It’s not that Adam Lerner (previously Adam Eaton) was aiming to leave his perch as the long time exec cook of Saint Dining Room. Yet when James Beard Prize-winning cook Ann Kim calls, you address.

Kim, the chef/co-owner of Vestalia Friendliness and also its 4 Minneapolis dining establishments — Restaurant Lola, Hi Pizza, Youthful Joni and also Sooki & Mimi — has actually called Lerner the dining establishment team’s exec cook. He will certainly make the jump throughout the river following month and also gradually change right into the function.

“It’s not mosting likely to be this instant bomb suddenly. I’m mosting likely to turn into the business,” Lerner claimed. “This is not something where Ann is disappearing, that’s really clear. It’s simply a manner in which I can aid share a few of the weight with Ann, since it’s a whole lot for a single person.”

The hire offers Kim “the transmission capacity to proceed discovering extra innovative opportunities,” she claimed in a declaration.

chief executive officer Becky Lemon claimed, “Welcoming Adam right into this brand-new function and also assisting assistance Ann as she involves with us in a brand-new means is a huge action that opens a brand-new and also much more interesting future for us.”

Kim is not going back from her function as chef/owner, a spokesperson for Vestalia Friendliness made clear. And also Lerner states he has no strategies to modify Kim’s cooking imprint at the dining establishments. Rather, he states he will certainly make his mark on the management side of points.

“It is so individual for her,” he claimed of Kim’s food. “Her ideas and also her vision is never ever something that’s being changed.”

Lerner, a St. Paul indigenous and also an alum of La Belle Vie, has actually had a productive stretch dealing with restaurateur Tim Niver. He was cook de food at Niver’s Strip Club Meat & Fish, the opening cook at Saint Dining room in 2015, and also was and also cook and also co-owner of the short-term Meyvn, where the food selection made use of Lerner’s Jewish family members origins.

“This brand-new function for Adam is precisely what I would certainly have thought up for him,” Niver claimed in a declaration. “Growing Saint Dining Room along with him has actually been a real enjoyment. Expecting our following actions, I’m thrilled to open the heart of our dining establishment to a person brand-new and also proceed offering St. Paul and also the higher Double Cities.”

“It’s not leaving, it’s simply a possibility,” claimed Lerner, that just recently embraced his center name as his surname. “With Saint Dining room and also due to Tim, I have actually been provided a great deal of chances. And also the means I have actually created with Tim and also the mentorship he provided me, it actually is a conclusion of all of it. It makes a great deal of feeling for me.”

In various other cook information …

Niki Heber has actually been called executive cook at Timber + Paddle Restaurant, the dining establishment inside the Royal Sonesta Minneapolis Midtown (35 S. 7th St., Mpls.). Heber will certainly supervise the resort’s cooking procedures in addition to the dining establishment’s seasonal food selection, which is motivated by regional recipes (see walleye schnitzel and also smoked cauliflower with cheese curd grits). Heber is an acquainted name in Double Cities dining establishments, with a résumé that consists of Edge Table, Octo Fishbar, 4 Bells and also, most just recently, the Market at Malcolm Yards.

As Well As the Hewing Resort (300 Washington Av. N., Mpls.) introduced that Marque Collins is its brand-new exec cook. He’ll take control of the food selections at Tullibee and also Hewing Bar & Lounge. The self-taught cook has actually been preparing throughout the Midwest for a years — most just recently in Des Moines — and also will certainly bring a nose-to-tail butchery program to the dining establishment as he showcases the components of Minnesota’s periods.