Chef Shuffles

Meet Bastide’s New Chef, Sydney Hunter III

Hunter at Fraiche
Hunter at Fraiche Photo: KevinEats

It’s that time of the year again: Bastide has a new chef! Squid Ink reports that the restaurant has officially named Sydney Charles Hunter III, whose swashbuckling appearance is the only thing more regal than the sound of his name, as executive chef at the Melrose Place restaurant that’s seen Alain Giraud, Walter Manzke, Ludo Lefebvre, Paul Shoemaker, and most lately, Joseph Mahon, enter and exit its doors over the years. Hunter, a L’Orangerie vet who was sous chef at Bastide for six years starting in the early aughts, has apparently been cooking here since Mahon’s departure and before that had been working at LudoBites, Riva, and Fraiche. Will his newly revamped menu be enough to keep him in place for a few months before notoriously fickle owner Joe Pytka tires of his services? If the man spends as much time on his food as he does on that meticulously groomed goatee, we have a feeling the odds are in his favor.

Bastide (Officially) Names Sydney Hunter III New Chef [Squid Ink]

Meet Bastide’s New Chef, Sydney Hunter III