Chef de Cuisine Oliver Muller (2nd from the left) and his staff smile for the camera at the NYC Summer Restaurant Week Kickoff on Thursday. (Vicky Zheng/The Epoch Times)
The New York City Restaurant Week began in 1992 to welcome visitors attending the Democratic National Convention. Restaurants offered visiting Democrats a taste of high-end cuisine at a fraction of the usual cost, according to NYCGo.com.
NYC Restaurant Week has expanded to two weeks since its early days, occurring once during the summer and again in the winter. This summer, the long-awaited event lasts from July 12 to July 31.
Two hundred and fifty restaurants all over the city are participating in Restaurant Week. Cuisines offered range from French to Scandinavian to Greek and hail from some of the city’s most exquisite restaurants.
Amateur cook Varti Pomakian, a native of Bulgaria who works as an inventory manager for a publishing company, was very happy to have found the NYC Restaurant Week through her boss, who invited the whole office to the event.
Tasting delights at the crowd-packed gathering, Pomakian lauded Bice Ristorante’s beef and mushroom raviolis. She also shared her techniques on making Bulgarian dish cheese pie, which is formed by thin sheets of dough filled with cheese, eggs, and yogurt.
Chefs in white rushed to prepare tempting teasers of some of the dishes that will be offered during Restaurant Week amidst the excited chatter of the crowd and a special performance from the cast of Broadway musical “Hair.”
Oliver Muller, Chef de Cuisine at db Bistro Moderne, handed out samples of his “Grilled Mahi Mahi,” “Lamb Couscous” and “Chicken Ragu.” Chef Muller, 34, has been cooking since he was 17 years-old and hails from Strasbourg, France. db Bistro Moderne, located on West 44th St. serves French cuisine with American influences.
Top restaurants participating in Restaurant Week are at the front of creative culinary innovations.
Executive Pastry Chef at the Tribeca Grill, Stephane Motir, described the restaurant’s “futuristic” strawberry cheesecake, which is shaped like an ingot or a gold bar, with an indent filled with raspberry gelée.
Spice Market serves South East Asian cuisine with influences from Malaysian, Thai, and Indian dishes made with fresh spices and ingredients.
Head Chef Anthony Ricco has always entertained a passion for cooking. At the tender age of five, he used to get up to make breakfast for his family. He studied under Jean-Georges Vongerichten, known as the “King of Fusion” for his creation of many exotic Asian-inspired entrées.
Chef Ricco’s favorite cuisine at the moment is Chinese, though not the “overdone” version Americans are so familiar with.
In addition to culinary exquisiteness, Chef Ricco reported that he and his staff put a lot of “effort and hospitality” into the food made at Spice Market.
Culinary delights await those with a taste for high quality and artistically and conceptually pleasing foods at NYC Restaurant Week 2009.
For more information on which restaurants are offering three-course lunches for $24.07 and dinners for $35, visit http://nycgo.com/restaurantweek.
