There are few restaurants that create buzz on a global scale, but Ilis is just that. The brainchild of Noma-alum (and co-founder) Mads Refslund and his business partner Will Douillet, Ilis seeks to elevate the dining experience through every touchpoint. Below, one writer gives a sneak peek into one of the world's most talked about restaurant openings and what to expect.
“We are going to start with a clam drink” proclaims a moss green apron-clad chef who stands behind a custom gueridon cart inlaid with crushed ice that he has pushed over to my table. Four neatly arranged rows of New England-sourced scallops and oysters sit atop the ice, adorned with unripe strawberries and a vibrant green mignonette. But right now the chef is focused on arranging two giant surf clams, larger than his hands, tightly bound with kitchen twine that forms an X-shape, ensuring that the mollusk’s two halves remain tightly sealed, safe-guarding my first course, which he describes as having tart and earthy flavors akin to a Michelada.
Sucking down tomato-spiked clam broth to kick off a fine dining meal is the precise start I might expect at Noma, arguably the world’s most influential restaurant that chef Mads Refslund co-founded twenty years ago with wild foraged ingredient icon René Redzepi. Nine years after leaving his Copenhagen base to pursue his own project in the U.S., Refslund—who teamed up with Will Douillet, former sommelier at Chicago’s Three MICHELIN Star Alinea—has launched ILIS, a vibey, earthy-toned restaurant with no traditional service team and a choose-your-own-adventure-themed menu hinged on fire-kissed, seasonal North American ingredients.
Named after a mélange of the Danish words for “fire” and “ice,” ILIS—claiming an old 4,500 square foot rubber factory warehouse in Greenpoint, Brooklyn—is turning the notion of what a restaurant is, and how it functions, upon its head.
Inspired by Noma’s service model that omits waiters and instead relies on cooks to carry dishes straight from the kitchen to the dining room, Refslund has doubled up on his kitchen staff, and at any given time half his cooks works in the kitchen, while the other half manages the floor, taking orders and serving guests; offering patrons one of two dining formats. Guests can either let the kitchen cook—which amounts to $275 tasting menu whose number of courses change daily—or choose a selection of those same dishes from an à la carte menu.
"It's the way I like to eat myself,” says Refslund of his decision to offer two meal experiences. “Sometimes I like to choose my own dining experience, and sometimes I like to leave it in the hands of the capable chef.”
And guests who order à la carte have more control of their evening by picking not only length of meal, but also their choice of ingredients and manner of preparation. For example, a guest can start with small seafood-centered bites off a snack trolly, like the inaugural clam flask, before perusing a menu block with 10 dishes focused on five ingredients—such a matsutake mushrooms and big eye tuna—each offered in a hot and cold preparation.
The mushrooms, a prized tuber commonly harvested during the fall and incorporated in Japanese cuisine, hail from the Pacific Northwest and come raw and shaved, bundled in lotus leaves along with a fresh white cow’s milk cheese that has the texture of silken tofu. Or, simply grilled, mixed with maitake and chanterelles, accented with a creamy fermented mushroom sauce.
Next, the kitchen offers two larger format, share-style dishes, like a brown trout so perfectly cooked it almost appears to have been prepared sous-vide. The fish comes whole but deboned, wrapped in grape leaves, and encased in birch wood, before it’s slow cooked over a mix of upstate, New York-sourced ash, apple, and cherry wood for eight to 16 minutes depending on the animal’s size.
And that precise cook is due in part to ILIS’ range, a handsome kitchen showpiece custom-built in Atlanta by Grills by Demant that includes both a rotisserie and oven. The hearth is so specialized, that it took the New York City Fire Department a year and a half to approve it, which is why the restaurant only opened last month.
ILIS’ dining room—bathed in golden light thanks to ubiquitous flickering candles—is built around this totally open kitchen: a spic and span, modern workspace that contrasts the dining room’s raw exposed brick walls, unfinished wood ceiling, and bohemian air. Tables and counter dining space wrap around the kitchen in a U-shape, with a separate bar and lounge area up front hinged on natural wine and botanically-minded tipples, lined with low-slung, white cushioned wood furniture that would not look out of place in Tulum, Mexico. In fact, that’s precisely where Refslund worked on and off for the last decade, and the area’s bohemian nature shines through here loud and clear.
Beyond a customer-forward dining system and inspired, rustic plates that highlight produce and seafood (by way of meat, ILIS only serves wild and sustainable bison and venison), it’s the restaurants atmosphere—a sort of effortless, laid-back cool—that sets it apart. Like catching lightning in a bottle, forging such an ambiance is no easy feat. It’s one that comes when all the elements of a venue’s front-of-house and back-of-house align. But in this case ILIS just has one-house, and maybe that’s the secret to success—because the team has nailed it.
Hero image: Courtesy of ILIS
All photos: Courtesy of ILIS
