The highly anticipated Restaurant Guy Savoy opens next month in Caesars Palace. In order to replicate the Paris original, Savoy handpicked a crackerjack team to run the show. His son Franck Savoy, who has managed several of his father's Paris venues, is gm, and Franck's wife, Laura, is handling marketing and sales. Damien Dulas, Guy Savoy's kitchen right-hand man, is chef de cuisine. Other Savoy kitchen vets include Williams Caussimon and Laurent Soliveres, who will commute between Paris and Las Vegas. Savoy plans to travel to Las Vegas often, spending French vacations and holidays at his Sin City outpost. • Chef Joseph Keller, who opened Bouchon (Yountville) with brother Thomas Keller (but sold his interest some years ago) and who owns Como's Restaurant at Monte Lago Village at Lake Las Vegas (Henderson), is launching a second Monte Lago venue this month. Bistro Zinc offers lake views and American fare, souped up by Bayou flavors in this residential community, 15 minutes from the strip. • A spin-off of Scottsdale's popular Sapporo opened at 9719 W. Flamingo Rd. this month. Partners Joe Popo and Mike Russello recruited talent from their Scottsdale kitchen to run the show, head sushi chef Kittiphong "Kit" Xaigaiha and exec chef Martin L. Kucera.
Umberto Gibin, recently managing partner at Poggio (Sausalito), is teaming up with chef Staffan Terje, formerly of Scala's Bistro, to launch the Italianate Perbacco this summer at 230 California St. San Francisco–based CCA Architecture is designing the bi-level space. • As of January San Francisco's Fog City Diner has a new chef. Rodger Babel hails from Hurley's Restaurant & Bar (Yount ville) and is the official replacement for Cindy Pawlcyn. • The new exec chef at Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants' Grand Café is Ron Boyd, formerly of Domaine Chandon (Yountville). He replaced Fabrice Roux in February. • Couple Quinn and Karen Hatfield left Cortez this winter for L.A., with plans to open a restaurant there later this spring. Cortez promoted kitchen staffers Louis Maldonado and Seth Bowden, now co-exec chefs, and pastry chef Nick Flores to take charge of the kitchen.
Recent Iron Chef winner Neal Fraser nabbed the lease up the street from Grace of the former home of Cafe Capo (7450 Beverly Blvd.) and is opening a casual concept to be named BLD (for breakfast, lunch, dinner) this June. • First time restaurateur Tony Jones launched Royale last month at 2619 Wilshire Blvd. (inside the historic Wilshire Royale Hotel that was converted to apartments some years ago). Exec chef is Eric Ernest, who has cooked at BOA Steakhouse (Santa Monica). The American-themed menu mixes luxe dishes like foie gras with candied blood orange with such down-home faves as crispy pork spare-ribs. • After many delays, in February New York City's legendary City Bakery finally opened in the celeb shopping mecca Brentwood Country Mart (225 26th St. in Brentwood). Maury Rubin is swapping his staunch East Coast identity for a bicoastal one and will be shuttling back and forth between the two venues. • In February Adrian Vasquez of Chicago's Bin 36 replaced Tim Butler as Providence's pastry chef. Butler relocated to NYC to take over at Alto for Patti Jackson. • Also in February Benjamin Ford, formerly of Chadwick, opened Ford's Filling Station in Culver City (9531 Culver Blvd.). The 70 seater plays on the British gastropub concept, serving high-quality fare in a way laid-back setting. Menu highlights include smoked Berkshire hog pork chops and assorted flatbreads cooked in the kitchen's wood-burning oven. In the works are spin-offs in Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. • Rodelio Aglibot turned in his toque at Yi Cuisine, ending his partnership there in February. On Aglibot's immediate agenda is a culinary around-the-world vision quest to India, Australia, Southeast Asia, Turkey, and beyond, which he is documenting on his blog "Swining and Dining," a reference to his love of pork in all its delicious guises.
John Garcia, late of BOA Steakhouse in West Hollywood, is now at the helm at The Arizona Kitchen, the fine dining concept at The Wigwam Golf Resort & Spa (Litchfield). He replaced Ron Dimas in February. • Simply Bread (2117 N. 24th St.) opened in February. Jeffrey Yankellow, who led the USA team to first place at the Coupe du Monde de le Boulangerie in 2005, is head baker.
