In the spirit of nurturing culinary careers Chef Daniel Boulud (The Dinex Group) announces today that Olivier Quignon, Executive Chef of DBGB Kitchen and Bar will transition to Bar Boulud, replacing current Executive Chef Damian Sansonetti who departs later this month. Additionally, Chef Eli Collins will be promoted to Executive Chef at DBGB, effective immediately.
“The genesis behind any staffing change is to promote the growth and cultivation of talent within the organization,” said Boulud. “It is my greatest pleasure to celebrate the gift of my chefs and utilize them to the best of their abilities. Chef Quignon is a seasoned addition to the Bar Boulud team and Chef Collins welcomes a new challenge with his advancement. We thank Chef Damian for his many years of dedicated and loyal work, having been a creative powerhouse behind the success of Bar Boulud, and support him in his future endeavors.”
About Chef Olivier Quignon:
Olivier’s skill and repertoire may have come a long way since cooking his first omelet at age nine in the Northern French town of Beauvais, but his approach to that simple dish says all you need to know about his love of cooking and straight forward approach to his craft. He refined his technique in such Parisian landmark restaurants as the Hotel du Louvre, the Hotel de Crillon, La Grande Cascade, Restaurant Port d’Alma and as a Chef de Partie with the Parisian caterer Butard d’Enescot. At age 29, he left Paris for the United States and in 2007 joined the kitchen of DANIEL as Chef de Partie. After three years at DANIEL, Olivier was named Executive Sous-Chef at Bar Boulud. In 2011 he was singled out again for the role of Executive Chef at DBGB Kitchen and Bar, where he’s now called upon to combine his French culinary roots and technique with a hint of American cooking and now in 2012, rejoins his colleagues at Bar Boulud as Executive Chef.
About Chef Eli Collins:
Eli didn’t have a traditional culinary path, having studied painting and earning a degree in Fine Arts from Dickinson College. When he spent a summer in the South of France, his passion was awakened by the vast array of new foods to which he was exposed. Working his way up from busser and learning to cook from the Pennsylvania countryside to the rich piedmont region of North Carolina, Eli honed his cooking skill in Philadelphia restaurants Gayle and Supper, before his journey landed in New York City where he worked as a Saucier/Jr. Sous Chef at the Oak Room and Bar at the Plaza Hotel working under James Beard award-winning chef Joel Antunes. In 2009 after his wife introduced him to her colleagues at db bistro Moderne, Eli was hired at DBGB as they prepared for the opening and has been an integral part of the kitchen serving first as the tournant, as Executive Sous Chef in 2011 and his most recent promotion to Executive Chef in 2012.
# # #
