Barbuto Chef de Cuisine Travis McShane Trades the Big Apple for Music City

Jonathan Waxman appears to be taking quality control at his Nashville restaurant Adele's quite seriously, as Travis McShane, the chef de cuisine and over five year veteran of Waxman's flagship New York City restaurant Barbuto, has moved to town to oversee the day-to-day operations.

McShane officially made the transition near the end of April, and spoke to Eater about the reasons for the change:

I'm here because [Jonathan] Waxman can't be. He needed someone here day in and day out to help reinforce and give support to the restaurant, make sure everything is going out the way we want.

He's been a major influence and mentor on my culinary path, and this is a new challenge that I'm excited for. Jonathan, Howard [Greenstone] and I are committed to getting this right.

The move, at least in part, is no doubt due to criticism Adele's has taken since opening last June, most notably from Tennessean food and drink columnist Jim Myers back in January, where he called out "[b]oth the front of the house and the kitchen at Adele's [for] hav[ing] shown serious miscues." Staff turnover in the kitchen has also been a major issue, with Andrew Rodriguez stepping in as their third executive chef this past February.

And while Waxman and his partners also recently opened up taqueria Bajo Sexto, McShane says that his "focus is on Adele's, making it the best it can be and strengthening the chef core they have there."

As for Barbuto, no word yet on a replacement or if someone will actually be taking over the vacated roll of chef de cuisine.