Eric Leveillee shows the bounty of the Catskills at the DeBruce
Eric Leveillee is the culinary director of The DeBruce, a 12-room boutique hotel in the Catskills community of Livingston Manor, N.Y., where he has worked since 2020, offering a seasonal tasting menu as well as regular à la carte service.
He spent his formative culinary years in Philadelphia after graduating from Temple University with a degree in economics. He started at a Mexican restaurant called El Camino Real, where he fell in love with his waitress and got a job in the kitchen to try to get to know her better. It worked — they’re still married — and Leveillee went on to pursue a cooking career, working at Vernick Food & Drink under Greg Vernick and then heading up the kitchen at Marigold.
His next stop was Lacroix at The Rittenhouse Hotel, where he worked during the runup to the pandemic and then ended up at The DeBruce.
He recently shared his perspective on highlighting the ingredients that he sources from the area, buying most of his produce from a farmer within walking distance of the property, as well as the occasional import, such as the Mexican herb epazote that he said goes well with trout.
Menu Talk is a collaboration between Restaurant Business Senior Menu Editor Pat Cobe and Bret Thorn, senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News. You can subscribe to it wherever you listen to podcasts.
