Vinoy Resort chefs stir up new ventures

By Laura Reiley, Times Food Critic
Published July 18, 2007

Mark Heimann, 38, has been at the Vinoy for 10 years.
	[Handout photo]

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo] John Pivar.

Six and a half years is a drop in the bucket for a grand old hotel. Still, the executive chef of St. Petersburg's Renaissance Vinoy Resort had a long run by chef standards.

"I'd been looking to get out of the hotel," explains former executive chef John Pivar. "I've been in the business for 25 years, and I knew I wasn't going to be an executive chef forever."

Pivar, 42, left the hotel in June to pursue something altogether different. Friend Paul Ruel owns the Outdoor Kitchen Store on Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa, and together they will launch the Outdoor Kitchen Gourmet Market next door at 3917 W Kennedy Blvd. at the end of the month.

The 2,000-square-foot market will sell prime and Angus beef, quality seafood, wine, olive oils, specialty rubs and high-end prosciuttos and sausages.

Pivar is being replaced by his executive sous chef, Mark Heimann, 38, who has been at the Vinoy for 10 years.

While Heimann waits for his new chef whites with "Executive Chef" embroidered across the chest, he's already got big plans. He aims to give Marchand's a more Mediterranean grill feel, with a chef's tasting menu, a separate tapas menu and a build-your-own-entree approach with choices of different sauces and sides. This is all to reflect, as Heimann sees it, "people knowing more about food these days."

Across the bay, Pivar is banking on the same thing. "People keep asking me, 'Where do I get quality produce and meats?' What's going to make us different is we'll give people information, too."

Pivar has to wait and see if his hunches about Tampa foodies are correct, but for now, it's just nice to have a little extra free time.

"I had my first holiday off in 25 years," Pivar says about the Fourth of July. "I didn't know what to do with myself."

Laura Reiley can be reached at (727) 892-2293 or lreiley@sptimes.com.

[Last modified July 17, 2007, 12:53:41]