Clifton, VA - April 20, 2012: Chef Miller, poses for a portrait in the main dining room at Trummer's on Main on Friday April 20, 2012. (Joseph VIctor Stefanchik - For The Washington Post) The brand name behind Wit & Wisdom, a Tavern by Michael Mina, has replaced his opening chef.

Gone from the Four Seasons hotel in Baltimore: Restaurant Nora alumnus Benjamin Lambert.

Taking his spot in early July: Clayton Miller, who helped put Trummer’s on Main in Clifton, Va., on the food map with dishes that were both indulgent and eye-catching.

Michael Mina, the prolific San Francisco-based chef, says Lambert, who departed late last month, was “not the right fit” for the busy, three-meals-a-day restaurant, and vice-versa. In his new hire, Mina sees a chef with “the chops and the smarts and the bandwith” to take Wit & Wisdom to “the next level.”

The incoming chef, 40, was recognized as one of Food & Wine magazine’s Best New Chefs of 2010. His previous restaurant experience included Norman’s at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, the French Laundry in Yountville, Ca., and The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead in Atlanta.

Reached while he was apartment shopping in Baltimore, Miller says he was attracted to the position by Mina’s management style; “the Four Seasons, of course;” and a friend in Chris Ford, who worked alongside Miller as pastry chef at Trummer’s on Main and now holds that title at Wit & Wisdom.

The changes in the Baltimore restaurant, which was given a 1 ½-star review in the Magazine (May 27), extend to a number of fresh dishes (duck liver mousse with bread and butter chips, lobster pot pie with sweet corn) and 60 additional seats on an outdoor deck.