Food: Executive Toque

Pending results of security and medical checks, a new chef will be in command of the White House kitchen. He is Jon Hill, 33, of Spokane, who is considered a master of ice and tallow sculpture, and has cooked mostly in kitchens of the Westin hotel chain since he graduated from the Greenbrier Culinary Apprenticeship Program in West Virginia. For the past year, he has been executive chef at the Westin Cypress Creek, in Fort Lauderdale. White House sources say that Hill’s appointment is by no means assured, but he has already been approved by Nancy Reagan. If he is officially named, Hill will replace Swiss-born Henry Haller, who retires after 21 years. Asked if being a native American was an essential requirement, a White House spokesman replied, “No. Just preferable. You know, by Americans for Americans, and all that.”