There are some new hires at the Daniel Patterson Group (DPG)—the press release mentions the hiring of Brick Loomis and Peter Birmingham, who will serve as DPG’s service director and wine director, respectively, and Andrew Miller, who is the new chef de cuisine at ~COI~. Miller has spent five years with the Michael Mina Restaurant Group, working as executive sous chef at the San Francisco flagship and eventually as corporate troubleshooter. Service director Brick Loomis was previously wine director at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, and wine director Peter Birmingham is another L.A. import: he was GM for Hatfield’s (the Hatfields were previously here in SF) and a semi-finalist in 2010 and 2011 for the James Beard Award in Outstanding Wine Service. He worked with Patterson previously as the general manager and sommelier at Elisabeth Daniel.
Meanwhile, more press release news: chef-owner Dan Scherotter of ~PALIO D’ASTI~ in the FiDi is leaving the restaurant to pursue a new career in education, teaching ProStart at John O’Connell High School in the Mission and coordinating hospitality, culinary, and tourism studies districtwide for the San Francisco Unified School District. Taking over the restaurant is Martino DiGrande, who has been running the front of house at Palio for the past six years (he is also responsible for modernizing the restaurant’s cocktail program and really building up the popular happy hour). Brothers Jose Alberto Martinez and Mauricio Martinez (who were part of Palio’s opening team in the early 1990s under Craig Stoll after working at Stars and Antica Trattoria, respectively) will be running the kitchen in their new capacity as joint chefs de cuisine. Scherotter’s last day is Tuesday July 31st.
The new owner of Palio D’Asti, Martino DiGrande. Photo courtesy of Palio.
