Nate Appleman
Photo: courtesy of the Food Network
Chef Nate Appleman shocked the West Coast food world this year when, just two months after he snagged the James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef Award, he quit his popular San Francisco restaurants – A16 and SPQR – to move to New York. His East Coast challenge: teaming up with restaurant guru Keith McNally to open Pulino’s Bar and Pizzeria on the Bowery. Now he’s competing for another title: The Next Iron Chef, and judging by his victory in episode one, his chances look pretty good. We talked with Appleman about his experience on the show and his move to the Big Apple.
Zagat Buzz: What compelled you to compete to become the Next Iron Chef?
Nate Appleman: I taped an episode of Iron Chef America, and when I did that I really got the bug for competition. I don’t think I would normally treat food as a game but it was almost like a sport. I learned about my love of competition from the whole experience, and I really liked being in that kind of environment.
ZB: What was the hardest part of the competition for you?
NA: The hardest part was trying to be nice to everyone. Because you are friends with everyone, they are your colleagues. But at the same time, you are all going for one goal. and there is only one position available. So it’s hard to distinguish between friends and competitors.
ZB: You recently moved to New York. Was it the opportunity of Pulino’s that brought you here or the other way around?
NA: I came to New York without an opportunity and then I found one. New York is considered the best food city in the world, and if I was going to leave San Francisco, there was only one choice.
ZB: What surprised you most about the New York dining scene since you’ve been here?
NA: How welcoming everyone is. I think San Francisco is a welcoming city but not in the same aspects. I had guys calling me out of the blue saying, “Hey, welcome to the city! Let’s grab a bite to eat,” and that is really comforting and really surprised me.
ZB: How are New York and San Francisco alike in terms of cuisine?
NA: For the longest time New York has been French-based, teetering on the edge of fine dining, while San Francisco is more like, "Let’s let the ingredients shine" and "Let’s be a casual restaurant." I see more of that every day infiltrating New York.
ZB: How is Pulino’s going to make its mark in the New York dining scene?
NA: Pulino’s is not going to be just a pizzeria – that’s the best part about it. I didn’t want people to get their expectations really high, and that’s why we’re going with the pizzeria name, but we are going to be offering a lot of different things. We are going to have two wood-fired ovens, and we are going to have a butchering room, so we are going to be able to do whole animals. I plan on bringing in whole cows, for example. I’m not sure if many people are doing that in New York, so that's one thing that will surely set us apart.
– Kathleen Squires