In 2013, Jimmy Hippchen left his job as the executive chef at The Crow’s Nest to take a position as a line cook at Cleveland-Heath. Now, this member of the Ones to Watch class of 2014 wears the top toque once more as executive chef at Ernesto’s Wine Bar in Benton Park.
Hippchen, who joined Ernesto’s in June, spent the first few weeks adjusting to a new kitchen. Now he’s ready to unveil a new menu Tuesday, July 15, that he hopes is more tightly focused on food that reflects wine regions. “I am trying to develop a menu where the food goes with the wine. It’s a wine bar. I want to marry the two very well,” he said. “I don’t want a show-off menu as opposed to doing well-executed, good food.” Look for dishes like a Middle Eastern flatbread topped with harissa, roasted cauliflower, pickled raisins and feta, as well as his take on shrimp and grits, sauteed shrimp swimming in pool of roasted red pepper polenta, lobster broth and scallions.
Of his nearly seven years spent in restaurant kitchens, Hippchen considers his time at Cleveland-Heath under the leadership of chef-owner Ed Heath, voted Favorite Chef in this year’s Readers’ Choice poll, to be invaluable. “(I learned) what it means to cook for the guest and through the eyes of the guest,” he said. “Eric (Ed Heath) taught me how to clean up my flavors.”
-photo by Carmen Troesser
This article appears in Readers’ Choice 2014.