But theyre very good at keeping their customers, says Nieporent. I mean, I love the creamed spinach and Dover sole, but theres more to a place. (It hardly helped that Niccolini was charged with sexual assault for forcing himself on a woman at a party at The Four Seasons in 2015; he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to no jail time. Someone should be writing this down, Rosen said. Additionally, MFG manages all food and beverage operations for the hotel, including special events and 24-hour room service. New York had the highest population of Zelnick families in 1920. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. The space was built in 1958 by Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson. The guys behind Carbone want to turn the place that invented the power lunch into an actual food destination. It makes a kind of sense that they would assume the mantle of a project as grand as this. Their most casual enterprise, Parm, has been replicating at a rapid pace, with outposts from Battery Park City to the Upper West Side, and the chain appears poised to grow into a red-sauce analogue to Shake Shack. With these two new restaurants you have now moved uptown and taken over and restored the famous Four Seasons Restaurant. I came up with it out of nowhere. Hes never heard of such a dish. Major Food Group's Jeff Zalaznick, Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone Seth Browarnik "Being in a private club, we're able to spread our wings and really unleash the full battery of culinary tricks. He then struck out on his own and conceived, developed and sold two highly . On Thursday morning, the four met in a conference room at the Lever House, which is also owned by Mr. Rosens company, RFR Holding, to talk about their plans. The first chef of The Four Seasons, Albert Stockli, was Swiss, so we spent a day in Zurich, Carbone said, where they ate beef stroganoff at Kronenhalle. No idea what came next. Then in Seattle. Because of this opportunity. We saw our clientele shift, Jeff being so well-connected, plugged into the New York elite if you will not that hes an elitist, Kulp said. Carbone and Torrisi respect Zalaznicks palate, but they also like to teasingly remind him that, fundamentally, hes of a different breed the George Martin to their John, Paul, George, and Ringo. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Carbone, for his part, has hit upon a signature pasta dish as a way to offset what he calls the disturbing tendency of noodles to take over a restaurant concept. The problem is that even the most unremarkable pasta on a menu is usually popular, threatening to become what a kitchen is known for. Half in the kitchen and half front of house. From left, Mario Carbone, Jeff Zalaznick, Rich Torrisi and Aby J. Rosen in front of an Andy Warhol painting at the RFR Holding offices. His childhood epiphanies involved lunches in Chinatown and his grandmothers meatballs with Sunday gravy, which I realized early on was so much better than what my non-Italian friends were eating. He was taken with the cultish environment of the professional kitchens he began working in as a teenager in Westchester a local Chart House, then the Kittle House in Chappaqua. All rights reserved 2023 The Real Deal is a registered Trademark of Korangy Publishing Inc. By 2010, the 27-year-old Zalaznick had had enough of being on the sidelines. We all come together and collectively create these concepts that excite us. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Privacy Policy and They bring the whole idea to life. Rich and Mario would have been successful on their own. Different sorts of hams, and terrines, and classics like steak tartare. "And they're all quite significant.". Its silky, but its a question of being able to get enough of it. Jeff Zalaznick May 14, 2017 "The most famous restaurant space in America." Jeff how many restaurants do you and your partners in the Major Food Group have today? Lebron James, Jeff . We had to wait two months just to get it in to try it., Trying to showcase the American culinary tradition in the former home of The Four Seasons is something of an archaeological trick. Our hope is to create a vibrant space and an anchor for the neighborhood, he said. Jeff Zalaznick. A Carbone Captain filets the Dover Sole Piccata. You have 20 foot ceilings and 10,000 square foot spaces, restaurants that are so comfortable. Actor. It was rooted in an idea of a Continental restaurant basically a London chophouse with some French, some German, some Italian influences. They spent time poring over menus from mid-century and before Carbone has collected them on eBay for years from institutions that begat The Four Seasons, such as the 21 Club and Delmonicos. We used to call it a 400-square-foot rocket ship, Carbone said. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. We try to make sure that all of our guests feel very comfortable. Studio Sofield and Ken Fulk are designing the project, according to a release. A few weeks ago, in an empty dining room of what used to be The Four Seasons restaurant, Jeff Zalaznick arrived late to a meeting with his business partners, the chefs Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi. This was about 33% of all the recorded Zalaznick's in USA. As part of his deal with his tenants, he retains control over the physical space the architecture and, important to him, the art on the walls. