Q & A with Grocery Guru Eli Zabar
Eli Zabar just might have the most famous last name in the world of gourmet groceries. But he’s not actually connected to that line of stores, which have plied the Upper West Side for the last 80 years with smoked fish, rugelach, bagels and hand-sliced pastrami…
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Q & A with Quality Meats & Quality Italian’s Michael Stillman
The son of Alan Stillman, founder of the seminal New York steakhouse, Smith & Wollensky, Michael Stillman is bonafide restaurant royalty. And while he eventually launched Fourth Wall in 2007 with his father, the influential hospitality group behind Quality Italian, Quality Meats and the seasonally-metamorphosizing Park Avenue, Stillman insists he never intended to follow his dad’s footsteps into the restaurant industry…
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Q & A with Il Buco Alimentari’s Head Baker Kamel Saci
If pastry chefs tend to get less widespread attention than savory chefs, artisan bread bakers generally receive even less. But why should they? After all, bread is one of humanity’s oldest foods (having been around since the dawn of agriculture), and was famously referred to in the Bible as “the staff of life.” So if you stop to think about it, it’s a noble pursuit to devote your career to churning out the tastiest loaves imaginable, and Kamel Saci, the Head Bread Baker at Il Buco Alimentari in the East Village, makes some of the very best…
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Q & A with Petaluma’s CJ Bivona
Taking the executive chef position at Petaluma, the recently revamped, 30-year-old Italian institution on the Upper East Side, might seem an odd move for CJ Bivona, who, previously, was perhaps best known for cooking James Beard Award-nominated Southern fare, at Jeff McInnis’s praised Miami hotspot, Yardbird. But in actuality, the Hudson Valley native insists that he’s actually a lot more at home with pizza and pasta than fried chicken and shrimp and grits…
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Q & A with Tuome’s Thomas Chen
Chinese food is definitely having a moment right now, and we’re not talking about Lo Mein and Fried Rice. Young chefs like Thomas Chen — an Eleven Madison Park vet who just opened his first restaurant, Tuome, in the East Village — are putting a fresh, contemporary face on the cuisine, using top-notch ingredients and refined techniques in order to finally take Chinese fare to the next level…
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Q & A with The Fourth’s Marco Moreira and Jason Hall
What could be better than having one, wonderfully talented chef in the kitchen? How about having two? The Fourth’s Marco Moreira, also the driving force behind the terrific Tocqueville, and sushi mecca, 15 East, recently took on Jason Hall as his second in command. But Hall is hardly your run-of-the-mill assistant. Alfred Portale made him his own chef de cuisine at Gotham Bar and Grill all the way back in 2009…
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Q & A with Mas (farmhouse) & Almanac’s Galen Zamarra
Although highly respected in the industry, Galen Zamarra doesn’t make the news often. Ever since winning the James Beard Award for “Rising Star” at Bouley early on in his career, he’s essentially kept his nose to the grindstone. Until now that is, with the opening of his super seasonal, new eatery, Almanac…
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Q & A with Nick Morgenstern of GG’s & Morgenstern’s Ice Cream
Nick Morgenstern may have built up an impressive resume as pastry chef in some of New York’s top kitchens — Daniel, Gramercy Tavern and Gilt, and at his own two restaurants, Goat Town and Brooklyn’s General Greene —but it wasn’t until last May that he realized his lifelong dream; of opening up a classic ice cream parlor…
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Q & A with The Gander’s Jesse Schenker
It ain’t easy to reinvent the wheel, but Jesse Schenker has done just that with his inventive, American fare at West Village sleeper hit, Recette. Well, he’s at it again with a new venture, The Gander, with the likes of Buffalo Sweetbreads and Fries with Beef Aioli…
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Q & A with Beautique’s Chef Craig Hopson
You may not immediately recognize the name Daniel Burns, but the soft-spoken chef is more than ok with that. Besides, when you have a resume that includes Senior Chef de Partie at The Fat Duck in England (which earned its third Michelin star during his time there), René Redzepi’s lauded Danish restaurant, Noma (he actually created and ran the pastry program), and three years as Head of Research and Development for Momofuku’s test kitchen, there’s not really much else to prove…
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Q & A with The Gorbals’ Ilan Hall
Since even runners up use “Top Chef” as a springboard to open restaurants and launch careers in various media, it’s a surprise that season two winner, Ilan Hall, has stayed under the radar for so long. Not that he hasn’t been busy; he owns the popular, eclectic The Gorbals in L.A., is currently working on opening its Brooklyn outpost in June, and hosts another exciting culinary competition (watch out, Padma!) called “Knife Fight” on Esquire…
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Q & A with Rosette’s Executive Chef Nick Curtin
At the recently opened Rosette on the Lower East Side, Nick Curtin is fully committed to making approachable, craveable fare at a truly accessible price point. “There are a few basic ideals that we’re trying to adhere to at Rosette, like ‘flavor is king,’ Curtin says. “Our other mantra is technique over technology. We’re not about water baths and gels and things like that. We want to make food perfect the old fashioned way.”
