NEW YORK CITY—Consummate A-list chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and his partner Phil Suarez have hitched their wagon to the White Plains–based Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and to the Greenwich, CT–based Catterton Partners (a consumer focused private equity firm) to create an international yet-to-be-named restaurant business. • Last spring, in honor of Daniel Boulud's 50th birthday, his partner Joël Smilow established a culinary scholarship in Boulud's name via NYC–based Careers Through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP). The Daniel Boulud Scholarship Endowment Fund sends recipients to study at the Institut Paul Bocuse (Lyons, France) and to apprentice in Lyons' top kitchens. C-CAP welcomes donations to the fund. Speaking of Boulud, Daniel has a new co-sommelier, André Compeyre (recently of Alain Ducasse at The Essex House) who works alongside ongoing sommelier Philippe Marchal. After seven years at Fauchon in Paris, Dominique Ansel replaces Jean-François Bonnet as pastry chef. • Two of the city's top pastry chefs are striking out on their own. In September look out for P•ong (150 W. 10th St.), the brainchild of Pichet Ong (formerly of Spice Market and 66). "It's really a snack place where you can create a meal out of a seasonally changing menu of small luxurious savory dishes, including a variety of cheeses, salads, cured meats, and, of course, lots of desserts," Ong explains. P•ong will also offer a dessert home delivery service, a NYC first. • Acclaimed pastry chef Sam Mason is leaving WD-50 to open a yet-to-be-named small plates place with a lower level lounge (525 Broome St.) this fall. "It will be an inverted restaurant: 80 percent of the menu will be sweet, and 20 percent will be savory," explains Mason. • Marc Murphy and wife Pamela Schein Murphy, who opened the briny Ditch Plains (29 Bedford St.) in May, are spawning a spin-off of their casual TriBeCa hot spot Landmarc in the Time Warner Center in the space originally intended for Charlie Trotter. Pencil in a September opening. • The 10 table and extremely exclusive red sauce temple Rao's in East Harlem is opening a 200 seat outpost at Caesars Palace (Las Vegas) this winter. Consulting chef Carla Pellegrino is the wife of Frank Pellegrino Jr., one of the owners. • If it seems like Laurent Tourondel is everywhere these days, he is. Tourondel and partner Jimmy Haber plan to take over the Atelier space at The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park and morph it into a seasonally driven concept, BLT Market. At press time, Atelier was still open. • Katy Sparks left Balducci's and started as culinary VP at Great Performances, a catering company that also operates restaurants, in June. In related news, the company is planning to start an organic farm in upstate New York, whose bounty will be used in its kitchens. • Claudia Fleming (formerly pastry chef at NYC's Gramercy Tavern) and husband Gerry Hayden (recently chef at NYC's Amuse) nabbed the lease on a restaurant/bed-and-breakfast in Long Island's Southold (57225 Main Rd.) and opened in May as North Fork Table & Inn. Their partners are Mike and Mary Mraz, both front-of-the-house veterans of the NYC dining scene. The restaurant seats 60, and for $250 you can sleep in one of the guest rooms and stay for breakfast. • Sara Jenkins, formerly of Anonna (Westhampton Beach), is now exec chef at Bread Tribeca, replacing Mark Barret. • Exec chef Bill Peet left Pair of 8's in the spring. Michael Clancy, who hails from Giorgio's in Portland, OR, is now running the kitchen. • In an amicable parting of ways, Danny Abrams and Jimmy Bradley dissolved their Beanstalk Restaurants partnership in May. In the settlement Bradley will still own The Red Cat and The Harrison, and Abrams walks away with The Mermaid Inn. • The Mario Batali gang pulled the plug on Bistro du Vent in May.
CHICAGO AREA—Nuevo Latino maestro Douglas Rodriguez (Miami's Ola and Ola Steak, Philly's Alma de Cuba, and Scottdale's Deseo) is hitting the Windy City with the July opening of De La Costa, a slick spot focusing on coastal Latin flavors, at 465 E. Illinois St. Joining chef/partner Rodriguez is chef de cuisine Adam Schop, who's migrating from Zinc Bistro (Scottsdale) and gm Ron Garcia, who comes from Ajax Tavern (Aspen). Look out for the custom seviche bar and the solarium lounge, outfitted with private cabanas, complete with bar and bartender. • In response to the Chicago City Council's move to ban the sale of foie gras starting in August, a group of chefs led by Michael Tsonton (Copperblue) and Didier Durand (Cyrano's Bistrot & Wine Bar) formed a nonprofit lobbying group, Chefs for Choice. "The goal is to keep ourselves and customers informed about morally based attacks on legally produced foodstuff," explains Tsonton. First order of business: to try and overturn the city's foie gras ban ordinance. • In June Jay Vohra who owns Narcisse, opened Flatwater on the banks of the Chicago River (321 N. Clark St.). Ample outdoor seating on a landscaped patio and on the roof (and docking space for recreational boaters) takes advantage of this riverfront location. Todd Ryan Downing, also top toque at Narcisse, is dishing up global eats. • Jim Doehring and Robert Butterfield, owners of Brioso, minted an urban Italian spot, Erba, at 4520 N. Lincoln Ave. in May. Paul Niekrasz, formerly Brioso's top toque, is heading up the Erba kitchen. At Brioso, Pedro Rodriguez climbed from sous chef to exec chef. • Local restaurateurs Lew Langer, John Merlo, Dan Schwab, and Dan Schneider opened Avenue M, a contemporary steakhouse, at 695 N. Milwaukee Ave. in April. Exec chef/co-owner Daniel Kelly was formerly owner of the now-shuttered D. Kelley. The bi-level space was Como in a previous life. • First time owner Brian Storey opened Block 44 in the former Acqualina space (4365 N. Lincoln Ave.) in March. Exec chef Rick Spiros, formerly of Starfish and Mas, is in the kitchen cooking contemporary American.
