Results tagged “Chef”

Brooklyn chef Neil Ganic doesn't take guff from anybody—not even paying customers. A disgruntled diner shared with Eater a hilarious account of her recent experience at the Carroll Gardens restaurant Petite Crevette, where dinner ended with a crazy outburst from Ganic. After her husband sent back an order of Cioppino (fish stew) because it contained lobster which was "pretty much raw," the kitchen returned a dish that "was still kind of weird and gloopy." The couple then "politely" asked for the check, but "suddenly, Neil Ganic comes running out of the kitchen with a LIVE LOBSTER and throws it on the table." We called Ganic to confirm the story, and his response made us wish more people in the restaurant industry were this much fun:

A sushi chef who tried to "hold" a parking space for his manager by standing in the street ended up with a broken foot and other injuries after an irate driver tried to claim the space. Ke Hai Du says it all started around 5 p.m. on October 9th, when he noticed the space become available in front of the Peck Slip restaurant Suteishi. He dashed outside to save the space while his manager got her car, but before she arrived driver Paul Todd pulled up with plans of his own.

       

Exuberant chef David Burke is no longer involved with Hawaiian Tropic Zone, and that's probably for the best, since he's had his hands full with plenty of other projects anyway. Last fall his sustainable seafood restaurant Fishtail opened on the Upper East Side to favorable reviews, and his restaurant at Bloomingdale's continues to give shoppers the sustenance they need to keep our economy afloat. Burke, who first made a splash at the River Café in Brooklyn in the '80s, has recently finished changing up his other serious venture in the neighborhood, which opened in 2003 as "davidburke & donatella." Restaurateur Donatella Arpaia is no longer involved (the partnership is said to have ended amicably) so it's now simply called David Burke Townhouse, and has reopened with a new menu after renovations.

After Olives and Libertine owner Todd English bailed on his wedding at the last minute, friends and family of the jilted bride-not-to-be decided to party on, making the most of the celebrity chef's leftovers. The Post reports that 150 guests of Erica Wang decided to forge ahead with the fancy affair at the the St. Regis Hotel, enjoying a five-course dinner on English's dime. The scene sounded similar to the non-wedding bash had at the Mandarin over the summer when baller Richard Jefferson left his fiance at the altar.

After earning the adoration of the hipster masses with his killer Neapolitan-style pizza, Belgian-born chef Mathieu Palombino has recently opened his second Motorino location across the river in Manhattan. The East Village spot (49 East 12th Street) is cozy compared to the spacious original, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in charm and legend: It's the former home of beloved Una Pizza Napoletana, and with the lease Palombino got his hands on the restaurant's prized Acunto wood-burning oven, handcrafted in Naples.

Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, the man behind restaurants like Spago in Beverly Hills and a product line ranging from coffee to canned food, may finally be coming to NYC. After a recent book signing, Puck told us, "We're talking about something [in New York], and I can't say we're in the advance stages, but these people really want us to do a very important project in New York." Though he later added, "Sometimes I joke to the press in certain cities; in Miami they asked me if I was there to open a restaurant, and I said, 'Not one, three!'"

Besides being really, really ridiculously good-looking, the massive, bi-level restaurant Rouge Tomate serves food as nutritious as it is delicious. Executive chef Jeremy Bearman works closely with a full-time nutritionist to create a locally sourced, seasonal menu that's light and refreshing but won't scare off eaters with big appetites or a lust for meat. Rouge Tomate is not a vegetarian restaurant by any means—entrees include a Grass Fed Lamb a la Plancha with Polenta Cake, Fava-Mint Purée, Spring Beans, Sauce Vierge; and Long Island Duck en Sous Vide—but there are more than enough seafood and non-meat options to satisfy a broad spectrum, and meticulously-prepared cocktails like the Mint Julep (served in a classic pewter julep cup) may put you off Cosmos for good. On Saturday nights through Labor Day, the restaurant, which is located steps from Central Park on East 60th Street, is offering half off the wine list and half-priced cocktails in the downstairs lounge from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The chef Julie Farias—last seen utilizing a hot plate, Swiss Army knife, and a box of clothespins in order to devise and cook some well-reviewed, three-course $25 set menus at Beer Table in Park Slope—has moved on to The General Greene. The San Antonio native also worked for Daniel Boulud and is the former chef at iCi. Farias also put together the menu at burger restaurant Stand, so here's hoping she'll be making some changes to the lackluster General Greene version. You may recall that General Greene owner Nicholas Morgenstern unveiled a custom ice cream cart a few weeks back (seen here); word is that someone apparently tried to steal the tip jar from the cart last week and was promptly arrested! Farias is said to be working on some menu tweaks, assumes kitchen duties this week, and will likely kick anyone's ass who tries something like that tip jar stunt again.

