A look at recent restaurant openings and job changes from chefs across the country:
Andres Julian Grundy, who was chef de cuisine at Clio in Boston before moving to New York three years ago to work at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, is now executive chef at Insieme and The Michelangelo Hotel in New York.
Wolfgang Puck plans to open his first restaurant in Europe this spring, with the opening of his CUT concept at 45 Park Lane in London, a 45-room hotel that The Dorchester Collection plans to open.
The restaurant will seat 76 in the dining room and also will have a separate lounge area. Thierry Despont is designing the interior.
Thomas Connell is now executive chef of The Fontainebleau Miami Beach in Miami Beach, Fla., and Ooi Soon Lok is executive chef of that property’s Hakkasan restaurant, which specializes in modern Cantonese cuisine.
Connell is a 19-year veteran of The Ritz-Carlton, having worked at those hotels on the Indonesian island of Bali, the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong, the Canary Island of Tenerife, in Singapore and elsewhere. His last job was as executive chef of The Ritz-Carlton South Beach in Miami Beach, Fla., where he was executive chef.
Lok, who is Hokkien Chinese and from Malaysia, most recently was executive Chinese chef for the Capella Singapore Hotel. Before that, he held the same position at the Ritz-Carlton in Guangzhou, China.
Tuan Nguyen, the former executive chef and general manager of Wolfgang Puck Café in Las Vegas, is the new chef of 10-year-old restaurant Chino Latino in Minneapolis, which is owned by Parasole Restaurant Holdings.
Nguyen’s résumé also includes stints at Caribbean concept Ortanique in Miami and French restaurant Mon Ami Gabi in Las Vegas. His Twin Cities experience includes work at Goodfellows, California Café and Napa Valley Grille.
Yann Giacomoni is executive chef of Jumby Bay, a Rosewood Resort on the Caribbean island of Antigua. Most recently, he was executive chef of the St. Regis Punta Mita in Punta de Mita, Mexico.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
