Patrick Fahy Is the French Laundry's New Pastry Chef

It's apparently Hire a Pastry Chef Week at the Bay Area's three-star spots, as The Restaurant at Meadowood's pick-up of Matt Tinder has been followed quickly by the announcement that the French Laundry has also acquired a new pastry chef, Patrick Fahy. As Inside Scoop reports, Fahy most recently was the executive pastry chef at Chicago's two-star Sixteen, which he left in December, and subsequently got an offer for the top pastry job after Milton Abel decided to head back to Europe with his new wife. Like Tinder, he's already worked at his new gig once before, serving as chef de partie at the Laundry back in 2008. A three-time James Beard Award nominee for Outstanding Pastry Chef, he's certainly no slouch in the dessert department.

Fahy is the second big shift in the kitchen at the Laundry in the past year, with David Breeden having taken over the chef de cuisine gig from Timothy Hollingsworth last April. (Hollingsworth is now down in L.A., working on a forthcoming taco restaurant at the Shade Hotel in Manhattan Beach.) Meanwhile, two more French Laundry chefs (one of whom holds Fahy's old job) are currently training for the Bocuse d'Or competition, ensuring the spotlight will remain on Thomas Keller's iconic Yountville restaurant.

· Patrick Fahy is the new pastry chef at the French Laundry [Inside Scoop]
· Patrick Fahy Has Made His Last Dessert at Sixteen [Eater Chicago]
· Matt Tinder is Meadowood's New Pastry Chef [~ ESF ~]