Chef Wesley True Is out at The Optimist

Top Chef : California alum Wesley True is no longer with The Optimist. The executive chef had been with Ford Fry’s Westside seafood house for a little more than a year.

“Wesley True has moved on from The Optimist; he is an incredibly talented chef and we wish him well in his future endeavors,” a representative for Ford Fry Restaurants tells Eater Atlanta. Further details surrounding True’s departure were unavailable, but multiple tipsters indicated Fry relieved the chef of his duties. While a search for new leadership in the kitchen is underway, Drew Belline, Fry’s vice president of culinary operations, is serving as interim executive chef at The Optimist.

True first came to Atlanta in March 2015, when he was hired by Concentrics Restaurants to take over the kitchen at The Spence. That gig didn’t list long, and Concentrics “decided to part ways” with the chef the following July. He was officially announced as The Optimist’s replacement for chef Adam Evans a few days later.

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