The Broad (Art Museum) Announces Timothy Hollingsworth (formerly of 3 Michelin Star French Laundry Restaurant) as Executive Chef of Its Restaurant (REVISED)

Three announcements are being released by Eli Broad's Grand Avenue art museum this Monday, but  today's LA Times article by Christopher Hawthorne big news is... the kitchen in free standing restaurant in the plaza's park space will have as its executive chef, Timothy Hollingsworth. 

Hollingsworth, formerly of the world renown French Laundry (once called the world's finest restaurant by the New York Times), not only managed to retain the restaurant's existing 3 star Michelin rating (currently one of only eight in the country), but he twice won the US semi-finals for the Bocuse d'Or (the Olympics of cooking) and also tied with one other American for the highest scored received by an American at the finals even before he was made the head chef at the French Laundry.  

The New York Times has more on this aspect of the story:

Mr. Broad has invested in friends’ restaurants over the years, but he is now entering the field in a bigger way: He has formed a joint venture with Bill Chait, the force behind Bestia, Republique and Picca, to develop a restaurant next to the museum.

Other partners in the restaurant are alumni of Thomas Keller restaurants: Rory Herrmann, formerly of Bouchon Beverly Hills, who has signed on as director of culinary operations, and Timothy Hollingsworth, the former head chef of The French Laundry in the Napa Valley, who will serve as executive chef.

While the menu is still being developed, Mr. Hollingsworth described the vision as distinct from the Thomas Keller model. “It’s not going to be an ultrafine dining restaurant or the taco concept I talked about opening up, which I will still do in the future. We’re thinking more about approachable food with familiar flavors,” he said.

Mr. Hollingsworth said there were plans to involve the community directly, by hiring locally and serving subsidized lunches — “healthy, well-cooked meals” — to schoolchildren who visit the museum.

Hollingsworth's appointment as the executive chef (and the selection of Roy Hermann as the director of culinary operations)- despite Hollingsworth's statement they are not aiming for the type of dining experience at the French Laundry - still gives DTLA a chance to have a Michelin rated restaurant - for one reason.  If anyone can design a menu of 'approachable food' worthy of Michelin stars, this is the team that might be able to accomplish that. 
Below is the opening of Hawthorne's article - and the other two announcements.

The leaders of Eli Broad's planned Grand Avenue museum of contemporary art, to be called simply the Broad, will make news in three separate ways on Monday.They will unveil designs for a new plaza adjacent to the museum by architects Diller, Scofidio + Renfro and landscape architect Walter Hood. They will name Bill Chait, who runs Bestia in the arts district, to oversee a new restaurant on the plaza with Timothy Hollingsworth, former chef de cuisine at French Laundry in the Napa Valley.And they will announce that the opening of the museum has been pushed back from this fall to an unspecified date next year.

And the rest of Hawthorne's article is here.