Big changes at Portola/Peter B's include chef exit, new brewmaster.

The new chef of the year has entered the building. 

And now, the chef of the year is going bye bye.

The Monterey Bay Chapter of the American Culinary Federation hosts its 42nd annual Chef of the Year Dinner at the Intercontinental Saturday, June 5. (Tickets are $125 via the Monterey Bay ACF website.)

The 2016 recipient: Portola, Jacks Restaurant and Peter B's BrewPub Executive Chef Jason Giles.

But as that weighty honor arrives, Giles has already moved on for less manic schedules—as in Monday through Friday, no holidays—by moving over to Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital.

Industry insiders, as this award helps demonstrate, observed an under-appreciated star who would've gotten more accolades if he wasn't uninterested in the spotlight. 

Whatever the case, he gets some deserved recognition now.

There's more Portola news where that came from, in two doses:

One, after pioneering brewmaster Kevin Clark absconded to the Great Lakes to run a brewery, Peter B's BrewPub now has a beer nerd stepping with chops Clark claims eclipse his own.

Justin Rivard began his career as an assistant brewer, spending three years at respected spots Jolly Pumpkin Artesian Ales and Grizzly Peak Brewing Company (themselves hailing from the Great Lakes area).

That helped earn him a gig at Arbor Brewing Company, where he graduated to head brewer in seven short months, going onto increase overall production as he went.

The introductory plan: to continue the signature beers while building upon Clark's penchant to experiment.

“I do enjoy brewing historic styles like milds and porters," Rivard says, "and I am excited to brew funky, off-the-wall saisons while bringing unique pale ales and IPAs from around the world into the lineup, as well as traditional German style beers.” 

He jumps into the fray Friday, June 1. 

Two, Portola Hotel & Spa, already Monterey's first (and only) U.S. Green Building Council LEED-certified hotel, has completed its renovation of 360 guest room bathrooms with LED lights, low flow fixtures and toilets, low-VOC paints and complete nautical-themed renovations.