Atelier Crenn is Dominique Crenn\u2019s two-Michelin-starred restaurant that hits somewhere between a scrapbook of the chef\u2019s memories of her father and a modernist culinary dreamscape where every dish is a work of art. In other words, it\u2019s very personal. So, the fact that Crenn has hired someone in an executive chef role for the first time is a kind of a big deal. Chef Jonny Black will step into the role effective immediately, joining Crenn, and partner\/pastry chef Juan Contreras in leading the team.<\/p>\n
The decision is part of Crenn\u2019s strategy for growing her team, and her restaurant group\u2014 Black will oversee the kitchens of Atelier Crenn and the upcoming Bar Crenn (now expected to open in September). Crenn\u2019s busy schedule \u2014she spoke with Eater SF from her Atelier Crenn on the Road cooking tour in Tokyo\u2014 is part of the impetus for hiring an executive chef. \u201cI need someone at the management level, someone that I can trust to really focus on bringing Atelier Crenn to the next level,\u201d Crenn told Eater. \u201cIt\u2019s not that we are becoming more corporate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Black returns to the Bay Area from Washington, D.C., where he was working as a sous chef at Pineapple and Pearls, one of the city\u2019s breakaway fine dining hits (Eater critic Bill Addison named it one of the country\u2019s best restaurants in 2016). For three years prior he was the chef de cuisine at Quince, which earned its third Michelin star shortly after he left; Pineapple and pearls earned a two star rating for 2017. Crenn says Black\u2019s time in New York, in kitchens like Corton and Per Se is a positive, in addition to his intimate knowledge of the Bay Area. \u201cHe\u2019s epic and amazing,\u201d said Crenn. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to work with someone who has really paid their dues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, several other shuffles have been afoot internally, including the promotion of Felix Santos to R&D chef, and Kevin Finch to executive sous chef. \u201cWe are growing and I want to make sure that everyone that works with us now is getting promoted and growing with the team,\u201d said Crenn. \u201cI think it\u2019s more the old way of doing things; before, I hired people from outside [the restaurant] without knowing the structure that I really wanted.\u201d And with the addition of Bar Crenn next door, Crenn says it\u2019s important for her small team to have good leadership, and most importantly, great technique.<\/p>\n
Front of house is seeing some changes as well, as sommelier Matt Montrose rises to become the wine director for the entire Crenn Dining Group; general manager Maxime Larquier is running front of the house, making changes that Crenn says now match what the team has been doing in the kitchen.<\/p>\n
Stay tuned for more details on chef Black, plus photos and intel on Atelier Crenn\u2019s new interior.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Atelier Crenn is Dominique Crenn\u2019s two-Michelin-starred restaurant that hits somewhere between a scrapbook of the chef\u2019s memories of her father and a modernist culinary dreamscape where every dish is a work of art. In other words, it\u2019s very personal. So, the fact that Crenn has hired someone in an executive chef role for the first<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1505],"tags":[1510,1658],"class_list":["post-6066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dominique-crenn","tag-dominique-crenn","tag-eater-archives"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117229993536205782","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}