Hotel du Pont changing menus, losing longtime pastry chef Michele Mitchell

Hotel du Pont executive pastry chef Michele Mitchell, who has been making elegant, creative desserts for almost 20 years at the Wilmington landmark, is leaving her position.

The news of her departure comes on the heels of a Thursday announcement by the Buccini/Pollin Group that it has made changes to the Lobby Lounge, Green Room Bar and Green Room dining room and updated the menus in all of them. 

Mitchell said her last day at the 11th Street hotel will be this Sunday. 

"It breaks my heart to leave. I feel I exhausted my talents here. I just think I've reached my capacity for growth," said Mitchell, adding she chose to leave the job she has held since 1998.   

Mitchell's luscious, elaborate desserts have long been a high point of a meal in the Hotel's Green Room.

Over the years, the 1988 graduate of Johnson & Wales pastry arts program has hosted pastry demonstrations and appeared on TV cooking segments and was one of the hotel's highest-profile employees.

Buccini/Pollin acquired the historic 1913 hotel from the DuPont Co. in January 2017.

The company, which did not mention Mitchell's departure in its Thursday announcement about changes, said there is now "a fresher look" in the Green Room along with new menus and dishes from executive chef Keith Miller.

Green Room breakfast and lunch menus have been upgraded with $8 smoothies and lighter dishes such as $15 steel cut Irish oats with dried fruits.

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There are more sandwiches and salads for lunch, though the $16 crab cake remains, and classics like the $14 croque monsieur have been "reinvented."  

A new Green Room dinner menu has a selection of steaks ranging from $35 for a 6-ounce tenderloin to $49 for a 28-day aged, 10-ounce New York strip.

Chef Miller said he is looking to "focus on local and regional flavors and ingredients" and now has partnerships with area farms including Cassaday Farms in Monroeville, New Jersey, and King Farms in Cochranville, Pennsylvania.

The Lobby Lounge, also known as The Café, was once open for limited hours only. Now, the area, off the lobby from the Hotel du Pont, has casual dining available throughout the day including a new breakfast menu with items like an $11 cheese omelet with hash browns and toast as well as avocado toast ($15) that includes two eggs on homemade bread. 

Options later include Buffalo wings ($10), cheesesteak egg rolls ($12), turkey melts ($13) and Mongolian beef tips ($22) over rice, along with a variety of cocktails.

As of Thursday, the Green Room dessert menu still featured Mitchell's name along with her desserts including her signature amaretto white chocolate raspberry Napoleon.

It is unclear who will replace Mitchell in the role of pastry chef. Messages to the Buccini/Pollin Group were not immediately returned.

Mitchell said she is proud of her work and calls her nearly two decades at the hotel as "an amazing opportunity." 

"The reason why I stayed so long is because everything kept evolving," she said. 

Mitchell was instrumental in installing French baking ovens in the hotel kitchens so it could make and sell bread. She also created a line of chocolates, baked and sold wedding cakes and hosted popular holiday bake sales at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day and Easter. 

Mitchell said baking sales since 2007 have earned up to a quarter of $1 million.   

The executive pastry chef frequently represented the Hotel du Pont at culinary events and often demonstrated her pastry abilities at area cooking classes and on local and national television.

In 2001, Mitchell and former Hotel du Pont executive chef Tom Hannum, now a co-owner of Buckley's Tavern in Centreville, appeared on the "CBS Saturday Early Show."

The pair were featured on a popular segment known as "Chef on a Shoestring," which featured low-cost dishes made by celebrity chefs.

During the segment, Mitchell and Hannum were shown shopping at New York markets and creating strawberry and kiwi soup, honey-teriyaki glazed salmon and peach shortcake.  

Mitchell also is well-known for her elaborate confection creations. She and her staff once created a series of Fabergé eggs out of sugar, fondant, chocolate, gold leaf and silver dust to celebrate the 1998 opening of the Wilmington Riverfront exhibition “Nicholas and Alexandra: The Last Imperial Family of Tzarist Russia.”   

To celebrate the DuPont Co.'s 200th anniversary, Mitchell and her pastry team created a life-size replica of NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon's DuPont-sponsored race car.

Most recently, the team assembled a life-size gingerbread house in the hotel's lobby for the annual Grand Gala celebration in December.

Mitchell said she plans to offer private cooking lessons and will be teaching a class, "The Art of Making Chocolate Truffles," on Feb. 11 from 3 to 5 p.m. at Tonic Bar & Grill, at 111 W. 11th St., which is across the street from the Hotel du Pont. Tickets are $40; go to tonicbargrille.com or call (302) 777-2040 to get them. 

As for now, Mitchell hopes her last day at Hotel du Pont this Sunday ends on a high note.

"I'm hoping to go out with an Eagles win," she said. 

Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico