Tom Colicchio was here briefly around that time, and then went to the Quilted Giraffe. Much later you were a guest judge on Top Chef. I heard you let him keep his motorcycle in the basement here back in the 80s. People like to talk about Tom since he's on Top Chef now. I guess he was hired early on and had put his resume in at a few places. Like I said there were very few places back then - the French restaurants like Montrachet, Le Cote Basque, Le Cirque, those. And then Chanterelle, the Quilted Giraffe, etc. He had put his resume in there already so he said sorry and left. But there were other people here too, the chef at The Grocery in Brooklyn, Charles Kiely. He and his wife both worked here. So did Bill Telepan.
Telepan says his kitchen demeanor, his composure—he learned that from you. I came out of very, very tense, high pressure kitchens and I just understand that while you need to make demands on people it's not productive to scream at them and ride them during service. It's best to keep calm. And then after service... [laughs]
With your experiences in France, you learned what not to do. I'm fond of saying that cooking-wise, I learned what to do, but front-of-house-wise I learned what not to do.
Were there other Americans there with you in France? They typically took only one or two stagiers a year, or even for the season. So not really. But you know, last night there was a tasting at Bar Boulud and Daniel Johnnes was there—he opened Montrachet with David Bouley and he was the Myriad's wine director for years and now he's Boulud's corporate wine director. He, I met while staging in France. He wanted to cook but had a meltdown, so I ended up subletting his apartment in Paris for six weeks. And he said to me, do whatever you want to do but don't use my copper pots. They were tin lined, and he insisted that I didn't touch them.
Did you? No. I mean maybe, I don't know. But I told him about it last night when I saw him and he was like, hey, sorry.
For your 20th anniversary I heard you had a party. We had a dinner party at my apartment. That was fun.
Are you doing that for your 25th? No. We had big plans for a massive party, closing off the block. But given the current affairs it seemed in poor taste. Instead, on Sunday a lot of our old employees and people are coming in for snacks and we're pouring a lot of Champagne and we'll be open for dinner. Bill [Telepan] will be here, Tom [Colicchio] will, too, if he's in town.
Tell me about your anniversary menus. That's been really fun. When it first was publicized, people started calling in and asking, are you doing the tuna? Are you doing the shoestring fries? It was so bizarre. People have such powerful memories of these dishes.
You must have some regulars that have been coming in for a while - do you make special stuff for them? We have a few people we do that for. There's a dozen or maybe two-dozen people who, when they make their reservation, we immediately know they'll want a certain dish and we know what to prepare. Often we'll actually have to go out and buy ingredients for them.
Can you tell me one of them? One simple one is the Peanut Butter Coupe. Look, I love ice cream. I eat, well not anymore, but I used to eat ice cream every day for about 25 years. I remember when the first Häagen-Dazs bars came out I was eating 12 a week. And I love sundaes and things like that. So you know classic French coupes glaces? I'd fired my pastry chef and had to come up with some really simple things so I started this trend of narrow pilsner glasses layered with brittle, sorbet, ice cream, fruit, sauces, nuts. The last one on the menu was peanut butter, and people still request it.
Can you walk me through one dish on your menu? Most of the dishes have some kind of story or come from somewhere. Stories are important, but food that doesn’t make sense on the plate isn’t good. I had a chef do a tasting for me the other day: halibut with saffron foam, edamame, enoki mushrooms, confit tomatoes, and one other wack flavor. Oh, it was lavender. Another dish was scallops with merguez, sweet potato puree and other stuff. I don't know where his dishes came from. Here, the only dish that has been on the menu for 24 years is our grilled steak. I wanted to do deep fried shallots instead of onion rings. So I poached them, pulled them apart, battered and fried them. They were light and frilly and wonderful. And when you eat a steak in France they serve it with Dijon mustard typically, and bordelaise sauce with bone marrow. So I came up with this bone marrow mustard custard. It's custard made with mustard and bone marrow and a red wine sauce. And that's how the whole dish worked out.
Because you've mentored a lot of people who've become successful, how do you feel about that title chef mentor? It’s very important but I'm not alone in this category. There are a handful of great chefs who've done it. Back then it was a unique concept but Jean Georges, Daniel Boulud, Charlie Palmer, Thomas Keller; they've all had important people come out of their kitchen. You have to nourish and nurture your people. I feel very good with the title. The only thing that makes me uncomfortable is that it's irrelevant now that, for example that Tom worked here so briefly and so long ago. But Adam Longsworth is a superstar; he's my chef de cuisine and has been here four years. I'm very proud of him.
A lot of chefs say their just-starting-out cooks are a lot more restless these days. I think I know where you're going with this and you can see the evolution but times have changed. I had to peel potatoes for 6 months in France, I don't know if people do that anymore. It's a much faster path to glory, things happen faster. But I don't have a problem with it. Cooks are a lot better educated these days, they're better informed, they're more aggressive. They know great food, they're funded. When I was coming up it wasn't so abundant or accessible. I don't have a problem with it. People like Chris Lee and Shea Gallante and people who came out of Wylie's kitchen—he's still spinning off all these young guys. It continues.
As far as the landscape of chefs working in the city, do you feel anyone is particularly underappreciated? What about overrated? There are a lot of overrated chefs [laughs].
Alright. In past interview you remarked about the intellectual component to your approach to food, that's not always the first thing we hear. I wouldn't say that about myself, I mean certainly there's some intelligence and common sense. I'm good at the mechanics of dishes and how to produce them - I'm very practical whereas Gray Kunz for example, will make a dish that costs a thousand dollars and all the mise en place has to be thrown out every night. I'm really practical but I'm not intellectual about it—I don't think that's necessary.
Which New Yorker you admire the most? There's a lot of them. Jean Georges Vongerichten is one of the most prolific and successful chefs in the country and has not diluted the quality. I go to Jean Georges maybe 4 times a year but, somehow, he's always there. I really admire it.
Maybe he hops in his jet and heads over when you're there. Probably not a jet. Maybe in his Land Rover?
What's your favorite cheap eat? I have two. Una Pizzeria Napoletana, which is dinner-only, 3 or 4 nights a week. He's this purist who makes Neapolitan style pizzas and had his oven built according to specifications. He uses filtered water for his doughs. He only makes 4 pizzas and there are no substitutions, no mushrooms, no pepperoni. It's very pure, delicious pizza. It's fantastic. Also, I was at the new Fatty Crab last night, which was delicious.
What about for cocktails? I like to go to Flatiron and Pegu. And I go to Little Branch which is awesome. So good. Sometimes I’ll go to Angel’s Share, but not so much anymore.
You’ve opened a restaurant at the Fontainebleau on Miami Beach and there’s one coming in Vegas. Do you think you'll open another restaurant here? I'd like to, yes. I've always wanted to do a small Italian concept in New York. I mean, I think every chef wants to do that. Sort of like Otto in its feeling, and with emphasis on wine and cocktails. I do want to do that. I actually thought I would do it this year but wisely, did not start.
I worked a restaurant job once making salads. This was in a four star place. When the chef saw I wasn’t doing something up to par, or the salad didn’t have enough height, he’d basically stand behind me and repeat “Gotham Bar and Grill, Gotham Bar and Grill,” sort of menancingly. That’s funny. I once heard that cooks in other restaurants are sometimes told to “gothamize” the food they’re putting together on a plate.
Given the opportunity, how would you change New York? I wouldn't change a thing. New York is perfect just the way it is [laughs].
