A monthly newsletter covering the world of dining, wine, travel and events. It is edited by Peter Elliot, a James Beard award winning expert and the manager of Bloomberg’s lifestyle suite of functions. Reserve is a free newsletter – available by invitation only. To find out more, visit http://www.bloombergbriefs.com/reserve/
Explore The flavors Of Indian cuisine In Budapest : Indian Palate
Bloomberg Brief Reserve- March Issue
1. March 2015
www.bloombergbriefs.com
The Cure for the Common Winter Is Butter and Fat
BY PETER ELLIOT, BLOOMBERG BRIEF EDITOR
Despite promises of spring, March is looking cold, gray, dreary — and likely to remain
so. From snow to ice to polar blasts, the final weeks of winter are often the cruelest of all
in the northern hemisphere. Fortunately, the frigid end to the first quarter has at least one
benefit: It justifies our craving for warm, dense, buttery comfort foods.
A few weeks ago, I was at Portland, the new restaurant in London run by Will Lander
reviewed by Bloomberg critic in this issue. Nearly everything on the menuRichard Vines
looked sensational and healthy, save for one indulgent, winter-inducing comfort plate:
the pithivier. What's that, you ask? Think giant pot-pie, filled with pigeon and mallard
meat, black truffles and a classic game sauce. You can guess what I ordered.
Be it a boeuf bourguignon, a cheeseburger drenched in onions or a good old chicken
pot pie, winter means you call it comfort, not gluttony. Besides, we still have several
months of sweater weather to burn it all off.
London
1. In a land whereThe Jugged Hare:
shooting remains sport, few restaurants
know how to serve the results. But it's not
just game here. Fish pies and a wide
selection of ales will warm you up fast.
2. Asian comfort food counts, too.Koya:
This is the leader in the London udon and
ramen wars, in part because chefs love
the foot-trodden noodles and fair prices.
is a strong second place.Bone Daddies
3. A room where all isThe Savoy Grill:
right with the world. And one of Gordon
Ramsay's treasures. March is pie month;
try the steak and Maldon Rock oyster or
the chicken and crayfish. And a martini.
New York
1. The quintessentialThe Little Owl:
Greenwich Village restaurant. Relaxed
but serious rustic-Italian food to warm any
stomach. Try walking in. Reservations are
very hard to secure until they know you.
2. Andrew Carmellini's mostThe Dutch:
relaxed and homey spot (with an equally
good sister in sunny Miami) specializes in
aged-meats supplied by Pat LaFrieda. It's
NYC's most secret super-steak house.
3. Even after its move acrossFranny's:
Flatbush Ave to new digs, the wood-fired
ovens here generate warmth and
fantastic pizzas. Feel better about the
carbs by trying their wonderful salads.
Bloomberg Global Top Five*
London
1. — Real live food, really aliveBeast
2. Gymkhana — Best Indian pub
3. Scott's — Mayfair's classiest fish joint
4. City Social — British in the sky
5. Chez Bruce — European favorite
New York
1. — NYC's best bistro?Little Prince
2. — Mexican game changerCosme
3. — Chic in every wayThe Nomad
4. — Bobby Flay's SpanishGato
5. — Refined luxurySushi Nakazawa
Hong Kong
1. — Korean fried chickenUncle Padak
2. — Mid-East fun in Wan ChaiDjiboutii
3. — Retro Italian from NYCCarbone
4. — Popular FrenchOne Thirty-one
5. — Business ChineseMott 32
Paris
1. — The original L'AtelierRobuchon
2. — My favorite FrenchTaillevent
3. — Asia plus techniqueMum Dim Sum
4. — Bistro perfectionLe Grand Vefour
5. — A French jewelry boxL'Astrance
*Top is compiled from on theDINE <GO>
Bloomberg Terminal. The formula
includes hits, reviews and ratings.
