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A new chef at Patina: Tony Esnault steps in this month

By Betty HallockDeputy Food Editor 
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After searching for nearly a year, restaurateur Joachim Splichal has tapped a new chef for his flagship restaurant, Patina at the Disney Concert Hall.

Tony Esnault, former executive chef at Alain Ducasse’s New York restaurant Adour, is expected to start at the downtown landmark this month. Patina Restaurant Group says Esnault will be working closely with Splichal on a new (presumably Cal-French) menu.

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Esnault was executive chef at Ducasse’s Essex House in New York before opening Adour in the St. Regis Hotel in 2007. Then-New York Times critic Frank Bruni gave Adour three stars, but the dining room — complete with an interactive touch-screen wine bar and an accent-aigu-heavy menu — didn’t seem to catch on with the masses. Esnault left Adour last year.

Born in Saumur, France, Esnault attended the François Rabelais culinary school and worked in Paris and Alsace before embarking on a career within the Ducasse empire in 1996 at Louis XV in Monaco.
Patina’s previous chef, Theo Schoenegger, left last year to open his own restaurant at the Encore resort in Las Vegas.
Patina, 141 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 972-3331, www.patinagroup.com.

-- Betty Hallock

Daily Dish
Betty Hallock

Betty Hallock is deputy Food editor at the Los Angeles Times. She has co-written four cookbooks, including “Bäco: Vivid Recipes from the Heart of Los Angeles,” “Amá: A Modern Tex-Mex Kitchen” and “Baking at République.” She started her journalism career at the Wall Street Journal and Scientific American in New York, worked on the L.A. Times’ Business desk, and was interim food editor at Los Angeles Magazine. Hallock also helped launch a food and nutrition vertical for wellness app RoundGlass. She’s a graduate of UCLA and New York University.

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