After a yearlong search, Patina Restaurant Group chef and founder Joachim Splichal announced today the appointment of Tony Esnault as executive chef at his flagship downtown restaurant, Patina. Esnault most recently was executive chef at Alain Ducasse’s New York restaurant Adour. Esnault will begin working closely with Splichal in late September to develop the menu.
Born in France, Esnault began his restaurant career there in 1990, eventually working at the three-Michelin-star Auberge de L’Ill in Alsace. In 1996, Esnault worked as a sous chef and first cook with Alain Ducasse at the Louis XV Alain Ducasse Restaurant in Monaco. After working and traveling with Ducasse for three years, Esnault moved to San Francisco to work as sous chef at the Ritz-Carlton under Sylvain Portay, eventually reuniting with Ducasse in 2005 to become executive chef at Alain Ducasse at the Essex House in New York. While there, the venue picked up three Michelin stars in the book’s inaugural 2006 New York guide. In 2007, Esnault went on to open Adour with Ducasse at the St. Regis Hotel.
First opened in 1989 on Melrose Avenue, Patina relocated to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003.