Chef on the Move: New jobs for Ned Elliott, Hedy Goldsmith and dozens more

<p><strong><span style="color:black">Lawrence Acosta </span></strong><span style="color:black">is the new executive chef of The Plaza Hotel Pioneer Park in his hometown of El Paso, Texas. He studied at the local Riverside Culinary Program before attending The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and then worked at La Mansión del Rio in San Antonio, Texas, as well as such El Paso properties as</span><span style="color:#0e101a"> Tom’s Folk Cafe, Dark Horse Tavern, Palomino Tavern and, most recently, the El Paso Country Club. </span></p>

<p><strong><span style="color:black">Mikey Adams </span></strong><span style="color:black">is the new chef de cuisine of The St. Regis San Francisco. Adams cooked in Edinburgh, Scotland, for five years before moving to California and cooking at One Market in San Francisco and Shimo Modern Steakhouse in Healdsburg. </span></p>

<p><span style="color:black">That was followed by a stint at 1833 in Monterey, and after that he became executive chef of Proper Hotel in San Francisco. He was slated to be the opening executive chef of Timothy Hollingsworth’s All the Years, but the pandemic put a halt to that and instead he ended up running the kitchen at Angler in San Francisco before joining The St. Regis.</span></p>

<p><strong>Cody Auger</strong> is the new executive chef of Takibi restaurant in Portland, Ore. Previously he spent nearly 20 years as co-owner and co-executive chef of Hokusei and Nimblefish, also in Portland.</p>

<p><strong>Thomas Bellec </strong>is the new executive chef of Bricoleur Vineyards in Windsor, Calif. Previously he spent 18 years working for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, having worked at properties in California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Ontario as well as in Uruguay.</p>

<p>Bellec was raised in Concarneau in the French region of Brittany, the grandson of famous bakers in the town. His father was a fisherman and he grew up on the water catching seafood before apprenticing at a Michelin-starred restaurant in his hometown which led to his joining the Four Seasons group. In 2015 he was named a master chef of France by Maîtres Cuisiniers de France.</p>

<p><strong>Jaspratap “Jassi” Bindra </strong>is the new executive chef and managing partner of Kahani Social Group, whose first restaurant, Amrina, slated to open soon in The Woodlands, Texas. He studied catering management in Kolkata, India, and earned a bachelor’s degree in international hospitality management from Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland. From there he joined InterContinental Hotels &amp; Resorts, followed by work at a variety of luxury destinations in India.</p>

<p>Most recently he was executive chef of Punjab Grill in Washington, D.C.</p>

<p><strong>Alex Bloom </strong>has been promoted to executive chef from executive sous chef of Rancho Valencia Resort &amp; Spa in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. Originally from Connecticut, Bloom graduated from The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. Before joining Rancho Valencia he was executive sous chef of the Cuvier Club in La Jolla, Calif.</p>

<p><strong><span style="color:black">Ryan Burnham </span></strong><span style="color:black">is the new executive chef of the Waldorf Astoria in Park City, Utah. Most recently he was executive chef of the Sundance Mountain Resort and before that he spent nine years at the Goldener Hirsch Inn &amp; Residences in Dear Valley, Utah.</span></p>

<p><strong><span style="color:black">C.J. Kahley </span></strong><span style="color:black">is the new chef de cuisine at Wrigley Mansion in Phoenix. Most recently the chef of Americano restaurant in Scottsdale, Ariz., he previously worked as a restaurant consultant and as corporate chef for the Mina Group restaurant International Smoke in San Francisco.</span></p>

<p><strong>A. J. Capella </strong>is the new executive chef of Liberty House in Jersey City, N.J. Most recently the chef of the Grand Adirondack Hotel in Lake Placid, N.Y., the New Jersey native previously was chef of Jockey Hollow Bar &amp; Kitchen in Morriston, N.J. In 2017 he received the Garden State Culinary Arts Rising Star Chef Award.</p>

<p><strong><span style="color:black">Daniel Carpenter </span></strong><span style="color:black">is the new managing director for culinary for Sterling Rice Group, a consultancy and creative agency based in Boulder, Colo. It’s a new position to help SRG expand its services. Previously Carpenter was vice president for culinary at national virtual restaurant company Nextbite.</span></p>

