Chef Allyson Harvie is joining the Kitchen as chef de cuisine, which means more changes are underway for Chris Jarosz’s upcoming restaurant the Patriot.

There are no hard feelings, though.

“The Kitchen is the highest level of restaurant opportunity you can get in this town,” Jarosz said, adding that Harvie had been getting heavily recruited by area restaurants for a while now. “It’s a great move for her.”

Fortunately, Jarosz had already been courting another chef to join his mini-empire but didn’t have a place to put him. Now, the Patriot’s executive chef will be Jeremy Zimmerman, formerly chef de cuisine at the girl & the fig, the popular Sonoma restaurant known for rustic French fare.

“We’re super excited to get him on board and super excited for Allyson’s career,” Jarosz said.

The Patriot was first announced nearly a year-and-a-half ago as a main attraction for the Milagro Centre in Carmichael. The food hall remains largely empty still, but it’s coming along. Jarosz hopes to start previewing the Patriot in November, opening the lounge space first to show off bar food before unveiling the entire restaurant about a month later. Though Zimmerman will surely bring a fresh perspective to the Patriot, the root of the concept will remain the same: Americana with an East Coast flair, including New York-style pizzas and seafood. Zimmerman will also lead the cooking at Milagro’s events center.

If this all sounds a bit familiar, it’s probably because it echoes what happened with Jarosz’s other high-profile restaurant SaddleRock. Kevin O’Connor was billed as the executive chef for several months and ultimately left for an olive oil company just before construction wrapped up. Luckily, again, Jarosz was able to nab Matt Masera from Mother.