Chefs on the Move at JW Marriott
Jadan Sheive has been named executive chef for JW Marriott Orlando. He replaces Chris Brown, who last month was appointed director of food and beverage at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando. Both properties are on the Grande Lakes estate.
JW Marriott also announced that Mariano Vegel will be taking over as chef de cuisine at its top restaurant, Primo by Melissa Kelly. Vegel replaces Gilberto Ramirez, who has moved to a JW Marriott in Austin.
Sheive (above right), who worked with Kelly at her flagship restaurant in Maine, was part of the opening team of Primo when it opened at Grande Lakes in 2003. Most recently he was executive chef at the company's Desert Ridge Resort & Spa in Phoenix. He will oversee all of the hotel's restaurants, banquet operations and the property's Whisper Creek Farms, as well as the upcoming Whisper Creek Farms: The Kitchen. Sheive is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America.
Vegel, who graduated from the Argentine Institute of Gastronomy, has been with the Orlando JW Marriott since 2006 in various positions and venues.
It isn't unusual to see chefs move around — as a group, they are a peripatetic lot. But this latest round of Musical Chefs tells us two things: The JW Marriott people like to hire within and honor loyal workers, and chefs obviously like working for the company.
The dinner is Saturday, April 11, and begins at 7:30 p.m. with a Champagne reception with hors d'oeuvres on the resort's terrace overlooking its pools and the lake beyond.
