How the Italian dominoes fall: Scott Conant up and leaves L'Impero and Alto; Michael White, late of Fiamma, replaces Conant; and now Washington, D.C. luminary Fabio Trabocchi of Maestro at The Ritz-Carlton in Tysons Corner comes north to replace White as chef/partner at Fiamma. Restaurant mogul Stephen Hanson (B.R. Guests LLC, which includes Ruby Foo's and Dos Caminos, among others), who inked a deal with Greenwich, CT–based Starwood Capital Group, is considering relocating Trabocchi back to the D.C. area in two years with the completion of an eco-friendly hotel housing an Italian restaurant for the city's West End. • Alors, the rumors are true! Alain Ducasse has taken over the former home of Brasserie LCB and plans to reopen in the spring as Benoit, a duplicate of his Paris and Tokyo brasserie/bistro. • Marcus Samuelsson' latest project, Merkato (named for a food market in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), opened this month in the space that housed the ill-fated Sascha (55-61 Gansevoort St.). "We're not just cooking with tenderloins, but oxtails too, and lots of spice," explains Samuelsson of the Pan-African menu. • Rebecca Charles, chef/owner of Pearl Oyster Bar, is suing former sous chef Ed McFarland, who recently launched Ed's Lobster Bar, over intellectual property rights. Charles claims that McFarland copied her design and dishes, in particular a Caesar salad, a recipe she inherited from her mother, who got it from a shuttered L.A. restaurant. • Over the summer Thalia and Stephen Loffredo morphed Jovia into Zoë Townhouse, with a dressed down interior. The food served at Zoë, their SoHo mainstay, is the blueprint for the new Zoë Townhouse menu. • In June Wayne Nish and Joseph Scalice pulled the plug on Nish (formerly March). Nish is no longer chefing at Varietal, which closed its dining room in June but at press time was making a go of it as a wine bar. • In related news, former Varietal chef Ed Witt opened Taste, bringing upscaled comfort food to Garden City, NY (660 Franklin Ave.). Partner/gm John Cantwell previously worked with Witt at River Cafe (Brooklyn). • Last month Laurent Tourondel opened BLT Market in the former L'Atelier space in The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park. Chef de cuisine David Malbequi has worked with Tourondel since 2005. • You had to be quick to check out Park Avenue Summer, the reconceived Park Avenue Cafe opened in June by Michael Stillman (son of Alan Stillman) and The Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group (SWRG). The decor and name will be reinvented four times a year, along with a seasonally shifting menu, the work of exec chef Craig Koketsu and pastry chef Richard Leach (also the kitchen team leaders at SWRG's Quality Meats). NYC–based AvroKo creates the design off-site, making seasonal panels that can be easily installed to quickly transform the interior's mood. Light fixtures, seating arrangements, found objects, and even server uniforms will also change. • Michael Symon ditched Parea (which at press time was closed for renovations) to return full-time to his Cleveland restaurants, Lola Bistro and Lolita. • Moondance Diner, one of NYC's last freestanding diners, closed in July.
The California Academy of Science recruited lauded chefs Loretta Keller (COCO500) and Charles Phan (The Slanted Door) to run the restaurant and cafe going into its Golden Gate Park facility upon the completion of the $484 million Renzo Piano renovation. Keller and Phan will collaborate on the menu, but don't expect fusion. Look for a late 2008 opening. • This fall restaurateur/designer Pat Kuleto will launch two adjacent restaurants in the waterfront district (369 and 399 The Embarcadero). The seafood-centric Waterbar will have floor-to-ceiling circular aquariums and a cascading raw bar. Joining chef/partner Mark Franz (also chef/owner of Farallon) in the kitchen will be exec chef Parke Ulrich, a colleague from Farallon. EPIC Roasthouse will be Kuleto's take on the ubiquitous "modern steakhouse" concept. Jan Birnbaum, once head chef at Campton Place Hotel and recently culinary advisor at Sazerac (Seattle), is chef/partner. • The newfangled burger juggernaut has hit San Francisco. Stephen Weber and Randy Lewis (partners in Mecca, which reopened this month after a fire) opened Best-O-Burger (493 Pine St.) last month. "We're getting away from supersizes and going smaller," explains Weber of their menu of sliders, dainty eight-ounce gelato shakes, and scaled down portions of fries. "So you can satisfy your burger Jones without feeling guilty." • Last month Joie de Vivre Hospitality (JDV) launched counter service Custom Burger and Custom Lounge in the Best Western Americania. JDV now manages the property, which is poised for a renovation and rebirth in the near future. • And at press time Hubert Keller (Fleur de Lys in San Francisco and Las Vegas) was scoping out a San Francisco location for an offshoot of his LV Burger Bar. Keller, by the way, is working on two venues for the new casino/resort, Lumière Place (a venture of LV–based Pinnacle Entertainment), opening in St. Louis next November. • In related news, new owner Tom Duffy (who also owns Myth) renamed Clown Alley, the famed burger haven, Pickles. • Masa's new pastry chef is Camal el Sherifi, who has returned from Dubai, where he worked at Sheraton Jumeirah Beach Resort & Towers. He stepped in for Keith Jeanminette, who clocked 11 years in the Masa kitchens. • Nate Appleman, Daniel Holzman, Shelley Lindgren, and Victoria Libin, the team behind A16, opened SPQR (which stands for the Latin Senatus Populusque Romanus, The Senate and The Roman People, initials inscribed on ancient surfaces everywhere in Rome) at 1911 Fillmore St. Co-exec chefs Appleman and Holzman hone in on rusticated Roman food, and Lindgren is handling wine.
