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This just in:

Salt Tasting Room in Gastown is saying goodbye to general manager Chris Stearns, who has completed his six-month contract with the restaurant.

Stearns was an integral part of Salt’s development, and was responsible for guiding the restaurant through it’s opening, designing Salt’s innovative wine program, and assembling a “dream team” staff, including Jay Jones (ex-West and Nu, who will assume general manager duties), and Kurtis Kolt (ex-Aurora Bistro, who will step into the assistant manager role). Stearns’s hard work and talent have given Salt the edge that helped it win Where Magazine’s “Best New Restaurant 2006”.

“It’s been a great experience, and a great challenge, to help build something like Salt from the ground up,” says Stearns. “I hope this little room is the shape of things to come in Vancouver dining — we need more small rooms with big personalities.”

Stearns will turn his attention full-time to his work as a writer and photographer. His photos can be seen in the upcoming “Menus from an Orchard Table” by chef Heidi Noble, due Spring 2007 from Whitecap Books.

Salt will build on its success when it opens the “Salt Cellar,” a 44 seat cheese and charcuterie cave in Salt’s basement in early 2007. The restaurant recently opened for weekend lunches.