The return of comfort foods and why
Marylebone is the new "it" place. Click
the photo or to launch.link
Source: Bloomberg/Peter Elliot
It's really a fancy pot pie — the game pithivier at Portland in London
2. March 2015 Bloomberg Brief Reserve 2
IF/THEN BY PETER ELLIOT, BLOOMBERG BRIEF EDITOR
If You Like Barbuto... ...Then You'll Love Little Prince
Simplicity as a food style still has an uphill battle in a world where many diners expect rarefied cuisine for their money. In 1984,
Jonathan Waxman opened Jams, exporting casual Californian style to New York and then London. Ten years ago he opened Barbuto
in the then forlorn West Village and captured the zeitgeist again. People have been licking their fingers unapologetically ever since.
Restaurants like Balthazar, Little Prince and others that practice sophisticated simplicity owe a debt of gratitude to Waxman. The best
news for simple cuisine? Jams will make a comeback this spring in NYC at Barry Sternlicht's 1 Hotel Central Park.
IF: Barbuto
Address: 775 Washington Street, NYC
Setting: Industrial open-plan chic
Food: Jams 2.0 via Italy
Bar Scene: Great for eating and wine
Noise Level: Cacophonous and fun
Date Factor: If he/she isn't soft-spoken
Groups: Two of the best private tables
in New York and easy for small groups
Secrets: Do you want to see where
Hollywood really does deals? This is the
place for starlet (and producer) sightings
THEN:
Little Prince (New York): The latest inheritor of bistro chic. Bloomberg clients love it
for its French onion soup burger, the quinoa salad and its lack of pretension. Its location
on the far Western edge of Soho makes it equidistant to almost everywhere in the city.
The Red Cat (New York): I love the slang "moreish" — to want more. This Chelsea
staple headed by Jimmy Bradley has a new chef, new pastry chef and a new menu.
Al di La (Brooklyn): Consistently at the top of lists for New Yorkers wanting to cross
the river. Portuguese influenced comfort food reaches its coziest peak right here. Eat the
bacalao and the braised rabbit, and don't skimp on dessert. Try its twin .Al di La Vino
Casse-Croute (London): Classic French. It wins on value for money and an authentic
experience. It's also open morning through night. Start the day with a pain au chocolat.
Bocca Di Lupo (London): This Italian brasserie is to London what Barbuto is to NYC.
Just the right edge of chic, just the right edge of crowded, just the right edge of fun.
OPENINGS
Blixen: An informal take on the grand
European brasserie, set in Spitalfields.
Quickly becoming the anti-Soho House.
Dolls House: The successful pop-up
opens a permanent location with bar,
restaurant and private members club.
Engawa: A teppanyaki (iron griddle)
restaurant specializing in seared Kobe
beef in the chic Ham Yard hotel.
London
Chevalier: La Grenouille's Charles
Masson opens his own "next-generation"
spot in the new Baccarat Hotel.
El Colmado: Seamus Mullen of Tertulia
fame, back from London with a tapas bar
in the Gotham West Market.
Ganso Yaki: Tadashi Ono, a master of
Japanese yakitori, teams up with the
Ganso team in downtown Brooklyn.
New York
Babbo Pizzeria: Mario Batali and Joe
Bastianich's first outpost of the Babbo
brand-name at the new fancy Fan Pier.
Committee: A dash of Mediterranean
sun just in time to get out from under the
mounds of snow. Also at Fan Pier.
Bisq: Sister of Bergamot, so think small
plates of French-inspired fare, serious
wines and a deeply Cambridge vibe.
Boston
Source: Bloomberg/Peter Elliot
New York's best chicken: Jonathan Waxman's $19 legend at Barbuto
Source: Bloomberg/Peter Elliot
New York's best hamburger: 'The French Onion' at Little Prince
3. March 2015 Bloomberg Brief Reserve 3
YOUR NIGHT OUT BY PETER ELLIOT, BLOOMBERG BRIEF EDITOR
Marylebone Is London's Newest Revitalized Hub and the Center of Its Culinary Future
Marylebone is the new "it" area of
London.