In Granite Bay, husband and wife/co-exec chefs Mike Fagnoni and Molly Hawks (they met while working at The Village Pub, Woodside) last month opened Hawks (5530 Douglas Blvd.), their first restaurant, which adheres to the local/seasonal mantra. • In July James Syhabout, former sous chef at Manresa (Los Gatos) and more recently exec chef at PlumpJack Cafe (San Francisco), returns to Manresa as chef de cuisine. He replaces Jeremy Fox, now exec chef at Ubuntu Restaurant (Napa), which opened last month. Kendra L. Baker left Bar Tartine (San Francisco), to be Manresa pastry chef last month, stepping in for Deanie Fox, who's relocating to Napa with husband Jeremy.
After 12 years, Norman Van Aken shuttered his Coral Gables location of Norman's in June. Van Aken is focusing on Norman's at The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grand Lakes and ventures at Beachside Resort and Conference Center, opening next month in Key West, where he is partner (way to go, Norman!) with developer Robert Spottswood. Van Aken is in charge of all f&b, but his culinary showcase will be Tavern N Town, a two-part restaurant with a casual front dining room and a dinner-only elegant dining room in the rear. "This is where I really found my way as chef," says Van Aken, who started his career in Key West. "It's great to be back home." • NYC's Rosa Mexicano spawned a fair weather sibling in Miami last month at the downtown shopping center Mary Brickell Village. Exec chef Omar Covarrubias' résumé includes stints as corporate chef for Richard Sandoval's Modern Mexican and exec chef for the Mexican embassy in Switzerland.
Last month The Aquitaine Group (Metropolis Café, Aquitaine, and Union Bar and Grille, among others) launched the long awaited Gaslight, Brasserie du Coin at 560 Harrison Ave. Longtime Aquitaine employee (most recently chef at the just shuttered Armani Café) Chris Robbins has been made partner and will run the kitchen. Next door Aquitaine opens Green Light, a quick-service concept adhering to green/sustainability principles, this month. Watch for Aquitaine's Prime 128 coming to Newton in November. • Kathy Sidell Trustman, owner of The Metropolitan Club and Bar (Chestnut Hill), opens The Met Bar & Grill in the Natick Mall (Natick) this month, where burgers get international treatment with toppings ranging from kimchi to Manchego cheese. Exec chef Todd Winer (who also helms The Metropolitan Club kitchen) is using a newfangled vertical grill, which he's patenting, that reportedly better seals in flavors. • Last month Aldo Velaj, formerly owner of a restaurant in his native Albania and who recently worked the front and back of the house at Brasserie Jo together with his wife, Cindy Tsai, launched Vlora Mediterranean Restaurant. The 171 seater at 545 Boylston St. draws on the foods of southern Italy, Greece, and Albania.
At press time the outgoing message at Le Français (Wheeling), the longtime standard-bearer of haute cuisine in the area, stated that it had temporarily suspended service. Stay tuned for details. • The new chef de cuisine at NoMI in the Park Hyatt Chicago, working under exec chef Christophe David, is Andrew Zimmerman, who comes by way of Del Toro. He replaces Francis Brennan. • Now you see him, now you don't. Eric Aubriot, who resurfaced at the stoves of newly opened Alhambra Palace Restaurant in April, left after just a few weeks. Stepping in is Daniel Wright, formerly of Souk.
In July Fabrizio Bianconi and partners at Via Veneto (Santa Monica) launched Hidden at 3110 Main St. Let's hope that the spoiled broth adage doesn't apply, as there are five behind the international menu. Helming the kitchen is Ruben Vasquez, also exec chef at Via Veneto. Michael Boa Huyhn (chef/co-owner of Mai House in NYC) is doing Vietnamese fare and splitting his time between NYC and L.A. Minori Fujita, who comes by way of The Hump (Santa Monica), is handling sushi. Gianfranco Rega, a pizza making import from Naples, Italy, presides over the wood-burning ovens. Tapas are the domain of Danele Lai, who hails from The Eden Rock Hotel (St. Barts). • New to Culver City is Fraîche (9411 Culver Blvd.) the brainchild of chef Jason Travi (who worked at Spago, Granita Restaurant, Opaline, and La Treza), sommelier/maître d' Thierry Perez (recently wine director at Providence), and Keith Fox (movie producer turned restaurateur). • Staying geographically put, Scott Brandon left Oysters in Corona del Mar to become exec chef and gm at The Crow Bar and Kitchen, opening this month at 2325 E. Coast Highway. • The Burbank, CA–based Kabuki Restaurant chain is opening outposts in Tempe, AZ next month and Glendale, AZ in November. • In July, Antoine Cedicci and Ricardo Zarate opened Zu Robata (12217 Wilshire Blvd.), specializing in grilling over Japanese charcoal. Zarate has returned to L.A. from London, where he worked at Roka and Zuma. Johana Cedicci, Antoine's niece and recently a member of Foreign Cinema's (San Francisco) management team, is partner.
Edward and Anna Dunlap of Culinary Concepts of Pittsburgh (Café Euro and Le Mont), who bought the 60 year old dining landmark Tambellini in 2006 from the Tambellini family and changed the name to Tambellini's on 51, pulled the plug on it in June for a massive overhaul. They're recasting it as Amici Ristorante, with the look of a Tuscan villa. Culinary Concepts vp/master chef Michael Schumacher oversees the menu. Rachel Mitch, also a Culinary Concepts employee, is exec chef. • First-time owner John Valentine introduced Palate to downtown (212 Sixth St.) in June. Exec chef Ryan Racicot, formerly of Trilogy, serves French bistro fare. • Eric "Spudz" Wallace, a Trilogy alum, replaced Matthew Arnold in June as new exec chef at Lidia's Pittsburgh. • Jay Whittenberger relocated from Sedeo Cafe (Powell, OH) in June to take over as Trilogy's top toque.
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