<p><strong><span style="color:black">Jeff Chase </span></strong><span style="color:black">is the new director of Cavallo Point Cooking School at Cavallo Point hotel in Sausalito, Calif. His background includes work as a caterer and private chef as well as in restaurants, including Café Sparrow in Aptos, Calif., and Bizou in San Francisco. Most recently he was part of the management team of onsite operator Bon Appetit Management Company.</span></p>

<p><strong><span style="color:black">Ryan Conn </span></strong><span style="color:black">has been promoted to executive sous chef from banquet chef of The Roosevelt New Orleans, a Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Conn worked at small restaurants in Louisiana before studying fine arts at the Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University in Providence, R.I. He then became a line cook at La Provence in Lacombe, La., and then at the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans. He managed the kitchen at Satsuma Café and the commissary kitchen at Surrey’s Café, both also in New Orleans, before joining The Roosevelt.</span></p>

<p><strong><span style="color:black">Lindsey Dale</span></strong><span style="color:black"> is the new executive chef of Forty1 Ambience, a Landscape Hotel, in Sedona, Ariz. Originally from Syracuse, N.Y., she graduated from The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and then worked at properties in the Finger Lakes area of New York, eventually becoming a sous chef at The Sherwood Inn in Skaneateles, N.Y.</span></p>

<p><span style="color:black">She then moved to Sedona and spent nearly five years at the Enchantment Resort before becoming executive chef of the Amara Resort &amp; Spa, where she worked for two years before joining Forty1.</span></p>

<p><strong><span style="color:black">Ned Elliott </span></strong><span style="color:black">has been named executive culinary director of Proper Hospitality, overseeing the food at the Proper branded hotels in the Los Angeles area, San Francisco and Austin, two Hotel June locations in West Los Angeles and Malibu, Calif., the Avalon Hotels in Beverly Hills and Palm Springs, Calif, and the Venice V Hotel in Venice Beach, Calif.</span></p>

<p><span style="color:black">Elliott has spent the past three years as corporate executive chef for Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises in Chicago. Before that he was the chef and owner of Foreign &amp; Domestic in Austin for eight years. </span></p>

<p><strong><span style="color:#403f42">Michael Fusano </span></strong><span style="color:#403f42">is the new executive chef of La Bise in Washington, D.C. A native of Southern California, Fusano started his career after culinary school in Pasadena, Calif., at Noe Restaurant in Los Angeles, working under chef Robert Gadsby, with whom he worked for another seven years before moving to D.C. to work as chef de cuisine at Elisir. Then he moved on to Casa Luca to work with Fabio Trabocchi, followed by an executive chef job at Sfoglina. </span></p>

<p><span style="color:#403f42">In 2019 he moved to Miami to be on the opening team of Trabocchi’s Fiola in Coral Gables, Fla. </span></p>

<p><span style="color:#403f42">In 2020 he spent six months working in Somalia before joining the Knightsbridge Group, which operates La Bise.</span></p>

<p><strong>Hedy Goldsmith </strong>is the new executive pastry chef of Abbalé Telavivian Kitchen in Miami Beach, Fla. The renowned pastry chef and cookbook author has gained wide acclaim, particularly as executive chef of Michael Schwartz’s Michael’s Genuine Food &amp; Drink in Miami. She also is the author of Baking Out Loud: Fun Desserts with Big Flavors, published in 2012.</p>

<p><strong>Josh Hill </strong>has been appointed corporate executive chef of Pacifica Hotels, based in Aliso Viejo, Calif. Most recently he was corporate executive chef of The Decurion Corporation in Los Angeles and before that he was executive chef of The Henry in Beverly Hills, Calif.</p>

<p>He also was culinary director of operations at the Madison Restaurant Group in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.</p>

<p><strong>Erin Kobler </strong>is the new pastry chef of Sepia and Proxi in Chicago. She has an associate’s degree in baking and pastry and a bachelor’s degree in culinary entrepreneurship from Kendall College in Chicago and then spent five years working for Boka Restaurant Group in Chicago, mostly at Bellemore restaurant, before taking her new position.</p>

<p><strong>Hans Lents </strong>is the new executive chef at Signia by Hilton San Jose in California. Most recently he was executive chef of the Halekulani &amp; Halepuna Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii, and before that he was executive chef of the Hawaii Convention Center.</p>

