The culinary community in Orange County lost a giant this week.
Rainer Schwarz, the visionary executive chef and partner behind Laguna Beach staples The Deck and Driftwood Kitchen, died Monday afternoon following a car accident in Dana Point. He was 59.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department told The Orange County Register that Schwarz was driving his Audi on Crown Valley Parkway near Pacific Coast Highway just before 5 p.m. when the vehicle veered off the road, plowed through a landscaped area, and came to rest in a nearby parking lot.
Investigators are still working to determine what caused the crash, which occurred shortly after Schwarz had left his restaurants for the day.
Born in Klagenfurt, Austria, Schwarz began his formal culinary training at age 15. His journey took him to the Grand National Hotel in Lucerne, Switzerland, where a chance meeting with Chef Joachim Splichal eventually led him to Los Angeles, the Register reported.
Rainer Schwarz is seen in a 2004 photograph. (Getty Images)
Before making his permanent mark on the Southern California coast, Schwarz spent years in Colorado opening bistros and pubs in the Denver area. He later served as executive chef at the iconic Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood.
Alongside his business partner, John Nye, Schwarz built restaurant concepts defined as much by their culture as their cuisine.
“We worked together three different times over a decade between Disney’s Mondavi Project and the Hollywood Roosevelt, but we built The Deck and Driftwood Kitchen as a reflection of our love for good food and good people,” Nye told the Register. “We always wanted to be recognized first for our people, then our food, and lastly, the location.”
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