Buccan Group: Chef/partner Clay Conley (center) is shown here with Buccan’s executive chef Jeremy Shelton (left) and Grato’s new executive chef Jimmy Strine. (Contributed by LibbyVision.com)
Café Boulud’s loss is Grato’s gain. Former Boulud executive sous chef Jimmy Strine is the new executive chef of Clay Conley’s Grato, the hot trattoria that’s taking West Palm Beach’s Flamingo Park neighborhood by storm.
“We are thrilled to have Jimmy join our team,” says Conley, Grato’s chef and co-owner. “He is not only a very talented cook, but a mature leader as well. We are lucky to have him.”
Strine and Conley worked three minutes away from one another for years. Conley is also chef/partner at Grato’s big sister restaurant, Buccan, which is located a block east of Café Boulud in Palm Beach.
“I’m feeling great about being a part of the team,” says Strine. “Clay has always been a staple in the community and I am most excited about making this the best restaurant in the county.”
A respected chef who competed against top local chefs to win last year’s Chef vs. Chef summer throwdown series in Delray Beach, Strine has also competed in Cochon 555, the national, invitation-only, snout-to-tail pork competition.
Before coming to work at Café Boulud, Strine was chef at his own restaurant, Mick’s New American Bistro in Frederick, Md.
Strine comes to Grato from a strong, creative kitchen. Most recently at Boulud, Strine worked under the direction of executive chef Rick Mace, who takes a storyteller’s approach to food. Mace’s sense of adventure earned him “Best Chef” status in The Post’s 2015 Critic’s Choice Awards.
Strine joins Grato just days after the restaurant launched daily lunch service.
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