Lumiere, Newton’s much-loved and long-standing go-to for award-winning French fare, will be changing hands shortly after the new year. Chef-owner Michael Leviton, who opened the restaurant nearly seventeen years ago, will be passing the baton (or should we say tongs) to current chef de cuisine Jordan Bailey.

“I’m not particularly inspired to have multiple restaurants,” says Leviton, who recently sold his shares in Area Four and the now-closed A4 Pizza. “But having one small restaurant requires a lot of attention to the day-to-day minutiae and I’d really rather be focusing on the big picture, trying to figure out how to leverage all the different contingencies to help create substantive change within the food system.”

A long-time supporter of Chefs Collaborative and dedicated farm-to-table cooker, Leviton anticipates maintaining a connection to the industry though he looks forward to having a little more traditional downtime. “While I’m not sure what exactly is next, I can’t imagine not being in the food system somehow. I’ll continue to teach at BU as my schedule allows, and I look forward to spending more time with my family. I feel like I have missed too much with them already.”

Keep an eye out for a spate of events in early 2016 celebrating Leviton’s tenure – maybe a chef reunion or retrospective menus – before a brief closure, which will mark the transition. In the meantime, of course, you can get your Lumiere fix by calling 617.244.9199 for a table.