New director of food and beverage Jeff DeBoissiere at home at the Mansion on Forsyth Park

In his capacity at the property, he oversees every aspect of what is served at the Mansion’s main restaurant, 700 Drayton, as well as its Bösendorfer Lounge and Casimir’s Lounge.

Additionally, the resortesque hotel executes afternoon tea service, the 700 Cooking School, and catering services while simultaneously hosting banquets, weddings, private parties, and dining events, whose bookings have been "through the roof" in the last month-plus, according to DeBoissiere.

What a difference a year makes. Recently, a steady stream of cars was queued up in the front reception lot, and the entire property was buzzing with brunchers and sunbathers and even corporate retreaters.

“It’s been nonstop,” DeBoissiere said of starting the job at a post-pandemic high-season flood tide, “but in the best possible way.”

“It’s a blast. It’s fun,” he added. “Everyone’s staying busy, but we’re still focused on the guests’ experience.”

Parkside paradise

The July 2020 opening of the Plant Riverside complex and JW Marriott Savannah gave the Kessler Collection an unparalleled property on the river, but the Mansion offers a different stay-and-dine setting, which DeBoissiere clearly embraces.

“Cozy and intimate are the key words,” he said of the ambience at this Kessler hotel vis-à-vis the new one that houses a nearly fourfold room number. “People come here for the comfortable luxury that we offer.

“What we’ve seen at our hotel, in particular: smaller, boutique, amazing location but kind of away from the riverfront, it’s worked in our favor.”

As it turns out, DeBoissiere’s timing could not have been better as he walked into a vacation and special event destination whose “occupancy is high.”

Of the hotel’s signature restaurant, he said, “700 Drayton, year-to-date, is doing numbers we have never done. We’re on pace to have our best year in the history of the hotel, particularly brunch and dinner, [which] have been outstanding for us.”

“We are in Mr. Kessler’s backyard,” DeBoissiere added with a smile. “He’s been here the past couple nights, so that also keeps us continually focused on elevating everything from the ambience to the service to the food.”

Before moving to Savannah, the Northern Virginia native honed his hospitality skills at four Ritz-Carlton resorts, three in South Florida, where he won his first of many service awards.

DeBoissiere then directed food and beverage operations at both The Fairmont and The St. Regis in Washington, D.C., and more personal accolades followed.

https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/savwi-the-westin-savannah-harbor-golf-resort-and-spa/

In 2019, he came to the Coastal Empire to head up all onsite restaurant and bar outlets at The Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa, as well as its annual events. While The Westin Savannah’s four-diamond status is not to be sneezed at, the Mansion is unique, more intimate, more “boutiquey.”

“My background was boutique, luxury hotels,” DeBoissiere said as we sat in the Cooking School’s kitchen, “and you get that same feel and ambience here, if not even more defined.”

Chef Jason Winn's 700 Cooking School has been selling out more classes than ever, including Saturday morning's Farmers Market Tour, during which he takes participants across the street to the Forsyth Farmers Market. Students are introduced to farmers and merchants and then buy ingredients that they bring back to the Mansion to prepare a veritable farm-to-table brunch.

“It’s a property where a vision comes to life,” DeBoissiere continued, “where art and music blend together to help us create those experiences for our guests. That’s our mission.”

“A little oasis,” he aptly said.

For special occasions

DeBoissiere recognizes that he has stepped into a food-and-dining destination that is already tippy tip-top, so his charges are to focus on the growth of the afternoon tea service, which sells out most weekends already, “continuing to capture and to elevate that experience.”

He is also happy with the enhancements that have been made to the cocktail list and beverage menu to represent the place better.

“They are locally inspired now,” he explained. “We use local spirits, and they all tie into what the Lowcountry and Savannah are all about.”

Executive Chef Daniel Herget, who also made a mid-pandemic move, joined the Mansion back in January to helm the 700 Drayton kitchen.

“He’s a key reason our restaurant has been doing so well,” DeBoissiere said unequivocally of his culinary colleague. “He worked with our corporate team to reconcept our dinner menu,” now a shared-plate platform that sources more local items whose purveyors are featured prominently on the menu.

The new chef and new director of food and beverage have a “daily conversation” about everything that is served throughout the Mansion’s outlets and are committed to seasonality. By early July, if not earlier, DeBoissiere expects that new menus will be launched to take advantage of “sourcing freshest and most local items we can and that [are] in season.”

Like 1540 Room, St. Neo’s, The Emporium, 22 Square, and a few select others, 700 Drayton is another restaurant in a Savannah hotel that is not “just a hotel restaurant,” and local diners know it. Perhaps expectedly, breakfast service sees mostly hotel guests, but DeBoissiere estimates, via online bookings, that a majority of weekend dinner diners have 3141-something zip codes.

“We have definitely become that special-occasion spot,” DeBoissiere said. “Date night, anniversary, engagement celebrations.”

“We’ve had a couple proposals in the short time that I’ve been here,” he said with another smile and a sigh as he finished the fairytale story: “Thank god they said ‘yes’ each time.”

In this romance, DeBoissiere and his colleagues are the ones who get to stay at this Mansion, happily ever after.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: New director of food and beverage Jeff DeBoissiere at home at the Mansion on Forsyth Park