Last month Dante de Magistris, who has cooked at The Federalist, Pignoli, and Blu, took over the space that previously housed Davio's (Royal Sonesta Boston Hotel) and morphed it into a self-named 200 seater passing out Mediterranean menus. Co-owners are brothers Damian and Filippo de Magistris, who mind the front of the house and craft the wine program, respectively. • Douzo Modern Japanese Restaurant & Lounge opened in March at 131 Dartmouth St. Owner Jack Huang sold his interests at Fugakyu Japanese Cuisine (Brookline) to focus on the 120 seater but took head sushi chef Hai-Sun with him to run the kitchen. • Finale Desserterie & Bakery, a high-end dessert restaurant with smoldering ambitions to expand and become the Starbucks of the dessert world, is opening its third location in Brookline (1306 Beacon St.) in July. • Chris Freeman left his exec chef post at The Wauwinet (Nantucket) and bought Oran Mor Restaurant from Peter Wallace. David Daniels, formerly top toque at The Federalist, takes culinary command at Wauwinet. • Exec chef Gabriel Frasca left Spire Restaurant & Bar in April to take the helm at Straight Wharf (Nantucket) with his sweetie, chef Amanda Lydon, who turned in her toque as exec chef at Ten Tables (Jamaica Plain). The couple will be co-chef/partners. “We want to take the restaurant back to its original form, make it less froufrou, focusing on island products and simplicity,” Frasca explains. In the off-season, they're toying with the idea of starting a Boston area catering company. • Joshua Hollinger (recently exec chef at the Smokin' Martini & The Upstairs Restaurant in Palmetto, FL) is the new exec chef at Martha's Vineyard's The Harbor View Hotel (Edgartown). He replaces Ryan Hardy. • Roger Berkowitz, president and CEO of Legal Sea Foods, is launching his latest venture in June, LTK on South Boston's waterfront. The globally accented, seafood-centric restaurant is tricked out with plasma screen menus, iPod docks at every table, WiFi access (of course), and mood lighting that changes throughout the day. Director of emerging brands Paul Booras (formerly chef/owner of Olio Restaurant in Canton) is a driving creative force behind the concept. He has worked closely with Legal Sea Foods' exec chef and vp of food operations Rich Vellante on the menu.
May ushers in the triumphant return of Sirio Maccioni and his renowned Le Cirque, which reopens in the slick glass and steel rotunda of One Beacon Court. Adam Tihany, the designer of Le Cirque 2000, and architect Costas Kondylis created a modern look for the new digs. Pierre Schaedelin is happily at the stoves, turning out Le Cirque classics and new creations, after a brief stint as Martha Stewart's private chef. • New Yorkers on a budget can now experience Thomas Keller's transcendent cuisine thanks to the March debut of a NYC outpost of his Yountville, CA, Bouchon Bakery. The 60 seat café, located one floor beneath luxe Per Se in the Time Warner Center, serves bistro fare with the artful Keller touch, such as three bean soup with rosemary pistou and pâté de campagne, along with wine and beer. Diners on the go can avail themselves of the deluxe retail counter. Per Se exec pastry chef Sébastien Rouxel holds the same title at each Bouchon Bakery and is assisted at both by Richard Capizzi. Chef de cuisine is John Schafer, recently of The Saloon Group. Yet another Bouchon Bakery is slated to open in June in Las Vegas. In related news, next winter Keller plans to open a butcher shop in Yountville, tentatively called Bouchon Boucherie (6525 Washington St.). The shop will butcher the meat for The French Laundry and Bouchon and will serve as a retail outlet to the public. Along with meat, expect artisanal charcuterie and cheeses, soup, sandwiches, and wine. • David Burke will act as consulting chef at Hawaiian Tropic Zone, a sprawling tri-level venue taking over the former home of Houlihan's at 729 Seventh Ave. this September. This is the first restaurant to which Hawaiian Tropic, the sun care company famous for its beauty pageants, has licensed its name. While the