It didn’t take Ryan Lachaine very long to find a new job. Fresh off closing his acclaimed Montrose restaurant Riel at the end of August, Lachaine recently accepted a new role as the executive chef at River Oaks restaurant State of Grace.

After a brief training stint in Atlanta, the chef has quietly been at State of Grace for the past couple of weeks. He tells CultureMap that his existing relationship with culinary director Bobby Matos and chef-owner Ford Fry made the restaurant a logical choice for his next move. His sous chef at Riel, Anitra Broussard, has also joined State of Grace as a lead line cook.

“I wasn’t going to work for someone I didn’t know,” Lachaine says. “It wasn’t a hard transition. It’s not me going somewhere new. It made the transition a little easier.”

He’s already putting his mark on the menu with two Riel favorites — the caviar tater tots and the butter burger are both available at State of Grace. But don’t expect other dishes like the kimchi carbonara or honey walnut crawfish.

“Riel, we had a great run,” Lachaine says. “I don’t want to bring a bunch of stuff over. That wouldn’t be fair. That happened in that space. I don’t know if it will work [at State of Grace].”

What will work are items that utilize State of Grace’s wood-burning hearth paired with classic, French-inspired sauces and techniques. Working with those influences, Lachaine has contributed a couple of new items for fall, including a NY strip steak with sauce vert on the lunch menu, wood-fired oysters with burnet lime and chili butter that are available all day, and three new items at dinner: pan-roasted halibut with maple-miso, duck agnolotti with sage brown butter nage, and hearth-roasted half chicken with pommes puree.

“It’s forcing me to think outside my box,” Lachaine says. “I’m excited about it. I’m reading different cookbooks and getting ideas from different restaurants. I think it’s great.”

He also appreciates being part of Fry’s Rocket Farm Restaurants group, the Atlanta-based company that also operates Little Rey, Superica, and La Lucha. After being responsible for everything that took place at Riel for almost 10 years, having colleagues like Matos to turn to allows Lachine to focus on cooking and leading the kitchen.

“If something breaks, they have a whole part of the company where someone comes and fixes it,” he says. “I can focus on the restaurant and cooking and not the roof leaking. It’s refreshing. Bobby’s been awesome.”

Expect to see Lachaine and Matos at events soon. With Riel closed, State of Grace is taking its spot at the upcoming Southern Smoke Festival. In the meantime, diners will find Lachaine at State of Grace during both lunch and dinner. He’s been laying low, but an influx of Riel regulars could change that.

“This is the first time I’ve ever worked in a closed kitchen,” he says. “It’s the first time I’ve been stuck in the back. I’ve met a couple regulars, but I haven’t been out there shaking hands or any of that yet.”