The dense, red-brick Victorian
neighborhood, owned by the Howard de
Walden family, was once famous for
doctors offices, charity shops and
bachelor flats that housed the fictional
Sherlock Holmes. In the mid-1990s, the
owners of the estate decided to change
course and entice in restaurants and
chic-retail shops to inject new life.
This revitalized area is as close as
London gets to the urbanity of New York
or Paris. It's now full of public-relations
executives, bankers and fashionistas who
want solid apartments with elevators,
security and lots of nearby amenities.
Think of it like the Upper East Side with
better food.
Andre Balazs's Chiltern Firehouse is the
epicenter of the scene. Paparazzi lurk at
its entrance waiting for a taxi to drop off
famous faces. Like it or hate it,
Marylebone typifies London's ascendance
to a serious restaurant culture.
Go With Clients
DRINKS
Artesian: At the Langham Hotel on
Portland Place. A great entry point.
The Cavendish: This is a more
inclusive, if equally refined, Chiltern
variant. Bar as well as restaurant.
DINNER
Chiltern Firehouse: It's been
decades since a restaurant has
caused such hype. The star of Andre
Balazs's empire if you can get in, it's
the place for celebs of every
profession. Is it worth it? Yes, if you
want to be in the "in" crowd. The hype
won't last forever, but it's fun now.
Trishna: The most delicious Indian
coastal food from the team that went
on to develop Gymkhana.
Galvin Bistrot de Luxe: Top notch
brasserie fare at semi-reasonable
prices, plus a charming dining room.
L'Autre Pied: The restaurant that
started the Marylebone-food
revolution. Still sensational on every
level. Sister of nearby Pied a Terre.
Go With Friends
DRINKS
The Bok Bar: A pub next to Chiltern
which means it attracts a similar set
plus the wannabes. Fun people
watching.
The Grazing Goat: A French village
pub. Drinks and a solid restaurant for
breakfast and weekend lunch.
DINNER
Portland: The most important new
restaurant to open in London in years.
It the chic-casual urbanity ofcaptures
the revitalized Marylebone.
Carousel: The concept is a new chef
almost constantly. Pop ups taken to
the next level. A great gimmick for
spotting new or foreign talent.
Donostia: Basque-focused tapas.
Have the cod cheeks with squid ink.
LATE NIGHT
Purl: The twin of Worship Street
Whistling Shop. Excellent mixologists.
Authentic Japanese barCocoro:
open til 4 a.m. Like a trip to Tokyo.
Go With Family
Brunch:
Fischer's: The Wolseley team go
Mitteleuropa. Think 19th Century
Vienna. Open almost around the
clock.
Opso: Arguably best modern Greek in
town, all served tapas style. Also
open breakfast, lunch and dinner.
DINNER
Le Relais de Venise: Some call it a
French McDonalds. Actually, McD's
offers more choice. Here it's steak.
salad, dessert. Still, simple works.
Tommi's: Some say these are the
best burgers in London. Easy and
casual. Perfect for friends/family.
28-50: The numbers are wine
temperatures. It's a wine-bar concept
that works for both drinks, dinner and
a casual meal with the family.
Orrery: Orreries are mechanical
models of the solar system. This
means the children can learn
astronomy while you celebrate a
birthday or graduation. Expensive.
Source: Bloomberg/Richard Vines
Chiltern Firehouse's doors open to red-brick buildings full of restaurants, shops and apartments.
4. March 2015 Bloomberg Brief Reserve 4
RESTAURANT REVIEW: LONDON
London's Portland Restaurant Mixes Rustic Dishes With Rollicking Wines
BY RICHARD VINES
Many restaurants open with a splash.
It's Champagne usually — Prosecco if the
party is thrown by an Italian or a
cheapskate.
Portland snuck under the radar last
month when it opened on Great Portland
Street, in central London. If any corks
popped, I didn't hear them. No publicists
were employed.
