Espresso
The Inside Story on Melbourne's Restaurant world.
Jewel in the Crown
Thomas Keller for Crown? Don't laugh. Nobu will be open by mid-year and we have it on good authority that Crown is negotiating with the great American chef's organisation as one option for the Crown gastro-recovery that started with Rockpool and, by year's end, will include Nobu and a bistro from Sydney chef Guillaume Brahimi. Our Crown source confirmed the organisation was looking at a number of concepts and that a Keller restaurant was an option. Negotiations are under way, although the source stressed they were proceeding with a number of high-profile chef/restauranteurs.
The news strengthens the so-called Vegas option, modelling the Melbourne casino business on the lavish Las Vegas casino hotels hosting restaurants by the likes of Ducasse, Robuchon,Vongerichten and of course Thomas Keller.
In Vegas, Keller runs the second of his Bouchon restaurants (the first being in Yountville, California, home to The French Laundry) but if, as is thought likely, Brahimi does a bistro at Crown, Bouchon wouldn't fit. It may be that Crown in fact gets a version of the Laundry and Per Se, his three Michelin-star Manhattan gastro-temple.
But wait; there's more. Seen at Crown recently with senior management were Melbourne expats Maurice Terzini and his executive chef Robert Marchetti, taking a break from Bondi - but they weren't at Crown for the roulette.
PBL head John Alexander, who has already flagged publicly his vision for Crown dining precinct of international standing, is believed to have approached Terzini about coming to Crown.
We also understand the interest is mutual if the numbers stack up. Terzini is waiting to hear if the bid he's associated with for the St Kilda Triangle site gets up: it's due to be announced soon and fellow short-lister John Haandel is another with a key (opposing) interest. Terzini had no comment for us on Crown. Stay tuned.
Gong a "Great Honour"
What do Alla Wolf-Tasker & Tetsuya Wakuda have in common other than being great cooks and having a whole lot of chef's hats from their respective Good Food Guides? Both have been recognised by the Order of Australia.
Wolf-Tasker has been made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the Australia Day honours announced recently, for services to tourism and hospitality.
Speaking from Queensland, where she is holidaying, she said it was a great honour that recognised her "fortitude in enduring years of bad scones in draughty church halls during endless economic development and regional marketing meetings".
Interlude Revealed
Wanted: a savvy investor with marketing and management skills, a love of restaurants and seriously out-there food, with a spare $200,000 to sink into a business.
Interlude has been revealed as the "glamorous restaurant" cited in a bold display advertisement in 'Epicure' several weeks ago looking for a 50 per cent equity partner.
Chef Robin Wickens' silent partner in the restaurant, Louie Gonis, has put his share of the business on the market via business broker Maximum seeking "expressions of interest $200K range for half share".
Gonis, whose background is the IT industry, became involved with Interlude last year. Maximum's Steve Makris, who is acting for Gonis, said, "They need to join a stable. Under the right sort of banner, there is definitely a future there. I've been retained to match my client with a buyer".
For his part, the "celebrity chef" cited in the ad - Wickens - says the partnership has always been silent and that he has enjoyed creative autonomy. "My main concern with Interlude has never been making huge amounts of money".
Dining Room Tales
We've heard of Southgate Progressive Dinners, but this is ridiculous! Having strayed into a little Italian joint at the complex one night recently for a quick feed, an Espresso associate was disappointed to find that the risotto Siciliano she'd ordered tasted overwhelmingly of tomato concentrate, with added salt & cheese.
"So you didn't enjoy it" asked the waiter, whisking away the uneaten dish on request. "Sorry, no". "Fine". Fine ? Fine for whom? With no further communication from said waiter in the ensuing 20 minutes, and no offering of a menu or a replacement dish, associate and her husband paid the bill for his pasta (acceptable) and hightailed it to Tutto Bene, where she had the duck risotto (very fine) and he had the duck (ditto).
Dan's The Man
Raymond Capaldi of Fenix, has pulled a rabbit out of the hat by employing Melburnian Dan Hunter, who has just finished four years at the acclaimed Spanish avant-garde restaurant Mugaritz.
He was head chef to Andoni Luis Aduriz, the owner-chef of the restaurant ranked among the top 10 in the world by Restaurant magazine. Aduriz is the star guest of this year's Melbourne Master Class, in March. Hunter, who last worked here at Verge, is returning home as Fenix's head chef under executive chef Stuart McVeigh.
Capaldi's adventurous cuisine has been inspired by that of Aduriz. As we said here several years ago, "Daniel, we can't wait for you to get back". He starts early next month.
A Wise Man
Hobart-born and raised chef Andrew Wise - once pastry chef at Circa under Michael Lambrie - has been singled out for praise in one of the most anticipated international restaurant reviews of the year. Ever since Gordon Ramsay decided to open in New York, the inevitable review in The New York Times by Frank Bruni has been obsessed about by Ramsay and many others.
Ramsay wants three Michelin stars in New York and the Times is about the best possible litmus test of the local critical mood. Well the verdict is in: a modest two stars out of four from Bruni, but the young Hobartian came out of it smelling like roses.
"The best desserts by the pastry chef, Alistair Wise, were terrific: a tarte Tatin with crisp pastry, and a flawless apricot souffle with sugary almonds and almond ice-cream. Mr Wise and the chef de cuisine, Neil Ferguson, are running a serious kitchen here and capable of impeccable work.
And that makes the restaurant's tentativeness and its bad decisions, which were too numerous, all the more frustrating," Bruni wrote.
He continued, "seldom has a conquistador as bellicose as Mr Ramsay landed with such a whisper. It's not an unappealing sound, but it's nothing that's going to prick up your ears".
