Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants has moved around several of its chefs recently, according to spokespeople from the various restaurants.
John Critchley has left Area 31 in Miami to be chef of Urbana in Washington, D.C. The Massachusetts native worked for years as a private chef and also under the tutelage of Boston celebrity chef Ken Oringer.
Replacing Critchley is another Massachusetts native, E. Michael Reidt, who until recently was executive chef of Kimpton's B&O American Brasserie in Baltimore. He is no stranger to South Florida, having once been the executive chef of Wish in Miami Beach, Fla.
Replacing Reidt is Thomas Dunklin. The New Orleans native most recently was executive chef of Red Star Tavern, a Kimpton restaurant in Portland, Ore. He worked at Delmonico in his hometown under Emeril Lagasse and then moved to Seattle, where he worked on cured meats, among other things, at Sazerac and Tulio.
Dunklin also worked as executive sous chef at Jsix and J-Bar in San Diego and at Kuleto’s in San Francisco before going to Red Star.
San Francisco-based Kimpton operates more than 50 restaurants and hotels across the country.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].