This informal British restaurant, housed
in a former clothing showroom, is
self-effacing to the point of
near-invisibility. The decor is understated
and the prices are modest. Even the
cooking isn't show-off: The finest dish is a
pie.
The game pithivier, for two people at
£19 ($29.37) per person, is the most
expensive item on the menu. The crust is
soft and buttery, without being soggy or
cloying. The meat is so rich and powerful,
it would go to Davos each year if it were
human.
But then we would be cannibals for
eating it, so let's park that image to one
side.
The filling varies. When I tried it, strips
of pigeon meat formed a layer over whole
mallard breasts, providing a contrast of
textures and colors and mouthfuls of
almost melting flesh. Game sauce — a
reduction made with birdy bones — just
takes the flavor deeper, as does some
black truffle, resulting in one of those
moments when conversation stops
because you are using your tongue to
taste rather than to talk. The sensation is
dark and smoky, a smoldering fuse of
flavor.
The menu starts with snacks, including
pig's head croquettes — crispy, unctuous,
and oozily seductive — which are served
with a kimchi mayonnaise. The acidity of
the dip whips the balance of crisp and
fatty flavors into line. This is rustic food
that has an urbane, almost cosmopolitan
edge.
Pickled shitake mushrooms come with
soy and ginger. Did I say this was a
British restaurant? We're all multicultural
now, with the exception of the occasional
Chelsea soccer fan in Paris.
White onion and parmesan soup is a
vegetarian flavor hit, as is the potato
gnocchi, served with pumpkin and kale
pesto. Blood sausage, a gooey boudin
noir, bashes your taste buds and then
wallops them with red onion.
And the smoked ox tongue sandwich?
I'd say it speaks for itself, if that weren't a
troubling thought. Let's say it is like a big
pastrami treat with sauerkraut and grainy
mustard between slabs of first-class
sourdough.
The desserts are fine, though I rarely
get excited about desserts. The lemon
tart successfully walks the line between
sweet and sharp without wobbling. It is
topped with meringue as well as tarragon,
a classic combination for a taste of the
Mediterranean.
The chef, Merlin Labron-Johnson,
comes from Devon, in the west of
England. He worked at restaurants in
Switzerland and France before spending
two years at In de Wulf, in Heuvelland,
Belgium, which holds a Michelin star.
His dishes are clean and unfussy, with
typically just a few ingredients. The
presentation is similarly well-judged and
uncluttered.
It's the wine list that makes Portland a
slam-dunk for me. A rollicking good time
is assured, unless you are depressed.
Although it is short, there are several
treats, including ""En Chalasse" Julien
Labet 2012, a Chardonnay from Jura that
is subtle and lemony. While it's not cheap,
at £57, it is available by the glass (at £11)
if you are on a budget. The reserve list is
even more tempting. The Wood Road
Zinfandel, Ravenswood, Sonoma 1996
(£69) is more than worth the price, though
I think I have finished it, so good luck.
The owners are youthful industry
veterans. Will Lander co-owns the Quality
Chop House while Daniel Morgenthau is
ex-10 Greek Street. One of the positives
about Portland is that the menu and the
wine list change almost daily, depending
on what is available. It's that kind of place.
You're not going to get signature dishes
or fawning service. Think neighborhood
restaurant and you should be fine. Look
elsewhere for quote-unquote elevated
gastronomy.
Portland may not bring a lot that is new
to the table. It just fills it with things you
want to eat and drink.
Richard Vines is the chief food critic for
Bloomberg. Follow him on Twitter @richardvines
Source: Bloomberg/Peter Elliot
Chef Merlin Labron-Johnson working behind the line at Portland in Marylebone
5. March 2015 Bloomberg Brief Reserve 5
RESTAURANT REVIEW: NEW YORK
Hunt & Fish Club Commits Crimes Against Truffles, Misses Steakhouse Mark
BY TEJAL RAO
If you're looking for a tater tot party
lubed with truffle oil and aioli, I know just
the spot: New York’s hottest club is Hunt
& Fish. The 10,000 square-foot restaurant
opened recently in Manhattan’s Midtown,
right by the formerly-haunted Belasco
Theater, and specializes in faux-mage
—that thing where restaurants say they're
an homage to a classic steakhouse, then
do whatever.