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Listen, we always say its not hard to be full when you open. We try to consistently tell our story and our message and make sure that the food, the experience, the service and every different element tells that story. He knew the food, and he loved the food, but he was there to make money.. Can The Four Seasons Be an Actual Food Destination? I love that because Im kind of similar in that way. The 1,049-foot tall tower could become among the tallest in Miami, with others also planned at that height. Also in Brickell, Stern has approval for a 2.5 million-square-foot development with a 752-foot-tall tower with 1,000 apartments, 200 micro units, a 200-room hotel, and 250,000 square feet of office space. In 1920 there were 11 Zelnick families living in New York. And they were hot.. I cant help it if all day long Im surrounded by delicious food, he said, adding that because hes married and has two children already, his girth is evolutionarily irrelevant. I knew in my heart that I would always end up making Italian food, Carbone said from across the room. I was able to pursue that dream when I met my partners Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone, who had opened a restaurant called Torrisi Italian Specialties. It was two months before the closing of the old restaurant when they announced their gambit of opening a new and transplanted Four Seasons. In 2015, RFRs Rosen, ever the provocateur, angered New Yorks most powerful by announcing his intention to replace the fabled Four Seasons restaurant at the base of his Seagram Building, when its lease was up the next year. UPDATED, May 3, 11:55 a.m.: More than three years after listing his Miami Beach mansion, baseball Hall of Famer Mike Piazza caught a winning pitch for the waterfront property. You know, the fear of change thats what makes people so nervous, Mr. Rosen said. Major Food Group (MFG), the globally acclaimed hospitality brand that has taken Miamis restaurant scene by storm, has opened its first-ever project in Brickell, Dirty French Steakhouse, a glamorous, energetic, and extraordinary interpretation of the classic steakhouse. They cut the steak into small pieces, which they ate with their fingers. A grand New York destination inside the iconic Puck Building, Torrisi features a bustling bar, two dining rooms, and a menu inspired by our neighborhood of Little Italy and the city's beloved culinary traditions. The Kebab Chain Poised to Shake Up New Yorks Doner Scene. When we first opened Torrisi, it was all about the food. Zalaznick jumped into both, building and selling a food content site that started as a restaurant search portal called Always Hungry. Im not going to try to give you some crme Chantilly about it. He adds that they hired Isay Weinfeld, a Brazilian architect, to design the restaurant, and construction began late last month. After two or three generations, those Jewish families lost track of . I just followed what I loved to do., Torrisis parents worked at the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan. The team continues its Florida expansion with ZZs Sushi Bar: a Japanese restaurant and membership club in the heart of the Miami Design District, slated to open later this month. This was about 42% of all the recorded Zelnick's in USA. Was it the most expensive restaurant when it opened? Torrisi asked Sheraton. The previous workers had been working on wooden pallets on the kitchen line because the floors were so bad, and there was an open container of marinara on the counter with a ladle still in it, as if they had just walked out. Zalaznicks only condition was that they be allowed to keep the glowing sign, which they left in place, tacking Carbone across the former lettering. Run by Julian Niccolini and Alex Von Bidder, the Four Seasons was a bastion of power in New York, where the whos who of media, finance and politics mingled, and regular guests could count on being courted. We wanted to do New York style Italian, but in a fine dining environment. Upon opening, Carbone received a dazzling five out of five stars from Time Out New York, four and a half stars from Bloomberg three stars from The New York Times, and has received one Michelin star every year since 2014. Billions (TV Series 2016- ) Jeff Zalaznick as Jeff Zalaznick. The first thing we had to figure out when we signed the lease was, Whats the story we want to tell? Zalaznick said one day. At The Grill weve got a very classic cake program, we have chocolate cakes and Charlottes and meringues and flambs, and all these classic mid-century desserts. Thats what tenderloin is for, Torrisi said. For Rich, its the lobster ravioli and octopus, for Mario its the Veal Milanese (which is not on the menu, but theyll make it for anyone who asks), and for Jeff, its the beef carpaccio and Lobster Fra Diavolo. In its heyday, it was the sort of place where Barbara Walters, Sandy Weill, and Calvin Klein knew they could run into one another and get a plate of crab cakes ($56). Since its opening, ZZ's Clam Bar has received three stars from GQ Magazine and Bloomberg. To this end, Torrisi has gone through more than 50 classic potato preparations to come up with the only potato side dish he plans to serve at the Pool.