Chefs to the stars go public

IN the world of private chefs, especially those who cook for celebrities, discretion is the better part of valor. For those who might be tempted not to heed Falstaff’s wise counsel, there are confidentiality agreements that compel them to keep mum about their clients’ quirky tastes.

But sometimes private chefs go public. And sometimes they go really public. Take Jason Harley, who uses the handle Chef J. Several weeks before the March 23 opening of his Hollywood restaurant BlackSteel, named for his preference for black steel pans, a website reading like InStyle debuted.

“Chef J’s healthy, calorie conscious cooking has been enjoyed by many celebrity clients including Pamela Anderson, Jennifer Aniston, John Travolta, Cameron Diaz, Mathew Perry, Justin Timberlake, Tommy Lee, and Brad Pitt,” we are informed on the BlackSteel website.

And, Harley implies, they’ll show up at his restaurant too. “I built this place to have a place for all my clients to come to,” he says in an interview. “I can’t go to every single house every day. This way they all can come to see me.”

Does that mean only clients or celebs are welcome? Harley insists otherwise. “It’s designed for everybody.” Still, he’s not beyond mentioning some stars who have visited his French-Japanese dining room: Kirsten Dunst, Tommy Lee, “Pamela,” of course (she’s also a partner in the restaurant). “Martin Landau was in the other night.”

Harley isn’t the only private chef going public. Sophie Montelli, who has cooked for the likes of Geena Davis, Rod Stewart and Ed McMahon, but isn’t an eager namedropper (she has to be asked -- how refreshing!) opened her own place in Bel-Air in March. Montelli wanted to cook and bake the kind of dishes she loves to make -- eggs Benedict, paella Valenciana, elaborately decorated cakes -- instead of being a short-order cook for her clients. (She also has worked at several Los Angeles bakeries in the past, including Topozios, the now-shuttered La Cienega Boulevard wedding cake specialist.)

Sophie’s Bakery Cafe, which has the backing of longtime client Randy Reiss, the now retired ex-executive vice president of Walt Disney Studios, is a sweet, casual spot that serves eggs and baked goods in the morning, salads and sandwiches in the afternoon. And starting tomorrow night, dinner service expands from two to six nights a week.

Another previously private chef is Drew Deckman, who has been employed by Tom Cruise’s Odin Productions and is rumored to have cooked for the man himself. He recently joined Raffles L’Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills, home to Jaan restaurant, as executive chef. (For the record, a strict confidentiality agreement prohibits Deckman from talking about his employment, and an Odin representative would only comment with the old “I will neither confirm nor deny” line.)

None of the threesome are restaurant virgins. Harley had a couple of places in Columbus, Ohio, in the mid-’90s. Montelli’s parents operated a restaurant in Mexico, where she cooked alongside her father. And Deckman, who plans to debut a market-driven menu at Jaan in mid-to-late June, has worked at a slew of restaurants in Europe, including Restaurant Vitus outside Hamburg, Germany, which received a Michelin star during his tenure. But they have all returned to restauranting for different reasons.

Ironically for someone who’s worked for people who guard their privacy, one of Montelli’s prime motives for opening a restaurant was her desire for more privacy. “Some people want you to live on the premises, which I hate,” she says.

And Deckman? “I missed the game. I missed the heat, the fury. I missed working with people. As a private chef, you’re often the lone cowboy. You’re everything from maid to delivery person. I like having a team.”