I’ve had at least a dozen conversations with local chefs and restaurateurs about the shortage of chefs in our town. It’s a seller’s market for talented chefs. With so many restaurants opening, they get job offers thrown their way all the time. It’s a challenge to keep up with the constant movement. I call it the Whac-a-Mole chef syndrome.
I wondered why chefs from other cities didn’t move to Dallas. I would think cooking in a bustling restaurant community would be attractive to a chef with a family or a young chef looking to start out at perhaps a higher station in the kitchen. Yet, I don’t see that happening. Until today.
A few minutes ago, Catherine reported Madrina has hired David Fingerman, the former executive chef of Chicago’s Graham Elliot Bistro, a place that has suffered an extreme case of Whac-a-Mole chef syndrome. Will Chicago’s loss be our gain. This will be fun to watch. We have a new face to whack around. I hope Fingerman can live up to our dining critic Eve Hill-Agnus’ expectations. She loved Madrina so much, she named it the best new restaurant of 2015.
Fingerman replaces the talented Julio Peraza, who “departed Madrina to focus on family.” And no doubt to answer his ringing telephone.