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Q & A with Momofuku Milk Bar’s Christina Tosi
It takes more to become a James Beard award winner (and one of the nation’s best known pastry chefs), than just pedestrian red velvet cupcakes and ho-hum chocolate chips. In fact, well before Dominique Ansel’s Cronut had taken New York by storm, Momofuku Milk Bar’s Christina Tosi had already introduced her own series of game-changing sweets to the culinary canon, like Cereal Milk, Compost Cookies and Crack Pie…
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Q & A with Sotto 13’s Executive Chef Ed Cotton
If you’re a Top Chef obsessive, it’s hard to chat with finalist Ed Cotton without eventually working the conversation around to his Season 7 flirtation with fellow cheftestant Tiffany, or if he still thinks that Alex stole his pea puree. But if you’ve been following his career since the show, it also seems a bit silly to dwell on his T.V stint for too long, because the unassuming, nose-to-the-grindstone chef is anything but a wannabe celebrity…
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Q & A with Chef About Town Ryan Skeen
Ryan Skeen’s reputation tends to precede him. While his talent has never been disputed, he’s publically ping-ponged between six different restaurants (including V, Resto, Irving Mill, Allen & Delancey, Fish Tag and Pera Soho), in just as many years. Which would make a particularly juicy but of industry gossip if the stories about his crash-and-burn departures from each were entirely true…
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Q & A with French Louie’s Executive Chef Ryan Angulo
Chef Ryan Angulo and owner Doug Crowell already happened upon a winning formula with their popular Brooklyn bistro, Buttermilk Channel. While essentially a New American restaurant, there’s still a good deal of French influence and execution involved. That’s why they elected to flip the script only slightly with their long anticipated (five years!) follow up project, French Louie, with a boîte that’s yes, largely French, but with a smidge of American flavor and flair…
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Q & A with The Clam’s Mike Price
Mike Price is giving Clams their day so to speak. Price and co-owner Joey Campanaro just recently opened New York’s very first, clam-centric eatery in the West Village. But don’t even think about calling The Clam — a shellfish-centric restaurant recently opened by Market Table’s Mike Price & Joey Campanaro — a seafood shack. In theory, it may seem to have a lot in common with West Village neighbors, like Pearl Oyster Bar and Mary’s Fish Camp, but Price insists the only unifying factor between the three is a love of seafood…
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Q & A with Peter Sherman of BarBacon
You may not immediately recognize the name Daniel Burns, but the soft-spoken chef is more than ok with that. Besides, when you have a resume that includes Senior Chef de Partie at The Fat Duck in England (which earned its third Michelin star during his time there), René Redzepi’s lauded Danish restaurant, Noma (he actually created and ran the pastry program), and three years as Head of Research and Development for Momofuku’s test kitchen, there’s not really much else to prove…
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Q & A with Rotisserie Georgette’s Georgette Farkas
You may not immediately recognize the name Daniel Burns, but the soft-spoken chef is more than ok with that. Besides, when you have a resume that includes Senior Chef de Partie at The Fat Duck in England (which earned its third Michelin star during his time there), René Redzepi’s lauded Danish restaurant, Noma (he actually created and ran the pastry program), and three years as Head of Research and Development for Momofuku’s test kitchen, there’s not really much else to prove…
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Q & A with Luksus’ Chef Daniel Burns
You may not immediately recognize the name Daniel Burns, but the soft-spoken chef is more than ok with that. Besides, when you have a resume that includes Senior Chef de Partie at The Fat Duck in England (which earned its third Michelin star during his time there), René Redzepi’s lauded Danish restaurant, Noma (he actually created and ran the pastry program), and three years as Head of Research and Development for Momofuku’s test kitchen, there’s not really much else to prove…
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