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Chefs on the Move: Sushi Ginza Onodera in New York has a new leader, and the latest jobs for Eli Kaimeh and Kwame Onwuachi

Plus new positions for Amanda Barnes, Eddie Barrett, Justin Barroza, John Boudouvas, Kirstyn Brewer , Chris Cantrel, Dave Daniels, Brandon Duley, Paul Fabre, Dontrell Ham, Mark Hopper, Daniel Jackson, Nikolaos Kapernaros, Kyle Knaub, Dan Landsberg , Lenny Moon, Candace Ochoa , Kwame Onwuachi, Diego Sanchez, Pascal Sanchez and Christian Velez

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

March 31, 2021

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Eli Kaimeh, who rose through the ranks in the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group, including serving as chef de cuisine at Per Se for seven years, is now in Naples, Fla., working at Sails Restaurant.

Another Thomas Keller alumn, Mark Hopper, now works for Italian oven supplier Forza Forni, and Justin Barroza, who got his start with Keller, too, is now heading up the kitchen at Lone Eagle Grill in Lake Tahoe.

Kwame Onwuachi, whose career really took off in 2019 after winning national acclaim from the James Beard Foundation and Food & Wine magazine, now is on the staff of the latter as a contributing executive producer.

In New York City, Sushi Ginza Onodera has reopened with a new head sushi chef, Winona’s in Brooklyn has a new chef de cuisine, and Hortus NYC in Manhattan has a new executive chef.

In Chicago, the Good Eats Group has a new chef de cuisine, the soon-to-open Avli on the Park has named the head of its kitchen, and Nonnina, whose new executive chef joined in November, just as the restaurant was forced to close, is finally getting ready to share his new menu.

In Atlanta, King & Duke has a new executive chef, and so does South City Kitchen Vinings.

In Palm Beach, Fla., the recently opened La Goulue has named its chef, and the Eau Resort & Spa has its first head sushi chef. Down the coast in Fort Lauderdale, Burlock Coast has a new pastry chef. So does Annabelle in Washington, D.C.

Bazaar Meat by José Andrés in Las Vegas has a new executive chef, as does Cheever Tavern in Norwell, Mass., Clayton Members Club & Hotel in Denver and Ellie’s Restaurant & Lounge in Dallas.

Two soon-to-open restaurants, Osteria Georgi in Chapel Hill, N.C., and Simi Estiatorio in Austin, Texas, have also said who their chefs are going to be.

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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