Maialino
Photo: courtesy of the restaurant
Danny Meyer certainly knows how to pick ‘em. Chefs that is. The restaurants within his Union Square Hospitality Group have produced a good share of mega-stars: Michael Romano, Tom Colicchio, Marco Canora, Daniel Humm and Floyd Cardoz to name a few. Meet Meyer’s new rising star, Nick Anderer, who makes his debut as an executive chef at New York's Maialino within the Gramercy Park Hotel. Plucked from the kitchen of Gramercy Tavern, Anderer comes with a pedigree, having worked for Colicchio, Michael Anthony, Mario Batali and Larry Forgione. The Buzz chatted with the chef the morning after his first night of service.
Zagat Buzz: So we heard that Anna Wintour, Ruth Reichl, Dana Cowin and Alain Ducasse were all in the house on opening night? How did that go?
Nick Anderer: Yes, it’s true, they were all there. It went very well. It was all good to have that vibe in the house.
ZB: How do you know when a restaurant is ready to go when you’re opening it?
NA: It takes time. Any restaurant is a living organism that is going to grow over time. For me, I’ll know it’s there when I look up and see the big picture. Right now my head is focused on lots of small details trying to make that big picture come together. But the day where I can walk out of the kitchen comfortably and sit in that dining room and experience a meal is the day that I’ll say, “OK, this vision is at least getting there.” But the short answer is that you’re never going to be there, it’s something that’s going to continue to grow. There’s always a lot of unfinished business. And that’s the beauty of restaurants, and of Danny’s restaurants, because they stick around and you always have opportunity to improve on things.
ZB: Were there any special considerations opening within a hotel?
NA: Absolutely. It was something we had to think long and hard about. It is a situation that is unique and we were given the opportunity that a lot of hotel restaurants haven’t been given in the sense that we can function Maialino pretty autonomously. There’s a room service kitchen that is separate from the regular kitchen. I have basically transplanted a team of new chefs that are all people that I have worked with in restaurants, so my entire management team has a restaurant-geared mentality. Of course, opening a hotel restaurant comes with a certain amount of hesitation from a chef, I think that all those fears go away with the fact that we do pretty much function as a free-standing restaurant.
ZB: So what is your approach to the menu at Maialino?
NA: We’re doing hearty Italian food inspired by Roman trattorias. Every single neighborhood in Rome has had an impact on the menu. Danny and I spent several weeks there researching for the menu and this is kind of a greatest hits of all the things that we tried. And Danny and I both have a shared love affair for Rome that goes way back. Danny spent a lot of time there and I spent a full year my junior year of college studying art history there. That time was the spark for my culinary career – I came back to New York and started cooking. So it was that shared love of Rome that inspired this restaurant.
ZB: What are some of the signature dishes?
NA: I don’t like to say “signature dish” because there are so many things that we pride ourselves on. But some of the things that stand out in my mind are the bucatini all’amatriciana, coda alla vaccinara (oxtails with tomato and celery) and spigola al forno (baked whole sea bass). But despite the fact that we are sticking to the Roman canon the areas where we stray are in choosing the best ingredients. In any Roman trattoria the call is to what is really thriving at the market on that particular day. We’re not in Rome, we’re in New York, so we can’t make everything to the T. As a result we’re not going to have carciofi alla Romana every day. The things that we are coming up with on a daily basis are very market driven.
ZB: With so many Italian restaurants in New York, how do you feel that Maialino is going to stand out?
NA: Hopefully it will stand out because everyone who comes in will feel that they are getting a little slice of homeyness. I think the challenge for me as a chef is to try to make a pretty big restaurant feel smaller than it is. There’s love in each plate. I encourage all my cooks, with every single movement that they make throughout the day, to think about who they are cooking for. And we really take a lot of pride in the sourcing of our ingredients. That attention to detail will make us stand out.
ZB: This is the first kitchen that you have been in charge of as an executive chef. What have you learned from your years within the Union Square Hospitality Group that helps you to be a good leader in the kitchen?
NA: I have learned so much about building a cohesive unit and about putting together the perfect team. Danny Meyer really creates a great sense of family in all of his restaurants and makes every single person feel that their job is the most important job in the entire space. And every person takes pride in what they do because they feel valued. I have learned to make sure that every person realizes how important their job is. I think Danny is the master of making sure that each individual part of this big unit is functioning at a high level at all times.
– Kathleen Squires