Leaves are falling, and chefs are changing.
Sarah Acconcia is the new executive chef at Bookmakers. Acconcia, whose last day as executive chef at Le Garage in Hampden was Saturday, officially started at Bookmakers on Tuesday and has begun the process of revamping the menu at the Cross Street lounge, according to owner Ryan Perlberg.
Meanwile, over in Fells Point, Jerry Pellegrino has stepped away from the stove at Waterfront Kitchen.
Pellegrino, the ebullient co-host of the long-running "Radio Kitchen" program on WYPR, has essentially returned to the advisory role he started with at the Fells Point restaurant. When Waterfront Kitchen opened in 2011, the executive chef was Levi Briggs.
Pellegrino said that he agreed to take over the kitchen when Briggs left suddenly in early 2013. "That's how it started," Pellegrino said. "I slid in there. And I stayed."
Pellegrino said he will now shift his focus to organizing and hosting the restaurant's special events, which include cooking classes and seasonal dinner cruises, but he was ready to leave the daily operations in someone else's hands."
"I am leaving the 80-hour work week behind," he said.
Waterfront Kitchen is searching for a new, permanent executive chef, according to a restaurant spokeswoman.