Hotels and resorts in cities across the country have named new leaders for their food-and-beverage operations in the past few weeks.
Camelback Resort
The Camelback Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz., named Jameson Cesar as VP of food and beverage, supervising all operations of the resort’s 19 dining outlets, from food trucks to all-day casual to fine dining culinary concepts. Cesar’s 25 years of hospitality experience includes starting out as a dishwasher in Ocean City, N.J., at 13 years old to owning and creating multiple restaurant concepts to managing multiple dining outlets at resorts.
Before joining Camelback Resort, Cesar served as director of food and beverage at a Pennsylvania resort which included supervision of all the food outlets, banquet, catering and convention operations. He held the same position at Live! Dining & Entertainment Districts in partnership with Sporting KC in Kansas City, Mo. As director of operations at The Fennec in Birmingham, Ala., he was recruited to lead operations for this then new, 30,000-square-foot music event space. Cesar was on the opening team at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and was an executive chef at Borgata Hotel and Casino, both in Atlantic City, N.J.
M Social Hotel Times Square New York
M Social Hotel Times Square New York appointed Yev Romanoff its new director of food and beverage. Romanoff will direct and oversee all aspects of the hotel’s food and beverage planning and service, with duties including menu planning and costs, preparation and presentation of food and drinks as well as planning, coordinating and overseeing special events.
Romanoff brings more than 20 years of experience to the hospitality industry. He began his career in Miami, working as the director of food and beverage operations for Carnival in the luxury division for 10 years. Romanoff’s career brought him to New York City in 2010, where over the next 13 years he worked for restaurants and hotels such as Hendrick’s Tavern, The William Vale and Scotto Brothers Restaurant Group.
Watermark Hotel
The Watermark Hotel in Tysons, Va., appointed Erik Bergman as the new director of restaurants and bars. Bergman will lead the operations of Wren, the Japanese restaurant on the 11th floor of the property; Perch Putt’s retro bar and rotating lineup of local food trucks; the Aviary breakfast restaurant; and the hotel’s banquet and catering operations.
Bergman has more than 20 years of experience in the food and beverage industry, with 10 of those years spent in frontline customer service in various operations from fast casual to fine dining. He has worked with regional independent operators including the DMV-based Neighborhood Restaurant Group, Guilford Hall Brewery in Baltimore, and national brands such as Kimpton Hotels and most recently, Thompson Hospitality.
AC Hotel Dayton
The recently opened AC Hotel Dayton has named David Belknap area executive chef. Belknap will oversee the AC Dayton kitchens, including rooftop concept The Foundry and all banquet, catering and private dining events.
Most recently, Belknap was executive chef at AC Hotel Columbus Dublin running the Spanish-inspired rooftop lounge and restaurant Vaso. In 2005, he joined The Ritz Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes team and over the next five years honed his craft in culinary hotbeds such as Puerto Rico; Denver; and Naples, Fla., before landing in New York City under Chef Thomas Keller and his three-star Michelin-starred PerSe. Belknap spent two years there before opening his own restaurant, L&W Oyster Co., on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Four years later, he moved to Mexico before returning to his hometown.
Bidwell Marriott
In downtown Portland, Ore., The Bidwell Marriott appointed Zachary Bjorklund as executive chef. Bjorklund will oversee the 258-room hotel’s Pacific Northwest-inspired restaurant, High Horse, in addition to all catering and banquets.
Bjorklund, a Willamette Valley native, brings over a decade of experience to the recently renovated property, most notably as chef de partie at The Ritz-Carlton in Denver and as chef de cuisine at The Armory Hotel, a Kimpton Hotels property in Bozeman, Mont.
Margaritaville Lake Resort, Lake Conroe, Houston
Margaritaville Lake Resort, Lake Conroe, Houston named Jon Ramirez the executive food and beverage director. Ramirez will oversee the six onsite Margaritaville-inspired restaurants and bars, which offer various options ranging from fresh seafood, pizza, sandwiches, salads, burgers, and more.
Ramirez joined the resort recently from Lupe Tortilla, where he served as managing partner. His experience also includes time spent with Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma as the senior director of food and beverage over multicasino operations as well as freestanding franchised restaurants, King Ranch Texas Kitchen, and as a general manager specializing in new restaurant openings for Saltgrass Steakhouse, a division of Landry’s Restaurant Inc.
Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills
Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills appoints chef Mathias Boirie as the property’s executive pastry chef. Boirie has more than 15 years of pastry expertise and Michelin-starred restaurant experience and he will be responsible for overseeing all pastry initiatives at the hotel’s dining outlets including the recently opened, Espelette, and The Rooftop by JG, in-suite dining, and on-site catering and events.
Boirie's career in the pastry industry began in 2004, after completing his training in France. He received his experience from Michelin-starred chefs Mathias Dandine and Laurent Tarridec in the South of France. After working in London for a year as a pastry chef, he returned to Saint-Tropez to work at Senequier. In 2011, Boirie became head pastry chef at La Tarte Tropézienne, a famed Saint-Tropez pastry shop known for Tropézienne pies and at Mont Blanc. In 2017, Chef Boirie left France to work as a chef in the United States. As the executive pastry chef for French Group, Le District in New York and Florida, Boirie led a team and expanded the restaurants’ pastry offerings. Most recently, he was executive pastry chef at Norman Love Confections.