Elite Traveler Summer 2019

“I grew up picking radishes for lunch in the garden. There’s nothing better than that crisp, straight-from-the- backyard freshness on a plate.”

the 2018 New York City Michelin Guide, the fine-dining restaurant held three Michelin stars. Last year, he lost a star for the first time in his career. “I will never go after why, but I think a tasting menu alone, that’s the new game. Jean-Georges is still fine dining, but most of the three-starred restaurants today have one menu.” With a tasting menu, though, Vongerichten explains that choices are eliminated before the guest even sits down. “Luxury fine dining is simple and well presented. I think a tasting menu works in a small room or at a counter, but Jean-Georges is prix fixe. There are more options, and that’s luxury too.” Redefining luxury through the lens of sustainability is Vongerichten’s current mission. “I want to be the first 100 percent green restaurant, from compost in the kitchen to zero GMO, all organic. I don’t know if there is such a label, but I want to create it.” At abcV, everything is recycled. They purchase everything on eBay. “Even our frying oil in the kitchen is GMO-free. We try to really have everything as organic as we can. Because I just turned 62, and I want to be 92.”

restaurateur. “There are two things I’ll never do: I’ll never take an American classic and reinvent it; and I won’t ever open another restaurant where I can’t cook the food myself.” In 2003 Vongerichten opened 66, a Chinese restaurant in New York’s Chinatown. “I had a team of Chinese [chefs] brought in from Hong Kong. I couldn’t take over for the chef. I don’t know how to use a wok. If I can’t learn every single station myself, I won’t do it.” Another station, and inevitably another lesson, for Vongerichten occurred outside of the kitchen. The proprietor left school at age 16 but returned, to Hunter College at age 33, in order to scrupulously learn how to open and run a small business. “It’s all about overhead. That’s still my business plan. I know the threshold of every single restaurant and, on a daily basis, what’s needed to survive. I never invest money back in a restaurant. If we break even, it’s never going to succeed before we have to reinvest.” The chef is doing a different kind of reinvesting in his crown jewel, Jean-Georges in New York. Since its opening in 1997 and until the release of

To create his depth of flavor, Vongerichten begins with his origins. “I grew up picking radishes for lunch in the garden. There’s nothing better than that crisp, straight-from-the-backyard freshness on a plate.” (At his ABC Kitchen in New York, market radishes with seasoned butters is a perennial favorite.) From there, the chef relies on his French techniques and “Asian touch.” “There’s always a touch of chili, an acidity. There’s vinegar and citrus juices, but the ingredients are better now. It took me 30 years to try and find a good, organic carrot.” Plants and vegetables have become central to Vongerichten’s thinking and menu planning. The plant-based abcV in New York, as well as the seasonally focused Jean-Georges Beverly Hills, are a few of the latest eateries that subscribe to the chef’s steadfast beliefs. “As you get older you try and live longer and healthier, so I’ve begun to cook a bit different.” Although Vongerichten prioritizes his time in the kitchen, even spending four to five hours every day “touching food,” throughout his career he’s admittedly misstepped as both a chef and a