French lifestyle blog La Belle France reports the break-up: Lyonnais Chef Nicolas Le Bec has severed ties with Opéra Garnier. The Paris opera house recruited the 2-star Michelin chef to head their long-delayed restaurant project (currently called "Le Fantôme") in the summer of 2008.
The restaurant was originally slated to open in Fall 2009, but was later postponed, blamed on "compliance issues" stemming from kitchen-specific violations against historical monument building codes. Latest launch date is this spring. Le Bec cited irreconcilable differences for the split (i.e. not $$$). No one yet has been confirmed as his replacement. Hang tight for the rebound! It's never pretty!
