Martin Boetz to part ways with Longrain

LONGRAIN founding partner and executive chef Martin Boetz is quitting the business after nearly 13 years.

There has been persistent speculation about Boetz's future with the restaurants during the past year. Boetz has decided to concentrate on his fledgling Cooks' Co-op produce business centred around a rural property he lives on near Sackville, on the Hawkesbury River (The Australian, September 7, 2012). Longrain partner Sam Christie gave First Bite a "no comment" last week but later issued a press release confirming the rumoured defection. Boetz is expected to stay with Longrain until after the Noosa International Food & Wine Festival in May. He tells us us: "I'm still very much involved with Longrain at this point ... Sam and I are friends, there's been no rift." It's understood Longrain Sydney head chef Louis Tikaram will step up to the role of executive chef for both Sydney and Melbourne.

Martin Boetz is quitting Longrain after nearly 13 years.

IN a move that may or may not be connected with the Boetz story, it seems Melbourne's John Van Haandel is thinking about getting back into the restaurant game at the Beach Hotel he operates in Byron Bay, NSW. And might he be thinking about hiring chef Andrew Gimber, now at Byron's Rae's and before that opening chef at Melbourne's Chin Chin? "So far it's a maybe only, and then probably not till next summer within the Beach Hotel," says Van Haandel. "Not a story so far." The restaurant space at the Beach is run by outside operators. Previously, the Pacific Dining Room, as it was then known, was in-house, with chef David Moyle at the helm.

WHERE'S IshmailIsmail Tosun, the chef-restaurateur who until 10 days ago was at the helm of the much-loved Collingwood gastrobar Gigibaba? It's a question a few of his suppliers have been asking since the place closed its doors suddenly, with several staff unpaid and at least two suppliers wondering what will happen to their invoices. on the front window last week said the landlord had changed the locks because of unpaid rent. The place is in the hands of an estate agent.

EVERYBODY'S doing it. Opening bars with good food, that is. The latest restaurant with plans to go beyond wine bar is Adelaide' s Press Food & Wine, which is building a bar with proper food intentions - working title: Proof" - - behind its premises in Waymouth Street. Executive chef Andy Davies, in Melbourne on a research mission with his team and boss Simon Kardachi last week, says the opening is about 10 weeks off. For Adelaide, this should be a reason to be cheerful.

SUBALPINE sushi? Northeastern Victorian sashimi? You'd better believe it. After about four years consulting to the restaurant at Boynton's Feathertop Winery near Bright, chef Ikuei Arakane, known to many as Kin San, has joined the restaurant as full-time chef. Arakane made many friends during his time at Taxi Dining Room. "I've never seen somebody so happy in a vegetable garden," says Janelle Boynton. "We've even planted daikon."

MILDURA'S regional champ Stefano de Pieri may have come from politics to cooking but it is brewing that is dominating his agenda. De Pieri has just purchased the Mildura Brewery at the Grand Hotel from his father-in-law, Don Carrazza, and intends to focus his energy there. The restaurant that bears his name, in the hotel's basement, is largely under the control of head chef Jim McDougall, a Vue de Monde alumnus who has taken the food in a different direction, with de Pieri's blessing. De Pieri says some kind of Melbourne retail "hole in the wall" for his beer brands is not out of the question.

LET'S face it: we all enjoy a savaging on the restaurant review page. And over in New York, Masaharu Morimoto's Tribeca Canvas is easily the worst-reviewed New York restaurant since Guy's American Kitchen and Bar. Morimoto-san was a top chef with the Nobu group until he opened Canvas, a move he may just be rethinking. Typical of the tsunami of critical outbursts was this, from the New York Posts's Steve Cuozzo: "The place isn't quite as awful as Guy's American Kitchen - but Guy Fieri had little reputation to ruin." Ouch. For an entertaining selection of critic highlights, we thank our friends at Eater: ny.eater.com/archives/2013/02/the-worst-lines-of-the-tribeca-canvas-reviews-with-cats.php

Source: The Australian, 5 March 2013