Dec. 10--Ryan Poli, the onetime chef at Tavernita and Barcito (among others), has been named the new executive chef of Catbird Seat, the acclaimed restaurant (one of Bon Appetit's Best New Restaurants in 2012) in Nashville, Tenn.
"Exciting, huh?" Poli said by phone. "They were looking for a chef, and people put me in contact; it happened pretty fast. "
Poli had been traveling the globe the last couple of years, cooking at world-class restaurants; he returned to Chicago this year and had been cooking a series of pop-up dinners at Jam restaurant.
"I was planning on staying in Chicago," Poli said, "and then this came about. It's like the perfect job, a dream job. I couldn't pass it up."
Poli's departure is the latest in a series of Chicago chef defections to Music City. Tony Galzin (ex-Trio, Naha, mk, Perennial) is at Fifty First Kitchen Bar; Dale Levitski (Trio Atelier, Sprout, Frog N Snail) runs Sinema; Rene De Leon (Alinea, Next) is at Le Sel; and Maneet Chauhan (Vermilion) has Chauhan Ale Masala House.
(In a bit of reverse commuting, Erik Anderson, a former chef at Catbird Seat, came to Chicago earlier this year to be the second chef-in-residence at Intro; Anderson has since moved on to Minneapolis, where he will open Brut restaurant.)
There. Your eating tour of Nashville is all set.
Phil Vettel is a Tribune critic.
