Yunnan Kitchen Has a One-Star Advantage

whole crispy shrimp at yunnan kitchen - yana paskova for the ny timesPete Wells heads to Yunnan Kitchen on the Lower East Side for this week's review.  He explains the restaurant, previously featured on our Donde Dinner? column, "takes a farmers’ market approach to the cuisine of Yunnan Province in China."  This approach has already proved successful at the hands of Ed Schoenfeld and Joe Ng at RedFarm in the West Village.  Their website describes the food at RedFarm as "inspired Chinese cuisine with Greenmarket sensibilities."

At Yunnan Kitchen, "Mr. Post’s fresh, locavore sensibility leads to straightforward and uncomplicated cooking," Wells writes.  This sensibility in Travis Post ripened during his stint at Franny's in Brooklyn.  Overall, this approach to cooking, along with the access and captial to purchase quality products, plays a significant role not just in the success of Yunnan Kitchen, but restaurants city wide.  Wells describes it as a "revolution," and explains that it "hasn't reached all quarters.  Along Lexington Avenue, great Indian cooks are currying nondescript chicken; Thai chefs in Queens are making do with spongy pork; and in Brooklyn, Nigerian kitchens are stewing farmed fish that bears only a slight resemblance to the original article."  "Those Thai chefs," he continues, "can’t buy Berkshire pork if it means tripling prices and alienating core customers."

The review suggests a set of advantages found at Yunnan Kitchen and "restaurants that have the financing and the cultural wherewithal to bring in customers who will pay for premium ingredients."  Yunnan Kitchen may not serve food that has the same caliber of authenticity found at the likes of Andy Ricker's restaurants, which helped earn Pok Pok NY two stars, but the local, seasonal approach to cooking, coupled with access and funds to purchase quality ingredients from established purveyors is enough to elevate the restaurant to star quality.

Former Chinatown Brasserie Gets Cleaned Out; Signs Go Up

On Wednesday, June 20th, there was a same day announcement that Chinatown Brasserie would be closing at the end of the day.  Workers were inside cleaning out the 380 Lafayette Street address yesterday and a look through the doors revealed a completely gutted space. 

Partners Josh Pickard, John McDonald, and chef Joe Ng said they would look for a smaller space in the same neighborhood to reopen later this year.  A few hours after it was announced CB was closing, Andrew Carmellini, who is a partner with Josh Pickard and Luke Ostrom in Locanda Verde and The Dutch, confirmed his group was taking over the space and planning a French restaurant.

There are "Nous somme la cuisine" posters on the windows of the yet to be named Carmellini space:

UWS Fatty Crab Is Scurrying Away; Red Farm to Slide In

Restaurateur Ed Schoenfeld and chef Joe Ng opened Red Farm last summer.  Pete Wells gave it two stars to in March.  In April, Ed Schoenfeld told Paper Magazine he's taking over the laundromat space under Red Farm, providing more space for guests to dine at the wildly popular Chinese joint on 529 Hudson Street.  His plans are for a bar and communal table and will open sometime this fall.

The Off the Menu column in today's Dining & Wine section of the Times reveals Red Farm is undergoing another expansion.  Florence Fabricant reports, "Ed Schoenfeld and Joe Ng plan a branch of Red Farm, their West Village Chinese restaurant, to open in the fall, replacing Fatty Crab on the Upper West Side, which remains open for the time being."  The space in question is 2170 Broadway, between 76th and 77th Streets.

Andrew Carmellini Plans French Restaurant in Former Chinatown Brasserie Space

The owners of Chinatown Brasserie announced they are closing their six-year-old restaurant on Lafayette Street today. Josh Pickard, John McDonald, and chef Joe Ng have plans to reopen in a smaller venue in the same neighborhood, where they feel the restaurant can be a better experience. Joe Ng will continue his duties as executive chef at West Village hotspot Redfarm. 

Josh Pickard is a partner with Luke Ostrom and Andrew Carmellini in Locanda Verde and The Dutch. Diner's Journal reports today that the powerhouse team is taking over the old Brasserie space and planning a French restaurant.

Mum will be much of the word while the project is in its infant stages, but we know Carmellini is well-versed in French cuisine. He worked under Gary Kunz at Lespinasse and with Daniel Boulud at Cafe Boulud.  It will be interesting to see what the partners do with the two floors at 380 Lafayette Street.

Joe's Red Shanghai Farm

It wasn't so long ago when Chinatown was the best option for Xiao Long Bao, aka soup dumplings.  You would turn off Canal onto Mott Street and then walk until you came to that movie-set, ripped-right-from-Hong Kong street named Pell.  You turn left and find Joe's Shanghai halfway down the block.

Restaurateur Ed Schoenfeld and chef Joe Ng have introduced a detour to that Chinatown route.  You'll find their soup dumplings a bit further north at RedFarm in the West Village.  The newish restaurant on Hudson Street has "green market sensabilities" and two stars from Pete Wells.  Their dumplings are like the ones at Joe's, but with a suit jacket on.  Here's a slideshow of how they're made.

Pete Wells + RedFarm = 2 Stars

Pete Wells is a big fan of dumplings.  At Red Farm, the new(ish) market driven Chinese restaurant in the West Village, he gives them and the rest of the menu two stars.

Redfarm is the wok work of restaurateur Ed Schoenfeld and chef Joe Ng.  Joe Ng doubles as executive chef at Chinatown Brasserie on Lafayette Street.

So that makes Ed, Joe, and the dumplings the face of the restaurant, right?

Update on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 4:22PM by Craig Cavallo

Chinatown Brasserie closes and Andrew Carmellini takes on new lease.  Owners plan to reopen in the same neighborhood under a smaller roof sometime this fall.