As Stefon might put it, this place has
everything: the kind of fragmented mirrors
used to foreshadow psychotic breaks in
thrillers; giant paintings embossed with
poems in braille; and, soon, a shoeshine
station so you can share a porterhouse
with an escort in your socks.
The porterhouse is a rather serious,
impressive cut of meat. At first glance, it
looks like a T-bone, but it’s carved from
slightly farther back in the animal, where
the frame widens, so the steak gives you
a more generous amount of tenderloin
alongside that exquisite and arguably
more delicious strip. The one at Hunt &
Fish Club comes from Pat LaFrieda, a
marquee-name, New Jersey-based
purveyor that ages the beef for 28 days.
The porterhouse costs $55 a person and
arrives at the table sliced on the bone in a
pool of dark juice. It should be the star of
the evening.
Sadly, the meat on a recent evening
was corpse-cold, under-seasoned, and
cooked so unevenly that it was nearly
blue on one side while the other was
bloodless and grey. The beef had been
mistreated on the carving board as well
— sliced into inelegant, crooked pieces
that varied wildly in thickness.
About 15 minutes after the porterhouse
landed, just as the fat on the slate had
begun to congeal, the bearnaise arrived
in a small silver pitcher. The buttery
emulsion appeared to have traveled a
great distance and it was exhausted.
The most ostentatious burger on the
lunch menu is the “Mirrors and Marble”
($32), an under-seasoned patty of rib-eye
and strip, which apparently comes with
bone marrow and black truffles, both
undetectable under a layer of bacon,
truffle aioli, and thick fried-onion rings.
The fries, advertised as “parmesan fries,”
are skinny and pale and tasteless.
Desserts are presented dramatically,
with very tall garnishes. Take the pretty
slice of Devil’s Food cake ($14),
balancing on a log of coffee mousse,
covered in silver dragees (the shiny,
unpleasantly crunchy beads often used to
decorate holiday cookies). It is expertly
built, with many thin, even layers, but it’s
far too dense and inexplicably bland, like
a slice of defrosted wedding cake.
There may be reasons to go to Hunt &
Fish Club, but a fine meal isn’t one of
them. Former Morgan Stanley executive
Nelson Braff, Skybridge Capital founder
Anthony Scaramucci, and restaurateur
Eytan Sugarman opened their restaurant
in an old relic of the theater district — the
former Hotel Gerard, built in 1893 and
landmarked a couple of decades ago.
The building’s facade on 44th Street is
beautiful and the main dining room inside
is grand, glinting with mirrors and marble,
twinkling with hanging lights. It's faintly
deco but meant to evoke nostalgia for the
unrestrained decadence of the 1990s. In
many ways it does: The scene is big and
buzzy and includes the finance industry,
curious tourists, and local celebrities.
The bar up front is a comparatively
cozy, dark room with velvet and leather
chairs, absolutely packed at happy hour
with flirtatious fortysomething men in
suits, tanned women in TV makeup, and
the odd business meeting.
Hunt & Fish Club’s attempts at
high-roller glam could be fun if the quality
of the service and food were higher and
the levels of luxury were consistent.
Instead, it’s just awkward, as when you
wash your hands and someone performs
the outdated, unnecessary service ritual
of squirting the soap for you.
The restaurant embraces an additional
dated extravagance: truffle oil.
"This is a little piece of heaven," the
waitress told me as she set down a plate
of truffle tater tots — a side she’d singled
out earlier in the evening as a must-order.
Our ideas of the afterlife must be quite
different. The tots were enormous, each
big enough for several bites. Some had
burned crevices but insides filled with
strips of raw potato. The tots were doused
in so much truffle oil, they smelled like a
petrol station on a very hot day.
