The latest chefs on the move

Former Iron Chef winner and San Francisco Bay area restaurant veteran Ron Siegel has rejoined the Michael Mina group as executive chef of its eponymous flagship in San Francisco.

Mina first hired Siegel in 1991 as a line cook at Aqua restaurant. “There was a magic in the kitchen in those early years,” Mina said in a press release. “Leveraging Ron’s outstanding skill set, years of experience, and our shared history, it’s my belief that we will recapture that magic, taking Michael Mina San Francisco to the next level.”

Siegel started his career as a butcher in Palo Alto, Calif., attended California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and was Thomas Keller’s first sous chef at The French Laundry in Yountville, Calif. He went on to run the kitchens of renowned San Francisco restaurants, including Masa’s and Charles Nob Hill.

In 1998 he became the first American chef to win the original Japanese version of “Iron Chef." Food & Wine magazine named him one of the year’s Best New Chefs in 1999.

 

Daniel Mangione is the new executive pastry chef of The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain, in Tucson, Ariz. His dishes include s’mores sundaes with house-made marshmallow ice cream, and churros served with a spiced Mexican chocolate sauce made with two types of peppers and a hint of tequila.

David Schmidt is the new executive chef of the Enchantment Resort in Sedona, Ariz., where he is responsible, among other things, for conceptualizing the menu of a new restaurant that’s part of the resort’s $25 million renovation.

Most recently he was at L’Auberge de Sedona.

E.J. Hodgkinson has been promoted from chef de cuisine to executive chef of Woodfire Grill in Atlanta, where he has been working since August of 2008, a year after graduating summa cum laude from the Le Cordon Bleu at Texas Culinary Academy in Austin.

This native of Placerville, Calif., has been cooking in professional kitchens since high school, however, and was executive chef of Tomei’s in his hometown in 2003, at the age of 21.

Jason Mattick has been named executive chef of Milo + Olive, a neighborhood bakery and pizzeria in Santa Monica, Calif., where he is dishing up za’atar-spiced chicken wings, pork belly sausage pizza and a breakfast croissant sandwich of smoked pork belly, fried egg, arugula and maple syrup.

Most recently he was executive chef of Palate Food + Wine in Glendale, Calif.

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Jeffrey Wurtz is the new executive chef of Le Cirque in New York City. Most recently the native of Seoul, South Korea was pastry chef at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco.

“Taking simple ingredients and manipulating them into something unique and interesting continues to drive my passion for pastry,” he said.

Jeremy Strubel, who has spent the past year starting Inner Gardens Farm in Topanga, Calif., which focuses on cultivating goat’s milk for cheese, wild herbs, and heirloom breeds of poultry, is the new executive chef of Rustic Canyon Wine Bar and Seasonal Kitchen in Santa Monica, Calif. The Los Angeles native has worked at some of California’s top kitchens, including Bastide in West Hollywood, Quince in San Francisco, and Citrine in Los Angeles.

He still also runs Inner Gardens Farm with his girlfriend.

Nicholas Armstrong is the new executive chef of Siro’s of Manhattan in New York City. Most recently chef de cuisine of Siro’s Trattoria in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Armstrong is making dishes such as mozzarella stuffed meatballs in red sauce, oven roasted pork chops with saffron Israeli couscous and fig & Chambord mostarda glaze, and grilled asparagus and bitter greens salad with Serrano chips and shaved Parmesan in blood orange vinaigrette.

Ramon “Cobra” Carillo has been promoted from executive sous chef to executive chef at the Wyndham Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa in Rio Granda, Puerto Rico, where he started his career as a cook 16 years ago.

Carillo studied at Instituto Educación Universal in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, and has taken continuing-education classes at The Culinary Institute of America’s Greystone campus in St. Helena, Calif.

Rèmy Fünfrock is the new executive pasty chef at Wequassett Resort and Golf Club in Chatham, Mass. Fünfrock most recently was executive chef of the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colo. He also spent more than 10 years working with fellow Lyon, France, native Daniel Boulud at restaurants Daniel and Café Boulud in New York City.

Tommy Nevill, former executive chef of III Forks Prime Steakhouse in Chicago, is now executive chef and proprietor of III Forks Prime Steakhouse in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He has been with parent company, 120-unit Consolidated Restaurant Operations, for nearly six years.

Apart from being a chef, Nevill also has completed the Level One wine course with the Court of Master Sommeliers.

Todd Webster is executive chef at the Front Porch Café in Miami Beach, Fla. Most recently the sous chef of Michaels Genuine Food & Drink in Miami, Webster is preparing dishes such as slow-roasted pork shoulder with black beans and rice, a fried egg, and grilled endive with roasted red pepper and pancetta.

Contact Bret Thorn at bret.thorn@penton.com.
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