Chef Andrew Bell has had a varied career in the restaurant business. In 1999 he was a sushi chef at Citizen and the Mercury. He moved to Austin and worked as a sous chef at Uchi. Avner Samuel lured Bell to be his chef de cuisine at Aurora, a job he held for two years. (I still miss that place.) In 2008, Bell opened his own barbecue joint in downtown Dallas called Dr. Bell’s. In 2010, he reconnected with Samuel, this time in the kitchen of Nosh Euro Bistro. In 2012, he joined the team at Bolsa.
Bell’s last day in the kitchen at Bolsa will be October 29. He will reunite with Avner Samuel who recently signed on as a consultant to Alberto Lombardi’s Lombardi Family Concepts. (Any of you remember Lombardi and Samuel’s glorious Lombardi Mare? Fishbowls over the bar?) “It was a bittersweet move for me,” Bell says. “I love the restaurant and the people there, especially the staff Ibuilt over the last year. But I have a ten-month old daughter and when the offer came up, I just had to take it.” Bell will take over the kitchen at Bistro 31 to “inject some creative changes” to the menu. He says there has been talk about him possibly working with some of the other Lombardi restaurants (Toulouse Cafe and Bar, Taverna Pizzeria and Risotteria, Sangria Mediterranean Tapas and Bar, Penne Pomodoro).
Bolsa co-owner Chris Zielke says he is in no rush to find a big-name replacement. “I have a few candidates,” Zielke says.
