La Valencia Chooses New Chef For Hotel Revamp

A month after losing chef Paul McCabe to Arizona (get up to speed by reading Eater's Exit Interview with chef McCabe), the La Valencia Hotel has passed the torch to McCabe's chef pal, Daniel Barron (Blue Point Coastal Cuisine); we hear that it came down to Barron and an out-of-towner.

Barron founded the now-dormant Evolve Cuisine supper club with pastry chef Jeff Bonilla and bartender Mike Yen, and has been keeping busy with private chef gigs while evaluating opportunities that would keep him cooking in San Diego. Now, he'll be helping the La Jolla hotel's new management with a culinary revamp, which includes an update to the Mediterranean Room and the ground-up construction of a new bistro, Café La Rue.

The chef told Eater that he'll on site starting this Sunday, and says that he's "incredibly excited about the opportunity to join the team leading the renaissance at the La Valencia Hotel; there is so much history and beauty there and the projects we will be working on over the next year or so will pay tribute to that. I also look forward to creating a little history of our own, and I am overjoyed to be able to stay in the beautiful city of San Diego." Barron went on to say that he thinks they'll be able to make a "major positive impact on the local market."
· La Valencia [Official Site]
· All Chef Shuffles on Eater [~ESD~]

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