Did Chef Andrea Curto-Randazzo Leave the Water Club? (UPDATE)

Miami New Times was alerted to a Twitter post announcing Chef Andrea Curto-Randazzo has bailed on her latest venture. "Former Top Chef contestant Andrea Curto-Randazzo is no longer part of The Water Club," @Miamitude reports.

There's no announcement on the restaurant's website and comments are hard to come by. Water Club, you might remember, is the ambitious and enormous North Miami Beach restaurant that Curto-Randazzo and her husband, Frank, took over a few months ago in what seemed an enormous jump from their highly praised but much smaller venture, Talula,

When we called her home number, the woman who answered this morning said she was "On her way to work." When we asked, "On her way to Water Club?" the response was, "No. She's on her way to Creative Tastes today."

Hmm. That doesn't help much. Creative Tastes is the Randazzo catering business, which the couple bought in 2007.

ACR's Facebook page still lists Water Club as her employer, but then again it also mentions that she is still involved with Talula, which has been shuttered for months.

Calls to her (former?) assistant were unanswered and the rep at Creative Tastes said she "knew nothing about" the possibility that Chef Andrea has left Water Club.

We'll keep you posted.

Update as of 2:23 p.m. 1/20/11: We just received this e-mail from her account:

"Chef Andrea Curto Randazzo & Frank Randazzo - No Longer Affiliated with The Water Club

Chef husband and wife team Frank Randazzo & Andrea Curto- Randazzo have left The Water Club in North Miami Beach.  The husband and wife chef team of Randazzo Management, LLC have been managing the food and catering operations at the North Miami Beach venue since May 210.  Their departure is the result operational challenges at the venue and the end of their contract with ownership.  Randazzo Management, LLC is a consulting and management company the couple operate specializing in freestanding restaurant and boutique hotel food & beverage operations.  The husband & wife team own Creative Tastes Catering & Event Production- a full service catering and event design company based in Kendall (www.creativetastes.com) and Garden Café Catering, Inc- located at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.  Along with managing their catering operations, the couple is working on future endeavors."