Yesterday we reported that chef Blaine Stanford and manager Michael Bratcher were no longer involved with Fuse. Russell Hayward, the man hired to help keep things going strong, wrote a comment at the bottom of the post. I felt his words needed to be put up front. Here is his update on the state of Fuse.
First of all I want to assure your bloggers that Fuse is healthy and doing fine in what is becoming a tighter and tighter economy for restaurants. Michael and Blaine created a great environment and menu at Fuse when it was one of the pioneers of downtown restaurants,and it still performs well today. Executive chef Robbie Lewis and general manager Steve Smith have been at the helm of Fuse for almost a year now, so don’t expect too much to change in the short term.
For those that are concerned about Blaine appearing again, have no fear, he is an extremely talented chef and I believe a new restaurant for us all to enjoy is not too far in the future.
In relation to the changes of the last weeks, I think Blaine’s e-mail sums it up quite succintly. Changes can happen very quickly in this business at this time of year, and the closure of Scene and the ensuing departure of Michael and Blaine was not foreseen by any of the parties involved, including me, as little as a week before their occurrence.
That being said we look forward to seeing you all at Fuse in the near future.
Cocktails by the pool, anyone?
