Chef Bios

David Dubois

CHEF/OWNER – franklin restaurant group

David Dubois’ culinary career began in Boston area restaurants at a very early age. His skills were honed and developed in Europe, Florida, California, New York, and Martha’s Vineyard. As Chef-Overseer of the Franklin restaurants he has developed his owns refreshing take on simple Modern American cuisine. He has received Local, National and International accolade for the simple elegance and down to earth approach of the Franklin Restaurants’ dishes.

Brian Reyelt

Executive Chef- FRANKLIN RESTAURANT GROUP

Brian’s love for cooking began in his home town of Westchester, New York while assisting his mother with her local catering company.  His family moved to Barrington, Rhode Island where he attended high school and further fostered his culinary passion. Following high school he began his academia at Johnson & Wales Culinary School where he stood out for his excellence by graduating Magna Cum Laude. This was only the beginning of much accolade and many awards. While attending Johnson & Wales, he held various cooking jobs in the Providence area.  Upon completion of school, he accepted the Sous Chef position at the Hotel Manisses on Block Island. Three years later he left island life for the cutting edge food of the city where he pursued an intricate knowledge of Haute cuisine at Aujourd’hui in the Four Seasons Hotel, Boston.  He discovered the Franklin through fellow chefs one late night after work and this tiny neighborhood jewel captivated his attention. Soon after, his innate talent advanced him through the ranks to become Head Chef of the Franklin Cafe and now Executive Chef of Both New Fenway Restaurants. He has brought an innovative spirit and first rate technical acumen to the Franklin’s philosophy of fine food at fair prices. His food incorporates family traditions, past experience and local ingredients to uphold the consistent quality of the Franklin’s Modern American cuisine. As in all his culinary pursuits he has excelled bringing the Franklin Local, National and International attention under his leadership.

KELLY HARTMAN

HEAD CHEF – FRANKLIN CAFE

Kelly was born in Berkley, California and spent most of his childhood in Sacramento.  Growing up, he displayed an interest in cooking while helping his mother in the kitchen.  This, combined with pure desperation, lead to his first job washing dishes at a pasta restaurant in 1991.  For reasons unknown, he stuck it out, and kept working in the kitchen until he finished high school.  Upon leaving for college down South, he left an opening at the position of “Sauce-Ladler-Guy” that has yet to be truly filled.

He attended the University of California in Santa Barbara, where he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in film studies.  Upon realizing that he wasn’t meant for Los Angeles, he abandoned the dream of becoming a film maker, moved back to Northern California, and returned to the kitchen.  After various stints in the San Francisco Bay Area, he took a job as Sous Chef in a small Southern-Style New American Bistro called “Mojo” for (subsequent) James Beard Award winning Chef Donald Link.  After a year, when Link pulled up stakes to move back to his native Louisiana to open Herbsaint with Bayona’s Susan Spicer, he offered Kelly the position of opening Sous Chef.  During his six years running the kitchen there, the restaurant garnered numerous awards and national media attention.  He later assisted Link and Chef Stephen Stryjewski with both concept and opening of the wildly successful Cochon, a casual restaurant serving rustic country Southern cuisine they like to call “Real Cajun” (Also the title of Link’s recently-released cookbook).

In 2006, he moved to Boston with his wife where he spent time in the kitchens of Mistral, Cleo, Mooo, and  Craigie on Main before accepting the position as Head Chef at the Franklin Cafe, where brought his own unique and eclectic version of American cuisine to the South End.

RYAN BYRNE

HEAD CHEF – FRANKLIN SOUTHIE

Chef Ryan Byrne’s career path and passion for food started at an early age. Some of his first food memories were of spending time in the kitchen with his mom, intently executing little “experiments” while waiting for dinner to be ready.

When Ryan was fifteen the Chef at Opportunity Farm for Boys, Arthur Litchfield, took Ryan under his wing, and taught him many of the basics. When Chef Litchfield retired a year later, Ryan took over the culinary program of the Boys Home. The experience solidified his passion for being in the food industry and he decided to attend Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.

After completing his Associates degree in culinary arts, Ryan started his Bachelors program for Hotel/Restaurant management. He was also working full time at Davio’s at The Biltmore Hotel as a sauté cook. He quickly realized that he wanted to be in the kitchen and abandoned his management courses for a career as Chef. Within a year he was promoted to sous chef at Davio’s. Before leaving Providence for Las Vegas, he spent a short time as lead line cook at Napa Valley Grille, a California based restaurant that emphasizes freshness and seasonality of ingredients.

