Oh Canada! Opening Market in Vancouver

I just returned to New York after a week in Vancouver opening my newest restaurant, Market, in the Shangri-La Hotel. I have to say, this was one of the smoothest openings I’ve ever experienced. Any chef can tell you that opening week is hectic, to put it mildly. But this time around, it went remarkably well, thanks to everyone involved. The hotel staff, led by general manager Stephen Darling and food and beverage director Frank Schuetzendorf, were a pleasure to work with, as was PR director Jill Killeen. All of the cooks and servers they hired for Market were simply excellent. And, of course, my Culinary Concepts team pulled the whole restaurant all together.
Our general manager Paul Grunberg and executive chef David Foot are both from Vancouver so they have a great understanding of the city’s culinary strengths but also fully embrace and understand my cuisine and style of service. It’s been a joy working with them on crafting just the right dishes and ambience.
Long before this opening week, Cynthia Penner of Box Interiors designed our gorgeous rooms and Herve Descottes, who’s done fabulous lights for me at so many restaurants, created the stunning lighting.
And my Culinary Concepts team, headed by Daniel Del Vecchio who’s been working with me for decades, did their best work yet. In fact, things went so smoothly, we even had time to go out together. Steve Ivans led this project and Greg Brainin upheld everything to my standards. Justin Bazdarich, John Martinez, and Greg Vernick did an amazing job training chefs in the kitchen, and Denis Bouron and Bruno Valentino did the same for the front of the house.
The bar is spectacular too, thanks to our beverage director Christy Canterbury and lead bartender Justin Tisdall. Jen Burgess and Imre Cupani both wear many hats and took care of just about everything and everyone. On Sunday, the day after opening, I decided to thank my staff by cooking them a family meal. Using some delicious sausage and pork from the Granville Island public market, I made traditional Alsatian choucroute, braising the meat on a bed of sauerkraut. We had a great time savoring it with beer.
Sunday wasn’t entirely a day of rest. We tweaked the menu to perfect it some more and ran through everything yet again. When we finished, someone (who must know how much I love skiing) told me that Cypress Mountain is only twenty minutes from the hotel and has night skiing. I hit the slopes; it was pretty amazing. I couldn’t believe that I got to ski the night after our first day of service. Only in Vancouver…
Opening day just went so well and it only got better as the week went on. Cheers to everyone at Market!

The Chef Is Back in Town

As I said last week, I'm on a soba diet. (Although I can't say that I've been eating less pizza at Co.—it's just so good.) The reason I've been at Matsugen more is because chef Masa Matsushita is back in town. Of the three Matsushita brothers who founded the Matsugen restaurants, he's the only chef. He normally cooks at their Tokyo restaurant, but he came to New York to open our Matsugen, and now he's back for three months. (His chef de cuisine in New York, Choji Miyano, is fantastic; he's on paternity leave in Tokyo.)

Masa joins his brother Taka, who has settled in New York to run our restaurant. While he's cooking as he would in Tokyo, preparing authentic Japanese cuisine, Masa does so in a way that's uniquely American when he's here.

In Tokyo, soba and sushi aren't commonly served together. Here, we're offering both in a bento box lunch, along with black cod with miso, salad with a creamy carrot dressing, and vanilla caramel pudding for dessert. Also different from Tokyo? The $24 price tag for Restaurant Week (and, in fact, all of 2009).

When I'm craving my other Matsugen favorites, I'll get the $35 bento box. It includes yuba (homemade tofu), salad with a soy dressing, shrimp tempura, sushi, and soba. I love being able to have some of everything in one meal.Masa has also brought with him new dishes, which we're continually introducing. In addition to the crispy shrimp appetizer, this kampachi sashimi is great. It's topped with spicy oroshi and seasoned with ponzu. The subtle heat and crunch of the topping and sauce so perfectly offset the sweetness of the fish.

I realize this sounds like a lot of food, but it feels like the best"diet" possible. Everything at Matsugen tastes so refreshing and yet is so deeply satisfying. And those bento box lunches, as well as our $35 prix fixe dinner, do include a lot of dishes. It's just that true Japanese food has such clean, pure flavors, it leaves me feeling lighter than when I walked in.

Co. (I call it “company”) opened three weeks ago, and it’s fabulous. Chef Jim Leahy has been baking the bread for my restaurants for years. When he asked me and my business partner Phil Suarez to back his pizza restaurant, of course we agreed. Jim’s brilliant in the kitchen, and we provide the front-of-the-house staff so that he can focus on cooking. Christophe, who opened Jean Georges and Vong with me, trains the staff and organizes the dining room. And whenever Jim wants advice, I’m available.

I love everything on the menu: the meat and cheese plates, the ribollita, the salads, toasts, and pizza. I’m not sure pizza’s the right name for it though. Jim’s dough is so flavorful, so perfectly textured, I think of it as a flatbread with delicious toppings. And the “popeye” is definitely one of my favorite pies.

A little pecorino, gruyere, and buffalo mozzarella are baked halfway onto the dough, then half a pound of fresh spinach is piled on, and wilted onto the crust. It’s amazing. So is the amalfi, with its green olives, anchovies, and chiles. Needless to say, the black truffle special is great too.
I’ve been at Co. every other night since it’s opening and I love having what the menu calls “toast” with a glass of wine. These garlic-rubbed slices of bread are topped with braised pinto beans, roasted red peppers, roasted eggplant, or a smooth chicken liver pate. The chicken liver topping is so creamy and rich, and the flavors so well balanced. Not exactly surprising since Jim’s been perfecting the recipe for the past fifteen years.

Actually, Jim perfects everything, everyday. It’s why Co. is so good (and why I was excited about backing this restaurant). He makes sure each crust is evenly blistered, the amount of cheese just right, the slices cleanly cut. He adjusts his lemon and olive oil dressing to brighten his butter lettuce and roasted butternut squash salad and to balance his escarole and anchovy one. Every meal I’ve had there is so fabulous, so satisfying.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks so. Co.’s been pretty crazy since it’s opened. We want to keep it a casual, walk-in place with no reservations, but we’ll gradually extend the hours. It’s just the sort place you want to eat at all the time. I should know. I think I’ve gained about 4 pounds these last few weeks. I need to go back on my soba diet…