In the Kitchen with Ryan Tate

Apr 29

Written By

Le Restaurant

in All Good Things Market

April 14th I grab my jacket. It smells like a campfire. Yet I've been in NYC for weeks on end now.I inhale, and am back in Ryan Tate's kitchen, where oak and cherry wood fuel a massive grill and oven in which he roasts, bakes and finishes off a new 6-course menu every night.I'm not a chef. Not one that has ever worked in a restaurant kitchen, at least. Being a private chef means moving in a completely different world, where my speed and concentration are determined only by what I've chosen to make, a running clock, and whatever the family or their guests may throw at me unexpectedly. But when I sit in on service at restaurants in New York City now, I'm very much aware of an energy that's new to me, and always different depending on who's running the show and how their night is going.I stopped into Le Restaurant at the beginning of dinner service on a Saturday - Tate's underground joint is only open for dinner Thursdays through Saturdays, beneath the All Good Things market he runs with partner Kyle Wittels. Theirs is an interesting energy. They both seem a bit wary of things one has to deal with owning and running a restaurant in New York right now, like press and, say, having a website. They may not be the best on email. They may be a tad more self-conscious than they like to let on in person.But they shouldn't be.Because theirs is a job well done, down below a TriBeCa food market three nights a week.Even when tables are full and numbers are working, the open kitchen retains a sense of control. There was time and space for my questions and their quips. And then, of course, were the plates.Take a look.[gallery type="rectangular" ids="201,206,204,205,203,202,207,210,208,209,212,211,219,223,213,215,217,214,218,220,221,222"]