Celebrated Chef Daniel Rose Is Out at Chicago’s Le Select After Only a Few Months
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Before Le Select opened in Chicago at the end of January, it was one of the most hotly anticipated restaurants in the country, thanks to the attachment of the lauded chef Daniel Rose. But not even four months later, Rose is out at the River North spot.
Boka Restaurant Group, which oversees Le Select and a number of other restaurants, has parted ways with Rose, Eater Chicago reported on Tuesday. He is no longer associated with the French brasserie or the company’s Café Basque in Los Angeles, which Rose helped open in December. (A spokesperson for Rose declined to comment to Robb Report.)
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Le Select was Rose’s first outing in the Windy City, after the chef made his name in France and New York City, where he has the Michelin-starred Le Coucou. The menu at Le Select hewed to Parisian classics like onion soup, escargots, steak au poivre, and duck breast à l’orange, but Eater noted that reviews of the restaurant were middling at best, and the first chef de cuisine left shortly after the opening.
Now Boka has broken up with Rose, as well. The hospitality group has brought on Chris Pandel to take over (he’s also worked at Boka’s Swift & Sons and Cira), along with Patrick Sheerin as chef de cuisine, and Lee Wolen of Michelin-starred Boka as a consulting chef. The three will debut a new dinner menu in the coming weeks, in a bid to turn around Le Select’s fortunes.
“The concept of a brasserie menu was always something that resonated with us, as it speaks to every day approachable dining,” the Boka co-founder Rob Katz said in a statement. “We believe in the power of spirited collaboration and know that our experienced chef partners will bring their unique expertise to serve a phenomenal brasserie menu.”
Boka is one of the biggest restaurant groups in Chicago, Eater noted, and it’s been on a bit of a tear already this year. In April, the company launched three new restaurants in the city, and it’s been expanding beyond the Midwestern town to places like New York and L.A.* Rose, meanwhile, continues to run a couple of restaurants in Paris as well as Le Coucou. After departing Le Select and Café Basque, though, that’s now his only stateside venture.
*A previous version of this article misstated that Boka Restaurant Group has expanded to Philadelphia.
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