The 49-year-old chef Cesare Casella is known for his food, sure, but he’s also known for the almost comical rosemary boutonnière he seemingly wears 24-7. He is so enamored of the herb that it sprouts in the window boxes outside his 35-seat restaurant and specialty grocery Salumeria Rosi and overflows from the diamond-shaped sapling planters in the sidewalk below. The tiny restaurant portion of the space specializes in small, rustic Italian plates. Its menu of sliced-to-order meats and cheeses is all very affordable: almost everything, like Casella’s signature salad of soft scrambled egg, pancetta and market greens costs $7 or less. We asked the chef a few questions about the restaurant (which opened last year), the banned Parma ham culatello (“the heart of prosciutto”), and how in his own heart Casella identifies with the buttero, or Italian cowboys of Italy.

Last October, Almond, the unpretentious French bistro that's become a Bridgehampton hotspot, boldly expanded to Manhattan with an outpost in the Flatiron district. But even before the city's economy drifted into its current deep funk, chef/co-owner Jason Weiner faced a daunting task: finding a way to fill the massive East 22nd Street space that's been the ruin of many a restaurateur, including Rocco DiSpirito’s Rocco's, Jeffrey Chodorow’s Caviar & Bananas, and Borough Food & Drink.

When the owners of dark and seductive Lower East Side restaurant Allen & Delancey announced they'd be filling the position abandoned by chef Neil Ferguson with one Kyle Bailey, the general reaction was, "Who?" But the 28-year-old chef hasn't shown any hesitation about stepping into Ferguson's big shoes; or, rather, replacing them with his own inventive kicks, which emphasize the good olde farm-to-table approach. The restaurant's new menu is almost entirely Bailey's creation, and includes such winners as Arctic Char with Spinach Purée, Baby Leeks, and Barigoule Fingerlings; and a surprisingly spectacular beet risotto with whipped goat cheese. (Peruse the full menu.)

If you pull up a chair at the sushi bar in Toshio Suzuki's restaurant Sushi Zen—and you definitely should—be aware that your days of slumming it with California rolls from the deli will soon become a thing of the past. While many chefs think of their culinary creations as art, Suzuki, who quite nearly became a monk in Japan, adheres to the age-old philosophy of "food as medicine" for the body and soul. And it certainly tastes better than Dimetapp; not for nothing did Citysearch's Feedbag deem Suzuki the best sushi chef in New York City. The pioneering master opened Sushi Zen in Manhattan back in the early '80s, just as the exotic new cuisine was about to become an unstoppable trend.

This week's NY Times Dining section has a long profile about Jamaica, Queens native Rocco DiSpirito, who many in the dining biz have criticized for focusing on TV shows and cookbooks when he could be running a restaurant. Some, like cookbook author Michael Rhulman, believe "he’s almost gotten to the point where people in the food world feel sorry for him and want him back." Others, like former NY Mag critic Gael Greene, opine, "I do believe that ‘Dancing With the Stars’ is kind of the last stop. I don’t understand—has he totally lost that passion to cook?" In his defense, DiSpirito paints himself as a populist who loves "advocating" for the "general public." But Ed Levine at Serious Eats scoffs at that, slamming DiSpirito and the Times in a fun blog post: "What DiSpirito really loves to do is bring attention to himself Paris Hilton-style and try to cash in on it. Only she can't cook."

Celebrity chef Tom Colicchio, owner of Craft, Craftbar and Craftsteak, and a familiar face to millions for Top Chef, is being sued in Federal court by a former waitress who accuses his company of denying employees a portion of their tips and distributing the earnings among supervisors. Nessa Rapone, a Brooklyn resident who worked at Craftbar from March to May 2007, says the company also "failed to pay proper overtime compensation," and illegally retaliated by firing her when she objected to the policies. According to City Room, Rapone's lawyers say they hope other Craft employees will come forward so the can certify the lawsuit as a nationwide class action. (There are Craft restaurants in Dallas, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Las Vegas and Ledyard, Connecticut.) Colicchio has not yet released a statement.