<p><span style="background-color:white"><span style="color:black">The new executive chef of Pineville Tavern in Pineville, Pa., is <strong>Matthew Levin</strong> (pictured next to owner Andrew Abruzzese)<strong>. </strong>Levin most recently was culinary director of Brûlée Catering in Philadelphia and before that was executive chef of Lacroix at the Rittenhouse Hotel, also in Philadelphia. </span></span></p>

<p><span style="background-color:white"><strong><span style="color:black">Jason Logan </span></strong><span style="color:black">has been promoted to executive chef from executive sous chef of The Valley Hotel in Homewood, Ala. Prior to joining that property he worked at various private clubs in Idaho and Alabama.</span></span></p>

<p><strong><span style="color:#002244">Rhoda Magbitang</span></strong><span style="color:#002244"> has been named executive chef of The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern, which is slated to open in Los Olivos, California. Most recently she was executive chef of Petit Ermitage in Los Angeles and before that was executive chef of Chateau Marmont, also in L.A.</span></p>

<p><strong>Devin McDavid</strong> is the new executive pastry chef of Montage Healdsburg hotel in Healdsburg, Calif. A graduate of Johnson &amp; Wales University in Providence, R.I., his pastry background includes working at Per Se, Fleur de Sel and Soho House in New York City, The French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., Quince and Cotogna in San Francisco and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, N.Y., as well as The Resort of Pedregal in Los Cabos, Mexico. Most recently he was in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, at Auberge’s Chileno Bay Resorts &amp; Residences.</p>

<p><strong><span style="color:black">Michael Michaelidis </span></strong><span style="color:black">is the new head of culinary at the Riviera Dining Group, which operates Mila, Ava MediterrAegean, V by Mila and Casa Neos, all in the Miami area.</span></p>

<p><span style="color:black">He has spent the past 12 years working with the Robuchon Group, and his career has taken him to Cannes in France as well as Monaco, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo.</span></p>

<p><strong>Diego Negri </strong>is the new executive chef of Lupa in New York City. A native of Rome, Italy, he spent his early career working in European capitals as well as Spain’s Canary Islands. His first executive chef job was at Pasta Luego on Ibiza in Spain and he went on to be chef of Bar Brutal in Barcelona. After a stint in the Caribbean on Saint Barts he moved to New York city and worked at Eleven Madison Park and Marea before joining the Lupa team.</p>

<p><strong><span style="color:black">Greg Pawlowski</span></strong><span style="color:black"> is the new executive chef of Il Modo at The Harper hotel in Fort Worth, Texas. After studying at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., he spent eight years working for celebrity chef and restaurateur Wolfgang Puck before working at various Westin and W Hotel properties and then arriving at Il Modo. </span></p>

<p><strong><span style="color:black">Ryan Pearson</span></strong><span style="color:black"> is the executive chef of Couvant, the French restaurant at the Eliza Jane Hotel in New Orleans slated to open March 17. Most recently he was sous chef of Restaurant Daniel in New York City, and prior that he worked as a chef consultant in France. Before that he was executive sous chef at Bâtard and chef tournant at Nomad, both in New York City.</span></p>

<p><strong><span style="color:black">Pablo Peñalosa </span></strong><span style="color:black">is the new executive chef of Bishop’s Lodge in Santa Fe, N.M., overseeing the hotel’s SkyFire restaurant. Originally from Mexico City, Peñalosa spent his formative culinary years in Spain at El Celler de Can Roca in Catalonia and Martin Berasategui in the Basque country. He then returned home and was on the opening team of Morimoto in Mexico City. Most recently he was executive chef of Paradisus by Meliá in Los Cabos, Mexico.</span></p>

<p><strong>Eric Petrie, </strong>who has been working under Melissa Kelly at her landmark restaurant Primo in Rockland, Maine, has relocated to the Primo location at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes in Florida, where he is chef de cuisine of the recently renovated and reopened property.</p>

<p><strong>Alex Ricciuti </strong>is the new chef and Combi business development manager for cooking equipment provider Vulcan, based in Baltimore, Md. Ricciuti started her cooking career working for Todd English’s Olives Group in Boston and then founded a catering firm in that city called Green Delicious Cooking Company. For the past 13 years she has been working for foodservice equipment companies, most recently as chef and regional sales manager of Wood Stone Corporation.</p>