Citing flagging midweek business, Doug Organ closed his critically acclaimed Arbor in January, gave the interior a dressed-down makeover, and reopened in February as Cafe D, with a moderate menu. • In February Jeremy Sewall (formerly of Great Bay) and pastry chef wife Lisa Sewall (late of L'Espalier) opened Lineage at 242 Harvard St. (Brookline). Sewall's ancestors owned much of the town in the seventeenth century, hence the name. • Om Restaurant/Lounge (57 John F. Kennedy St.) is the brainchild of Bik Yonjan and Solmon Chowdhury, first time restaurateurs. Exec Chef Rachel Klein is recently of Providence's Lot 401. Pastry chef Cristina Valente hails from NYC's David Burke & Dontatella. • This month Frank de Pasquale opened Gelateria at 272 Hanover St., a stone's throw from his other venues, Express, Trattoria Il Panino, Mare, and Bricco. The 50-plus flavors are made by imported Italian machinery. • Seven years ago pastry chef Vicki Lee Boyajian sold her self-named bakery in Needham to raise her son. As of last month she is back at the ovens with Vicki Lee's Bakeshop, Catering & Take-Away at 105 Trapelo Rd. (Belmont), a high-end spot hawking fine pastries and fancy prepared foods. • In February Michael Rhoads, formerly head baker at Boston's Sel de la Terre, opened B & R Artisan Bread at 151 Cochituate Road (Fram ing ham). His partner is wife Jennifer Bones. • Tom Berry, the opening exec chef at Bambara and recently of Nantucket's Straight Wharf Restaurant, is the new top toque at Temple Bar. He replaces Dan Pogue, who moved on to sister restaurant Grafton Street.
Next month partners Rick Wahl stedt, Miae Lim, and designer Jeffrey Beers will open an offshoot of their Chicago hit Japonais at 111 E. 18th St. Chef/partner Gene Kato and sushi chef/partner Jun Ichikawa will commute between the two kitchens. • David Chang, who co-owns and co-chefs Momofuku Noodle Bar with Joaquin Baca, is opening Momofuku Ssäm Bar at 207 Second Ave. this summer. “We’re going even more casual. It’s basically going to be fast food, serving the Asian burrito—Korean ssäm wraps,” Chang explains. “It’s a dual operation: late night we will have a raw bar and whole wheels of stinky cheese.” Asian burritos by day? Stinky cheeses by night? “It will be different,” Chang acknowledges. • Momofuku has clearly sparked downtown Asian noodle mania. Je’Bon Noodle House (15 St. Marks Pl.) opened in February. Owners are Joe Yip, who also owns Green Tea Café in Chinatown, and Ray Cheung, a mortgage broker. And in February Quentin Danté, owner of the short-lived Yumcha, opened Noodle Bar (26 Carmine St.), a casual spot modeled on Hong Kong hawker stands. Maria Rodriguez, recently of The Upper Crust, is chef, and Ten Vong, formerly of Mercer Kitchen and Yumcha, is a partner. • Speaking of Vong, this month he opened a modern American tapas lounge, Nightlife, in the new Night Hotel (formerly Best Western Ambassador and owned by Vikram Chatwal), which opened last month. Vong’s partner is Alex Freij, owner of Diner 24. • Veteran restaurateur Alan Stillman is teaming up with his son Michael to open Quality Meats at 57 West 58th St. Craig Koketsu will ride the range, and Cory Colton will take care of the sweet side. Avro Ko will design the contemporary American restaurant. • Classic cocktails take center stage at Blue Owl, a subterranean lounge at 196 Second Ave., opened in February. Owners are J. Ashley Smith (formerly gm at Picholine) and Jim Bulgatz (a food biz newbie). Bar manager Charles Hardwick learned his trade at Acme Bar & Grill and Pravda. • New York City nightclub guru David Baxley and designer wife Sally Bennett craved a hip hangout in their new hometown of Westport, CT, so they converted the former digs of The Treehouse Café into The Spyglass Restaurant/Alibi Lounge in January. We love the live video stream of a Manhattan street corner, a spy-cam of the gritty city for lounging suburbanites. • Little Dishes, a diminutive small plates spot at 434 Seventh Ave. (Brooklyn), opened in February. Husband and wife team chef Colin Wright, who cooked recently at the shuttered Laundry in East Hampton, and Mira Friedlaender are owners. • In related news, Leif Hope, owner of the building that housed Laundry, opened Leif Hope’s Restaurant in the space with local chef Scott Jaffe at the helm. • 71 Clinton Fresh Food, the trailblazing eatery that put the Lower East Side on the culinary map and where Wylie Dufresne made his name, is kaput. Exec chef Jason Neroni served its last meal in March. Stay tuned for his next move.
Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa's expansion project is opening early this summer with a trio of restaurants helmed by A-listers. Michael Mina makes his East Coast splash with SeaBlue A Michael Mina Restaurant, a briny Adam Tihany–designed spot based on the Las Vegas SeaBlue, but tailored to an East Coast clientele. Also making his East Coast debut is Wolfgang Puck with Wolfgang Puck American Grille. Here the focus is modern tavern fare with a California twang. Executive chef Marc Djozlijia is a 13 year Wolfgang vet. Tony Chi is working on a cozy autumn mood for the dining room. Finally, Bobby Flay and partner Laurence Kretchmer are taking a stab at America's favorite dining concept, the steakhouse, with the David Rock well–designed Bobby Flay Steak.