Truffle oil tastes nothing like the real
thing, and it should be used sparingly,
ideally, not at all. Truffle oil is to fresh
truffles as the light of your screen is to the
sun. It’s also a bully, edging out every
other scent in the room with its intense,
artificial clobber. Just as Hunt & Fish is to
elegant Manhattan steakhouses: a loud
and often clumsy imitation.
Tejal Rao is the New York food critic for
Bloomberg. Follow her on Twitter @tejalrao
Source: Bloomberg/Evan Sung
Hunt & Fish Club's mirroed black lacquer bar is popular with Midtown's after work crowd
6. March 2015 Bloomberg Brief Reserve 6
DESTINATIONS: PORTLAND, OREGON
A Foodie Paradise Where You Can Open With a Nickel, a Dream and a Food Truck
BY PETER ELLIOT
Portland, Oregon may be the buzziest
city in the food world. Its hippy past
means healthy-urban living is culturally
ingrained today. Couples drop their kids
at school, debate last night's dinner, then
feed their backyard chickens. Alternate
modes of transportation mean there's
virtually no traffic. There are three times
more food carts than garbage trucks.
Duane Sorenson, the founder of
Stumptown Coffee, and Andy Ricker of
PokPok are the city's reigning kings.
Venture-capital funds are eager to sign
big checks and spread the gospel of
perfectly roasted coffee or Khao Soi
(curry and coconut soup with noodles)
originating in the hipster mecca.
Portland incubates talent well in part
because it's cheaper than other U.S.
cities and tolerates failure. The standard
rule to open in most cities is don’t try
unless you have enough capital to get
through your first year. "In Portland you
just need enough to open and get by,"
said Jenn Louis, a 20-year veteran of the
Portland scene who runs restaurants
Lincoln and Sunshine Tavern. "With an
average income of $30K per year, more
families spend money on food than they
do on ballgames."
And that's precisely what I found in
Portland. Food is the city's sport. While
there are some high-end restaurants with
increasingly L.A. prices, the bulk of them
remain cheap, delicious and
experimental. Each restaurant (or food
truck) is working hard and hoping they're
the next Stumptown or PokPok. They
might be.
Top Restaurants:
Little Bird Bistro: The more casual bistro sister of much
lauded Comfy banquettes. Downtown.Le Pigeon.
Ava Gene's/The Woodsman Tavern: Owned by Stumptown's
Duane Sorenson with strong NYC influences (and prices.) AG's
is more Italian, while WT is all about the meat (and oysters).
Ataula: Jose Chesa is considered the most important Spanish
chef this side of Jose Andres. A perfect gastropub Espanol.
Navarre: A hodge podge of styles: Spanish, French and Italian,
plus great technique, a Portlandia vibe and reasonable prices
make this my favorite restaurant in the city.
Bollywood Theater: One of the most fun places to try Indian
street food without going to India. Fantastic indoor/outdoor
space, too. Get the spicy fried okra, the papri chaat and a t-shirt.
Beast: An explosion of all things meat — cow, pig, duck,
sheep, you name it, from James Beard winner Naomi Pomeroy.
Maurice: This tiny gem downtown is part pastry shop and
French lunch spot. Plated desserts and lunch.
PokPok: Make the pilgrimage to the home of the patron saint
of Thai food in America, Andy Ricker. Know that he often skips
the lines and goes to down the block for the pho.Ha & VL
Brunch: Almost every restaurant does a brunch menu. Portland residents don't get stressed about anything — except brunch.
Take in the neon: From the famous Portland, Oregon sign with its white stag, you'll see more cool neon signs here than
anywhere else in America outside of Las Vegas. Many are attached to strip clubs, which also double as music venues.
Wine country: An hour southwest of downtown are some of the best Pinot Noirs in the world. If you have an afternoon free,
select a few of your favorite vineyards (after trying them in local restaurants first) then head out to the Dundee Hills.
