Feature: Attack of the 50-foot chefs
January 12th, 2009 by Jennifer Zyman in Restaurants
HE'S CRAFTY: Tom Colicchio gets around
New York chefs are invading Atlanta and taking over! Assemble the villagers and light the torches!
Why does this seem to be the reaction of so many once they hear big name chefs have chosen Atlanta as an outpost for their iconic restaurants?
Recently, we’ve seen an influx of New York chefs opening restaurants in our fair city, including Tom Colicchio (chef/owner of Craft, Craftbar and ‘wichcraft and a judge on the hit Bravo reality series “Top Chef”), Laurent Tourondel (chef/owner of BLT Steak, BLT Fish, BLT Prime, BLT Burger and BLT Market) and Jean-Georges Vongerichten (the man atop an empire of restaurants including Jean Georges, Spice Market, Market and Matsugen).
Supporters of local chef-driven restaurants worry these big names divert business from local restaurateurs and chefs. Cynics argue the food and experience simply cannot be replicated away from the restaurant’s home turf without the chef regularly overseeing quality.
But what is the real story? Why are these chefs here and how should we feel about their arrival? We spoke with chef Tom Colicchio and chef Laurent Tourondel to get their side of the story.
Atlanta beckons
On the phone, Colicchio is all business, but genuinely passionate and warm. And it seems he did his research before deciding to open here. “Atlanta, for the size of the city, there’s a lot of good, well-run, respected restaurants,” says Colicchio. “We knew that it’s a good food town. We knew we could get product from talking to some of the chefs there. It’s a big city, there’s gotta be an audience.” The chef doesn’t buy into the negative perceptions others unfortunately have of the South. “I spent a lot of time in South Carolina just south of Charleston in Kiawah. I spent some time at the Kiawah Island Club and a lot of members are from Atlanta and they are very food knowledgeable and savvy. Cities are cities. I’ve been asked whether I’ve tailored my menu to Atlanta. No. I think it is disingenuous to sort of dumb down a menu to a clientele.”
Tourondel says, “There’s good potential of having a successful restaurant in Atlanta. People in Atlanta are very sophisticated and ready to have different chefs come, and ready to just experience different food.” The chef also has a personal connection to our city. “One of my best friends is Joel (Antunes), who left Atlanta and is in New York now.” Tourondel has even hired one of Antunes’ former sous chefs, Jean-Luc Mongodin, as the chef de cuisine for BLT Steak in Atlanta.
Maintaining excellence
Theoretically, the successful replication of an original dining experience depends in great part upon the chef. Some are content to leave the fate of the restaurant to their staff with a few visits here and there, while others are more hands on. It appears both these chefs adhere to the latter philosophy.
“I will be there for the opening and will come back during the next three months a lot because I want to make sure I know it is working well,” says Tourondel. “It’s a big project because it’s the whole hotel. It’s room service, breakfast, banquets, the lobby lounge, lunch and dinner.” When asked if he worries about controlling quality from a distance, Tourondel says “it’s always a concern, but I trust my team. You must make sure you have the right people working for you and go from there. People who are responsible and mature enough to run the restaurants when I am not there. It is training, conceptualizing. It is a big responsibility.”
Colicchio agrees. “I don’t open a new location, unless I have a chef who has been with me for five years minimum who’s ready to take the next step. If I don’t give them the opportunity, they’re going to leave anyway and go do it. These guys have been with me a long time, they understand conceptually what I’m looking for, they know they have to source locally and look for great products. If I were there tonight, there wouldn’t be much change at all in the restaurant—except I’m walking around making everybody nervous,” he says with his trademark chuckle. “The same people are going to be cooking whether I’m there or not. I am not leaving my kitchen to a sous chef, I am leaving it to a chef.”
As much he trusts his staff, Colicchio is still very involved. “I am running these kitchens. I am not in them everyday, but I am speaking with my chefs everyday,” he says. “When I am in New York — if I am in the restaurant — I am in the kitchen. I’m in the kitchen a lot more than people give me credit for. I don’t just walk around my dining room. Especially now, people want autographs and pictures. It becomes disruptive to the diner who just wants to eat.”
Attack of the 50-foot chef?
Both chefs made good points when they were asked what they would say to reluctant diners who’d rather support local chefs instead of their establishments.
