"As we approach our 10th anniversary, we wanted to honor what our guests have always loved about Nick & G's while creating something fresh for the next chapter," Gianina Pickens told the San Diego Union-Tribune late last month. She is the "G" in the name and chief operating officer of Grand Restaurant Group. Her restaurant sits in a 1920s Lilian Rice building at the corner of Paseo Delicias and La Granada, and it plans to close in mid-October for a full redesign.
A short walk down Paseo Delicias, a building from 1924 just added a second restaurant. The Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club, founded in 1926, will mark its centennial on October 13 by planting a California oak beside the Lilian Rice statue. The Village is changing this fall, and almost every change is happening inside or around buildings and groups that are about a hundred years old.
The old schoolhouse now holds two restaurants
The building at 6024 Paseo Delicias was the first Rancho Santa Fe School, built in 1924, according to Paseo RSF. For years it housed Rancho Santa Fe Bistro. Jennifer Fields moved to Rancho Santa Fe in 2019. By her restaurant's account, she spent years as a daily regular at the bistro before taking over the space in 2025 and reopening it as Paseo, a restaurant, bakery and café. The Union-Tribune covered the handoff in December 2025 and described the opening as having happened "last month."
Paseo's menu describes seasonal California coastal cooking, with bistro dishes alongside sushi and omakase. Its posted hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday, and closed Sunday. The kitchen closes earlier than the dining room. The interior keeps the exposed wood beams, and the restaurant's own description mentions garden-view patios.
In September, Fields opened a second concept next door in the same building. Paseo Pizza and Gelato is in Unit D at 6024 Paseo Delicias and is open daily from noon to 9 p.m. The Union-Tribune's opening report lists build-your-own pizzas and 18 signature pies. The signature pie is the Paseo, made with Grande mozzarella, imported Italian burrata, crispy prosciutto, arugula and a balsamic drizzle. The shop also serves rotating gelato flavors and brews its own craft beer. The grand opening on September 25 and 26 included a kids' carnival with face painting and a balloon artist.
The two schedules fit together in a practical way. Paseo is closed on Sundays, and the pizza side is open seven days a week. On a Sunday, the old schoolhouse still serves food. The same building now covers a sushi dinner on Friday night and a slice of pizza with gelato on Sunday afternoon.
The Millar house is closing for a redesign
Nick & G's building has a longer history than its name. The Union-Tribune reports that it went up in the 1920s as the home of the Millar family, one of Rancho Santa Fe's earliest families. Later it was Delicias restaurant for 24 years and briefly Ponsaty's. Local resident Sandra DiCicco-Bonar of Grand Restaurant Group opened Nick & G's there in 2017.
The plan announced in late September calls for a mid-October closure and a November reopening. The work includes a redesigned dining room and bar, new private event and patio spaces, and a California-Italian menu built around handmade pastas, pizzas and seasonal shared plates. Chef and partner Alex Carballo is leading the kitchen side. He has spent about 20 years in San Diego restaurants, including Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens and Fox Point Farms, and he was the chef at The Crosby Club when it first opened.
Those dates are a plan, and restaurant renovations rarely keep a fixed calendar. As of early October, the realistic expectation is a few weeks without the corner restaurant this fall, with the reopening timed for the holiday season.
The Garden Club turns 100 with a tree
The Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club traces its founding to local families in 1926. It held a Centennial Soirée on June 11 with historical displays and floral showcases. The October event is lower key and open to everyone.
On Tuesday, October 13, at 3 p.m., the club and the RSF Association will plant a California oak in North Village Park, next to the Lilian Rice statue at 17025 Avenida de Acacias, between El Tordo and Linea Del Cielo. A potluck follows at about 3:45 p.m. at the Secret Garden. The club supplies drinks, plates and cutlery, and guests can drop off a dish at the Secret Garden between 2:30 and 2:45 p.m. on their way to the park. Details and the RSVP link are on the Garden Club's event page.
The location ties the whole season together. Rice designed the Village and its Civic Center, and Ranch & Coast notes she was among California's earliest women architects and the tenth woman licensed as an architect in the state at the time. Her statue was unveiled in North Village Park on October 23, 2021. The oak will grow beside the statue of the architect whose buildings now hold the Village's newest restaurants.
The rest of October, by date
The Village Church is celebrating its 70th year, and the Historical Society's annual street party lands near Halloween. October's calendar is full:
- Tuesday, Oct. 13, 3 p.m. Garden Club centennial oak planting at North Village Park, followed by the Secret Garden potluck.
- Sunday, Oct. 18, 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Community blood drive with the American Red Cross at the Village Church Fellowship Center, 6225 Paseo Delicias.
- Sunday, Oct. 18, 4 p.m. The Village Church's community concert marking its 70th anniversary.
- Thursday, Oct. 22, 10:30 a.m. The Library Guild of Rancho Santa Fe hosts author Elizabeth St. John at the Rancho Santa Fe Library.
- Saturday, Oct. 24, 5 to 8 p.m. The Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society's Fandango Street Party at La Flecha House, 6036 La Flecha. Expect a full taco bar, margaritas, wine and beer, and live music from Harmony Grove Band. Tickets are $35 for members, $45 for non-members and $20 for children 12 and under, or $50 at the door. Advance tickets are on the Historical Society's Fandango page.
- Sunday, Oct. 25, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. A free Family Trunk-or-Treat in the Village Church playground parking lot at 6225 Paseo Delicias.
October 18 and October 25 are both Sundays, when Paseo is closed and Paseo Pizza and Gelato is open from noon. A family leaving the Trunk-or-Treat at 1 p.m. can walk up Paseo Delicias to the 1924 schoolhouse for lunch.
The places that haven't changed
For all the activity at 6024 Paseo Delicias and the Millar house, the rest of the Village dining roster is the same as it has been. San Diego Magazine's July 2026 Rancho Santa Fe guide still lists Mille Fleurs at 6009 Paseo Delicias, Thyme in the Ranch as a café and bakery at 16905 Avenida de Acacias, and Caffe Positano at 6027 Paseo Delicias, Suite F. Local coverage this September also counted Lilian's, the café at The Inn, and Rancho Roasters among the Village's dining options.
The schoolhouse has also picked up a non-restaurant tenant. Make Me Up RSF, a makeup bar from founders Delorine Jackson, Gina Resch and Shirley Slee, opened in Suite I at 6024 Paseo Delicias and announced an August 27 grand opening. Across the street, interior design firm Intimate Living Interiors, led by Kari Arendsen and Tory Peterson, announced plans this summer to move into the historic Francisco Building at 6015 Paseo Delicias, with a September opening projected. That opening hasn't been confirmed in local coverage yet.
Counting everything, the Village gained two restaurants and a beauty bar in its 1924 schoolhouse, and a design firm is moving into the Francisco Building. Its 1920s corner restaurant plans to return in November with a new menu, and a 100-year-old garden club is planting a tree for the next century beside the statue of the architect who designed the Village.
If you live near the Village and want to know how this fall's changes along Paseo Delicias fit with what homes around the Covenant are doing right now, Butler Group Real Estate can walk you through it over coffee in town. Start with your free North County home valuation, and we'll take it from there.