Get in line: Getting into almost anywhere means standing in line. Don't cut. The idea here is to get friendly with your fellow
neighbors, learn what they've eaten or are planning to eat, and make new friends.
Get a shave and a haircut (or a tattoo): Old fashioned barber shops are everywhere. I chickened out on the tattoo challenge.
Music: Great food and great music go hand in hand. Which came first? Portland's music scene? Or its food scene? Go find out.
Donuts: Voodoo Doughnut had lines swirling for blocks. You'd think they were cronuts. You'll see the pink boxes all over the city.
INSIDER TIPS
Next month: Berlin. MSG me at peterelliot@bloomberg.net
Source: Bloomberg/Peter Elliot
Portland's essence captured: Food trucks, facial hair, tattoos, baby strollers and sensible cars
7. March 2015 Bloomberg Brief Reserve 7
SPOTLIGHT: SOBEWFF BY PETER ELLIOT
Chefs Converge on Miami for Wine, Food Festival
Bloomberg Brief: Reserve and Bloomberg Radio headed to Miami to cover the largest food event in the U.S., the South Beach Wine
and Food Festival. Chefs and industry leaders stopped by our studio at the Loews Hotel Feb. 19-22 to talk trends and visit with friends.
Here are some favorite moments, complete with audio files. Just hit the orange "play" buttons to hear a mix of soundbites and full radio
interviews.
Stephanie Izard
"I'm opening a Chinese
version of Girl & the Goat for
the year of the goat. And I
want a baby!"
Jonathan Waxman, Andrew & Rishia Zimmern, Alex Stupak
The Zimmerns pop into an interview. Waxman's advice to his younger
colleague? "Keep doing what you're doing and never stop. And don't
forget, your new son Jackson is more important than any restaurant."
Guy Fieri
"In three years I'm on a beach,
making food I want and
worrying about what kids eat.
That's all."
Dominique Ansel
"The cronut is a sensation, but
it's only one of many tricks I
have up my sleeve. Just you
wait."
Alex Atala
"How to take on big food?
Chefs are the loudest voice in
the food chain. And I yell loud.
And long."
Aaron Sanchez Crashes Marc Murphy's Interview
Murphy: "To know Aaron and his mom, Zarela Martinez, is to
understand the history of Latin flavor in this country. Now can we go
back to discussing minimum wages and tipping? That's a big issue."
Ralph Scamardella
"Tao, Lavo, wherever we are,
I'm out there making sure our
clients get great food they
recognize that tastes great."
Todd English, Peter Elliot, Marcus Samuelsson, Ming Tsai
Marcus: "I've spent my whole life discovering, and rediscovering, from
Ethiopia to Sweden to America to Harlem. The more I get attacked for
not being a 'native,' the more native I become. Red Rooster was just the
start. Now we're doing Harlem EatUp! and Streetbird Rotisserie."
Martha Stewart
Checking out Reserve while
waiting to go on air to discuss
her book "Clean Slate."
"There's butter in it. Don't worry."
8. March 2015 Bloomberg Brief Reserve 8
Q&A
April Bloomfield Ponders Life as a Reluctant Celebrity Chef and a Decade in NYC
When the notoriously shy April Bloomfield was
"discovered" in 2003 at London's River Cafe and
brought to New York to run New York's hippest
and most star studded gastropub, The Spotted
Pig, she was 29 and had never been to America.
In her native Birmingham, she'd wanted to be a
policewoman. With her business partner Ken
Friedman, she's since opened four more
restaurants, got the highest score ever on the
Food Network's Iron Chef series and starred in
PBS's "The Mind of a Chef" where she was
positioned as one of the world's most important
chefs. As she gets ready to release her second
book, "A Girl and Her Greens," Bloomberg Brief's
Peter Elliot caught up with her in New York.
Q: When you first arrived in the U.S., it
was like you were the bride in an
arranged marriage. Is that true?
