New Chef at NYC's Irving Mill

For anyone who’s looking for a place to celebrate their first back-in-New-York-City-post-Labor-Day dinner, here’s something to consider: Ryan Skeen has just signed on to be the chef at Irving Mill, in the Union Square Park ‘hood, and his first day is Tuesday, September 2. Skeen got famous cooking at New York’s best Belgian restaurant, Resto, serving a burger that New York magazine voted the city’s best of the year in 2007, plus steamed mussels with addictive dipping sauces like lime pickle. He also, very briefly it seems, consulted on the menu at Brooklyn’s General Greene (almost everyone trying to repeat the noteworthy meal that my heroes, New York mag’s Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld, had at GG—presumably while Skeen was there—have been disappointed). Skeen will debut his own menu for the pretty, airy dining room at Irving Mill in mid-October—we’re all hoping he’ll include some version of his delectable crispy pig ear salad. Meanwhile, back at Resto, the food is still terrific (and I’m not just saying that because I’m friends with owner Christian Pappanicholas), and the crispy pig ear salad is as good as ever.