Tourondel says he is “not trying to challenge anyone or put people out of business.” He simply wants “to create a different experience of what is there and give people an opportunity to try what we do.” He also added he just wants “to please people.”
“We’re not out to crush the competition in Atlanta,” says Colicchio. “In fact, I know we’re successful, when five years from now, we become a local restaurant. The restaurant comes from New York, but there’s 100 people that are working in that restaurant that are local. If you come to my restaurant in Atlanta, you’re supporting local farmers and you’re supporting the local economy. I don’t buy into the idea that we’re a bunch of carpetbaggers coming down from New York to open a restaurant in Atlanta and somehow hurt the local competition. In fact, from talking with a lot of local chefs, they think this just elevates the overall dining scene.”
Would it be too far-reaching to take these transplant restaurant openings as a compliment? Do we need these chefs’ approval? No. But their investment in our city speaks volumes. These restaurants add diversity to Atlanta’s culinary landscape that, frankly, was not strong enough to hold onto upper echelon chefs like Joel Antunes, Guenter Seeger, Sotohiro Kosugi and Michael Touhy. It could even be said that those chefs may have stayed in Atlanta—instead of heading for greener pastures—if our dining scene had provided a more fertile breeding ground for their respective restaurants. A breeding ground that Craft, Craftbar and BLT Steak could help foster.
Colicchio says it best: “If the restaurant is good, if the food coming out is high quality, then the people should accept it for what it is.” It’s hard to find fault with such a well-reasoned approach.
(photo courtesy of Craft)
January 12th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
“We knew we could get product from talking to some of the chefs there.”
I wish restaurants still sold food instead of Product.
January 12th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
chefs buy product and turn it into food.
January 12th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Colicchio & Tourondel are legit chefs who are restaurateurs not franchise builders like Emeril. Either way this is a huge upgrade for an town lacking in professional kitchen talent and food creativity & breadth. If only Batali would come…
January 14th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
ONLY if Morimoto would come.
January 14th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
There is plenty of culinary talent in atlanta; however, the masses do not support them. Bruce Logue is easily the most passionate and talented chef in Atlanta right now. He was a former sous chef for Batali at Babbo and worked at michelin starred restaurants in Italy. And unlike the big name chefs who have migrated to atlanta, he doesn’t not charge 42 for a piece of flatiron steak.
As far as Colicchio and Tourondel not being franchise builders I have a hard time believing that. Craft holdings has 9 restaurants between the Craft, CraftBar and CraftSteak names and an additional 13 wichCrafts. 22 restaurants isn’t trying to build an empire? And the BLT franchise has 13 operations already. While i think that it’s great if they can repeat the success of their original operations, it usually does not happen. And then to charge the same prices they do in new york and not to receive the same quality food as they serve at their flagships comes off as rude and arrogant. I’d be more impressed if they would just keep one or two restaurants or at least keep them all in the same city so the diner doesn’t get short changed. But for some the bottom dollar is most crucial. Think Jean- Georges restaurant empire is anything like what he originally was known for? If so try spice market in midtown sometime and see if it is worth the ridiculous prices.
January 17th, 2009 at 4:03 am
I wish Tom, Laurent & Jean Georges all the best in Atlanta. Having spent 22 years of my restaurant and cooking career there, I know how warm the people are and I miss that. I do think that it’s interesting
that all 3 of them have opened up in “hotels” vs. “freestanding” restaurants like Guenteer, Soto and myself had. It would me an entirely different game for them. It’s unfortunate that it takes a huge corporate structure/deal to make a restaurant work in that city or almost anywhere these days. The small chef/owned operation is a dream that is getting harder and harder to be more than just that, a dream.
ciao!
January 17th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
The scene here in this city has always been hard to break into as many have tried for years. It seemed that out of town concepts don’t understand the whole package. The hotels will support these concepts with funds until enough is enough. There is no doubt it will bring good food to the plate. The question will enough folks pay and recognize this. Local will not have to operate any different as they already understand what it takes in Atlanta and unfortunately the food is second on most of the guest list. Some of the number ones are place to be seen/ Price per visit/ How much traffic do i have to deal with/ Do i know the owner.. etc…. Good luck on slaying these guys