vibe will be tropical and balmy, Burke's menu will be upscale fine dining. • This month Steven Greenberg, who owns Gramercy Park Hotel, is launching 230 Fifth, a 22,000-square-foot penthouse/rooftop lounge and restaurant perched above the 22nd floor of the building. The rooftop lounge is open seasonally and the indoor penthouse year-round. Consulting exec chef Zak Pelaccio, chef/co-owner of 5 Ninth and Fatty Crab, created an upscale Malaysian menu. • Restaurateurs John McDonald and Joshua Pickard (Lever House, Lure, and Merc Bar) took over the old Time Café space at 380 Lafayette St. and transformed it into Chinatown Brasserie this month. Exec chef Tyson Ophaso, formerly of Lotus, serves regional Chinese cuisine. • Parea, a modern Greek venture, opened in April at 36 E. 20th St. Chef/partner Michael Symon is also chef/owner at Lola Bistro and Lolita (Cleveland). Chef de cuisine Jonathon Sawyer worked with Symon at Lolita. Owners are Telly Hatzigeorgious (owner of Slate, among others), George Pantelidis, and Peter J. Pappas. We love the downstairs meli (honey) room, a Greek dessert bar/coffeehouse with illuminated jars of preserved fruits and honey lining the walls. • Swiss born Ralf Kuettel, who cooked at Union Square Cafe, Zoë, and Cena and recently clocked hours as a wine buyer/store manager at Chelsea Wine Vault, opened his own place at 242 10th Ave. (formerly Chelsea Commons) called Trestle on Tenth, serving Swiss- and French-influenced American fare, last month. • Simon Oren's Tour de France Restaurant Group, who own Marseille, Pigalle, and Nice Matin, among others, launched Café D'Alsace in March at 1695 Second Ave. Classic bistro trappings (saffron colored walls, a zinc topped bar) set the stage for hearty Alsatian plats sent out by chef/partner Philippe Roussel (formerly chef/owner at Gavroche). • Yasuhiro Shoji and Moto nari Matsunaga, who both hail from Nobu 57, have joined forces with Takaho Mori, former head chef at Megu, and Miku Suzuki, late of Onigashima, to open Le Mui at 107 Ave A. Look for reasonably priced Japanese fare that goes beyond sushi standards served in a sleek, no-nonsense setting. • In March, KitchenBar, a gastro pub/art gallery, opened in Brooklyn's South Slope (687 Sixth Ave.). Christopher Lusk, a Katrina evacuee who worked at Commander's Palace (New Orleans, reopening this summer), is chef. This is the first restaurant for owner Christine Iu. • Setacci, a casual Italian spot, opened in March at 420 Hudson St. Owners are Lisa Cannistracci, a neighborhood restaurateur, and chef Joey D'Angelo, co-owner of Spigolo. • March ushered in Buenos Aires, a first restaurant venture for owner Karina De Marco, at 513 E. Sixth. Chefs are brothers Fabian and Gustavo Manca, who cooked recently in Florida, but are from Argentina. • The new owners of The Mansfield hotel, Brad M. Reiss and John Yoon, recruited the NYC–based architect Stephen B. Jacobs and interior designer Andi Pepper to revamp the Beaux Arts/Second Empire gem. Work will be completed by the end of 2006. • Rosa Mexicano has employed its first corporate pastry chef, Nancy Kreshner, whose résumé includes stints at Union Pacific, Restaurant Associates, and Town. The restaurant also opened an offshoot in Atlanta in February at Atlantic Station (245 18th St. N.W.), a new mixed-use complex. David Rockwell designed the 200 seater, and Stacie Meehan, recently of Atlanta's The Clubhouse, is at the helm.
Laurence Jossel, Allyson Woodman, and Jeff Hanak, who toiled together at Chow, last month opened their own place, Nopa (for north of the Panhandle) at 560 Divisadero St. Jossel's Mediterranean menu emanates from a wood-fired grill, pizza oven, and rotisserie. • Campton Place Restaurant replaced Daniel Humm (now at Eleven Madison Park in NYC) with Peter Rudolph, late of The Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay. Meanwhile, wine director John Ragan left Campton to join Humm in NYC, and at press time Campton had not yet replaced him. • Annette Yang, formerly gm at Jack Falstaff, left in February to become director of operations for Home.
