Skate-master general and lavender beet-boxer Benjamin Bailly has bailed Cliff’s Edge, a month shy of a year since climbing aboard the eight-year-old Silver Lake staple. No word on where this bantam chef of concentrated talent is headed next, but in his shoes comes Vartan Abgaryan, stepping out of the shadow of Tim Goodell at The Hollywood Roosevelt’s Public Bar and Kitchen to take the executive position at Cliff’s Edge on November 26. So far, Abgaryan, who recently rocked our world with uni-topped oysters at Localicious, foresees an evolving menu of “super-seasonal” dishes, with trotter sausage, ras el hanout caulflower in brown butter and capers, and charred octopus with smoked aleppo peppers and apple making his first menu. Public Kitchen is yet to have found a replacement for the chef in Hollywood.
However, the Hollywood Roosevelt does have a new replacement for Matt Biancaniello, the inspired, super bar-star who recently left the property’s Library Bar to pursue his own Westside project. Chris Hewes, who worked here with Biancaniello since 2011, has been promoted at the small off-lobby attachment to lead the cocktail program, adhering to the same formula of super-fresh produce, whimsical natural infusions, and skilled way of improvising a well-balanced drink based solely on customers’ preferred flavor profiles.
