Tatou: Where's Michael Wray?

In today's LAT, Heidi Siegmund Cuda takes a look inside Tatou, and it's everything we reported it would be: Mark Fleischman and J.D. Iriarte co-own the space, it's reminiscent of the old Cocoanut Grove (or so they want it to be), there's a Wokcano-inspired menu for lunch, and future plans include a rooftop bar. One thing not mentioned: Michael Wray. Tatou just got a big, huge plug on Monday night's Hell's Kitchen premiere because, as the show's announcer says, Wray, the season-one winner, is "executive chef of his own restaurant, Tatou in Los Angeles." Cut to a shot of Michael in the Tatou kitchen cooking, and the chef says, "Owning this restaurant is a dream come true. I owe it all to Hell's Kitchen." If he's such a big player in the restaurant, why was it overlooked in the LAT article? Because he's no longer the executive chef. A call to the restaurant confirmed this, but then the staffer told Eater, "Well, he's still involved with Tatou." We're still working out the details, but owner/manager J.D. Iriarte hasn't returned our calls. Stay tuned.
· Tatou takes a page from Cocoanut Grove era [LAT]
· The Ink's Still Drying on Tatou [~ELA~]
· Hell's Kitchen: LA Connections, Spoilers, and Empty Promises [~ELA~]
· Tatou Supper Club Gets Second Life Downtown [~ELA~]