Adrian Hoffman, vice president and culinary director for the Lark Creek Restaurant Group, said Holland-Toll left the company late last month, setting off a last-minute search for a replacement. Hoffman said the reconcepted restaurant, to be known as the Tavern at Lark Creek, was still planning to open on May 29th, just over two weeks from now. But he held out the possibility that the opening could be pushed back a few days. Hoffman said he was close to naming a replacement.
Holland-Toll joined Lark Creek as executive chef in August 2007. She had previously cooked under Jan Birnbaum at the now-defunct Catahoula in Calistoga, and in SF at Fifth Floor and Acme Chophouse. Lark Creek opened in a Victorian farmhouse in 1988 by chef Bradley Ogden and entrepreneur Michael Dellar.
The Lark Creek Inn closed for remodeling April 12. For the revamped restaurant, Hoffman said a lot of interior work had been completed: fresh paint, refurbished woodwork, and refinished oak tables, which, for the first time, won't be covered with linen. The restaurant's wood oven -- always a central feature -- has been rebuilt. As for the Tavern's farm-to-table, contemporary American menu, Hoffman promised it'll be larger than Lark Creek's, should change every few weeks, and, in a clear nod to diners' current craze for value, won't offer anything over $15. "And it's not a small-plates restaurant," he said.