Once in Vegas, Ryan landed a job at the two Michelin star rated Picasso at The Bellagio working under Chef Julian Serrano. He worked his way up to Chef de Partie, and stayed there for almost five years honing his Spanish and French cooking techniques. He then left Picasso to open another two Michelin starred restaurant called Restaurant Guy Savoy. There, he became Executive Sous Chef. After three years at Guy Savoy, he went to cook for Bradley Ogden Restaurant as Executive Sous Chef. While there, the restaurant was voted “Best New Restaurant” by the James Beard foundation, and also awarded a Michelin star among a myriad of national and international accolades. Ryan finished his tenure at Caesar’s Palace as Executive Chef of Nero’s Steakhouse.

When the opportunity to become Head Chef at The Franklin Southie presented itself, Ryan relished the chance to exercise his studied technique and understanding of fine dining in this understated, unpretentious Southie gem. He has really brought his own unique style and sensibility to the Franklin and his food is winning the hearts of this great Boston neighborhood.

Joy Richard

BAR AND Beverage MANAGER – franklin restaurant group

Joy Richard is an award-winning local bartender with over 20 years of industry experience.  Richard fell in love with the pace and camaraderie of the restaurant business with her very first job at just 15 years old.  She got her start as a busser at a gourmet natural foods restaurant and folk music venue, The Folkway, in Peterborough, NH, quickly moving up to host, then server.  By age 17, she and a friend started a successful Monday night Coffee Shop and Open Mic Night, as a way to utilize the space during off hours.

Richard continued to work in restaurants while pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Hampshire College,  stepping behind the bar occasionally to mix up Old Fashioned’s and Rob Roy’s.  She moved to Boston in 1997 and began to tend bar full-time, thrilled by the instant gratification of serving well-constructed cocktails to appreciative guests.

Richard spent over 9 years behind the bar at Boston area hotspots, and built a solid following that earned her accolades as one of Bostons’s Beloved Bartenders by The Improper Bostonian and Top-Shelf Bartender by Stuff  Boston.  She moved into restaurant management in 2004, and continued to create cocktail lists at restaurants around town while pursuing education of the history of the craft.

Richard’s original creations have earned her local and national attention, including mentions in The Improper Bostonian, Stuff @ Night and Imbibe Magazine.  In 2008 she won the Hendrick’s Gin Beantown Bartender Battle and was flown to Los Angeles to compete in a national mix-off competition.  In 2009, her “Glass Eye” Cocktail won the local Rain Vodka Bartender Mix Off, earning her a trip to Tales of the Cocktail 2009, where she competed for the national title.  In 2009 she completed the BAR Smarts Advanced program, a condensed version of the rigorous Beverage Alcohol Resource 5-day course, the spirits and mixology equivalent of a Masters of Wine or Master Sommelier program.

In 2007, Richard and several friends founded the Boston Chapter of Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails (LUPEC), a classic cocktail society dedicated to the “raising, breeding, and releasing of nearly extinct cocktails into the wild”.  More than a social networking organization, LUPEC Boston is committed to enhancing and improving the lives of Boston-area women and has raised over $40,000 for local women’s charities since inception.  For more information about LUPEC Boston visit lupecboston.com.

Joy is thrilled to be back behind the bar mixing up classic cocktails and creating modern classics for the patrons at the Franklin Cafe.

Most recently, Richard took her passion for great cocktails, spirits, and especially whiskey, to a new level at the Franklin Restaurant Group’s newest project, The Citizen Public House and Oyster Bar in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood. The Citizen boasts a list of over 90 whiskeys from around the globe on a bar with over 200 spirits available, and a cocktail list designed to highlight each of the four different types of ice available.

Joy is also an avid beer drinker, and was able to take her knowledge in a fun direction at Tasty Burger, the Groups recently opened Burger & Shake joint, also in the Fenway. Tasty Burger’s bar offers terrific wines, draft beer, a wide selection of beers in cans, a growing trend for craft breweries, enabling Richard to bring in several new canned beer varieties each month!

AWARDS:

* Best Classic Cocktail, Best of Boston 2011, Boston Magazine July 2011
* Boston’s Best Mixologist, The Improper Bostonian, 2011
* Rain Vodka Bartender Boston Mix Off winner, 2009
* Hendrick’s Gin Beantown Bartender Battle winner, 2009
* Boston’s Beloved Bartender, The Improper Bostonian, 2002
* The List: Boston’s Top-Shelf Bartenders, Stuff @ Night, 2001
* Boston’s Beloved Bartender, The Improper Bostonian, 2000