Thibaut Idenn

The service standard in Thibaut Idenn’s career was formed early, starting with an internship at Burghotel Staufeneck in Germany. From there, the dining rooms of La Vague d'Or in Saint-Tropez, Les Airelles Courchevel, and Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée in Paris gave him repeated exposure to high-level service as a technical discipline: pace, sequence, discretion, and the ability to keep a room feeling composed even when the work behind it is exacting.

Each stop reinforced the same lesson about hospitality—good service is built through consistency, and the best rooms make that consistency look quiet. After those years in Europe, he moved into food and beverage management at luxury hotels in Chicago, carrying that service grammar into a different market with its own expectations. He then became beverage director at The Langham hotel and restaurant in Chicago until 2021, a post that placed wine and beverage within the full structure of the guest experience. In 2021–2022, he served as general manager at Boka in Chicago, broadening his view of the dining room before stepping into his current role.

At Boka and Alla Vita in Chicago, Thibaut Idenn works as Wine Director with a clear bias toward calibration over display. The job is to give a list shape, keep service aligned with the meal, and make sure wine supports the room rather than competing with it. That kind of direction depends on knowing when to step forward and when to stay out of the way. He has described his approach this way: "Alla Vita for me is about what I really like about wine—bringing people together and it being a celebration of food and wine.

The wine isn't here to take over the discussion, it's here to support the party." That view carries through both restaurants. At Alla Vita, wine functions as part of the social energy of the table, not as a separate subject. At Boka, the same principle applies in a more controlled register: bottles are chosen and placed to support the meal, not interrupt it. The throughline in his work is restraint built on experience.

Thibaut Idenn has received Chicago Reader — best sommelier in Chicago (2019).