Julie Mautner reports.
FranceIn March Jean-Luc Rabanel opened the 50 seat LAtelier de Jean-Luc Rabanel in Arles. Rabanel is the former chef of La Chassagnette, just outside Arles, where he became the first chef ever to receive a Michelin star for an organic restaurant. In the sleek red, black, and white room, Rabanel serves a set menu composed of as many as 12 small courses and priced at 35 (U.S.$42) at lunch and 50 (U.S.$61) at dinner, but its also possible to eat less and pay less. Signatures include a red pepper emulsion with balsamic caramel in a demitasse cup with Parmesan/tomato grissini, beet carpaccio with rosemary and a light mayonnaise, and wild sea bass on mashed potatoes in an emulsion of lemongrass, green anise, and Sichuan pepper. Much of the restaurants produce is grown for Rabanel in an eight acre organic garden near Arles. A video monitor in the restaurants front window allows passers-by to watch the action in the small semi-open kitchen. Sylvestre Wahid is the new exec chef at LOustau de Beau manière, the Michelin two-star in Provence. Wahid has been working for Alain Ducasse in New York City at the Essex House and in Paris at Ducasses cooking school, ADF Formation. He replaces Alain Burnel, who will stay on at Beaumanière until his retirement. In April Jean-Bernard Favre opened the 45 seat Restaurant de la Pointe dYvoire, specializing in fresh Lake Geneva fish such as perch, trout, fera, and omble chevalier (the latter two are types of salmon commonly found in the Savoie). This is Favres first restaurant venture. A former physicist and computer engineer, born into a fishermans family, Favre and his wife, Geneviève, own a gourmet food shop called Oleum in Yvoire, next door to the restaurant, on the shore of Lake Geneva. He is also working as a distributor, selling Moulin du Calanquet olive oil and other products to chefs throughout France, particularly in the Rhône Alpes. Jonathan Chiri is the new exec and pastry chef at Château de Massillan, a 13 room luxury castle hotel in Uchaux, 20 miles north of Avignon, in the Vaucluse region of Provence. Chiri was born in California, considers New Orleans home, and has been working in France for four years, three of them at La Mirande in Avignon, where he will continue to oversee the Marmiton cooking school. The Château de Massillan was opened in 2002 by Peter Wylly and Birgit Israel; Wylly is managing partner. Although parts of the castle date to 1550, most of it is 18th century. Chiri replaces Marc Koenemund. Bruno Feldeisen has left Brentwood Bay Lodge to be pastry chef at Wickaninnish Inn on Vancouver Island. Feldeisen worked with Joachim Splichal in Los Angeles and at the Four Seasons Hotel New York. Before his Vancouver move, he’d opened restaurants in Washington, D.C. (Senses) and San Francisco (Solea). • John Cordeaux has been promoted from exec chef (since 1999) to f&b director at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. At press time, his kitchen replacement had still not been named.
The Caribbean After Hurricane Ivan set the opening back a full year, the 365 room Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman debuted late last month, boasting two restaurants by Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin (New York City). Richard Brower, former sous chef at Le Bernardin, oversees both spots: Blue by Eric Ripert and Periwinkle by…you guessed it. The 122 seat dinner-only Blue presents gold standard seafood, on either a prix-fixe or tasting menu. The 130 seat Periwinkle offers alfresco Mediterranean dining at lunch and dinner.
Latin America At Charlie Trotter’s restaurant C at One&Only Palmilla in Los Cabos, Mexico (see “Trotter Gets Spacific,” Food Arts, November 2005, page 66), Michael MacDonald has taken over chef duties from Guillermo Tellez. MacDonald was recently exec sous chef at Café Gray (New York City) and, before that, worked at the Shore Club (Miami), the Four Seasons Hotel Houston, and, for five years, at Everest (Chicago). Tellez plans to take time off with his wife, Leslie, and their daughter in Leslie’s hometown of Philadelphia. Leslie, who had been C’s pastry chef, had yet to be replaced at press time. Other changes at C: dining room manager Mitchell Schmieding has moved to New YorkCity to be gm at Danny Meyer’s Eleven Madison Park. Prior to moving to Mexico, Schmieding was Trotter’s dining room manager in Chicago.
France Jean François Rouquette is the new exec chef at the Park Hyatt Vendôme in Paris. Rouquette comes from Les Muses in the Hôtel Scribe. He replaces Christophe David, who has assumed Sandro Gamba’s vacated exec chef spot at the Park Hyatt Chicago.
Monte Carlo The Société des Bains de Mer opened the 11 story, $260 million Monte Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort in October, with 334 rooms and extensive meeting facilities. F&B director Sébastien Noat has been with Shangri-La Hotels since 2001. Exec chef Marcel Ravin comes from Le Meridien Brussels.
London Nobu Matsuhisa and partners Robert DeNiro, B.S. Ong, Richard Notar, and Meir Teper, have opened the 200 seat Nobu Berkeley, composed of a large lounge/bar on the first floor and upstairs dining for parties of fewer than six on a first-come first-served basis. At a hibachi table fitted with three built-in grills, customers can cook their own ishi-yaki and shabu-shabu. Exec chef Mark Edwards decamped from Nobu on Park Lane, where he’d been billeted since its opening nine years ago; he’ll oversee both kitchens from his new command post. • Patrice Martineau is the new exec chef at the Savoy, after six years at Daniel (New York City), where he was chef de cuisine since 2003. Martineau replaces Georg Fuchs, now exec chef at Rocco Forte’s St. David’s Hotel & Spa in Cardiff (Wales).
Asia and the Pacific New Zealand’s first Sofitel hotel, the five-star 82 room Sofitel Queenstown, opened in September. Both exec chef Shane Watson and f&b director Zac Lumsden migrated from the Sea Temple Resort in Queensland (Australia).
Africa and the Middle East Jean-Pierre Garat has joined the Kuwait Hilton International as f&b manager. He was, most recently, f&b director of the InterContinental Paris. • Anthony Hannan is the new exec chef at The Ritz-Carlton Dubai. Prior to joining the hotel, he was a member of the opening team at The Fairmont Dubai. He also served as exec sous chef at The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore. At 34, he’s the youngest exec chef under a Ritz-Carlton roof. • The Ritz-Carlton Doha (Qatar) has a new exec chef: Steve Grein. He replaces Viktor Stampfer, who joined Lufthansa Airlines.
Send your international restaurant and hotel f&b news to Julie Mautner at WhiskNews@aol.com
