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Did you Know?

A restaurateur, wine marketer and real estate investor – Evan Lambert has earned a reputation as a leader in the hospitality industry. Lambert’s business savvy combined with a talent for exceptional customer service has led to a collection of successful projects.

Prior to launching a flourishing career in the hospitality world, Lambert attended New York University and graduated in 1985 with high honors in psychology. Simultaneous to his studies, he began working in the restaurant industry, managing restaurants and nightclubs in New York City and the Hamptons, including Conscience Point, Au Bar and celebrity hotspot Marylou’s, which in turn gave birth to a passion for the hospitality industry. Combining his seemingly prescient business acumen and love for restaurants, Lambert opened his first restaurant, Toscana, in Bryn Mawr, PA, when he was just 26 years old. Since, he has opened four additional restaurants all located in the Pennsylvania including, Savona, Lambert’s gem.

Savona opened in 1997 and has received national acclaim for food, wine and service. The restaurant was a recipient of three bells from The Philadelphia Inquirer, four diamonds from AAA, a Wine Spectator “Best of” Award of Excellence for 10 years running and consecutive awards from DiRONA, the Distinguished Restaurants of North America. In May 2009, Lambert exhibited his business savvy by spending $1 million to redesign Savona, despite its 12 years of success, to ensure that his prize property always evolves and changes with the times. Guests can now enjoy two dining experiences under one roof: the elegant Riviera-inspired cuisine of Savona and a more casual Italian menu at Bar Savona.

In addition to his individual restaurants, Lambert is also president of Classic Restaurant Partners, a Philadelphia-based restaurant operations company that he founded in 1991, when his first award-winning restaurant, Toscana, opened. Throughout nearly two decades, Lambert has developed an expertise in assembling and instructing top-notch management teams. His kitchens continually strive to use the best ingredients while front of house staff provides seamlessly orchestrated service – a combination aimed to surpass the expectations of every guest. This attention to detail and big-picture understanding earned him the recognition of the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley Restaurant Association, which named him “Restaurateur of the Year” in 2005.

In addition to his talent for business, Lambert is also well-known for his passion for wine. In 1997, he founded the American Sommelier Association (ASA), an organization whose goal is to promote the role of sommeliers in the United States through education and training. In 2004, Lambert founded the Starwine International Wine Competition, which invites 65 of the world’s best sommeliers representing 21 countries to Philadelphia and New York City to taste over 2,500 wines from around the globe. Through Lambert’s savvy business connections, he garnered an endorsement for the Competition from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB), which then agreed to place the winning wines in 65 specialty stores. In addition, Lambert has served as a judge in the Trophee Ruinart, Best Sommelier of Europe and the Meilleur Sommelier du Monde. Lambert’s love of wine is on display at Savona, which boasts a 1,100-bottle wine list, the largest in the state.

Lambert has built a reputation amongst his peers and business colleagues for his ability to create strong teams and successful business infrastructures. In 2005, he was recruited by Julia B. Fee Real Estate, a residential real estate legacy based in Westchester, NY, to be chief operating officer, responsible for operations management and growth. Working alongside principles George Stone and Randall Katchis, Lambert helped the company grow to over 300 real estate agents, which in turn allowed them to sell the company to Sotheby’s International Real Estate in January 2007. Lambert continued as COO under the Sotheby’s name for another year before leaving to form SKL Partners, LLC, a private equity investment firm, with Stone and Katchis.

SKL’s first investment project came in the form of a condo and hotel real estate development site called The Bahia, located in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Lambert is responsible for creating and executing a renovation of the existing 100-room hotel, which is expected to open in the first quarter of 2010 and will be reminiscent of the hotels that line the shores of Florida’s South Beach.

For the future, Lambert will continue own and operate Savona and Bar Savona, as well as continue his role as a partner of SKL. Lambert resides in Scarsdale, NY, with his two children.