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fashion stylist: valissa yoe; hair & makeup: nikki wang & noemie renvoize. aprons by editor’s index (editorsindex.com);
wardrobe provided by diesel, levi’s and john varvatos. behind-the-scenes photographs: fredrika stjärne and sara parks
fo r t h e c h e f s’
s i m p l e st r ec i p e s,
g o to
foodandwine.
co m /b e st-n e wchefs
These up-and-coming chefs,
in charge of a kitchen
for no more than five years,
are the future of food. Here,
F&W editors share their stories
of discovery and behind-thescenes photos from our shoot.
Photographs by Marcus Nilsson
meet the best new chefs 2013 back row, from left: Chris Shepherd Houston; Jose Enrique San Juan, Puerto Rico; Justin Cogley Carmel, CA;
Matthew Gaudet Cambridge, MA; Michael Hudman Memphis; Alex Stupak New York City. middle row, from left: Jason Vincent Chicago;
Danny Bowien New York City; Jamie Malone Minneapolis. front row, from left: Michael Voltaggio Los Angeles; Andy Ticer Memphis.
foodandwine.com july 2013
73
best
new
chefs
michael voltaggio
ink , los angeles
foodandwine.com/
best-new-chefs
danny bowien
m i s s i o n c h i n e s e f o o d, n e w yo r k c i t y
born
1982; seoul
raised
oklahoma city
experience
tribeca grill
new york city
slow club,
bar crudo,
bar tartine
san francisco
now cooking at
Mission
Chinese Food
154 Orchard St.;
mission
chinesefood.com.
Some restaurants hook you
from the first minute. That’s
not what happened to me at
Mission Chinese Food. A gate on the
window makes the space looks closed.
The wait for a table can last hours; then
an unpromising hallway leads to the dining room. I’d heard way too much about
Sichuan-peppercorn-obsessed Danny
Bowien, thanks to his popular San Francisco restaurant. I was ready to say ‘overrated.’ Then I tasted the thrice-cooked
bacon, a supersonic combination of
smoky, fatty pork stir-fried with rice
july 2013 frederick, md
experience
dry creek kitchen
healdsburg, ca
the bazaar
by josÉ andrÉs
los angeles
the dining room
at the langham
huntington
pasadena, ca
now cooking at
Ink
8360 Melrose Ave.;
mvink.com.
Thrice-cooked bacon, rice
cakes and bitter melon hit
every note I want in a dish.
cakes, tofu skin and refreshing chunks
of bitter melon; it hits every note I want
in a dish. I felt similarly addicted to the
fried chicken wings, and the ma po tofu
with a pork ragù that Bowien modeled
after Bolognese sauce, both replete with
those fragrant peppercorns. Now, like
everyone else, I can’t stop talking about
Mission Chinese.” —Kate Krader
74
born
1978;
prop stylist: angharad bailey; food stylist: chris lanier
lamb wontons
with salmon roe
and dill
The night I ate at Ink, the
dining room was packed with
fans of Top Chef Season 6
winner Michael Voltaggio. I wondered if
all the customers’ cameras pointed at
him would distract Voltaggio from his
cooking. In fact, I loved everything on
the hyper-creative menu. The dish I particularly obsessed over was the charcoal
potatoes—cooked in salty water spiked
with squid ink and black vinegar, they
look like lumps of charcoal, with crystallized salt on the skin and a tangy, fluffy
interior. Before he serves them, Voltaggio roasts the black potatoes quickly over
real charcoal, then garnishes them with
spring onions and house-made sour
cream. ‘We didn’t invent a new flavor—
it’s potatoes, sour cream and chives,’ he
says. Maybe so, but as with many of his
dishes, like corn cooked with miso and
topped with house-made Doritos, it’s a
fantastic combination.” —KK
shishito peppers
with tofu mustard
foodandwine.
com/best-new-chefs
foodandwine.com
best
new
chefs
jose enrique
j o s e e n r i q u e ; s a n j u a n , p u e rt o r i c o
born
1977;
san juan,
puerto rico
experience
cafÉ centro
new york city
san juan water
beach club hotel
san juan
bili
vieques,
puerto rico
riche
new orleans
now cooking at
Jose Enrique
la placita,
176 calle Duffaut;
joseenrique
pr.com.
Until recently, I’d never been
blown away by Puerto Rican
food; the dishes I’d tried were
always a little heavy and a little bland.
But Jose Enrique and his bright, sharp,
fresh flavors have changed my mind. At
his restaurant—a casual place in an old
house where weekend parties erupt on
the street outside—he writes his menu
on white boards, which allows him to
add dishes in the middle of service.
When I was there, he listed grilled thin
swordfish steaks, from a fish that had
been delivered just hours before, pairing
it with his outstanding hot sauce made
from chiles that he confits in oil for hours
with garlic and tomatoes. Blood sausage
also appeared on the menu. It was deep
black and porky, speckled with chunks
of delicious fat. Even better were the
blood sausage spring rolls I had another
night, baked in crisp spring roll wrappers with a serious swath of cream
cheese, which melts into a rich sauce.
