About The Chef at The French Room in The Adolphus Dallas, Texas

Jason C. Weaver, most recently Executive Chef at New York’s posh Mandarin Oriental, is the new Executive Chef of The Adolphus hotel, whose multimillion-dollar food and beverage operation includes the five-star French Room and one of the top catering venues in Dallas/Fort Worth. Tom E. Garcia, managing director of The Adolphus, made the announcement. “We couldn’t be more pleased with our choice to lead The Adolphus culinary team,” he said. “Chef Weaver’s career spans nearly a decade of fine dining preparation and execution at some of America’s top hotels and restaurants. His depth of experience and creativity will ensure that the hotel maintains its national and regional rankings in food and wine for many years to come.”

Chef Weaver, 35, arrived in Dallas from New York City, where he was responsible for a culinary department that saw more than $26 million in annual food and beverage sales. Located in an exclusive new development in the Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle, the Mandarin Oriental New York gave him entrée to cultivate the allegiance of Manhattan’s dining elite.

“Since the Mandarin has breathtaking views of New York’s skyline and Central Park, the hotel has a nice slice of the Big Apple,” Chef Weaver said. “The city’s society and civic leaders hold their most prestigious parties and galas there. Learning to please their discerning palates is invaluable to any culinary career. Liza Minnelli was pretty close to the mark when she sang, ‘If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere!’”

A highly decorated former United States Marine, Chef Weaver earned his cooking stripes at the School Craft College in Livonia, Michigan, in 1997. His leadership abilities and proficiency in the kitchen quickly proved a winning combination, catching the eye of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, which put him in charge of The Grill at its property in Dearborn, Michigan. During his tenure at Ritz, the restaurant was rated number one in the company by J.D. Powers and Associates – and scored in the top ten in Conde Nast Traveler’s 1999 U.S. rankings.

Chocolate Fountain His reputation established, Chef Weaver was recruited by the Mandarin Oriental Miami in 2001 to oversee five outlets, including the Café Sambal. While there, the Food Network’s The Best of named Café Sambal “The Best Lunchtime Hotspot.” It was at Mandarin Oriental that he refined his own version of French Asian cuisine that has become his signature in New York culinary circles. At the New York property, which he helped open, Chef Weaver was part of the executive team that garnered the industry’s top honors for 2004 – from Conde Nast Traveler’s “Hot List” and The Robb Report’s “Best of the Best” to Food and Wine’s “Best New Wine Lists” and Travel & Leisure’s “15 Hotels to Watch – The World’s Best.”