It’s truly the end of an era over at Chez Panisse as the second of two long-standing executive chefs just wrapped up his last winter tenure in the downstairs kitchen. We already knew as of last fall, that David Tanis was to be replaced by longtime sous chef Jerome Waag for the upcoming warm half of the year. Now Jean-Pierre Moullé, Tanis’s longime co-chef, announces his retirement as well. He will also be replaced from within, by Cal Peternell, who has been in Ms. Waters’s employ since 1995, and chef at the Café since 2009. Moullé has been in the kitchen at the restaurant since the days of Jeremiah Tower in the late seventies and he’s lately been spending summers in Paris and working the kitchen in Berkeley from November to April. As of today, Alice Waters announced the news “with a heavy heart,” saying, “Throughout his time here, Jean-Pierre has been one of our most important forces of purity, beauty, and devotion to delicious food. Chez Panisse became what it is because of his contributions and for these we are eternally grateful.” [Scoop, Earlier]