That’s what a Best New Chef does: takes
a cuisine you don’t think you like and
turns you into a convert.” —KK
octopus
turnovers
with spicy
mayonnaise
foodandwine.com/
best-new-chefs
76
july 2013 mexican-style
fideos with chorizo
foodandwine.com/
best-new-chefs
alex stupak
empellón cocina and empellón
ta q u e r i a , n e w yo r k c i t y
I knew that Alex Stupak was
a pastry genius from the
desserts he made at Manhattan’s WD-50 and Chicago’s Alinea. So
I was surprised when he opened a
taqueria—especially because he had no
Mexican cooking experience. Stupak is
an exacting chef, though, and I should’ve
known that Empellón Taqueria and the
more ambitious Empellón Cocina would
born
1980;
Stupak makes my new
favorite guacamole,
studded with sea urchin
so it’s extra-luscious.
now cooking at
Empellón Cocina
leominster, ma
experience
the federalist,
clio Boston
alinea chicago
wd-50
New York city
105 First Ave.
Empellón Taqueria
230 W. Fourth St.;
empellon.com.
be sensational. Stupak makes the best
salsa I’ve ever had, blending smoked
cashews and chipotle, and also
my new favorite guacamole,
studded with sea urchin so it’s
extra-luscious. He brings equal
ingenuity to tacos stuffed with
ingredients like house-brined
short rib pastrami. ‘It’s reverse
colonization,’ he says. ‘It’s what
happens when Mexico settles in
New York.’ ” —KK
foodandwine.com
best
new
chefs
matthew gaudet
west bridge; cambridge, ma
zucchini and
spinach soup
with barley
foodandwine.com/
best-new-chefs
justin cogley
au b e r g i n e ; c a r m e l , c a
born
1978;
erie, pa
experience
charlie
trotter’s
chicago
now cooking at
Aubergine
L’ Auberge Carmel,
Monte Verde St.;
aubergine
carmel.com.
78
july 2013 Before he became a chef,
Justin Cogley was a professional ice skater who toured
the world and ate everywhere, keeping
a record of the most interesting flavors.
He clearly hasn’t forgotten them: The
international influences on his $98,
four-course prix fixe menu are aston-
I sat down to eat at West
Bridge at 6:30 p.m.; I sent a
text to our restaurant editor,
Kate Krader, at 7:04. ‘Kate!’ I typed as
quickly as I could (I was excited), ‘West
Bridge is off the charts!’ I had already
cleaned my first few small plates, including a thick cauliflower steak topped with
bone marrow and a bright harissa-sherry
vinaigrette. Matthew Gaudet modestly
describes his cooking as ‘refined New
England grub with French influences.’
It’s crazy delicious, with combinations
that are playful and smart—as in his
calamari ‘noodles,’ a soupy, briny dish
prepared with cockles, whelks and small,
sweet tomatoes. Gaudet’s plates are perfectly balanced, a skill he credits in part
to Marcus Samuelsson, who mentored
him at Manhattan’s Aquavit, and also to
Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who taught
him that it’s OK to take away components of a dish so it’s not overwrought.”
—Kate Heddings
melrose, ma
raised
sudbury, ma
experience
Eleven
madison park,
jean-georges,
aquavit
new york city
brasserie jo,
aquitaine
boston
now cooking at
West Bridge
Before he became a chef,
Cogley was a pro ice skater
who toured the world.
ishing. He garnishes a Monterey Bay
abalone steak with slivers of the tart
pickled Japanese fruit umeboshi,
local sea grapes and imported fresh
hijiki. I was knocked out by
the boldness of just-cooked
Japanese kanpachi (amberjack) with peeled dates
and a vanilla-and-Sichuanpeppercorn broth. I would
never have guessed that a
skating career would be the
key to such remarkable
food.” —KK
born
1971;
One Kendall Sq.;
westbridge
restaurant.com.
sunchoke salad
with applesunflower-seed
relish
foodandwine.com/
best-new-chefs
foodandwine.com
best
new
chefs
jason vincent
n i g h t w o o d, c h i c ag o
born
1975;
cleveland
experience
arzak
san sebastiÁn,
spain
fore street
portland, me
lula cafe
chicago
now cooking at
Nightwood
2119 S. Halsted St.;
nightwood
restaurant.com.