Last month chef/owner Michel Wahaltere, whose Denver-based restaurant consulting company W Design developed The 9th Door (Denver), opened a small plates concept in Boulder, Seven Eurobar, at 1035 Pearl St. His partners, Shimon Kabili, Don Altman, and Jensen Rice, are all restaurant business newbies. In the works are plans to open additional outlets in Denver and San Francisco, both cities where Kabili, a real-estate developer, owns buildings. • Thirty year old Kristen Harkness is the new exec chef at the Omni Interlocken Resort (Broomfield), Harkness, who worked her way up the kitchen ladder starting as pastry cook, replaces mentor Chester Wright, who's opening his own place in Denver. • New at the helm at Aspen's Hotel Jerome is George Mahaffey, recently culinary director of San Ysidro Ranch (Santa Barbara). Mahaffey replaces Todd Slossberg. The Jerome also has a new pastry chef, Heather Campbell, taking over for Lisa Jo Anderson. Campbell hails from Orlando's Disney MGM Studios.
Thaddeus R. DuBois, the White House pastry chef who replaced Roland Mesnier in 2004, left in March. He returns to his previous job as exec pastry chef at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa (Atlantic City), taking over for Daniel Pino. No word yet on DuBois' White House replacement. • Indigo Landing, an homage to Low Country cuisine, opened in April at 1 Marina Drive (Alexandria). Exec chef Bryan Moscatello went on a reconnaissance mission to check out the most important Low Country kitchens, including Hank's Sea food, Fleet Landing, and Peninsula Grill (all in Charleston). The 140 seater is a collaboration between Dan Mesches, president of Star Restaurant Group (Zola, Red Sage, and Spy City Café), and Guest Service Inc.
Dean Fearing sent shock waves through Dallas in March when, after 21 years, he left The Mansion on Turtle Creek. Fearing has formed a restaurant partnership with long-time friend Denny Alberts, CEO of Fort Worth–based Crescent Real Estate. At press time, the ink was still drying on the deal, but the restaurant is slated to go into The Ritz-Carlton Dallas, a hotel/condo development owned by Crescent and debuting in August 2007. The Mansion is renovating the restaurant and while it searches for a top toque, chef de cuisine Ian Beach and exec sous chef Amador Mora are holding down the fort.
Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich are heading west this summer. The duo partnered up with Nancy Silverton, formerly of Campanile and La Brea Bakery, to open a two-in-one concept in Holly wood at the corner of Highland and Melrose (formerly Alessi Ristorante). After a massive redo, Enoteca Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza will open in June, with Matt Molina, a member of NYC Del Posto's opening team, at the helm. • In June Wolfgang Puck will cut the ribbon at a steakhouse dubbed Cut (replacing The Dining Room) along with an adjacent lounge, Sidebar, in The Regent Beverly Wilshire (a Four Seasons hotel) in July. New York City–based Richard Meier is designing the space, and Ari Rosenson, a Puck veteran, has signed on as exec chef. • David Haskell (formerly of Aubergine) and chef Matt Carpenter (whose bicoastal résumé includes stints at D.C.'s Citronelle and L.A.'s Bastide) are poised to open a serious wine bar, Bin 8945, at 8945 Santa Monica Blvd. in June. The Caribbean-Mediterranean menu pivots around an oyster/seviche bar. • Perched on the 17th floor of Hotel Angeleno is West, an Italianate steakhouse due to open this month. At the helm will be Josh Moulton, former chef de cuisine at Union Square Cafe (NYC), who is currently corporate exec chef of Greenwich, CT–based CB5 Restaurant Group, a creative force behind West. • In March the newly hip Farmer's Daughter Hotel opened Tart, an American bistro. Claude Segal (formerly of Drai's and Sunset Room) consulted on the menu. The exec chef is Jason Michael Segal, formerly of Le Meridien in Beverly Hills.
Georges and Monique Guy shuttered Chez Georges in 2003 to focus on their casual concept Bistro Provence (now owned by their sons) and shortly thereafter retired and returned to France. The itch to get back behind the stoves got the better of Georges, however, and the couple beat it back to Houston to reopen Chez Georges in February, this time at 219 Westheimer Rd. • John Geschrei left the Omni Ambassador East Hotel in Chicago to take the exec chef reins at the Omni Houston Hotel. He replaces Gaspar Stantic. • The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa also has a new exec chef: Jeffrey Everts, formerly of the Los Angeles–based Kor Hotel Group. He replaces Jesse Llapitan. • John Watt, co-owner/exec chef of Prego, recruited Aaron Guest, who recently cooked at A Vida Restaurant & Wine Bar (Savannah), to the newly distinguished position of chef de cuisine.
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