New York Area Chefs

Eric Gabrynowitz

RESTAURANT Restaurant North (Read a review)

LOCATION Armonk, NY

WHY HE’S AMAZING Because he’s using his training with über restaurateur Danny Meyer to create robust and exceptional American food.

CULINARY SCHOOL The Culinary Institute of America (Hyde Park, NY)

BACKGROUND Tavern (Garrison, NY); Tabla (now closed), Union Square Café, Blue Smoke (New York City)

MUST-TRY DISH Orecchiette with lamb Bolognese.

ON CULINARY SCHOOL “It was the best money I ever spent. A lot of folks knock culinary school, but it’s whatever you make of it.”

HOW HE GOT INTO THE FOOD BUSINESS “I was washing dishes at Copperfield’s in Montgomery, New York, and being everyone’s slave, but I loved it. Any business where you can come in hungover and curse like a sailor is my kind of business.”

FAMILY AFFAIR Gabrynowicz met his wife while both were working at Tabla in New York City.

Photo © Cathy Pinsky.
 

Nick Anderer

RESTAURANT Maialino (Read a review)

LOCATION New York, NY

WHY HE’S AMAZING Because he pays homage to traditional Roman cuisine while occasionally, and ingeniously, tweaking it: His breakfast eggs, prepared in classic pasta styles like cacio e pepe and amatriciana, are already legendary.

BACKGROUND Gramercy Tavern, Babbo, An American Place (now closed) (New York City)

MUST-TRY DISH Maialino al forno: roast suckling pig with roasted potatoes.

ESSENTIAL COOKBOOK Le Ricette Regionali Italiane. “When I first started working in Milan, my chef said, ‘The first thing you’ve got to do is go out and buy this book.’ It feels like you’re an archivist who just discovered some ancient scroll. It has everything. When I'm looking to do something new with a new ingredient, I’ll see how Italians would use this ingredient back in the day and then do my own thing.”

BEACH BUM “Two of my big hobbies are surfing and body-boarding. I’ve been going to Hawaii since I was six years old. My family would go out there because my dad, a professor, would take sabbaticals in Japan. So we would stop in Hawaii, the halfway point.”

Emma Hearst

RESTAURANT Sorella (Read a review)

LOCATION New York, NY

WHY SHE’S AMAZING Because her adherence to Piedmont cuisine elevates her wine-friendly small plates above those of other Italian restaurants.

CULINARY SCHOOL The Culinary Institute of America (Hyde Park, NY)

BACKGROUND Union Square Café (New York City)

MUST-TRY DISH Pate de Fegato (duck fat English muffin bread with chicken liver mousse, fried egg and sugared bacon).

HOW SHE GOT INTO COOKING “I knew since the age of four that I wanted to be a chef and own a restaurant, so I started working in kitchens at 13.”

ON HER RESTAURANT’S PROXIMITY TO CHINATOWN “We get a lot of older Chinese people from the neighborhood looking in and giving us their nod of approval. Or sometimes just shaking their head and walking away.”

SIGNATURE JEWELRY A necklace with cleaver and knife pendants. “Sometimes, when I get out of the shower and flip my hair, the necklace whacks me in the face.”

Takashi Inoue

RESTAURANT Takashi (Read a review)

LOCATION New York, NY

WHY HE’S AMAZING Because his yakiniku—a Japanese take on Korean barbecue—is so delicious that he’s making offal converts out of the most skeptical New Yorkers.

CULINARY SCHOOL Tsuji Culinary Institute (Osaka, Japan)

BACKGROUND Tsurumen (Osaka, Japan); Cardenas Charcoal Grill (Tokyo); Restaurant Yonemura, Nakamura (Kyoto, Japan)

MUST-TRY DISH Tongue with house-made pepper paste and kimchi.

CHEF SECRETS “Several recipes, like the meat marinade sauce and the kimchi, I insist on making myself, as they are my grandmother’s recipes and I keep them secret.” His grandmother ran her own yakiniku place in Osaka.

DREAM PROJECT “I’m from Osaka, so I just want to serve Osaka soul food, kind of like tapas.”

Dan Kluger

RESTAURANT ABC Kitchen (Read a review)

LOCATION New York, NY

WHY HE’S AMAZING Because he can make guilt-free sustainable ingredients taste luxurious and indulgent.

BACKGROUND The Mark, Core Club, Tabla (now closed), Union Square Café (New York City)

MUST-TRY DISH Farfalle with kasha and veal meatballs.

HOW HE STARTED WORKING FOR JEAN-GEORGES VONGERICHTEN “We met at the Union Square farmers’ market and just started talking. I think because I was there every week buying so much, he realized I was very committed to using local farmers. When I told him I was looking for a job, I guess he assumed it would be a good fit for his new project.”

WHAT HE LIKES TO COOK AT HOME Roasted chicken.

