Well, we were about to run with it as rumor, but Daniel Patterson appears to have scooped up another bright young chef to take the helm at Plum. Sources tell Grub Street that Charlie Parker — the 27-year-old chef at Bonny Doon’s Cellar Door Café and former Manresa sous who was recently profiled by the Times — has already given notice at Bonny Doon and will start work in the kitchen at Plum in January. Parker has become known down in Santa Cruz for the sort of composed, idiosyncratic, vegetable-focused cuisine practiced by two of his mentors, David Kinch and later Jeremy Fox. Fox, as you may recall, backed out of a deal to work with Patterson earlier this summer, and Patterson then hired former Aqua chef Ron Boyd in the role of “corporate chef.” Got all that? Lauren Kiino and Boyd currently head up the kitchen at Plum, but Kiino will soon move on to open Bracina at Jack London Square, set for early 2011. Could another Oakland project be lined up for Boyd as well? The Scoop just confirmed the news.
Earlier: Creating an Idiosyncratic Restaurant to Pair With an Idiosyncratic Winery [Grub Street]
Daniel Patterson Opening Three More Restaurants in Oakland? [Grub Street]