WASHINGTON, D.C. AREA—The new exec chef at the Willard InterContinental Hotel is Daniel Kenney, who hails from Boston's Langham Hotel. He takes over for Guénaël Le Berre and will spearhead the property's latest venue, a yet-to-be-named Paris-inspired bistro that will open at the end of this year. • In September Peter Smith, formerly of Vidalia, opens his own place, an upscale modern American spot called PS7's at 777 Eye St. N.W. • Speaking of Vidalia, pastry chef Caitlin Kelly, recently of René Bistrot (New Orleans), was recruited to replace Naomi Gallego in May. • In July Dublin native Cathal Armstrong (see MENU PREVIEW) and wife Meshelle Armstrong, who own Restaurant Eve, opened their second Alexandria venue at 728 King St. Called Eamonn's–A Dublin Chipper, it serves traditional fish and chips on the first floor and harbors a cocktail lounge on the second floor. • In June Kimpton Group opened a seventh property in the capital. Hotel Palomar Washington D.C. (formerly a Radisson) is modeled after the San Francisco original. San Francisco–based Puccini Group designed the restaurant, Urbana, as a modern Tuscan wine cellar.
FLORIDA—Boca Raton–based LAX Resorts is busy beefing up their dining venues. The Boca Raton Resort & Club got an Old Homestead Steakhouse, designed by NYC–based Tony Chi, in June. This is the third Old Homestead (the original is in NYC, and there's a second in Atlantic City). Coming this fall, Angela Hartnett (Gordon Ramsay's protégé and partner at London's Angela Hartnett at the Connaught) is opening an Italian spot at the property. This December Christian Delouvrier and partners Jean Denoyer, Rick Wahlstedt, and Regis Marinier—all noted NYC–based restaurateurs—are opening a second spin-off of NYC's La Goulue, dubbed La Goulue de Christian Delouvrier (the first debuted in Bal Harbour in July). LAX has also teamed up with Jeffrey Chodorow to open an outpost of China Grill at Fort Lauderdale Grande Hotel & Yacht Club. The property (formerly Fort Lauderdale Marina Marriott) is being totally revamped. Moving west, LAX's Boulders Resort & Golden Door Spa (Carefree, AZ) recruited Michel Pieton, a Four Seasons vet, as culinary director of operations and Wendy Little (Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur) as chef de cuisine in the spring. The duo implemented an all-organic menu at The Latilla and aim to take the entire foodservice program in a similar organic direction. An expansive kitchen garden is being planned to hasten the shift. • A second Chispa opens in September in Doral (225 Altara Ave.). Adam Votaw, exec chef at the Coral Gables original, is overseeing both kitchens, and Giovanni Arias, formerly of Chef Allen's (Aventura), is handling day-to-day operations. Robbin Haas, a partner at Chispa, has been consulting. • In July husband and wife team Anna Elena Pedron Brana (formerly Norman Van Aken's personal assistant/marketing manager) and Jeffrey Brana (recently top toque at Norman's, Coral Gables, FL) launched Restaurant Brana at 276 Alhambra Circle. The cuisine, in Jeffrey Brana's words, will be "modern with influences of old Florida." • In Fort Lauderdale David Nicholas and Brad Gambill, owners of Him marshee Bar & Grille, gutted a former British pub (The George and Dragon) and relaunched it in May as 4140 Bar & Grill, serving "Floribbean" cuisine crafted by exec chef Hodney Doliscar (a recruit from Himmarshee). 4140 taps into the trend of selling desirable wines at minimal markups (maxing out at 20 bucks over wholesale).
LOS ANGELES—Tim and Liza Goodell shuttered Mason G in May with plans to clone a third Red Pearl Kitchen (the other two are in Huntington Beach and San Diego) in September. • In April, Mike Bryant was promoted from sous chef to chef de cuisine at Norman's on Sunset, taking over for Craig Petrella.
NAPA VALLEY—Last issue, we reported that Thomas Keller had purchased the shuttered Wine Garden at 6467 Washington St. (Yountville) that in due time he will turn into a hamburger place called Burgers and Bottles. In the meantime he has opened the space as a temporary restaurant dubbed Ad Hoc ("for this purpose"). Keller and Jeffrey Cerciello, also exec chef at Bouchon, serve a four course prix-fixe menu of comfort food classics (fried chicken and beef stroganoff). Plans are to operate Ad Hoc though the winter of 2006. • In July The Restaurant at Domaine Chandon (Napa) morphed into Étoile after a Puccini Group makeover. Chris Manning remains exec chef, and his new menu is Frenchified regional Californian fare. • Also in Napa, Royal Oak, the old-school steakhouse in Silverado Resort, got a makeover in the spring, and exec chef Peter Pahk rolled out an updated menu, emphasizing freshness and sustainability.
DENVER—In May Mel's Restaurant and Bar welcomed Chad Clevenger (recently of Coyote Cafe, Santa Fe) on board as exec chef. Clevenger's predecessor, Tyler Wiard, has moved on to Elway's, where he takes over as exec chef for Charles Schwerd, who's now Elway's corporate chef. • Table 6's Scott Parker was promoted from sous chef to exec chef. He replaces Aaron Whitcomb.
SEATTLE—The new f&b director of The Fairmont Olympic Hotel is Burhan Cülcüloglu, who has worked at Fairmonts in Chicago, Hawaii, and Kansas City. He replaced Clark Ransom. • In April Peter Levine, who cooked recently at BluWater Bistro, took the helm at Troiani Ristorante. He replaces Michael Degginger.
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