Iliana Regan Hires Chef De Cuisine at Elizabeth for First Time

As Iliana Regan prepares to open her bakery and pop-up spaces—Bunny the Micro Bakery and WunderPOP in Lakeview—she's appointing someone to run the day-to-day kitchen operations at her Michelin-starred restaurant Elizabeth for the first time. Announced today in an email blast, Aaron Martinez, a vet of kitchens in San Francisco and Europe, will officially take over its kitchen on April 8.

Martinez, who most-recently was a consultant for Lettuce Entertain You and was in the running to be a chef at Intro, caught Regan's eye when he cooked a popup at Elizabeth. The announcement says Martinez "shares similar philosophies and goals" as Regan, thus continuing the ethos in place at the acclaimed "new gatherer" restaurant. Both Regan and Martinez expand on the move and what it means during an expansive interview with the Reader, where Regan even says "this guy is way better than me."

Bunny the Micro Bakery and WunderPOP are slated to open sometime this spring, following Martinez taking over the Elizabeth kitchen on April 8.