Greg Elliott Leaves Lockwood for Wave at the W-Lakeshore

After Kristine Subido announced she was leaving Wave at the W-Lakeshore after 10 years working with the Cornerstone Restaurant Group, the search began to fill her role at the hotel overlooking Lake Michigan. That search has come to an end as Greg Elliott, the now-former chef of Lockwood at the Palmer House Hilton, has taken the job.

Elliott's last day at Lockwood was July 6 after working at the upscale restaurant in the historic hotel for two years. He's currently taking some downtime to spend with family and will begin working at Wave on July 16. This move marks a return for Elliott to CRG, where he worked as both sous chef and chef de cuisine at one sixtyblue under chef Martial Noguier.

"It was like coming back home. I loved working for these guys," Elliott said about CRG. "The opportunity to work for them again was hard to pass up. I love the W brand. To have the opportunity to be part of the new project and renovation from the ground up is something I've never done."

Elliott, who said he left Lockwood on great terms and learned a tremendous amount about the hotel business over the last two years, will be part of a top-to-bottom renovation of the W that includes making over the 520 guest rooms, the public spaces and Wave, which should start in late fall. Other than saying it would be completed in 2013, Elliott could only say that plans for the restaurant are still in the works and that "it's going to be very exciting."

Elliott will oversee all food and beverage operations at the hotel, including room service and banquets, and will create menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He is going to inquire about whether there is space to add a rooftop garden, like the one he helped create at the Palmer House. Either way, he's still planning on sourcing ingredients as locally as possible for his new menus, which will likely be implemented toward late July with a summer menu and take advantage of heirloom tomatoes, sweet corn, eggplant and other mid-summer vegetables.

As for the overall new direction of the restaurant, that's still being worked out. "It's hard to say and I think I'll know more once we have the [new restaurant] concept finalized," Elliott said. "At the end of the day, my style is ingredient-driven, simple and approachable craft cooking. I want to carry as much of that into the new concept as possible."
· Kristine Subido Leaving Wave to Open Pecking Order [~EChi~]
· Lockwood Sourcing Hyper-local Produce on Own Roof [~EChi~]