Chef Shuffles: Mette Williams at Culina, French Laundry's Timothy Hollingsworth to LA

Williams center stage at Culina

By Lesley Balla

You may recognize Culina's new chef Mette Williams from competing on Food Network's Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell, which basically served as a very public interview process, she is officially settling into her new executive chef role at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. The restaurant, which was first helmed by Vic Casanova (now at his own spot, Gusto), will still skew modern Italian with an extra dose of Mediterranean flavor. Before the Food Network, Williams was in the Wolfgang Puck machine for years, including sous chef stints at Postrio, Spago and Cut.

And a few months ago big news dropped that Timothy Hollingsworth was moving on from Napa's French Laundry, with Per Se's David Berdeen moving in as his replacement. What we didn't know is that Hollingsworth will be making LA his new home, per the Daily Dish. While the 33-year-old chef, who worked his way up the ladder at Thomas Keller's famed restaurant over the last 12 years, isn't coming here to open his own restaurant (he's moving here for video production), but the rumor is that when he gets back into the professional kitchen, it may or may not be for tacos. Tacos via a Keller protege? Sign us up.