After less than six months open, Elon Musk’s Tesla Diner has lost its chef. The Los Angeles Times reports that chef Eric Greenspan — who operated the Foundry on Melrose, Greenspan’s Grilled Cheese, and helped open Mr. Beast Burger — has stepped away from the project to open Mish, a Jewish deli. Greenspan confirmed the news to the Times in a text; the diner’s staff also told the publication that the diner would be switching to a full-service model. As of November 19, Greenspan had removed all posts on his Instagram regarding Tesla Diner. Eater reached out to Greenspan for further comment.
Self-described Tesla investor Sawyer Marritt first reported Greenspan’s involvement in Tesla Diner, alongside restaurateur Bill Chait, in a post on X in March 2025. Musk responded to the post, writing, “It will be cool,” without confirming the news; when initially reached in March, Greenspan declined to give Eater comment about his involvement.
The Tesla Diner opened in late July to massive crowds on its first day amid Musk’s polarizing reputation and involvement in the Trump administration. Although Musk has long been involved in politics, including a 2016 appointment to Trump’s economic advisory board, the controversy around him and his outsized influence in politics reached a fever pitch in 2024, when he endorsed Trump in his campaign against former president Joe Biden and joined him on the campaign trail. In the following months, Musk was appointed as a special government employee leading DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), where the Tesla CEO and his team began dismantling key elements of foreign aid organization USAID, laying off federal employees en masse, including those responsible for food and drug inspections at the FDA, and reducing the budget for public broadcasting. In January 2025, Musk made a gesture at Trump’s inauguration that has been widely likened to a Nazi salute. Before the end of his tenure, which came in May 2025, multiple publications reported that Tesla vehicles became targets of vandalism.
After opening, the Tesla Diner immediately saw protests from groups including Resist the Coup. Yet crowds lining up for Musk’s take on the retro diner, complete with 45-foot-tall screens, complaint-inducing screens, and a tuna melt made with Greenspan’s New School American Cheese, persisted. Just two weeks after opening, around August 5, the diner axed most of its menu — only five sandwiches, two sides, two flavors of pie, and shakes remained, with no “Epic Bacon.” At the time, Greenspan told Eater that the menu would be “forever evolving,” and that the changes were due to “unprecedented demand.”
While the Tesla Diner morphs into its next form, Greenspan will be focused on opening Mish with Chait, who will remain involved in the Tesla Diner.