French cuisine celebrates anniversary and new chef

Pinot Provence, a staple of high-end French cuisine in Costa Mesa, celebrated its 10th anniversary Tuesday and showed off its new executive chef, Lulu De Rouen.

De Rouen’s commute won’t change much — her last job was as the executive chef of Leatherby’s Café Rouge, right down the street at the Orange County Performing Arts Center — but Pinot Provence is a very different venue.

Where Leatherby’s Café Rouge is a simple, modern addition to the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Pinot Provence is a much more traditional looking dining room in the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel.

De Rouen recently returned from a month in Western Europe — including the south of France, which is the theme of Pinot Provence — where she studied regional cuisine.

Inspired by the trip, De Rouen is serving a multicourse menu centered on a Provençal beef stew with gnocchi and grilled vegetables.

?

— Alan Blank