Rene De Leon OUT as Executive Chef at Le Sel

Less than four months in and already big news out of Le Sel's kitchen, as opening executive chef Rene De Leon is no longer at the helm. After Eater received several tips regarding the change, a representative for Strategic Hospitality confirmed that they "recently made the decision to part ways" with the chef, saying that their culinary operations director Jason Brumm is now overseeing the kitchen. It's not exactly clear when the move occurred, but appears to have taken place within the past several weeks. De Leon's bio was also very recently removed from the restaurant's website.

It's also not known why the change occurred. But it's not the first time De Leon has split with a prominent restaurant soon after opening. Before moving to Nashville in 2014, he was the opening executive chef of The Dawson, a massive 400-seat restaurant in Chicago, but left that project less than a month in.

Eater has reached out to De Leon for comment, but had not heard back at the time of publishing.