Joachim Splichal

Joachim Splichal was born and raised in Spaichingen, Germany. At age 18, he began in the hotel industry, working at leading hotels in Canada, Morocco, Israel, Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland. In his early twenties, he moved to France to start his culinary training, working as a saucier at La Bonne Auberge, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Antibes in southeastern France. At age 23, Splichal was hired as a sous chef by Jacques Maximin to work at the Chantecler restaurant in the Hotel Negresco in Nice. Maximin became Splichal's mentor and during this period he began to win many culinary awards, including the "Youngest and Most Creative Chef" title from the Cercle Epicurean Society.[1]

Splichal moved to the United States in 1981 to serve as Executive Chef at the Regency Club in Los Angeles. In the years that followed, he worked at the Seventh Street Bistro and began Max Au Triangle. Splichal opened Patina in 1989 in Hollywood with his wife Christine, an international business expert. Patina relocated to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003.[2] Since 1994, the restaurant has been the recipient of the Wine Spectator Grand Award.[3]

Splichal's specialties are French cuisine and California Cuisine. Menu items at Patina include grilled hamachi belly, "minute poached" live spot prawn, and New York strip steak. Splichal's Pinot brand of restaurants offer signature dishes such as rosemary marinated quail, Arctic char with braised celery root, and Piemontese tortelloni.

• Patina Group