<p><strong>Brian Rodriguez </strong>is restaurant chef at Adorn Bar &amp; Restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago. Originally from New York City, Rodriguez began cooking at age 15 working in hotel kitchens in the Canary Islands where he received a bachelor’s degree in culinary management at the Culinary Institute of the Canary Islands.</p>

<p>He then worked at the Ritz-Carlton, Naples in Florida as sous chef before joining the Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire in the United Kingdom where he opened the restaurant Wild Carrot.</p>

<p>He then returned to the Canary Island and then moved to Miami where he spent the pandemic as executive sous chef of Zuma.</p>

<p><strong>Candace Rowan</strong> is the new pastry chef of Cavallo Point hotel in Sausalito, Calif. Since attending the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco she has worked at a number of restaurants including Buckeye Roadhouse in Mill Valley, Calif., and Wayfare Tavern, Town Hall, Kokkari and A16 in San Francisco.</p>

<p><strong><span style="color:black">William Ryan </span></strong><span style="color:black">is the new executive chef of the Innisbrook Resort in Tampa Bay, Fla. After graduating from the New England Culinary Institute, Ryan worked as a corporate chef in Vermont before being hired as executive chef of the Westin Hilton Head Island Resort &amp; Spa in South Carolina. He went on to head up the culinary team at the Weston St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands and then executive chef of the Ti Kaye Resort &amp; Spa on St. Lucia. For the past seven years he had been executive chef of Hawks Cay Resort on Duck Key, Fla.&nbsp; </span></p>

<p><strong><span style="color:black">Jolie Skwiercz </span></strong><span style="color:black">is the new head pastry chef at Wrigley Mansion in Phoenix Most recently the executive pastry chef at Café Monarch in Phoenix, before that she was fine-dining pastry chef at We-Ko-Pa Casino Resort in Fort McDowell, Ariz., and prior to that was head pastry chef at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Phoenix.</span></p>

<p><strong>Colin Smelser </strong>is the new executive chef of The Wayfarer Downtown LA in Los Angeles. Most recently he was executive chef of Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles, and before that he was in St. Louis as executive chef of The Chase Park Plaza.</p>

<p><strong>Melissa Smith </strong>has been appointed full-time baker for the Vernon, Conn., location of Between Rounds Bakery Sandwich Café, which also has locations in South Windsor, Manchester and Tolland, Conn.</p>

<p>Smith was that location’s first employee when she joined it in 1990 as a counter staff member after graduating from Rockville High School in Vernon. She went on to be a manager at the chain’s Manchester location before leaving in 2012 and working for Panera Bread.</p>

<p>She returned to Between Rounds late last year.</p>

<p><strong>Consuelo Vega </strong>is the new executive chef of SaltRock Southwest Kitchen at the Amara&nbsp; Resort and Spa in Sedona, Ariz. She is also overseeing the property’s private meeting and event venues.</p>

<p>Vega began her culinary career as a line cook assistant in Orlando, Fla., working for celebrity chef Cat Cora. She then worked for private catering companies and country clubs in the Southeast before moving to Denver where she was sous chef at the Jacquard Hotel’s restaurant Narrative. She also was chocolatier and pastry chef for a cannabis confectionary maker.</p>

<p><strong>Shannon Williams </strong>is the new executive chef of Holston House hotel in Nashville. Originally from southern Georgia, Williams received a culinary scholarship on television from Bobby Flay on Good Morning America in 2005, studied at Johnson &amp; Wales University and spent the next 16 years working in country clubs in Nashville and Franklin, Tenn., before joining Holston House.</p>

<p><strong><span style="color:black">Satish Yerramilli </span></strong><span style="color:black">is the new executive chef of The Ritz-Carlton, Naples in Florida. His résumé includes working on the culinary development team of Carnival Cruise Lines as well as jobs in the United Kingdom at Le Petit Blanc, Brasserie Blanc and Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. He joined the Ritz-Carlton group starting at Powerscourt in Wicklow, Ireland, followed by the Ritz-Carlton, Abama in Spain. He also has worked at company properties in Doha in Qatar, and Herzliya in Israel. Most recently he worked at the St. Regis, Toronto.&nbsp; </span></p>