Ex-Mirabelle chef to reopen restaurant

By Kathryn Reed

A former cook at Mirabelle restaurant in Stateline is now the owner.

The eatery had closed in September after owner-chef Camille Schwartz retired. It is reopening Dec. 19.

Kenn Druely, who moved to Lake Tahoe two years ago with the intention of buying the French restaurant, wasn’t able to because of financing. This time it all worked out. The deal went through the week of Thanksgiving.

Druely was a sous chef at Mirabelle for the first year he was here. The last year he has been at Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort as the food and beverage manager. His training was at the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park in New York. Druely has spent the past 20 years working at a variety of restaurants in the Napa Valley, including Terra, French Laundry, Tra Vigne, Carneros Inn and Cook.

“We’ll be opening with a menu that is basically one of Camille’s old menus. Some of the dishes are tweaked a little bit,” Druely told Lake Tahoe News.

Other than a cook the rest of the staff is new.

Down the road Druely expects to put his own twists on entrees. He also expects to have more options for vegetarians and to pay more attention to what is in season, using those ingredients.

Other than painting the dining room, the décor is the same. That could change in the spring.

Mirabelle will be open Tuesday-Sunday starting at 5:30pm.