Eric Wood splits with Hawthorne for new boutique hotel project

After only a few months as head chef of downtown’s Hawthorne Food and Drink, Eric Wood has announced that he’s moving on to yet another new project. The chef, who previously left Church Street’s Fabarnak to launch Hawthorne, called this most recent parting “bittersweet,” but was lured by a gig as executive chef at a new boutique hotel in the downtown core (he couldn’t name the hotel yet, but said diners should expect “a very different side of my food”). Wood’s final service at Hawthorne was actually last Thursday (ironically, the same day he received a glowing review from NOW). Replacing him in the kitchen will be his former sous chef, Binh An Nguyen.