Corporate chef Levi Mezick moves on from Coastal Luxury Management.

He may not have been here for a long time, but he was here for a good time.

And an eventful time.

During Levi Mezick's four-year tenure with Cannery Row-based Coastal Luxury Management, he launched Restaurant 1833 as its founding chef and helped it draw a James Beard Foundation nomination for best new restaurant in the country.

He assisted with the start of Los Angeles Food & Wine a little bit, and with the launch of Rose.Rabbit.Lie and Faith & Flower quite a bit.

Best of all, he engineered the most over-the-top tasting I've ever participated in, frying up 75 different types of fried chicken to taste in a single morning. 

Now, after his close friend and fellow Exec Chef Marcus Gleadow-Ware of Aureole in New York City turned him onto an opportunity in the big and burgeoning Charlie Palmer Group to which Aureole belongs (along with 18 other restaurants and at least a couple of hotels), Mezick is heading north.

He is moving his family and career to Napa Valley to create Harvest Table for the Palmer people in St. Helena's Harvest Inn.

The restaurant is scheduled to open in May. 

"The friendships and relationships are the things you look back and remember the most," he says. "I had the privilege of working with some crazy talented people at Coastal Luxury Management." 

He leaves well-qualified Jason Franey with the reins at 1833, and Michael Hung doing very well for himself in Los Angeles at Faith & Flower.

The move comes amid a flurry of CLM plot developments, including lawsuits swapped between former co-founders—though the CLM core remains impressively loyal to David Bernahl and overall intact—and a recent victory in court for Bernahl and company.

Another twist: Corporate cocktail master Mike Lay and pastry mastermind Ben Spungin will likely be spending a lot more time in Monterey and 1833 with Franey and new wine director Bernabe Luna.

New tabletops and flatware will come in with a new Franey menu and wine list in March, when a nine- or 10-day closure will precede the relaunch.