caramelized
watermelon
salad with
pickled
jalapeños
foodandwine.com/
best-new-chefs
In food circles, Jason Vincent
is known as the prince of
pork, last year’s winner of
both the Chicago lap of the pigfest
Cochon 555 and the Grand Cochon at
the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. Sure
enough, when I was at Nightwood, Vincent served fried pig’s ears—crispy,
chewy and sticky with maple glaze, and
awesome with the apricot-gin cocktail
I was drinking. But what made me cast
my vote for Vincent as a Best New Chef
was his version of carbonara. This dish
has it all—it’s drop-dead delicious,
beautiful, unlike anything I’ve ever had
and so much fun. Vincent fills a thin,
six-foot-long fresh pasta sheet with
creamy, cheesy carbonara sauce, forming a tube that he coils and cooks perfectly, then tops with pea shoots, herbs,
clams and mussels. There are so
many things that could go
wrong with this pasta, texturewise and temperature-wise, but
every part of it is perfect. Vincent might be called the prince
of pork, but I think he’s the king
of carbonara.” —Tina Ujlaki
popcorn shrimp
with corn butter
foodandwine.com/
best-new-chefs
chris shepherd
u n d e r b e l ly, h o u s t o n
Chris Shepherd looks like an
all-American linebacker. (In
fact, he is friends with several
players on the Houston Texans and
closes his restaurant on Sundays so he
can tailgate.) So I was surprised at how
Asian-leaning—and mind-blowing—the
food at Underbelly is. His ‘braised goat
and dumplings’ is actually crisp, fried
rice cakes in a rich, spicy sauce laced
with tender shredded goat and the
Korean chile paste gochujang. Wagyu
meatballs are served in a salty-sweet
gravy, punched up with fish sauce that
Shepherd ages in-house. At the end of
Wagyu meatballs are
served in a salty-sweet
gravy punched up with
house-aged fish sauce.
born
1972;
grand island, nE
raised
tulsa, ok
experience
brennan’s
of houston,
catalan
houston
now cooking at
Underbelly
1100 Westheimer Rd.;
underbelly
houston.com.
the meal, there’s another surprise: A
pamphlet in which Shepherd calls out
places around Houston that inspire him.
‘We’d love to have you back at Underbelly, but we politely request that you
visit at least one of these folks first,’ he
writes. He says this about the restaurant
Pho Binh by Night: ‘Bone marrow pho?
Say no more. I’m in.’ Me too.” —KK
80
july 2013 foodandwine.com
best
new
chefs
salt-baked whole
fish with fennel
foodandwine.com/
best-new-chefs
Andy Ticer &
michael hudman
a n d r e w m i c h a e l i ta l i a n k i t c h e n , m e m p h i s
jamie malone
sea change, minneapolis
born
1982; st. paul, Mn
experience
la belle vie,
porter & frye,
barrio
minneapolis
cocina del barrio
There were so many dishes
that sounded delicious on
the menu that it took me a
long time to order at Sea Change, where
Jamie Malone is the chef. (Tim McKee,
an F&W Best New Chef 1997, oversees
the place.) Finally, I just dove in, starting with Malone’s version of chawan
mushi, which she makes with bacon.
edina, mn
now cooking at
Sea Change
806 S. Second St.;
seachangempls.com.
Bacon chawan mushi
is a Japanese classic
reimagined with confidence
and sophistication.
The super-silky, just-set custard with its
hint of porky smokiness and aromatic
yuzu, topped with barely cooked scallop
slices, is a Japanese classic reimagined
with confidence and sophistication.
Malone’s cooked-just-right trout roulade with smoked farro, roasted grapes
and Marcona almonds left me wondering, How did she turn the fillets into
perfect spirals? ‘Meat glue,’ she told me.
‘Wow,’ I replied, not because she smartly
used the enzyme powder to hold the
fish together, but because the dish is
that good.” —TU
82
july 2013 Italians love to feed people
well; so do Southerners.
Andrew Michael Italian
Kitchen combines the two. The place
is run by chefs Andy Ticer and Michael
Hudman, childhood friends who both
grew up in big Italian families. I prepared myself for hedonistic dishes that
could only be dreamed up by swineloving Southerners raised on Maw
Maw’s ravioli (an actual choice on the
menu, made with chicken-gizzard
gravy). But I discovered that the chefs
also make incredibly nuanced food
with pitch-perfect flavor balance. The
quail, brined in a spicy, fragrant
satsuma-citrus mixture, made me want
to pull every bit of meat off the bone.
I also loved the golden sweetbreads,
served with creamed collard greens,
apple wedges and crispy cubes of
pancetta—decadent, yes, but brightened by generous spoonfuls of the
pickled-mustard-seed garnish that
popped in my mouth like tangy caviar.”
—Kristin Donnelly
Michael Hudman, left,
and Andy Ticer
born
ticer: 1979;
hudman: 1980;
Memphis (both)
experience
(both) Frank
Grisanti’s,
chez Philippe
Memphis
now cooking at
Andrew Michael
Italian Kitchen
712 W. Brookhaven
Circle; andrew
michaelitalian
kitchen.com.
grilled hamand-pimentocheese
sandwiches
foodandwine.com/
best-new-chefs
foodandwine.com