Tesla Diner's head chef calls it quits

Eric Greenspan has announced his departure from the automotive-focused eatery to open a Jewish Deli. Mish, as it's called, will open not far from Tesla Diner.

“I am leaving the Tesla Diner project to focus on the opening of Mish, my long-desired Jewish deli,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “Projects like Mish and the Tesla Diner require a sharpness of focus and attention. … [My] focus and attention is now squarely on Mish.”

Greenspan was a surprise choice to run the kitchen at Tesla Diner. An Iron Chef winner and creator of The Foundry, he was a semi-finalist for The James Beard Foundation’s Best New Restaurant in America. Also owner and executive chef of an acclaimed grilled cheese restaurant, Greenspan had plenty of public goodwill — and, when the Tesla Diner opened, Musk's was at an all time low. (Other chefs had said they didn't want to work with Musk.)

It doesn't sound like it was an especially smooth experience. Less than three weeks after opening, the charging station-slash-restaurant drastically scaled back its menu. Gone were the market salad, the club sandwich, biscuits and red gravy, and veggie burger. Items that were formerly listed as part of an "all day breakfast" are now only served in the morning. Even "Epic Bacon," a bag of maple-glazed breakfast meat dusted with black pepper, was taken off the menu.

Greenspan, at the time, told Eater the menu was scaled down because of “unprecedented demand” and it would be “forever evolving.”

So too, it seems, will the kitchen staff.