July 01--Matthew Kirkley, who earned Michelin stars in three consecutive years as chef at L2O (one in the 2012 Guide; two each in the 2013 and 2014 Guides) will leave the Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises restaurant group, effective mid-August.
Since the closing of L2O on Dec. 31, Kirkley has been a consulting partner and behind-the-scenes chef mentor for Lettuce's innovative Intro restaurant concept, among other projects. "There are a couple of more projects we're developing that I want to see to fruition, and I want to help the next Intro chef," Kirkley said. "Mid-August is when I'll be finished."
Kirkley is leaving for a "fine-dining opportunity," but he's keeping mum about the who, where and when.
Will the new project be in Chicago?
"Maybe yes, maybe no," he said. "I wish I could be more forthcoming."
For Kirkley, the departure was about getting back to L2O-level cooking.
"Fine dining is a young man's game," he said, "And I'm 31. While I still can, I feel the need to do fine dining. I'd like eventually to do a simple seafood restaurant, an oyster bar, but the farther away I was removed from fine dining, the more I missed it. I'm deeply enamored of this medium, and I'm going to continue to pursue it.
"Matthew has not only been a great partner, but he has blown me away with his talent, work ethic and caliber of knowledge," said Rich Melman, Lettuce's chairman and founder, in a release. "We will miss him greatly."
"Rich has been awesome to work with, and I'm lucky that he's the person he is, that I can have that conversation," Kirkley said. "He's been incredibly supportive and understanding, and there's nothing but super-positive feelings between us.
"This is where my heart is," Kirkley said of his mystery project. "It might not be the most lucrative path I could take, but it's the one that will make me the happiest."
(You want to make us happy? Open in Chicago.)
Phil Vettel is a Tribune critic.
pvettel@tribpub.com
