Credit: Douglas Trattner
Chef Jonathon Sawyer, who recently closed Greenhouse Tavern, Noodlecat and Trentina restaurants in Cleveland, has landed in Chicago. He relocated his family to that city to assume the position of chef at the Four Seasons Hotel, according to that property.

Late last year, the hotel shuttered its restaurant Allium to begin a comprehensive makeover and renovation project. The new restaurant, with Sawyer at the helm, is slated to open this fall. When it does, it will feature “well-traveled New American cuisine, drawing on Chef Sawyer’s global experiences, including time living in Italy and France and traveling to Japan and elsewhere,” according to hotel spokesperson Janice Yu.

Before departing Cleveland, Sawyer and his wife Amelia filed for bankruptcy in an attempt to discharge debt to creditors – largely local food vendors – totaling approximately $1.5 million. Their 5,200-square-foot home in Geauga County, priced at $605,000, has lingered on the real estate market for months.

In May, Forward Hospitality Group announced that it would not be reopening Sawyer’s restaurant at Van Aken District, instead choosing to part ways with the eponymous chef. Likewise, the restaurant group stated that the James Beard Award-winning chef no longer is affiliated with SeeSaw restaurant in Columbus, thus severing all local ties the chef had in Ohio.

This article appears in Jun 24-30, 2020.

For 25 years, Douglas Trattner has worked as a full-time freelance writer, editor and author. His work as co-author on Michael Symon's cookbooks have earned him four New York Times Best-Selling Author honors, while his longstanding role as Scene dining editor has garnered awards of its own.