Arrive Magazine - March/April, 2010

Oh? Tuthilltown Spirits? What do you like about it?

It’s just a good business. I like the whole ethic. It’s awesome. And it’s damn good whiskey.

And what appeals to you about their ethic?

The tradition. It’s an independent company, and they’re very professional. And they do everything well. Their branding and marketing are fantastic.

Plus it’s damn good whiskey. One of the things I understand about The Breslin is that it’s all about meat. Is that so?

We sell a lot of o;al at [ The Spotted Pig] and it’s just a little o;shoot of that, but we’ve taken it one step further, where we make our own terrines and sausages, and our own blood sausages. We stu; pigs’ feet. We don’t get to do that at the Pig because it’s too small.

Diners appear to be getting more adventurous in what they’ll taste. Is that true?

In general, New Yorkers are quite adventurous. The food in New York is innovative and progressive and it’s always evolving and changing. It’s a fast-paced city and things keep progressing, and that’s a good thing.

What about the next animal? Are we tired of the pig?

I think lamb is going to come into fashion. Over the last six months I’m serving a lot more lamb on my menu. It’s a fallacy that Americans don’t like lamb.

Small plates are not just the size—people also like the concept. Everyone shares a couple of these, a couple of those, and nobody has to commit. Is this a good thing?

I love it. And what we’re trying to do at The Breslin is actually create a more communal, help-yourself feel. We have pig’s foot for two and a roasted belly for two. It creates conversation and you can pass around plates. It’s really nice to kind of share, and you get to taste a lot more. You don’t get as full up and you’re not obligated to eat so much.

Are you seeing taste buds change, too? Several years back you didn’t see many pickled or fermented foods on menus—no w handmade pickles, sauerkraut and kim chi are de rigeur. Our cocktails appear to be getting tarter.

I couldn’t imagine anything worse than drinking a cocktail that’s terribly sweet. People like balance. ... You get your little cocktail drinks in Boston that are nice and well balanced, too.

Absinthe, for example, in San Francisco. You Americans—you invented salty and sweet, you know, the chocolates with the salty peanuts? That was a whole new thing for me when I got here: salty chocolate!

What about other American regional cuisines? Are they influencing you at all?

I really like spicy baked beans on my menu for my English breakfast. It’s a side of beans to complement the breakfast. We put jalapeño and bacon that we smoke ourselves, tomatoes and molasses ... it’s not your boring old standard baked beans that you get in England. They’ve got a little character.

You make your own sausages and smoke your own bacon, and even describe the ratio of your own mayonnaise. Is this kind of slow-food style—and I don’t mean slow-slow— something people are adopting more and more?

It’s good to make your own stu;; it’s good to know where your product comes from. It’s better than opening a box and you don’t know what you’re eating, do you? If you learn how to cook and you start as far from scratch as you can—you can pass that along to your children. It’s more healthy and you’re more informed.

And what about fine dining—is it over? Will it ever be back? I think people just want something different. It’s been a long time coming. And in New York it’s adapted really well. Since I’ve been here it’s been becoming a little more casual. New Yorkers love their cute little small places, and after the recession and 9/11, people just wanted something a little more intimate and comforting. Like The Spotted Pig, really, it’s very inviting and it’s familiar, and people like things that are familiar. But people are always going to want to splurge. To treat themselves for something a little more extravagant for a special occasion. Maybe for your grandmother’s 70th birthday, you’d like to go to a slightly more posh place.