The Food Doc

Since he departed A Voce five years ago, chef Andrew Carmellini has found much success using his experiences traveling around the country and in Europe to establish restaurants that offer what I'd like to call "haute comfort food": enhanced versions of cherished dishes from one's childhood.  Locanda Verde is known for its family style Italian food; The Dutch serves up American rustic cuisine.  Even the desserts are supposed to dredge up memories of happier and simpler times.  However, as interesting and delicious as the dishes are, I cannot help but wonder where the talented chef that won James Beard Foundation awards and Michelin stars has gone.  Fortunately, I saw glimpses of this chef at Lafayette, Mr. Carmellini's newest venture in NoHo.

Since Torrisi Italian Specialties opened in the spring of 2010, the culinary duo of Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi have proven themselves to be at the vanguard of interpreting Italian-American cuisine.  From the nightly seven-course meals and chef's tasting menu at Torrisi, to the sandwiches and nightly specials at Parm, Mr. Carbone and Mr.

With all the accolades and Michelin stars, it is still a surprise that chef Wylie Dufresne has not ventured much beyond the Lower East Side: compared to many of his contemporaries, who have gone on to open mini-empires both within and without New York City, Mr. Dufresne has remained at wd-50 for the past decade, perfecting his craft and winning converts to his modern interpretations of various dishes.

When the Momofuku brass cryptically tweeted about its late night dinner series last month, the demand for seats for its inaugural dinner featuring Philadelphia native Michael Solomonov of Zahav was so great that it had to create a second seating to accommodate the demand.  I admit I was not familiar of Zahav or Michael Solomonov, but I was assured by the Momofuku people that the dining experience was going to be memorable, so I requested a seat for the second seating.

Montmartre NYC is the sixth and newest addition to Gabe Stulman's Little Wisco restaurant empire, but it is his first foray into French cuisine, as well as his first restaurant to be established outside the familiar confines of the West Village.  For such an ambitious undertaking, he hired one of the better known interpreters of French cuisine in the city: Tien Ho, lately of Momofuku Ssam Bar and Ma Peche.  Mr.

I've become close to many of the chefs that have manned the kitchens of the Momofuku restaurants in the past six years or so, and some of them I consider to be good friends.  I've tried to follow the careers of those chefs who have left the fold in recent years, and although many have remained in the Tri-State area, others have found employment elsewhere in the country, making it difficult to see how their culinary talents have blossomed in their new surroundings.

On March 10, 2008, in a little spot that once housed a noodle shop along First Avenue near 10th Street in the East Village, a restaurant opened with a simple concept: the kitchen staff a pre-determined  ten-course dinner based on the ingredients of the day; no exchanges, no replacements (except for food allergies).  Fine linen, plush seats and even an obsequious waitstaff were eschewed to reduce costs, and to make the dining experience more democratic, in a way.

When the beloved pop-up Frej closed it doors last year, there was much speculation as to the future of its talented chefs Fredrik Berselius and Richard Kuo.  Mr. Berselius decided to double down on New Nordic cuisine with Aska, while Mr. Kuo opted for more crowd-friendly fare with his Asian-influenced dishes at the newly opened Pearl & Ash.  However, do not mistake crowd-friendly for dumbed down: Mr.

Two renowned chefs working on a meal can be an exciting and rewarding experience for the diner, but it can also be fraught with uncertainty.

Chef Mehdi Brunet-Benkritly has made a successful career out of celebrating all things carnivorous, first at the venerable Au Pied de Cochon in Canada, and more recently at Gabe Stulman's Bar Fedora in the West Village.  So, when it was announced in July of last year that Mr. Brunet-Benkritly's next project with Mr.