HotelChatter

Tags: Hotel Restaurants / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel News / Hotel Chefs / → All Tags

Ain't No Party Like A Hot Pot Party At NYC's Maritime Hotel

We love hotels, and we love food. Thank heavens that a good hotel usually comes with a great restaurant, and if we're lucky, a talented chef to boot. This is the case at The Maritime Hotel in New York, which dilutes its mild nautical theme with a lower-level Japanese restaurant, Matsuri.

For the restaurant's 6th anniversary, the menu will include traditional hot pot favorites of chef Tadashi Ono (who also made Matsuri's ceramic crockery by hand), and last night the celebration kicked off with a party to reveal the restaurant's new cookbook: "Japanese Hot Pots: Comforting One-Pot Meals," authored by Ono and Harris Salat.

more ›

Tags: Hotel Restaurants / Hotel Chefs / Kirkland Hotels / Green Hotels / → All Tags

Say What? The Heathman Hotel Has a Root Cellar

Where: 220 Kirkland Avenue [map], Kirkland, WA, United States, 98033

As a hardcore foodie and big believer in the local/sustainable/seasonal movement, we’re fascinated with Trellis restaurant's Executive Chef Brian Scheehser’s root cellar. Housed underground The Heathman Hotel, the famed farm-to-table chef stashes the likes of onions, potatoes, beets, carrots, fresh crushed tomatoes and canned peaches from his 5-acre organic garden in Redmond in the 40-degree subterranean storage facility.

Trellis has become a bit of a fixture within the Kirkland community. The Heathman Hotel is a popular boutique hotel for business travelers as Microsoft visitors are within the freeway-free proximity of the tech mecca.

more ›

Tags: London Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / Thailand Hotels / Hotel Chefs / → All Tags

Get a Taste of Chiva-Som This Week at Claridge's London

Where: Brook Street, London, United Kingdom, W1A 2JQ

With the good ol' economy the way it is right now (and those problems in Bangkok, come to think of it), we can't really get to Thailand at the moment. Let alone to a posh place in Thailand like the internationally-known wellness resort Chiva-Som.

But all is not lost, because (a bit of) Chiva-Som has made its way to London. Well, the resort's Executive Chef Paisarn Cheewinsiriwat has made his way to London, to be precise. To combat Easter's over-indulgence, Claridge's has flown the chef over to cook up some "gourmet spa cuisine" (i.e., low on the bad stuff like calories and fat, and high on super-fresh ingredients).

Chef Paisarn's three-course menu is being served until Friday in Claridge's Foyer & Reading Room (choose from things like herbed chicken coconut soup and steamed mussels with basil). That one costs £32.50; if you really want to go all out, you can try a gala dinner tomorrow evening (including a champagne reception) for £100.

To book, contact the Foyer & Reading Room on +44 (0)207 490 6307.

Tags: Los Angeles Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / Hotel Chefs / Hotel News / → All Tags

A Taste of France in Los Angeles

Where: 701 Stone Canyon Road [map], Los Angeles, CA, United States, 90077

If you're craving French food and France is just a little too far right now, hop over to the Hotel Bel-Air on November 10, 11, or 12. Chef Yannick Alleno from Le Meurice in Paris will be serving up truly unique and unforgettable dinners. This chef exchange is courtesy of the Dorchester Collection, a collection of five-star hotels that Bel-Air just recently joined in July.

more ›

Tags: Gordon Ramsay / Hotel Chefs / Hotel News / Hotel Restaurants / → All Tags

Hell's Kitchen Winner To Start Executive Chef Gig at the London West Hollywood

Where: 1020 North San Vicente Boulevard [map], West Hollywood, CA, United States, 90069

Gordon Ramsay has always promised the winner of the second season of his Hell's Kitchen show an executive chef gig at his restaurant inside the London West Hollywood Hotel, and now that time has come for winner Christina Machamer.

Machamer, a 25-year-old St. Louis native who was still in the midst of finishing Culinary School when she filmed the show, had the least experience of all the contestants. Ramsay, for now, has confidence in Christina's ability to helm the kitchen:

"Christina had the least amount of experience coming in, but I sensed something special," he said. "She had the best potential of any contestant."

We just dined at Gordon Ramsay the other night and were perfectly content with our dishes. Yet maybe Christina will bring some heat into the kitchen when she takes over.

Tags: Hotel Packages / Hotel Amenities / Hotel Chefs / Toronto Hotels / Fairmont Hotels / → All Tags

Fairmont Royal York Has 40,000 Bees, Like, On Purpose

Where: 100 Front Street West, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5J 1E3

While some hotel staffers are busying themselves finding new and innovative ways to charge insane hidden fees, others are ... harvesting their own honey on the roof of their big-city hotel, if you can believe it.