The curiously named Dirt Candy is a sleek and cozy new vegetarian restaurant on East Ninth Street, where chef Amanda Cohen presides over an open kitchen mere inches from her patrons. (As she tells us during our conversation, this sometimes results in some awkward involuntary eavesdropping.) About the funny name, Cohen explains that "vegetables are amazing. Made out of little more than water, sunlight, and dirt they wind up growing into a candy store full of color and flavor. And that’s what I want Dirt Candy to be: nature’s candy store."

     

This cute little brasserie is the latest venture for Chef Cyril Renaud, whose Michelin-starred restaurant Fleur de Sel is well-regarded for his approachable presentation of cuisine from Brittany, emphasizing seasonal ingredients. Hence Bar Breton, envisioned as Fleur de Sel's casual counterpart.

After shuffling through three chefs since opening about a year ago, ridiculously good looking restaurant Bobo seems to have hit its stride with James Beard award-winning chef Patrick Connolly at the helm. Writing for the Times last month, restaurant critic Frank Bruni praised his "fine sense of balance when it comes to flavors and textures...The cooking during my visits was often impressive."

In 1994, Eric Ripert became the executive chef of Le Bernardin after chef-owner Gilbert Le Coze died of a sudden heart attack. The following year, Ripert was only 29 years old when the restaurant was re-reviewed and kept its four-star rating from the New York Times. Le Bernardin has had a total of four four-star New York Times reviews since its New York opening in 1986, and has consistently been awarded a top rating of three Michelin stars since guide inspectors first set up shop here in 2005.

Apiary, in the East Village, is named for a collection of bee hives, but the restaurant is not devoted to honey the way S'Mac is to mac and cheese. Chef Neil Manacle's "New American" menu is eclectic, occasionally taking inspiration from Middle Eastern spices and fusing them with familiar edibles like chicken breast and pork tenderloin. A franchise of Ligne Roset, the luxury French design house, created and owns the place, which is sleek and sophisticated without being pretentious. Up front, a modest bar serves about 30 micro brews and emphasizes New York State wine.

Alain Allegretti is the 39 year-old chef-owner of Allegretti, awarded two stars by the New York Times last week. From Nice, and specializing in Niçois food, he's put squarely in the company of other French chefs in NY. Allegretti, who worked for Alain Chapel and Alain Ducasse in France, is representative of a kind of culinary old guard: a strange realm of butchers and cooks all named Alain. In the classic brigade style kitchen, apprentice cooks are sent from station to station within a restaurant's kitchen. Often, as part of their training program, they're sent to work at a far-flung Michelin-starred restaurant in the mountains where all the bars close early. This was Alain Allegretti's experience. And now he works on 22nd Street.

Respected chef Neil Ferguson, who opened the warmly-received Allen & Delancey just last fall, has abruptly quit, taking an offer to be the top chef at Soho House, a private club whose food we cannot vouch for because we only went there this one time to interview the Beastie Boys. But what's cool about Soho House is when you ask them for water, they give you an entire glass bottle of some exotic brand that is yours to keep. So you can see why Ferguson would be tempted. Eater obtained this email he sent to friends, in which he sticks his thumb in the eye of certain unprincipled scoundrels at Allen & Delancey: "I have strong principles and thoughts on how a restaurant should operate and conduct itself, at every level. Unfortunately those principles have been bought into question. I am leaving for both moral and personal reasons."

It's not easy maintaining a healthy relationship when you're fully immersed in the not-so-healthy restaurant and bar industry. So Time Out NY has come to the rescue this week, highlighting personal ads from local chefs, bartenders and club owners who are on the prowl. Anita Lo (pictured), chef and co-owner of Bar Q, is attracted "to pretty girls" and wants "someone who eats everything." Alex Day, a bartender at fussy cocktail lounge Death & Company, gets points for being totally upfront about his twee attire: "I wear a tie and vest or suspenders six nights a week—you can’t work in this part of the industry without being a little bit of a dandy." And Matthew Roff, who co-owns Southpaw and Public Assembly, likes "girls who know how to fucking drive." Go get 'em, fast drivin', big eatin', Wes Anderson fans!

