New exec chef at Cafe Pinot

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Joachim Splichal’s Patina Restaurant Group has been playing musical chefs lately. Patina executive chef Theo Schoenegger is leaving Splichal’s Disney Hall flagship to open his own restaurant in Vegas (Patina reps say no word yet on his successor); Cafe Pinot exec chef Kevin Meehan took over at Paperfish in March, replacing that restaurant’s exec chef Yanni Koufodontis. Now Cafe Pinot has named a new executive chef: Gypsy Gifford. (Music stops.)

Gifford--born in England, raised in San Diego--is a CIA alum and a 2-year veteran of Rocco DiSpirito’s now-closed Manhattan restaurant Union Pacific. She was chef de cuisine at Bao 111 and executive chef at Rain, both in New York, before moving back to California three months ago. Gifford unveiled some of her new dishes on Tuesday night at a cocktail reception held at Cafe Pinot’s pretty garden patio (olive trees, library). Among them (‘Joachim said, ‘By the end of the month, it’s your menu.’ ‘) were Banyuls-glazed organic beets with housemade ricotta cheese, spiced Macadamia nuts and citrus vinaigrette; a duo of Wagyu carpaccio and Kona Kampachi tartare; and a ‘counting sheep sandwich’ (below, left).

The latter is a stack of roasted lamb on toasted ciabatta with sheeps’ milk cheeses, sheeps’ milk yogurt sauce, cucumber and lamb’s lettuce salad. ‘It’s a tribute to my insomnia,’ said Gifford. ‘Kind of like a Philly cheese sandwich crossed with a schwarma.’ A woman exec chef AND schwarma. Sounds like somebody won this round of musical chefs. Like maybe we did.

Cafe Pinot, 700 W. 5th Street, Los Angeles. (213) 239-6500.

--Amy Scattergood

photo credit: Patina Restaurant Group