Texas native Wes Whitsell is the new executive chef at Georgie, the Michelin Recommended restaurant across the street from one of Dallas’ most high profile developments, the Auberge Resorts’ Knox Hotel.
Whitsell’s appointment is notable because he replaces executive chef RJ Yoakum, who was suddenly removed from Georgie in June 2025 a few days before the James Beard Awards. Yoakum, a former chef at Michelin three-star restaurant The French Laundry, was up for Emerging Chef.
Yoakum left the restaurant after Georgie owner Stephan Courseau found “multiple violations of company policy.” In a follow-up interview with The Dallas Morning News, Courseau did not explain the violations.
Whitsell’s new role is a coming home, of sorts: He grew up in Princeton, a town about 40 miles northeast of Dallas. He worked at one of Courseau’s other Dallas restaurants from 2017 to 2018, serving as executive chef for Up on Knox, which was later rebranded to Knox Bistro.
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Wes Whitsell, Georgie’s new executive chef, will kick off the gig on Sept. 29, 2025.
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The graduate of Sam Houston State University has done much of his cooking in California. He worked at Gjelina in Venice, Calif., and at Osteria La Buca, Manuela, Blair’s and Hatchet Hall in Los Angeles. He also worked at Soho House in Manhattan and Amsterdam, and he most recently opened a restaurant in Bali.
(From Bali to Dallas: Now that’s a change in scenery.)
Whitsell will kick off his new job on Sept. 29, 2025, with a $250 per-person charity dinner benefitting foundations that honor the “Mystic Seven,” the seven Dallas-area girls who died in a flood in the Texas Hill Country in July.
His new menu at Georgie lands Sept. 30, 2025, and it will have a “contemporary Southern” attitude, a news release notes.
“Welcoming Wes home to Texas feels right,” Courseau said in a statement. “He has a way of elevating local flavors with polish yet always keeps the soul of the meal rooted in home. That balance of excellence and authenticity is what Georgie is all about.”
Georgie is at 4514 Travis St., Dallas. Reservations not required but recommended.
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