Anne Burrell has "parted amicably" with trendy West Village wine bar/Italian restaurant Centro Vinoteca. As reported earlier, Burrell has been keeping herself extremely busy as of late, primarily with her new Food Network series, Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, which has 13 new episodes coming up. Her appearance on the show (and ostensibly as Mario Batali's sous-chef on Iron Chef America) had also postponed her scheduled start date at Gusto, which was supposed to take place in June.

Last month chef Michael White and his business partner Chris Cannon opened Convivio in the space formerly occupied by L'Impero, which White took over after the abrupt departure of chef Scott Conant (who has since opened Scarpetta). Where L'Impero was perceived by some as stuffy and overly formal (Times critic Frank Bruni said it evoked "the upholstered interior of a very large coffin"), Convivio aims for a more casual, though still elegant, atmosphere, with "burnt orange" upholstered banquettes, lacquered ceilings and a copper bar top. (Photo after the jump.)

Eater is reporting that chef Cesar Ramirez is out at West Village restaurant Bar Blanc. Stepping up to the stove will be, like Ramirez, another veteran of David Bouley's restaurants, Sebastiaan Zijp. According to the restaurant’s PR, Bar Blanc’s “partners decided to go their own ways and [the parting is] quite amicable, believe it or not.” Eater cites an additional report in their inbox that “puts the parting at less than ‘amicable,’” and “that it was more of a firing.” Contacted by email about the future, Ramirez confirms the split and writes: “I have no plans yet, but I’m looking for something new, and to take my food in a different direction. My partners and I parted in a good way. I felt it was best for me to move on.”

20 years ago this summer, Fabio Trabocchi started his culinary career in the Marche region of Italy. The chef-to-be was fourteen at the time, and found himself occupied with odd jobs such as shucking mussels, cutting vegetables, and even serving as ad hoc valet at a small restaurant close to the beach. Next month marks Trabocchi’s one-year anniversary at SoHo restaurant Fiamma, where, with a kitchen staff of 12, he serves plates like Burrata di Andria with olive oil and radish salad, and black mission figs with pea tendrils and sautéed porcini mushrooms. Fabio Trabocchi won a Best Chef award from the James Beard Foundation in 2006 for his work at the McLean, Virginia restaurant Maestro, and also won a Best New Chef award from Food & Wine in 2002. The chef spoke with Gothamist last Friday morning at Fiamma, on Spring Street.

. He then went on to host Good Deal with Dave Lieberman, and now hosts two web-only shows, Dave Does and Eat This. He is also a private chef for individual and corporate clients. In this capacity he recently created a menu for the W hotel chain, "Cravings by Dave Lieberman," inspired by some of the existing and upcoming global W properties.

Nestled away on a romantic little bend of Commerce Street in the West Village is Commerce, the newish bar and restaurant from chef Harold Moore and restaurateur Tony Zazula. Operating out of a carriage house dating back to 1911, the place was formerly a Prohibition-era speakeasy, then Blue Mill Tavern for 50 years, then the neighborhood favorite Grange Hall. You might assume that its new iteration is a fussy stab at resuscitating the past, but Zazula and Moore have breathed fresh air into the space while subtly nodding to their ancestors. Antique wall sconces salvaged from municipal buildings line the walls and a 1941 art deco Brunswick bar was reconfigured to fit with the existing front bar, but the airy room hums with a forward-thinking enthusiasm.

Starting tonight (Cinco de Mayo) and continuing through Friday, Crema Restaurante will be offering a special five course prix fixe menu, with tequila drink pairings, that dovetails Mexican and French cuisines. Chef Julieta Ballesteros, from Monterrey, Mexico, calls the menu a “peace offering” of sorts to the French, and most of the dishes draw heavily upon her training at New York's French Culinary Institute. Even if you're not up for dinner, you might want to swing by Crema to sip some of their specialty French-Mex cocktails at the bar, like The Au Pear: White Rioja Sangria with Poire Williams Brandy. In this interview Ballesteros tells us about her twist on Cinco de Mayo dinner, her preferred hangover remedy and her worst kitchen injury.

Two chefs of popular seafood restaurants have settled a lawsuit out of court, denying foodies the chance to hear how restaurant plagiarism would be argued. The NY Times reports, "Both sides in the case agreed to keep the terms of the settlement confidential."