Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten has walked out on his Bank restaurant in Hotel Icon, as the venue continues to hemorrhage high-profile staff. You have only a few days to sample his signature dish – tuna ribbons.

The 135-room luxury hotel on Main Street (Houston) has also lost nightlife maestro Rande Gerber, model Cindy Crawford’s husband, from the lobby’s Whiskey bar in the fall – timed suspiciously to Los Angeles-based Lowe Enterprises acquiring the lodging. The real-estate investors have hired Destination Hotels & Resorts to manage the hotel – their other properties include the Driskill Hotel in Austin and the Gant in Aspen.

Vongerichten’s chef-de-cuisine Bryan Caswell and Bank restaurant manager Bill Floyd recently left to open Reef restaurant at 2600 Travis, and Jean-Georges sees no point in staying when all his friends have gone off.

He said of protégé Caswell: “We only did the restaurant because of Bryan. He wanted to relocate to Houston. He was Bank, so when Bryan called to tell me he was leaving, we decided then to not continue.”

Apparently the exodus was prompted by disagreement between the chef and the new hotel management over the ‘vision’ of the restaurant. Meanwhile, Bank gets to keep Vongerichten’s signature dish – tuna ribbons – until February 15th, when the menu will see an overhaul.