Hotels across the country have named additions to their F&B teams.
New Jersey
The MC Hotel in Montclair, N.J., has reopened its flagship restaurant Allegory under its new executive chef, Amber Lancaster. The restaurant will focus on “clean, healthy cooking” with locally sourced ingredients from the Montclair farmers’ market.
A Tucson, Ariz., native, Lancaster worked as a private chef in Paris and held positions at the Michelin-rated Restaurant Guy Savoy and the Hôtel de Crillon. She previously studied at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Scottsdale (Ariz.) before earning her Le Grande Diplôme from Le Cordon Bleu Paris in 2008. In 2011, she relocated to Chicago and trained in molecular gastronomy for a year under chef Grant Achatz at his Michelin-rated restaurant Alinea. She became the executive resident chef at Sur La Table in 2016. Her most recent position was head chef at Soho House in Chicago and she is consulting and working with a tech start-up company on an app designed for chefs called Rekki.
Hawaii
Jonathan De Paz has joined the Hotel Wailea, Hawaii’s only Relais and Châteaux property, as executive chef to lead the culinary team for The Restaurant at Hotel Wailea along with the all new open-air lounge Birdcage Bar and the Hotel Wailea Cooking School.
De Paz comes to Maui having worked at French Laundry, Eleven Madison Park and Restaurant Daniel.
With De Paz at the helm, the dining outlets have received all new menus.
California
The food and beverage team at the upcoming Montage Healdsburg in the Sonoma wine country will be led by executive chef Jaron Dubinsky, who will oversee all culinary programming across the resort, including kitchen operations of each dining venue, the Healdsburg Country Store, in-room dining and culinary partnerships.
Dubinsky began his career in Boston before joining Bleu Water Restaurant at The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas in the Caribbean in 2009. He then worked for The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay (Calif.) for five years before transferring to The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas. Dubinsky then joined the Montage International family as the opening executive sous chef at Montage Los Cabos (Mexico) in 2018.
Jason Pringle has been appointed chef de cuisine of the resort’s Hazel Hill restaurant, and Petra Polakovicova will be the resort’s beverage manager, both working with the restaurant’s general manager, Alexander Cornu. Most recently, Pringle worked as chef de cuisine at Selby’s in Redwood City, Calif. Before that role, he was chef de cuisine of Navio at The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay. Additional experience includes db Bistro Moderne, a Daniel Boulud restaurant at JW Marriott Marquis in Miami; Café Boulud in New York City; David Burke Townhouse in New York City; and the two-star Michelin-rated restaurant Aqua in San Francisco. Pringle has opened several restaurants, including Millesime in New York City and Epic Roasthouse (now Epic Steak) in San Francisco.
Polakovicova has worked for 20 years in top hotel restaurants and wineries across California. She began her hospitality career at Palace Hotel in San Francisco before being named restaurant manager at W San Francisco, a role she held for three years. Polakovicova also held numerous positions at Darioush Winery and Ritz-Carlton properties San Francisco and Half Moon Bay.
Cornu most recently oversaw operations at the one-star Michelin-rated restaurant, Luce, at InterContinental Hotel San Francisco, where he served as director of outlets before joining Montage Healdsburg.