August 8 2005
A renowned chef has landed the top job at Terry Laybourne’s new venture at Jesmond Dene House in Newcastle. Jose Graziosi, 37, has joined Laybourne as head chef at the new boutique hotel and restaurant due to open on September 1. He joins from Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant in Padstow where he was senior sous chef for five years. Prior to that he was head chef at Nellos in Devon.
Originally from Abruzzo in Italy, Jose completed his training at the region’s distinguished cookery school. Since then he has worked in Rome - at well-known restaurant La Carovana. He has also plied his trade in Sardinia, France, Spain and Portugal. He met Laybourne while he was working at The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow, and decided to join him in the North East when he heard about his ambitious plans to open Jesmond Dene House.
Jose explains: “Terry and I share a similar philosophy on food. Terry’s style of cooking is similar to traditional Italian cooking – you respect the ingredients. It is all about working with fresh food, locally sourced, when it is in season. As soon as I heard Terry talking about Jesmond Dene House it appealed to me. The chance to work with Terry was a big pull, he is the best in the North, and the opportunity to open a new enterprise and help put it on the map was too good to pass up. Jesmond Dene House will feature some of Terry’s original signature dishes and some new dishes, which reflect my international influence. It will be a fresh approach to cooking that changes with the seasons and makes the most of local ingredients.”
Jesmond Dene House is a £7 million project - and Laybourne’s biggest business venture to date. He has partnered with property developer Peter Candler of Rivergreen Developments on the project to restore and refurbish historic Jesmond Dene House over the last 18 months. When it opens on September 1 the property will offer 40 bedrooms, a large restaurant, private dining facilities and conferencing facilities. All this will be housed in the converted, grade II listed, gothic mansion only minutes from Newcastle city centre.
Terry Laybourne commented: “It’s great news for us that we have secured Jose as head chef. He is an extremely talented cook, and with an establishment of this calibre, we needed someone of his quality and experience to head up the kitchen. The new hotel and restaurant will become a showcase for the very best of North East food and hospitality. The very fact that we are able to do this now reflects how much the area has changed in the last 10 years. At this stage we are all just eager to get in the kitchen and start cooking, roll on September 1st.”
