Immediately upon its opening in November, The French Room at the Adolphus Hotel assumed the mantle of the best
restaurant in Dallas. Under the leadership of chef Roland Passot, the restaurant earned praise from everyone
in Dallas. Now, Passot and the restaurant management have parted ways.
Passot was fired May 11, without notice. “I don’t think it’s fair to say thank you, goodbye in five minutes,” says
the 26-year-old chef. “I was doing my best.”
As the French-born Passot explains it, he and the management simply did not get along. Passot says he had difficulty
answering to the management structure. “For the last month, they [the management] were on me day after day. I just
got tired of it.”
The hotel management agrees that there was a personality conflict. Betty Hol-loway, public relations director for
the hotel, says, “As I understand it, he lost his temper too much.”
Evidently, Passot and the management had argued before, but one particular incident led to his Tiring. Passot says
that one night the restaurant served 90 customers (the French Room’s nightly limit) between 8:30 and 9 p.m. The
maitre d’ called the kitchen and told Passot to speed things up a bit. Passot said the kitchen was working as
quickly as possible. Minutes later, the maitre d’ called again. After a third call, Passot finally exploded. “I was
yelling at him,” Passot recalls. “I cannot close my mouth.” At one point, the argument became loud enough for
someone to summon the hotel security.
“The next day I knew [something would happen with my job],” says Passot. He thought he would be reprimanded, but he
never expected to be fired. “I know I have a bad temper sometimes, but it’s no reason to fire someone in one day,”
he says. “I was shocked; I’ve never been fired in my life.”
The French Room does not expect to suffer from Passot’s departure, says Ms. Hollo-way. “The kitchen loved Roland’s
talent [but couldn’t deal with his temper],” she says. “You hate to lose anyone that had the enthusiasm of opening
the room, but The French Room will go right on. Production won’t miss a beat.”
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