Antonio Burrell IN at The Occidental

Antonio Burrell is now working as chef de cuisine for The Occidental. Executive chef Rodney Scruggs confirmed the news this week.

"He's only been here four days but we have so many similarities; he's also a real worker," Scruggs said. Burrell has previously worked at such restaurants as Masa 14, Agua 301, Eventide and Redwood.

After a month or two on the job, Burrell will take over the kitchen at The Occidental, allowing Scruggs to focus on catering and other parts of his executive chef duties. "I think he's going to do great things for us," he said. Burrell replaces Matt Baker, who left last month.

Meanwhile, Scruggs just won the People's Choice Award at the national Lamb Jam event in California. The dish he prepared — a Dagwood sandwich with cured lamb, strawberry "lamb jam", arugula, goat cheese and pickled scallions — will appear on the Occidental's menu as a special after his latest batch of lamb is cured. It's served with a mocktail and a rosemary shortbread cookie made with lamb fat. They're calling it the "Happy Combo" (apparently McDonald's wasn't thrilled with their first name choice).