lark (Creek Inn), it was wild. We’d get in a van and go to the farmers market and he’d start pointing, ‘I want five cases of this and seven cases of that.’ We’d load up and get back to the restaurant and then he’d figure out what we were going to do with all of this. It was wild and great to work from a blank slate on a Saturday morning and feed 300 people that night.”

Schroeder said Ogden’s market-fresh cooking style shaped how he cooks and it inspired the name of his own Market restaurant. “That’s where my style came from … the excitement of what the next dish is.”

Schroeder returned home to San Diego in 2004 and, with Ogden as his partner, he opened Arterra Restaurant in Del Mar. Two years later, he went solo and opened Market Restaurant + Bar. During his years at Market, Schroeder has been a three-time James Beard Award “Best Chef” nominee, and his restaurant and cooking have consistently received “best of” accolades.

Michelin Guide’s inspectors praise Schroeder’s dedication to locally sourced ingredients and his seasonal dishes like blue cheese soufflé with anise-orange marmalade and miso-glazed cod with shrimp dumplings.

Previously, Schroeder was a partner in the Bankers Hill Bar + Restaurant, which opened in San Diego’s Bankers Hill in 2010 but closed in 2021 when its lease was not renewed.

Schroeder was planning to open a Market-inspired restaurant-bar inside the new Terminal 1 at San Diego International Airport later this month. But after receiving the Brusts’ offer, he decided to make a clean break and step away from restaurant operations entirely. High Flying Foods will instead open Market Hall at Terminal 1, offering a quick-service menu of bowls and wraps that Schroeder created as a onetime consulting chef.

“I’m taking a different avenue in life,” he said of his decision about stepping away from the airport project. “High Flying Foods has been very great to me in the past. This is just me wanting to pursue other things. I don’t know what that is yet. I need to sit and let my body and mind clear and take care of my family.”

Schroeder said he’s looking forward to spending more time at home with his wife, visiting his two sons from his first marriage — Jake, 27, and Eric, 23 — and attending more of his 13-year-old daughter Ava’s school and sports activities.

“I get to go to a track meet and watch her run and go see my boys and spend time with my elderly parents,” he said. “It’s a real gift.”