The latest chefs on the move

Michael LaDuke has left the corporate executive chef position at Red Lobster for fellow Darden Restaurants chain The Capital Grille. LaDuke was at Red Lobster for seven years.

has been namedvice president of food, beverage and procurement at The Habit Burger Grill, a 70-unit chain based in Irvine, Calif. He was formerly corporate executive chef and vice president of food, beverage and culinary operations at 145-unit Mimi’s Café, also in Irvine.

Baird, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, has also worked as sous chef of the Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford, Calif., and as sous chef of the Wine Spectator Restaurant at the CIA’s campus in St. Helena, Calif. He also was the concept/operations development executive chef for the opening of Grand Californian Hotel and Napa Rose Restaurant in Anaheim, Calif.

, who gained national acclaim as chef of The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead, in Atlanta, is now executive chef of the Capital Hotel in Little Rock, Ark., overseeing Ashley’s restaurant and Capital Bar & Grill, as well as its private dining and catering facilities.

In 2005, Antunes won the James Beard Foundation award for best chef in the Southeast for his Atlanta restaurant Joël. Most recently, Antunes was consulting chef at Kitchen Joël Antunes at the Embassy Mayfair in London.

Waldy Malouf, who has spent years in the New York restaurant scene with restaurants such as Beacon and Waldy’s Wood Fired Pizza, is now senior director of special projects at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.

Malouf, who graduated from the CIA in 1975, will contribute to the refinement of the nine restaurants at the culinary school’s three U.S. campuses in Hyde Park; St. Helena, Calif.; and San Antonio.

, who spent eight years at Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, including as executive chef, is now chef de cuisine at Parallel 37 in San Francisco. His menu includes a farm fresh egg with caramelized Brussels sprouts and sweet-and-sour rhubarb; Dungeness crab with green tomato and Thai basil linguine; and oxtail with nasturtium, chocolate and honey mustard.

, former executive chef of Abattoir in Atlanta, is the new executive chef of Woodfire Grill, also in Atlanta. A native of Okemos, Mich., Williams began his Atlanta culinary career as sous chef of Bacchanalia in 2010. In 2012 he was named Chef of the Year by Eater Atlanta.

More chefs on the move

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is the new executive chef of Southern Art & Bourbon Bar in Atlanta. Most recently executive sous chef of Canoe in Atlanta, Magee plans to further develop Southern Art’s well-established ham bar.

is the new executive chef at Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa in Ponte Vedra, Fla., where he is preparing dishes such as red snapper with artichoke sofrito and Parmesan pan-fried tomatoes. He was most recently executive chef of the Renaissance World Golf Village Resort in St. Augustine, Fla.

Todd Sicolo is the new executive chef at the Royal Palms in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he has added items such as ricotta gnudi with spaghetti squash, charred tomato broth and pesto; mascarpone-stuffed French toast; and lamb sliders on sweet onion bread with minted fig barbecue sauce, red onion marmalade and crumbled goat cheese.

He was previously executive chef of the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix for five years.

replaces Sicolo as Arizona Biltmore’s executive chef. He was most recently executive chef of the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Maybury studied at the Dublin College of Catering in Dublin, Ireland, and also received a Master Certificate in Essentials of Hospitality Management from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

Jason Donoho is the new research and development chef at Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas. Most recently executive chef at Fino Restaurant Patio & Bar, also in Austin, Donoho grew up in the Caribbean and South America, traveling on his family’s sailboat and working in restaurants around the world. He has worked in Puerto Rico, Alaska, New York and San Francisco.

has been named executive chef of La Condesa in St. Helena, Calif. He was most recently sous chef at La Condesa’s Austin, Texas, restaurant. Earlier, Mortenson worked for five years as executive chef at the Border Grill at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. He also owned his own restaurant, Sonora Grill, in Ogden, Utah.

is the new executive pastry chef at Oceana in New York, where he is offering desserts such as warm sweet potato and cranberry parfait with maple sweet potato meringue and pomegranate sorbet, and milk chocolate macadamia mousse with mocha cream, caramel, vanilla ice milk and cocoa nib opaline.

Previously, Gabriel was executive pastry chef at Versailles Bistro and Patisserie in Greenwich, Conn., and the Pluckemin Inn in Bedminster, N.J.

is the new executive chef at White Oak Kitchen & Cocktails in Atlanta. Most recently, he was executive chef of STG Trattoria, also in Atlanta.

Although Hopkins has no formal culinary training, he has been cooking in professional kitchens since 1996. At White Oak, he serves such dishes as roasted duck breast and confit leg with sweet potato bacon terrine and cabbage salad, and braised short rib with roasted French beans and arugula gremolata.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
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