FAVORITE COOKBOOK Think Like a Chef, by Tom Colicchio.

SUPERSTITION He tapes a penny to his knife sheaths for good luck, a U.S. Army superstition he picked up from his father.

César Ramirez

RESTAURANT Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare (Read a review)

LOCATION Brooklyn, NY

WHY HE’S AMAZING Because he’s serving ingenious tasting menus at a chef’s table tucked away in the back of a market on a nondescript Brooklyn street.

BACKGROUND Bar Blanc (now closed), Bouley (New York City); Tru (Chicago)

MUST-TRY DISH Cod roe with baccalà mousse and Burgundy truffles.*

COOKING PHILOSOPHY “Recipes are made to be broken.”

THE ROUTINE Ramirez cooks five nights a week for just 18 people at a horseshoe-shaped, stainless steel table in his kitchen.

Jesse Schenker

RESTAURANT Recette (Read a review)

LOCATION New York, NY

WHY HE’S AMAZING Because he’s channeled his lifelong passion for the restaurant world into Recette’s irresistible urban American menu.

BACKGROUND Gordon Ramsay at the London; internships at Le Bernardin, Per Se, Jean Georges (New York City)

MUST-TRY DISH Crisp-skinned trout with smoked bacon, savoy cabbage and bluefoot mushrooms.

NEW YORK INTERNSHIPS“I checked every kitchen out. I was floored by everything. I saved up $4,000 and lived on some woman’s couch in Harlem for $700 a month so I could do it.”

INDUSTRY DIE-HARD “When I was a kid, my parents would go to Europe and I’d say, ‘Bring back menus!’ I was obsessed. I have over 500 cookbooks. I eat, sleep and breathe this industry.”

Alex Stupak

RESTAURANT Empellón (Read a review)

LOCATION New York, NY

WHY HE’S AMAZING Because, despite the critical acclaim he received for his modernist desserts, he has traded in his pastry tools to make extraordinary tacos.

CULINARY SCHOOL The Culinary Institute of America (Hyde Park, NY)

BACKGROUND wd~50, (New York City), Alinea (Chicago), The Federalist (now closed), Clio (Boston)

MUST-TRY DISH Tacos of beer braised tongue with arbol chile salsa.

ON OPENING A MEXICAN RESTAURANT “Here’s the story: A pastry chef likes Mexican food, has never cooked it, but decides to do it anyway.”

ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT Empellón goes through more than 250 avocados each day to make its excellent guacamole.

FIRST JOB Prep cook at Bobby Chics Italian Café in his hometown of Leominster, Massachusetts. “I’d clean all the equipment, peel potatoes, make piccata butter. I’ve come a long way.”

Gabe Thompson

RESTAURANT Dell’Anima (Read a review)

LOCATION New York, NY

WHY HE’S AMAZING Because he cooks hearty Italian dishes that look simple but reveal themselves on the palate to be thoughtfully composed.

CULINARY SCHOOL Le Chef College of Hospitality Careers, now Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts (Austin)

BACKGROUND Le Bernardin, Del Posto (New York City); Clarklewis (Portland, OR)

MUST-TRY DISH Bruschetta with lily confit of shallot, onion and garlic.

FAVORITE FOODS GROWING UP “I had a weird diet as a kid. I loved steamed artichokes with curry mayonnaise. I used soy sauce like most kids use ketchup. I loved salads. I think I had my first candy bar and soda at eight years old. However, none of this really influenced my cooking today.”

ON HIS INGREDIENT WISH LIST “Veal brains. I think it would be fun to do a play on some kind of classic Italian-American dish with veal brains. But I think it would be a hard sell.”

FIRST KITCHEN JOB Spaghetti Warehouse.

Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone

RESTAURANT Torrisi Italian Specialties (Read a review)

LOCATION New York, NY

WHY THEY’RE AMAZING Because they use their pedigreed culinary training to reinvent the polyglot flavors of New York in genius ways.

CULINARY SCHOOL The Culinary Institute of America (Hyde Park, NY) for both

BACKGROUND Carbone: Babbo, Lupa, Del Posto (New York City). Torrisi: Café Boulud, A Voce, Aquavit (New York City).

MUST-TRY DISH Island duck with mulberry mustard.*

BEST KNOWN FOR Using only American ingredients, like La Quercia’s Iowa prosciutto, for their prix-fixe dinners.

WHY THEY INSIST ON USING DOMESTIC INGREDIENTS Says Carbone, “In Italy, they would never use imported cheese you have to send away for. Using what’s around you is the most Italian thing you could possibly do.”

FUTURE ASPIRATIONS “A project in Italy. Have our cooks work there, go back and forth, learn about the culture, the food and the ingredients, because so much of what we do is related to the Italian culture and how we treat these American products,” says Carbone.