Today’s guests join us from the restaurant opening soon you’ve heard nothing about, but will undoubtedly be talked about, once the secret gets out. Or it opens? Which will come first? The Noortwyck is an elevated neighborhood restaurant focusing on delicious food and warm hospitality set to open in NY’s West Village. Helmed by a team of EMP Alums including Chef Andy Quinn, Director of Ops Cedric Nicaise, and dream weaver and artist Bridgette Zhou. We're excited to hear what they have been working on!
Over the years there have been many trendy methods of naming your restaurant, from street numbers to creative abbreviations. I personally like when a business is straightforward, a book title that clearly describes its contents. Cafe Spaghetti does that, in a playful way, while leaving room for the diner to be wowed by just how serious this neighborhood Italian spot is about its food. We wouldn’t expect anything less from our friend, chef, and owner Sal Lamboglia. Opened at the start of this month, Cafe Spaghetti in Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens is Sal’s first step into ownership after many years amongst the talented teams behind Andrew Carmellini’s Noho Hospitality group and most recently Bar Primi.
Ci Siamo means, we have arrived. And judging by the packed dining room and the buzzing, expertly trained service team at Ci Siamo last month, we may have finally arrived into the post covid era of dining. We’ve had the pleasure of knowing Chef Hillary since her time as CDC at A Voce with Chef Missy Robbins, to chef/partner at neighborhood favorite Vics and now exec Chef at Danny Myers's latest venture, Ci Siamo, where her cooking centers on live-fire cooking showcasing the simplicity of fine seasonal ingredients and drawing on her diverse culinary background from Spain to Italy.
At first glance, Hungry House reminds us of the experience we remember as a kid at the mall food court, the fantasy realized of having all of your faves available in one meal. However, Hungry House, its roster, and the way it works with its collaborators are much more than an indulgent trip to the mall. Founded by Kristen Barnett this past Fall, Hungry House is a brick and mortar and delivery platform that dubs itself the “anti-ghost kitchen”, having recently served as the COO of ghost kitchen Zuul. Serving up dishes from a seasonally rotating roster of chefs you may not have otherwise had access to. Including our friend Woldy Reyes, chef and owner of Woldy Kusina, a modern Filipino concept, who joins us today.
Opening a restaurant is a challenge. In the sense of the word that it’s hard, it’s expensive, stressful, and much more. Today’s guests are tackling that challenge, of course, but they’re also using their new restaurant as a challenge to the industry, to the norms that have been created, and the exclusions that have been present in their careers and throughout the industry. They aim to build an experience that serves everyone equally and thoughtfully, with acceptance, balance, and fun. We are here today with partners Chef Telly Justice and Camille Lindsley of HAGS, a community-driven tasting menu restaurant in NYC’s East Village by Queer women for everyone. Chef Telly has been working in restaurants for over 15 years since she was 18 years old, with stints at anarchist vegan restaurants in ATL to Michelin Star tasting menus in NYC. Camille Lindsley is a certified Somm and heads up the beverage program. Expect a fun, thoughtful, and communicative brand of hospitality that centers queerness at HAGS. We have a new format today! We will be chatting, drinking, and cooking along with Telly and Camille as we chat about all things HAGS.
We were first introduced to Edith’s in the summer of 2020 when we joined the line of several dozen other hungry Brooklynites looking for hand-rolled bagels and hot latkes. Fast forward 18 months and Ediths has 2 permanent locations including a brand new flagship complete with café and grocery. Founder Elyssa Heller is on a mission to highlight food of the Jewish Diaspora beyond the standard delicatessen offerings. Elyssa has previously worked in operations for big brands such as Milk Bar and Dylan’s Candy Bar and is bringing her love of Jewish Cuisine forward with Edith’s.
Every restaurant, no matter how hard they try to avoid it, ends up with food waste. Slow nights, weather impacted outdoor dining, pandemic surges and dips, and just the normal ebb and flow of running a restaurant can leave food on the table, literally. There have been options in the past, but how does a case of celery on the brink or an overstock of milk help by itself? ReThink Food tackled this problem with a solution that puts ready-to-eat meals directly in the hands of those that need it. Starting in 2017, ReThink has distributed nearly 6.9M meals to communities impacted by food insecurity. Here with us today is ReThink’s founder and CEO, Matt Jozwiak. Matt has worked in restaurants nearly his entire life starting as a dishwasher and eventually landing as chef de partie at EMP.
Are pop-ups here to stay? According to our guests today, YES! They are doing just that with their Eastern European cuisine, and building their pop-up and frozen Pelmeni business, Dacha 46, from the ground up after a successful run of pop-ups, including a term at our previous guest, Libby Lark’s community space, KIT. Excited to welcome chefs Jessica and Trina Quinn to the show.
Our restaurant delivery system is broken. Can we all just agree on this? Restaurants are getting hammered with percent-of-sales fees, delivery drivers are hurting for fair pay, stability, and safety, and customers have been trained to expect faster delivery times and wider accessibility. We are excited to welcome back to the show Josh Morgan, operating partner of Melt Shop and CEO/Co-Founder of Sesame, a new delivery platform for restaurants by restaurateurs, that is fighting back against the established aggregators. Sesame just launched its beta in NYC this past week.
We’ve tried this once before - booking a guest the day before they opened that is. And last time? Well, we had a quiet line… Today, though, our guest has made the time to chat with us on how he, along with his partner plan to open their doors to their new concept housed in a 150-plus-year-old iron foundry outside Philadelphia. We are happy to have Nicholas Elmi, former Top Chef winner and James Beard Finalist, joining us on the show today in light of I’m sure a very busy last-minute schedule. Nick along with his partner Fia Berisha will be opening Lark, a coastal Mediterranean restaurant, housed atop Ironworks at Pencoyd Landing.