Adorn, the upscale restaurant contained in the 4 Seasons Lodge off the Magnificent Mile, has nabbed a brand new govt chef to switch Beard winner Jonathon Sawyer. Richie Farina, a 24-year-veteran of the hospitality business, is leaving Curtis Duffy’s employees at two-Michelin-starred Ever to take over Adorn, perched on the lodge’s seventh flooring.
Farina’s resume consists of roles in a few of Chicago’s most ingenious and lauded institutions: govt chef of molecular gastronomy pioneer Moto Restaurant and lead line prepare dinner at Italian favourite Monteverde. He plans to make an impression at Adorn by unveiling a five-course tasting menu later this spring.
“I’m at a degree in my profession the place a possibility like this doesn’t come alongside lots,” Farina says. “I do know it’s going to be a problem and a part of me is basically scared, however in a great way. I do know I can reside as much as the problem and I’ve put numerous expectations on myself for what I wish to accomplish.”
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24338923/Four_Seasons_Chicago_2022__188_.jpg)
Farina says he’ll inject his personal voice into the whimsical ethos of Adorn, the 4 Seasons’ sole restaurant, but in addition goals to create a menu that appeals to lodge visitors in addition to Chicago’s fine-dining public. He hopes that his tasting menu (which can even embody a handful of shock bites) will bridge that hole and provides diners a memorable expertise — together with parts of molecular gastronomy — with out veering into gimmicks.
“I wish to make critical meals, however not take it too severely,” he says. “There’s a enjoyable solution to be playful and do issues which can be purposeful with trendy methods and pure components.”
Farina will begin to preview some dishes round Valentine’s Day. He’s directing these trying to find a sign of his imaginative and prescient to posts on his Instagram account that present previous creations comparable to Beans and Almonds, Duck and Leaves, and River Course.
Since 2010, Farina’s additionally appeared on quite a few TV reveals together with season 9 of High Chef, Meals Community’s Iron Chef America, and Planet Inexperienced’s Future Meals. After two-and-a-half years of working underneath a famous person chef in Duffy at Ever, he’s desirous to reintroduce himself to diners.
Adorn debuted in October 2020 underneath the management of Sawyer, who relocated to Chicago from Cleveland to switch the lodge’s eight-year-old restaurant Allium. The opening was marred by a COVID-19 resurgence that resulted within the metropolis’s second ban on dine-in service, however by 2022, it earned a point out in the Michelin Guide for its ethereal ambiance and specialties like an edible aged beef suet candle that, when lit, melts right into a sauce for dipping. Sawyer left the lodge to open Kindling, a restaurant opening later this month inside Willis Tower.
