We loved his crab and dumplings, but alas, chef Dean Dupuis is taking his leave of Oakland’s three-year-old Pican. Dupuis relocated to the Bay Area from Atlanta to open the restaurant in 2009, and now the restaurant has announced a new chef search is underway. Owner Michael LeBlanc says he’s going to “retrace his steps” through the South, visiting Savannah, Charleston, and probably Atlanta and elsewhere in search of another “star chef in the making” who can strike the right balance between Bay Area ideals, fresh ingredients, and a knowledge of Cajun, Creole, Gullah and other southern cooking traditions. Meanwhile, you have about a month to have some of Dupuis’s food, as he’ll be at Pican until the end of February before taking a new job in Atlantic City.
