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The latest chefs on the move-2012-10-22The latest chefs on the move-2012-10-22

Scott Linquist, Christopher Eagle, Franco Barrio, Justin Macy, Shane Baird

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

October 22, 2012

2 Min Read
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Bret Thorn

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Scott Linquist, who was the opening corporate chef for the seven-unit Dos Caminos chain, part of the New York-based B.R. Guest restaurant group, has returned to Border Grill Restaurants and Truck as the executive chef of the downtown Los Angeles location. There are two Border Grill restaurants and a food truck in Los Angeles, and one Border Grill in Las Vegas.

Linquist was a chef at Border Grill, owned by celebrity chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, nearly 20 years ago. He also wrote a cookbook, Mod Mex: Cooking Vibrant Fiesta Flavors at Home, published in 2007.

Christopher EagleChristopher Eagle has been hired as restaurant chef of The Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City, with responsibility for its three restaurants: Peacock Alley, Oscar’s Brasserie and Bull & Bear Steakhouse. Most recently working with chef Grant McPherson and his company Scotch Myst in Las Vegas, Eagle’s agenda includes revamping Peacock Alley’s Sunday brunch, where eggs Benedict, the Waldorf salad and other restaurant staples were created.

Eagle will be introducing more seasonal items, which currently includes chanterelle mushrooms, apples, figs and spaghetti squash.

Franco BarrioBarrio 47, a new bar and restaurant in New York City’s West Village, has appointed Peruvian chef Franco Barrio as its chef. The former chef and owner of Caliu, a tapas bar also in the West Village, Barrio is preparing dishes such as lobster paella, braised short rib pappardelle with ricotta salata, and foie gras torchon with candied walnuts and Port gelée.

Barrio’s previous experience in New York has included stints at Casa Mono, Boqueria, Eleven Madison Park and Momofuku Ssam Bar.

Justin MacyJustin Macy has been promoted from executive sous to executive chef of Miraval Resort & Spa in Tucson, Ariz., where he is continuing the property’s tradition of serving traditionally high-calorie dishes in lighter form.

Signature dishes include edamame guacamole and cilantro-crusted scallops with cumin-scented black bean cakes, corn salsa and smoked red pepper coulis.

Shane Baird is the new chef de cuisine at J&G Grill at The St. Regis Deer Valley in Park City, Utah, where the best sellers are turkey chili and Swiss fondue. Most recently, Baird was chef-consultant for cookbook author and photographer Kit Wohl in New Orleans. Before that he was a sous chef with boutique hotel operator Joie de Vivre Hospitality in San Francisco.

Originally from Honolulu, Baird attended the New England Culinary Institute in Burlington, Vt., and also studied Basque cooking in Spain under chef Martin Berasategui.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
 

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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