Eventide losing its chefs

Executive chef Miles Vaden and chef de cuisine Justus Frank are cooking their last meals at Eventide in Arlington this weekend, says their soon-to-be-former boss, Nick Freshman. Vaden and Frank are both leaving for a Washington restaurant that has yet to announce its due date.

"I was very happy at Eventide," says Vaden, 33, who opened the contemporary American restaurant in March 2008. But the offer to be an executive chef in the city was something he felt he couldn't turn down.

Freshman, who is also the co-creator of the nearby Spider Kelly's, says "I'm looking for the next Miles." Until he finds him or her, the restaurateur will be relying on chef Jerry Cousson, a veteran of Kinkead's downtown, to guide Eventide's kitchen.

Despite food gossip to the contrary, "the restaurant isn't changing," says Freshman, who pooh-poohs the notion that Eventide is shedding its stylish ways. "We're keeping the same concept, the same price points, the same strategy."

As evidence, he points to a new cocktail list and the entrees being offered for the first time in Eventide's ground-floor lounge: "They don't represent casual-ization at all."