Results tagged “katysparks”

This is Plated, a new feature that delivers the origin story of a dish as told by a restaurant’s owners, chefs, and even once in a while, its dishwashers. Our first plate comes from recently opened 10 Downing.

    

For anyone out there who still has money to spend at restaurants (congratulations one person; need arm candy?), here's 10 Downing, which officially opened last night in the West Village after a long delay. (It was originally scheduled to open over a year ago.) Chef Katy Sparks, who has developed quite the following at the Upper West Side restaurant Compass—and Soho's Quilty's—is teaming up here with Jason Neroni, whose pedigree includes Porchetta and the Tasting Room. Their menu emphasizes (surprise, surprise) "seasonal ingredients" with a Mediterranean influence; one appetizer, the pickled mustard seed chorizo quail egg, is a veteran of Neroni's Tasting Room menu.

    

Last night was the annual At The Table event for Women Chefs & Restaurateurs, a group that supports “education and advancement of women in culinary fields.” Chefs, culinary school students, and supporters gathered at the Prince George Ballroom for a sweet and savory tasting, general networking, and to raise awareness for the group’s scholarship and internship programs.

Macaroni and Cheese: 52 Recipes, from Simple to Sublime

- Katy Sparks has left Compass! It was just a few months ago that she joined the Upper West Side restaurant. Sparks is going to be writing a book, which Gothamist will look forward to, but we are going to miss her. Related: Manhattan User's Guide stood up for Katy in the midst of the Amanda Hesser reviewing reing at the Times.

Gothamist went to Compass the day her addition was announced in the Times. Many others had the same idea, and Katy Sparks was circulating in the room (we're pretty sure that's her in this picture, on the left), with many diners telling her how excited they were to see her. The low point of the meal was, in fact, the service: Our server freaked out at a busboy, yelling at him and demanding to know where the receipt from the table the busboy had just cleared gone; it turned out another server had taken the receipt to be rung up. Our server apologized with complimentary champagne, but it was still distressing. So, Gothamist can attest to the crappy time it seems Amanda Hesser had.

And the week in full.

And Katy Sparks, whose Quilty's in SoHo is sorely missed, is now running the kitchen at Compass, the acclaimed restaurant (only after it dumped its Marika trapping) at 208 West 70th Street. Gothamist remembers reading that Sparks was going to go into catering as well as look into opening a new place, but she tells the Times deals fell through. And the big front room, that alternates as a bar or extra seating, will be a wine bar. Excellent!