Blackbird's New Chef de Cuisine: Ryan Pfeiffer

Blackbird's made it official, announcing Ryan Pfeiffer as the West Loop gem's new chef de cuisine. He's already established himself, installing a 10-course tasting menu. This allows chef Perry Hendrix to concentrate on another of Paul Kahan and One Off Hospitality's West Loop properties, Avec, which should undergo an expansion soon. The move was first reported by the Tribune.

Pfeiffer is a native Chicagoan and just finished a monthlong stint at Manresa in Los Gatos, Calif., about an hour south of San Francisco. Change has been the recent norm at Blackbird, Paul Kahan's first restaurant, which also lost highly-acclaimed pastry chef Dana Cree in July. But it keeps chugging along on Randolph Street.