Market in Boston Opens; Vong Closes

Our Market opening in Boston’s W Hotel was fabulous. The warm, modern space feels like a blend between my original Market restaurant in Paris and Perry St. in New York, but with a distinct Boston vibe. We wanted to evoke the casual chic of New England beach houses. To do so, we sourced our building materials locally. The beautiful bleached wood you see throughout the restaurant comes from Cape Cod.

Like the design, the food is influenced by New England and its seasonal ingredients. We do a great clam pizza with chili and parsley and a creamy clam chowder with smoked bacon. Here, we’re lucky enough to get Casco cod, so we treat it with the clean flavors of a miso-yuzu broth and shimeji mushrooms. Of course, I also love out meat dishes. The pork chop with pistachio pesto and roasted cauliflower is perfect

for the fall.After a grand ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday morning, we opened our doors to the public. The next day, Thomas M. Menino, Boston’s mayor, came to dine. He seemed to enjoy his meal as much as everyone else. Many thanks to Carol Park, who owns this property. From the beginning, she supported my concept for this restaurant. The opening itself went smoothly, thanks to chef Chris Damskey and general manager Marcus Palmer. My Culinary Concepts team, led by Daniel Del Vecchio, also did a fantastic job.

Following this opening is a closing in New York City. After 18 wonderful years, Vong will be closing tomorrow, Saturday, November 7th. Our lease was up and we decided not to renew. Wolfgang's Steakhouse will be moving in. I wish him the best of luck and hope Wolfgang enjoys the space as much as I did. I love Vong, and I know many others do too. I’m looking for another space to reopen Vong in the future and will keep you posted when that happens.

On the Road Again: Vancouver, Shanghai, Maine, Boston

The past few months have been a complete whirlwind. I’ve been to France to visit family, to Vancouver to cook for the Dalai Lama, and to Shanghai to update my restaurant menu. When I’m in New York, I run from restaurant to restaurant and then hurry home to help Chloe with her homework.
Needless to say, I love the excitement of it all. Vancouver was spectacular, as usual. It was wonderful cooking for those attending the Dalai Lama’s Peace Summit and teaching my chefs our new fall dishes.
Shanghai was great too. I landed Tuesday and held a cooking class first thing the following morning. My students suggested I start a cooking school in the city—a very interesting idea. For now, my Shanghai chef and his team don’t need more training. They’re running an incredibly tight kitchen, executing dishes perfectly and efficiently. As impressive is the local produce now available in China. A year ago, the figs were hard as a rock and tasted terrible. This year, they’re so sweet and perfect. Almost all of our produce comes from local farms and most of it is organic.
The same local, organic ethos is alive and well in Maine, where I cooked for a benefit for the Island Culinary and Ecological Center. The organization teaches regional and sustainable cooking. Along with Boston chef Michael Leviton and Maine chefs Lawrence Klang and Melissa Kelly, we put together a meal celebrating Maine’s seafood. I made lobster with a sea urchin and jalapeno butter. My friend and seafood supplier Ingrid Begis provided the lobsters. Here’s our catch:

Do you see how shiny and fresh the lobsters are? They’re so amazing up there. I should know—I sampled lots of lobster rolls while there.
I love New England cuisine and am putting my own spin on it this week. I opened the new Market restaurant in Boston’s W Hotel last night. More on that soon…

Local Liquors

I’m always looking for ways to go green. In my restaurants, that means sourcing my ingredients locally. I’ve been “cooking local” since my first days in the kitchen in Strasbourg: vegetables, herbs, eggs, dairy, and meat from nearby farms; fish from the river Seine; from the woods, game from hunters and mushrooms from foragers. Since then, I’ve worked incredibly hard to find the best local farmers, fisherman, and foragers to provide the ingredients for my restaurants. Over the years, I’ve developed great friendships with them and owe them a debt of gratitude for making my food what it is.

When I considered what more I could do to support food producers in New York, I began noticing liquors made in the Hudson Valley. We often consider wines from Northeastern wineries, but this is the first time we’re stocking our bars with local liquors. We’re starting with four whiskeys from Tuthilltown Spirits, a distillery not far from my country home. My favorite is the baby bourbon. Made from New York corn and aged in American oak barrels, this smooth drink has vanilla and caramel overtones.

I’m so happy with these whiskeys that I’ve begun looking into other New York beverages too. We make our sodas in-house, but we’re thinking about beer options. We already carry Brooklyn Lager, but I saw some Coney Island beer in a store near my apartment. The colorful, slightly sinister labels immediately caught my eye. Now all we have to do is taste them.

Of course, I’m just as excited about the end of summer-early fall produce from local farmers. To capture the last of the warm weather harvest, I’ve created a dish with a glass of tomato water, a corn fritter, and a piece of madai sashimi topped with a slice of dinosaur pluot. And for the first days of fall, an earthy mushroom “tea,” spiked with a little chile.

I love offering my diners a taste of New York. I’ll let you know next time I add yet another local item to my restaurants.

New Perry St. Chef: Cedric Vongerichten

I’m proud to say that my son Cedric is now the executive chef at Perry St., my downtown New York City restaurant. This is the first time he’s running his own kitchen, but he’s been working towards this for years. Like me, he began working in restaurant kitchens as a teenager. At 17, he helped open my restaurant in the Bahamas and has been cooking with me since. He insisted that he train like all of my other chefs, so he worked his way through the stations at Jean-Georges. For the past two years, he’s been sous chef. When the Perry St. position opened, I knew Cedric was ready for it.

I was much less sure about him pursuing this path when he was young. Because my father had tried to push me into the family coal business, I wanted to make sure Cedric did what he wanted. I love being a chef, but I never wanted to force my son into the hard life of restaurant kitchens. I constantly asked him, “Are you sure you don’t want to be a doctor or lawyer?” He always replied, “I want to be a chef.”

And he’s a great one. Cedric is different from me in a lot of ways: he’s mellow and talks a lot more slowly than I do—though he cooks as fast, if not faster. But we share the desire to please and pamper others, and that’s what matters in this business. Just as Cedric requested years ago, I’m treating him like my other chefs. I talk to him the way I talk to all of my executive chefs everyday. But I can’t deny the fact that I’m looking forward to seeing him at dinner on Sunday. My sister and her kids just flew in from France and Cedric and I will be cooking a huge meal for our family reunion.

And now, my guest blogger, Cedric:

I knew I wanted to be a chef when I was nine years old. We lived in the Hotel Lafayette in New York City, above the restaurant where my father worked. Everyday after school, I wanted to help out in the kitchen. I was hooked. My father tried to push me away from this career, but I was stubborn.

When I moved back to France with my mother and sister (who’s joining the front-of-the-house staff at Mercer Kitchen soon), I went to cooking school and worked with other chefs in France, like Alain Ducasse. But I’ve spent a lot of time at my father’s restaurants and I learn a lot from him. Some people have asked whether we have conflicts in the kitchen. We really don’t; it’s been great working together.

I’m settling into Perry St., with thanks to my sous chef Omar Gillego, tournant Matt Bollinger, and general manager Seth Gurka. They’ve been here for years and are all very good at what they do. They also have great attitudes: they’re friendly and have a lot of respect for each other. Unlike cooking, that’s something you can’t teach. I’m very lucky to be working with them.

Today, we’re changing a few dishes on the menu. We’re doing a chicken broth with dill and raw and cooked market vegetables and we’re reintroducing the black pepper crab dumplings with sautéed broccoli. Hope you can come in and enjoy.