For the New York issue of our member newsletter, JBF Notes, we asked past Best Chef award winners from regions around the country to tell us what cuisine in the Big Apple means to them, and, of course, for their must-visit spots when they're in town. We'll be posting their responses throughout the week. Next up: Stephen Stryjewski, winner of the 2011 Best Chef: South award and chef of Cochon in New Orleans.
What is New York cuisine?
To me New York cuisine is about international flavors. I love to eat at all of the great, well-known places in the city, but my favorite thing to do is eat all of the items that you can’t get anywhere else in the U.S., or that are at least not executed as well. I love eating noodles in Koreatown and the adventure of cramming into a tiny elevator that opens into a restaurant full of authentic smells and flavors. I like traveling out to Greenpoint at Christmas to get kielbasa for my family’s Christmas Eve dinner, stinking up my suitcase for weeks.
Favorite restaurants?
I love Roberta’s because of the simplicity and style; Gramercy Tavern because it's timeless and the food and service are always impeccable; any of Daniel Boulud's restaurants because they are always firing on all cylinders; and Dave Chang’s restaurants because they have balls.