Here's something we haven't heard of before (we'll spare you the "buzz" puns): Toronto's Fairmont Royal York has added three beehives to its rooftop terrace (where the hotel already grows its own herbs and veggies) that will produce up to 700 pounds of honey every year. Sweet! (Ha! Sweet! Get it?)

And in a display of cuteness so sweet it almost stings (ha - again!), the hotel has named the hives the Honey Moon Suite, The Royal Sweet and the V.I. Bee Suite.

more ›

Tags: Hotel Blog Watch / Marriott Hotels / Hotel Chefs / → All Tags

Hotel Blog Watch: We're Happy To Hear From the Marriott Chef

Marriott Hotels are no stranger to blogging: Bill himself has been blogging away for over a year now. And since the start of this year, the head chef of Marriott has had his own blogging gig with the new Marriott in the Kitchen blog.

Unlike yesterday's disappointment with the Jumby Bay Resort blog, the people at Marriott have obviously got more of a clue about what makes a blog that readers will keep coming back to.

Brad Nelson, officially the vice president culinary and corporate chef of Marriott International, began with a post about how he started out as a chef, and how he learned the mantra he still works by: "You're only as good as your last meal."

more ›

Tags: Hotel Restaurants / Celebrity Chefs / Hotel Chefs / Hotel Openings / Hotel Bars / → All Tags

Still Not Open, But The Plaza Gets an Executive Chef

Where: 5th Ave. at 59th St. [map], New York, ny, United States, 10019

While The Plaza Hotel faces opening delays and Oak Bar woes, there is some good news to be had.

The hotel has appointed an executive chef Didier Virot who will oversee the Palm Court restaurant, in-room dining as well as two new spaces---the Champagne Bar and the Rose Club.

Straight from the press release:

The new Plaza will feature a more intimate lobby setting where the elegant Champagne Bar will offer light bites and incomparable selection of sparkling wines from around the world, while the stylish Rose Club will give midtown New York City a chic contemporary vibe with signature cocktails and small plates offered on the mezzanine overlooking the stunning lobby.  

The fully restored Palm Court will continue to offer its timeless afternoon high tea, as well as breakfast, lunch and dinner in one of New York's most legendary settings.

The cuisine from Virot, who was once executive chef at Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Jo Jo then at Vongerichten's four-star restaurant Jean Georges, will blend classical and modern French, "classified as French World Cuisine".

This is not Virot's first time in a hotel either. He opened his first solo venture in the Dylan Hotel in 2001. He's also the chef behind Aix on the Upper West Side and FR.OG in SoHo.

[Photo via NY Times]

Tags: NYLO Hotels / Hotel Openings / Hotel Chefs / Hotel Restaurants / Hotel News / → All Tags

First Ever NYLO Hotel To Open In December; Hires a Chef

Where: Plano, TX, United States

We had almost forgotten that the long-awaited, first ever NYLO Hotel would be opening this year. Such is the danger of a prolonged hotel hype--we keep hearing over and over that a hotel is going to open "soon" and then after a few years we forget that it actually will.

Anyways, we have Chef Wiley Bates III to indirectly thank for the NYLO Hotel in Plano, Texas opening reminder. That's because Bates was hired as the hotel's food and beverage director. He will oversee the urban loft-style bar and 24-hour, three-meal restaurant called Loft (pictured above.)

With its whimsical Dallas-meets-Soho-meets-South Beach décor, The Loft will welcome guests and be a popular neighborhood gathering spot.... Like the entire hotel, The Loft is designed by Stephane Dupoux, the creative design force behind premier restaurants and nightclubs around the globe. Among Dupoux' designs: Buddha Bar and Cielo, New York City, and Pearl and Nikki Beach, Miami's South Beach.

Ooh sounds pretty hip for Plano, no? As for the Warwick, Rhode Island location, expect that hotel to open in Summer 2008.

Related Stories:
· NYLO Returns, Wants Local Artwork [HotelChatter]

Tags: Hotel Restaurants / Hotel Chefs / → All Tags

Famed D.C. Hotel Chef Is On the Move Again

One of the D.C. metropolitan area's brightest culinary stars, Fabio Traboccho, is leaving the Ritz-Carlton's Tysons Corner restaurant Maestro for the Big Apple, to become chef-partner at Fiamma Osteria in SoHo.

Born, bred and trained in Italy, the 33-year-old Traboccho hasn't stayed put in one place too long since he embarked on his meteoric career, with stints Italy, London, Moscow, D.C., Marbella, then London again, where he opened Grissini Restaurant at Hyatt Carlton Tower.

MORE

more ›