Johnny Iuzzini - Chef - Find. Eat. Drink.
Executive Pastry Chef Johnny Iuzzini, Jean-Georges Restaurant, New York, NY, Where to eat in New York, chef recommendations, Spain, Chocolate, San Sebastian, Roses, Basque Country, El Bulli, NBC Top Chef Desserts, Where to drink, cocktails, recommendations, pastry, best chocolate for baking, baker, pastry, Brooklyn, Queens
BOUCHON BAKERY
I tend to make appointments to always go to Bouchon, because I love the coffee cakes that they do. Or I’ll get a pain au chocolat.
Upper West Side
Pastry
RESTAURANTS - NEW YORK, NY
BON CHON CHICKEN
It’s like Korean fried chicken. They have a technique where they fry the chicken twice, I think they do it at two different temperatures, so you eat and it stays super crispy and the meat is super tender and moist underneath.
Korea Town
Korean
LE BERNARDIN
155 West 51st Street, New York, NY 10019 (view map)
T: 212.554.1515 (make a reservation)
Pastry chef Michael Laiskonis has a tremendous hold on balance, on technique, on refinement - there is never anything cloyingly sweet, you’re always interested by what you’re eating and it’s always delicious.
Midtown West
Seafood
PEASANT
194 Elizabeth Street, New York, NY 10012 (view map)
T: 212.965.9511 (make a reservation)
Peasant is my favorite place in New York, hands down. Every time I go to Peasant it almost brings me to my knees, because it is so damn delicious. It’s just rustic Italian food and dish after dish you’re like ‘how could it get better?’ For me it is so special, so awesome.
Nolita
Italian
PHO 32
2 West 32nd Street, New York NY 10001 (view map)
T: 212.695.0888
It’s so bare bones. I always get the number 6. I always get the raw beef pho. I don’t like the meatball ones, I don’t like the brisket ones, I don’t like tendon, I like the raw beef. I’m not Vietnamese, but it kind of reminds me of mom’s chicken soup a little bit!
Korea Town
Vietnamese
Pastry chef Alex Stupak is one of the most talented pastry chefs in New York. He is awesome. There is always a punctuation point of pure flavor. Something is always going to pop.
Lower East Side
New American / Molecular Gastronomy
CUFF AND BUTTONS
T: 646.319.0333
Cocktail Caterers
COCKTAILS - NEW YORK, NY
PEGU CLUB
Get the ‘Red Pepper, Red Pepper.’ It’s insane. They cut the red peppers to order, muddle fresh red pepper and then make the cocktail from there.
Soho
Cocktail Lounge
LITTLE BRANCH
22 7th Avenue South, New York, NY 10014 (view map)
T: 212.929.4360
Opened up by Sasha Petraske alumni.
West Village
Cocktails
Owners learned from Audrey Saunders of the Pegu Club.
East Village
Tequila/ Mexican
They are very conscious of fresh ingredients and precision, with respect to tradition and always going back to classics and building upon the classics.
East Village
Cocktails / Hot Dogs
WEATHER UP
589 Vanderbilt Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11238 (view map)
The bartenders worked with Sasha Petraske of Milk & Honey.
Prospect Heights
Cocktails
COCKTAILS - BROOKLYN, NY
DUTCH KILLS
Opened by Sasha Petraske of Milk & Honey.
Long Island City
Cocktails
COCKTAILS - QUEENS, NY
I went there for my birthday and I had a great meal.
L'Eixample
Contemporary Mediterranean
RESTAURANTS - BARCELONA, SPAIN
La Rambla 91, 08002 Barcelona, Spain (view map)
Located to the right of the main entrance
Pinotxo has been there for a long time, he’s right at the front of the market [La Boqueria]; he’s there everyday and he’s always dressed up and always taking pictures with everybody. They do the most delicious, super simple food that is expertly prepared and it has so much flavor. The chickpeas are awesome. His gambas are awesome.
Raval
Spanish
EL BULLI
It was 41 courses, really hyper-thought out food, intellectual food. I wouldn’t say everything was so delicious, but everything made you think about flavors, about textures, about contrast.
Roses
Contemporary Spanish
RESTAURANTS - ROSES, SPAIN
RAFA’S RESTAURANTE
c/ Sant Sebastià, 56, 17480 Roses, Spain (view map)
T: +34/972.254.003
It’s one guy and he’s got a grill and he only cooks whatever the fisherman bring him that day. When I went, he brought out razor clams, and then he brought out a big thing of mussels, and then he brought out these beautiful gambas, and then a lobster. It’s so simple and perfectly cooked. There is salt, pepper, some lemon juice, maybe a little fresh herb and that’s it!
Roses
Seafood
They make all their own charcoals everyday fresh, they make their own butter everyday by smoking the cream first, separating the curds and whey, whipping the fat into butter. I thought everything was delicious, but there was definitely a disconnect between what they’re doing in the kitchen and how special it could be if they just translated it to the dining room.
Spanish Basque Country
Spanish
RESTAURANTS - BASQUE COUNTRY, SPAIN
MUGARITZ
Otzazulueta Baserria, Aldura Aldea 20
20100 Errenteria, Gipuzkoa, Spain (view map)
T: +34/943.522.455
It’s about the total experience. You get out and you see all the herbs that they grow, and you see the cooks out there picking the herbs that they’re going to use in your dishes. Across the hill, you see their dairy farm. it’s amazing.
Errenteria / Astigarraga
New Spanish
MICHEL CLUIZEL
Cluizel is a great chocolate.
French
Chocolate
CHOCOLATE
VALRHONA
I use a lot of Valrhona for most of what I do here. For my bon bon program, it’s almost all Valrhonna.
French
Chocolate
SCHARFFEN BERGER
Good chocolate.
American
Chocolate
TCHO
I think they’re coming up. It’s American made and I thought it was really delicious.
American
Chocolate
OKAMOTO STUDIOS
They are world class champion ice carvers. You want clean ice. Why would you use tap water with flavors of fluoride and chlorine and all these other things that change your drink, when you could have the cleanest purist ice and clean ice will melt at a much slower rate.
Ice Sculpture Carving Studio
ICE
September 12, 2010
RECOMMENDED BY
Bespoke Chocolates in New York
COOKBOOK
Dessert Fourplay: Sweet Quartets from a Four-Star Pastry Chef
RECOMMENDATIONS
Chef Johnny Iuzzini’s recommendations on where to eat and drink in New York (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens) and Spain (Barcelona, Roses, Basque Country).
WHO
Executive Pastry Chef for Restaurant Jean Georges in New York and Judge on Bravo’s Top Chef: Just Desserts.
WHY
For his work at the Michelin three-starred Jean Georges, he won the James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef of the Year 2006.
CHEF JOHNNY IUZZINI
EXECUTIVE PASTRY CHEF - RESTAURANT JEAN GEORGES - NEW YORK, NY
Photograph by Travis Huggett