Pastry Chef Bill Corbett Leaves Absinthe for Mysterious New Los Angeles Project

It’s been nearly five years of Bill Corbett running the desserts as Absinthe Group’s acclaimed executive pastry chef, and he decided five years is long enough. Absinthe, Arlequin, Boxing Room, Comstock Saloon and the upcoming Bellota are now getting sweets from his former sous chef Stephanie Kimura, who has been named executive pastry chef. “I'm leaving it in good hands which feels great,” Corbett told Eater. “Steph is pretty awesome and she’s got a really good pedigree.” Kimura did desserts at Quince before working under Corbett for the past two-and-a-half years.

As for Corbett, he’s working on raising funds for a still-secret project in Los Angeles. “I've been wanting to work on my own thing before I even started [at Absinthe]. We were always open about it,” Corbett said. “It’s still very early — we haven’t even found a space yet — but I'm starting to raise money now for my project and focus on it.” In the meantime he’s taking on consulting projects. “It's scary for me only because I'm kind of taking ‘the chance’ at the moment,” he said. “Absinthe was the first time I got my own kitchen and got to set the way things are done, so it was fun to have that space and be able to kind of steer the ship. But this has been a long time coming.” Corbett certainly went out with a bang, with Michael Bauer just last week re-reviewingAbsinthe and calling the desserts “textbook perfect.”