A: More or less! Jamie [Oliver] was a
friend of Ken [Friedman], and Ken of
Mario [Batali], blah blah. It was fast. It
was scary. And very exciting. They knew
what they wanted for the Spotted Pig. But
I was also ready for a change. I’d gone as
far as I could. I could have stayed another
10 years but I wanted to challenge myself
professionally and personally.
Q: What have you learned since then?
A: I've learned to be a better manager, a
better leader. I've really had to learn to
adapt and change and mold. You have to
learn to change. Or at least I did. I still
can't answer every text or e-mail — I
learned to get a lovely assistant. Most of
all I've learned about balance. It's not just
about the e-mails, or the assistant; it's
about learning how to grow so your
people have something to hold onto and
still keep a balance.
Q: Can you give me an example?
A: Ken would want to open 10 more
restaurants. I want less. So we sit down
and battle it out.
:Q Why not? Is it too much personally?
Or too much professionally?
A: Both. Too much of everything. If you
don't have a good home life, if you don't
get enough sleep — I know cooks who
party like animals and then cook behind
the line — whatever it is, if you do too
much of it, you'll implode. Too many
restaurants to me is like that. I look, but
I'm cautious.
Q: What is your partnership with Ken
like? What makes it work?
A: We have a good one. We listen to
each other. If we’re happy, we say. If
we’re unhappy, we say. We try not to
communicate too much by e-mail
because things can really go awry. Lots
can get misconstrued by e-mail or text.
So we learned to meet a lot, and in
person.
Q: Interview over! That might be the
best piece of advice for partners,
"Don't email, says April Bloomfield!"
A: Really? Can I go then?
:Q Does being interviewed make you
that uncomfortable?
A: Yes. I mean no. No. I’ve always been
shy. But being in public comes with the
job. It’s the balance thing again, right?
I’ve learned to deal with my shyness
better. I hope. I joke with Ken that if he
hadn't pulled me from behind the line,
we'd never have opened John Dory!
Q: So how did you do Iron Chef and
Mind of a Chef? Lights, cameras...
A: It's a skill like any other. I forced myself
to learn it. It's not like I had to act. I
learned how to look into a camera and
talk to people, develop that different side.
Sometimes it makes you uncomfortable,
but that’s good because it means you’re
stretching your boundaries and you’re
learning from that process.
Q: You've become synonymous with
gastropubs. Are you tired of it yet?
A: There was a time in England when
everyone had that style and I became a
part of it. Now it means more. It means
you can go to a place that's casual and
get chef-driven food. What irritates me is
that I'm interested in all sorts of foods and
techniques. I mean if I wasn’t, it would be
kind of weird, wouldn’t it? On Sunday, I
made ramen from scratch just because I
wanted to master it. I really don’t want to
be put in a box. I love warm spices, things
that are exact, maybe one day Eastern
European or Middle Eastern. And of
course, that's why we did "A Girl and Her
Greens." [Which follows her first book, "A
Girl and Her Pig," released in 2012.]
Q: How do you feel being one of the
archetypal chefs of your generation?
A: Uncomfortable. First off, I'm a cook,
not a chef. What a lot of people don't see
is I’ve been cooking for 24 years. I built
foundations. I sacrificed. I’ve cut myself
and burned myself I've made mistakes.
I’ve learned from them and grown. It’s the
job of a modern cook but not everyone
gets the opportunity. I like the chance to
do these things but at the end of the day
it’s about my restaurants. That’s my
number one priority. Not the TV show or
whatever it is. I'm old fashioned that way.
Q: So any special dream in your
crystal ball?
A: Well I don’t know that I want to stop.
I’m very happy I want to have myand
own farm. Chickens, sheep and pig. I’d
love to go back to the roots and start
growing. We haven't found a spot yet, but
I’ve been looking. It comes back to that I
like to learn. And when you stop learning,
you stop growing. I still have a lot to learn.
Source: Bloomberg/Peter Elliot
April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman at work