Rumors

Achatz Not Leaving Alinea, So Calm Down

Achatz is staying in Chicago
Achatz is staying in Chicago Photo: galdonesphotography.com

Near panic struck us this past Friday when we took a break from our exhausting holiday schedule of napping to check in with the food world. François Chartier from Taste Buds and Molecules announced that he had an exclusive tip about Grant Achatz: “SCOOP: Achatz quit Alinea! I learn this very sad news Thursday night, while I was in a private dinner in Spain.” (The message has since been deleted). But before our whole site self destructed, Achatz quickly killed the claim on Twitter: “Um…I’m still here. Clearly someone in the group was drinking 2 much & got their Chicago chefs confused.” It made sense. Chartier had simply confused Achatz with Laurent Gras, who had left his Chicago restaurant after getting three Michelin stars. The next day, he posted an apology, which effectively ended the rumor. But he oddly stuck with the story.

Here’s the apology:

Mea Culpa about wrong news on Achatz: I repeat that we have a 30 minutes discussion last thursday in Spain about this with top US and Europe chefs, so, it was so clear that was a completely true story. But that was not. I already excuse myself to Grant.

So apparently he didn’t confuse the Achatz with Gras. What this means is that there is some chef in Spain who either knows some very sensitive information or is slightly crazed. Let’s all hope on the latter.

[@gachatz]

Achatz Not Leaving Alinea, So Calm Down