Sea Kyeong Kim has been promoted from executive sous chef to executive chef of Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdale’s South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, Calif. Kim replaces Amar Santana, who left to open his own restaurant. Ashley Weaver, who has been with Charlie Palmer’s restaurants since she began as an extern at Aureole in New York, has been promoted to executive sous chef.
Seth Nelson is the new chef de cuisine of Brothers Restaurant at Mattei’s Tavern in Los Olivos, Calif. A graduate of the Art Institute of California in Los Angeles, Nelson most recently spent two years as executive sous chef of Simon L.A. in Los Angeles.
Justin Kurtz is the chef at Linger Longer Steakhouse, which opened at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge Reynolds Plantation, in Greensboro, Ga., in April. Kurtz is a Ritz-Carlton veteran, having worked at the company for eight years, most recently as chef de cuisine at the Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe in Truckee, Calif.
Gregory Frey is the new chef de cuisine at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., with responsibility for the property’s signature restaurant, BlueFire Grill. Most recently, Frey was chef de cuisine at Pamplemousse Grille in Solana Beach, Calif.
René Bajeux has been named chef at the Rib Room at the Royal Orleans Hotel in New Orleans. He is scheduled to start that job on May 25. In recent years Bajeux has been consulted at a number of hotel restaurants, mostly in the Caribbean. Before that he had a brief stint at La Provence in New Orleans, and prior to that he had his own restaurant, René Bistro, at the Renaissance Père Marquette Hotel in New Orleans, which was closed after Hurricane Katrina.
Owen Williams is the new chef de cuisine at The Signature Grill at JW Marriott Starr Pass resort & Spa in Tucson, Ariz. The Johnson & Wales University graduate most recently was senior supervisor in charge of lunch and dinner at a restaurant at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa.
Jacques Noel is the new executive chef of the Hillsboro Club in Hillsboro Beach, Fla. Noel grew up in France and was trained through the traditional apprenticeship system there. In recent years he has held executive positions at a number of high-end resorts and clubs, including the Surf Club and the Indian Creek Country Club in Miami-Dade County and the Rod and Reel Club on Hibiscus Island.
Jason Stoneburner has been promoted from chef de cuisine to executive chef at Bastille in Seattle, replacing Shannon Galusha who left to open a chain of restaurants for local entrepreneurs. A self-taught chef, Stoneburner started his career at the Flagstaff House in Boulder, Colo. He moved to Seattle in 1998 to open Stars with chef Jeremiah Tower.
Karsten Hart is chef de cuisine of the Castle Hill Inn in Newport, R.I., working under executive chef Jonathan Cambra. Most recently, Hart was executive chef of The Estate by the Elderberries in Oakhurst, Calif.
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