Chef train
Turnover in the kitchen: Front Room at Hotel Lumen appoints second chef daysafter opening
Front Room at Hotel Lumen just opened last month.Photo by Shannon Faulk
Chefs Graham Dodds and Nick Amoriello, (sort of) together again.
The The Front Room: A Park Cities Diner at Hotel Lumen has appointed a new chef in a kitchen that already has experienced high turnover in less than a month.
The new chef is Nick Amoriello, who's been at the restaurant "for about two weeks," said one staffer. "I would expect you'll start to see his influence on the menu pretty soon. He's been working on it."
Like Front Room, Amoriello has seen his share of turnover as well, with stints at Central 214, NYLO Plano, Meddlesome Moth, Nobu and Potager in Arlington in just a couple of years. His appointment at Front Room comes as a surprise, because he was being identified as recently as July as the chef who would oversee Lark, the new restaurant on Klyde Warren Park from Meddlesome Moth owner Shannon Wynne.
Hotel Lumen, which occupies a visible location nearly across from SMU, is a property of the Headington Companies, but it's managed by Kimpton Hotels, whose expertise lies in managing hotels.
Kimpton would not respond to a request for confirmation, which comes as no surprise, because Kimpton is notoriously tight-lipped. But Amiorello's appointment was discussed freely by staffers at the restaurant.
Lumen just got a redesign that included a makeover of its restaurant, formerly called Social, into a diner concept designed by Tim McEneny of NL Group and chef Doug Brown. The Front Room opened September 3 with executive chef Scott Townend in place.
By mid-September, Graham Dodds — chef at Hotel Palomar, sibling of Hotel Lumen — had been installed to temporarily oversee the kitchen. Amoriello and Dodds worked together at Central 214.
