Where is Laurent Gras

[Le Mec]

I'm a chef working in San Francisco that missed out on the opportunity to work with Chef Gras at the Fifth Floor, and I am dying to know what his next project is. Has anyone heard anything?

-Tyson

[alanamoana]

He moved to New York City as soon as he left the Fifth Floor...that was almost two years ago?! I think he might be at Bistro du Vent.

edited to add: welcome to eGullet, Le Mac...I think this post might have been better suited to the California forum.

Edited August 14, 2006 by alanamoana (log)

[David Crum]

Check The Heartland forum, apparently he is working (consulting?) at Tru in Chicago.

[ronnie_suburban]

Check The Heartland forum, apparently he is working (consulting?) at Tru in Chicago.

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This is correct. Check here for a recent blurb from Chicago Magazine's Dish:

Last call for foie gras. Any takers? If you can’t get yourself to your favorite enlarged-goose-liver-purveyor before the ban goes into effect, don’t fret: after August 22nd, the new caviar bar at Tru (676 N. St. Clair St.; 312-202-0001) will offer something called “faux Gras.” Turns out Rich Melman, a confirmed foie diehard, charged superstar chef Laurent Gras with filling the hole that this ban has created. “I told him he had to make a substitute that tastes as good as foie gras for Tru,” Melman said. “We’ll be the first to have faux Gras.” OK, so . . . what is it? Melman wasn’t sure. “It might be chicken liver, I don’t know,” he says. “It had that wonderful creamy consistency and it was quite good.” (Note: Tru’s faux Gras won’t be available till August 22nd, but Melman’s office confirmed that the stuff was, in fact, made of chicken liver.)

=R=

[Le Mec]

He moved to New York City as soon as he left the Fifth Floor...that was almost two years ago?!  I think he might be at Bistro du Vent.

edited to add: welcome to eGullet, Le Mac...I think this post might have been better suited to the California forum.

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yes, and he was at bistro du vent, but I have heard that BdV is now closed. Thanks for the info about Tru. does it sound like he is thinking of taking over as the head chef of a place again, or is he on the consulting track. The guy is brilliant (as far as I can tell from friends that have worked for him, as well as dining at the Fifth Floor) but he is keeping a low profile, not even releasing a cookbook (which he absolutely should do). Please feel free to pass along any rumours, etc... The moment this guy decides to open a place, I'll be on a plane to apply in person. thanks.

[LAZ]

He's still in New York. He's pals with Rich Melman and Rick Tramonto and just created the one recipe for Tru's new lounge, which he was asked to do since Tramonto has too much on his plate right now what with opening four restaurants in the fall in the new Westin in Wheeling, Ill.