Whisk Around the World
Julie Mautner
Posted: February 20, 2009
MEXICO
After undergoing a $30 million renovation, One&Only Palmilla (Los Cabos, Mexico) on November 1 unveiled its new Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant, Market, replacing Charlie Trotter's restaurant C, following the expiration of Trotter's five year contract. Exec chef Alex Theil stayed on. Market seats 180 with another 80 on an outdoor veranda and 28 seats at the Suviche Bar. First opened in 1957, One&Only Palmilla now has 172 rooms and suites, along with three restaurants, a spa, two pools, a conference center, and a 27 hole Jack Nicklaus Golf Club.
Juan Licerio is the exec chef at the 59 room Capella Ixtapa, which opened in December. It's the first of three Capella Hotels and Resorts to debut in Mexico before the end of 2009. A native of Durango, Mexico, Licerio is a longtime Ritz-Carlton vet and played on the opening teams of a number of properties, including, most recently, as exec sous in Cancún. The hotel's f&b director is Pablo Perrin (Club Ninety Six at Villas del Mar in San Jose del Cabo), and the gm is Romana Heeg (formerly gm at the Colony Club Hotel, Barbados).
THE CARIBBEAN
Walter Hinds opened the elegant 43 seat Hinds Restaurant in Cruz Bay on St. John (USVI) in August. Born and raised on Long Island, Hinds worked at Lucas Carton in Paris (under Alain Senderens) and also in New York City at Gotham Bar and Grill and Odeon; most recently he was head chef at the Stone Terrace (St. John), now closed. He's cooking refined Mediterranean-influenced modern French cuisine, offering both à la carte and tasting (five, seven, 10 course, vegetarian) menus at dinner six nights a week.
FRANCE
Olivier Roellinger, 53, is closing his Michelin three-star restaurant in the small Brittany port of Cancale due to "fatigue and other personal reasons." Roellinger also runs a bakery, a spice-oriented grocery, a cooking school, bed and breakfasts, and a smaller bistro-restaurant, all in Cancale. One of 26 chefs currently holding Michelin's highest rating, he's the fourth in recent years to toss in the towel. Joël Robuchon gave up his stars in 1996, saying life in the fast lane was too stressful. He was followed by Alain Senderens in Paris in 2005 and Antoine Westermann in Strasbourg in 2006. "After 26 years of happiness standing by the oven, it is becoming increasingly difficult each day to cope with physical demands," Roellinger, who once suffered a vicious gang beating, told Agence France-Presse.
Serge Trigano, the son of Club Med cofounder Gilbert Trigano, has teamed up with his sons Jeremie and Benjamin, plus French philosopher Cyril Aouizerate, to open a 172 room hotel in Paris called Mama Shelter. Roland Castro was the architect and Philippe Starck did the interiors. Opened in September, the hotel is in the Saint Blaise quarter of the Charonne district, at the southeast corner of Père Lachaise cemetery, current abode of Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, and Frédéric Chopin. ("Until recently, the 20th arrondissement was fashionable only if you were dead," wrote the London newspaper the Independent, while the Guardian, in a positive review, called Mama Shelter "…a luxury-boutique-economy-monastery-kibbutz….") Alain Senderens (Senderens, Paris) consulted on the hotel's French restaurant and will work closely with chef de cuisine Yann Tanneau. Rooms begin at 79¤ ($100) and are equipped with free-access iMacs with WiFi that function as TVs as well.
LONDON
After a two year tasting trek through Mexico and North America, Eric Partaker and Dan Houghton opened their second restaurant, Chilango, at 142 Fleet Street in October, serving "fast, fresh, and tasty" Mexican food in the City (London's financial district). They also own Mucho Mas in Islington. Chilango has an open kitchen, and everything is prepared fresh daily. With 32 seats, Chilango offers eat in, take-away, and delivery, with meals beginning at £5.95 ($9). Consulting chef James Kirby, most recently consultant to Bulembu Country Lodge in Swaziland, worked earlier with Alain Ducasse in London. Partaker and Houghton have plans to expand.
SPAIN
Sporting a five-star tiara, Finca Cortesín opened on Costa del Sol in southern Spain in October. It adjoins the two year old Club de Golf Fina Cortesín. The resort, 40 minutes west of Málaga, one of Andalucia's most picturesque port cities, has 67 suites, a spa, two Olympic pools, graceful Moorish-inspired interior courtyards, and sweeping Mediterranean views. Its three restaurants include Schilo, offering upscale Asian fusion cuisine from Dutch chef Schilo Van Coevorden, former exec chef of the College Hotel (Amsterdam). Van Coevorden is also the resort's exec chef. The resort's f&b manager is Marcos Calle, last at the local hotel Puente Romana.
INDONESIA
The St. Regis Bali opened in mid-September in Nusa Dua on the island's southern tip. Exec chef is Oscar Perez, repeating his former role at the W Maldives. F&B director Edi Sidarta Kartawijaya was the #2 at The Ritz-Carlton Bali. The stunning new resort has 79 suites, 42 villas, two residences, a spa, two restaurants, a gourmet deli, and the King Cole Bar. Butlers and personal chefs are available for in-room dining and entertaining; rooms begin at $500.
