Noma Snags WD~50's Pastry Chef Malcolm Livingston as WD~50 Prepares to Close

Malcolm Livingston II, who for the past five years has been the pastry chef at Wylie Dufresne's modernist icon wd~50, has just signed on to become the new pastry chef at Noma. He'll make the big move to Denmark, the Times reports, shortly after wd~50 closes for good in November. Not to jump to any conclusions, since we know Dufresne is still actively looking for a new wd~50 home, but this does at least make it sound like any new incarnation of wd~50 may be a ways away.

But it could also be this was just too good an opportunity to pass up. Redzepi tells the Times: "Malcolm was always in the back of my mind. The WD-50 school of pastry has been, to my knowledge, nearly without equal for the past decade or so. The pastry chefs that have come out of that kitchen have influenced methods and ideas in kitchens around the world."

Noma's current pastry chef, Rosio Sanchez, is leaving her post at the world-renowned restaurant to open a taco shop with her boss and Nordic chef extraordinaire Rene Redzepi.