After a nationwide search, Food & Wine has announced its nominees for the fourth annual The People’s Best New Chef Award. Mega-talent Jeffrey Lizotte, executive chef of ON20 in Hartford, is Connecticut’s only nominee. His nomination comes as no surprise to me, as I was quite active in pushing for it. No one from Connecticut has ever won this award, and were Lizotte to do so, it would shine a big media spotlight on the Nutmeg State’s culinary scene. You can vote in support of one of our own by following this link: www.foodandwine.com/blogs/2014/03/24/the-peoples-best-new-chef-new-england-chefs.
Lizotte, who grew up in Simsbury, attended Cornell University’s famous School of Hotel Administration. After graduation, he worked in Manhattan at Danube and Le Bernardin, and then at top French restaurants in Bordeaux and Grasse. In 2009, he was appointed sous chef at ON20 under Noel Jones. When Jones left the restaurant three years later, Lizotte was handed the executive chef reins. After receiving a silver medal at the 2012 Bocuse d’Or USA national finals, Lizotte was chosen to represent the U.S. in the international culinary competition, Trophée Passion, where he was awarded Valrhona Best Pastry. The very last photo shows a version of that award-winning desert.
So it should come as no surprise that Lizotte has produced some of the freshest, tastiest, most creative food it has ever been my good fortune to enjoy. The following photographs were taken during my last pair of meals at ON20, roughly a year ago. Note the photograph of Lizotte making a table appearance.
