Joe Bastianich, rocker.
Photo: Hernan F. Rodriguez
Some of the city’s top chefs and restaurateurs spent the weekend at the French Culinary Institute teaching, speaking, cooking and...singing. At the two-day New York Culinary Experience, restaurateur Joe Bastianich dropped his quiet, behind-the-scenes image by picking up a guitar and treating guests to an impressive rendition of Oasis’ “Wonderwall” during a Q & A session. He also revealed details about Eataly, the Italian mega-mart/dining concept he's developing with Mario Batali.
Scheduled to open May 2010 at 200 Fifth Ave., Eataly will offer a 70,000 sq.-ft. showcase for artisanal food and wine, and each section will include its own restaurant. “The produce section will have a vegetarian restaurant," Bastianich explained, "the fish section will have a seafood restaurant and the meat section will have a chophouse.” Bastianich also announced his recent sale of Italian Wine Merchants.
Chef Masaharu Morimoto also treated the crowd to his vocal prowess, singing in Japanese before he kicked off his sushi-making class. Turns out the chef is not made of iron, after all, however – a sling was cradling his injured arm. When pressed on what happened, he responded (jokingly, we hope), “I visited the zoo and got in the cage with the lions. I fought with the lions, and they broke my arm.” The chef also confirmed the opening of his Napa Valley restaurant, set in the new Riverfront development, for summer ’10.
Restaurateur Ken Friedman opted not to show off his crooning skills, though he did talk about his past as a record company talent scout during his Q & A. He credits his former career with his ability to spot kitchen and managerial talent, likened his solid partnership with chef April Bloomfield to The Rolling Stones and hinted that the John Dory will be reopening in a hotel owned by the same group who own the Greenwich Hotel, where Friedman has a piece of Locanda Verde. Also on the back burner: a bakery concept.
Culinary “mad scientists” Nils Noren and Dave Arnold of the FCI concluded the event with a high-tech specialty cocktail, the "First Night Flight," a combination of 901 tequila, honeycrisp apple and liquid nitrogen.
– Kathleen Squires