John Doherty’s leaving the Waldorf

January 27

John Doherty is hanging up his chef’s toque, leaving the Waldorf-Astoria after working there for 30 years — 23 of them as executive chef.
It’s hard to know for sure, but it looks like he’s leaving of his own freewill and has hired a PR company (Hall) to announce the formation of his new restaurant development company, JCM Hospitality Group.
John’s really one of the nicest chefs I know, and he’s partnering with a couple of interesting guys.
One is Mark Wood, who has worked with both culinary wunderkind-cum-vegan and raw food enthusiast Matthew Kenney, and with hard-nosed restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow.
The other, Christian Palikuca, worked at Sign of the Dove and then Daniel (he was director of operations at both) before falling in with the Marlon Abela Restaurant Corporation (aka and dba MARC), which owns A Voce, becoming its chief operating officer.
John also will apparently be working on a book on leadership, producing a television project, and going on leadership speaking engagements. He plans to do consulting too, but who doesn’t?
Meanwhile, back at the Waldorf, executive sous chef Peter Daledda is running the show.