Just a few months after Jean-Georges Vongerichten, the man behind eponymous three-Michelin-starred restaurant Jean-Georges, announced that he’s opening a Singapore offshoot, the chef is pulling one more rabbit out of his hat: He’s opening ABCV – a vegetable-centric restaurant in New York City in the same month.
It’s his third collaboration with ABC Carpet & Home CEO Paulette Cole, the first two being ABC Kitchen and ABC Cocina – both also in NYC with a focus on being eco-conscious and organic where possible.
It’s his third collaboration with ABC Carpet & Home CEO Paulette Cole, the first two being ABC Kitchen and ABC Cocina – both also in NYC with a focus on being eco-conscious and organic where possible.
One of the dishes served at ABC Kitchen. Image credit: abchome.com
While vegetable-centric menus have been increasingly popular even at Michelin-starred restaurants (of which Odette and Jaan are just two fine examples), Vongerichten’s establishment will go entirely meatless.
But the chef isn’t fond of the term ‘vegetarian’.
“For me, it sounds like a disease,” he says, in an interview with New York Magazine. “I like to call it a vegetable restaurant.”
(Related: The Uncomplicated Diner: Singapore's meat-free guerrilla dining movement)
But the chef isn’t fond of the term ‘vegetarian’.
“For me, it sounds like a disease,” he says, in an interview with New York Magazine. “I like to call it a vegetable restaurant.”
Vongerichten's effort to avoid cooking with meat is a valiant one as it battles mindsets while demanding technical mastery – nevermind his play on euphemisms. As diners often look to proteins as the highlight of any dish, chefs have to come up with creative ways to tease the best flavours out of roots, stems, shoots and leaves without resorting to mock meat.
It also encourages sustainable eating as rearing animals for the slaughterhouse takes up far more resources and produces higher rates of greenhouse gas emissions.
Not that all this is new to him. Vongerichten is after all, the chef who threw a spanner into the traditional flavour profile of French cuisine three decades ago by substituting heavy butter and cream with lighter vegetable reductions. He also avoids using meat-based stocks in his signature cuisine in favour of fruit essences, vegetable juices and herbs.
Over at ABCV, his menu takes on a South Asian slant. Details have yet to be firmed up but Vongerichten has spoken of dosas and kitchari – a dish made of rice and pulses cooked with spices and ghee.
It’s a clever track to take, as vegetarianism has a long history with South Asian cuisine, not to mention its potential to attract two very lucrative sets of diners: hordes of tourists from the subcontinent and New York City’s clean-eating, yoga-practising hippie set.
Further reading: Beyond the Table: Bjorn Low of Edible Garden City
It also encourages sustainable eating as rearing animals for the slaughterhouse takes up far more resources and produces higher rates of greenhouse gas emissions.
Not that all this is new to him. Vongerichten is after all, the chef who threw a spanner into the traditional flavour profile of French cuisine three decades ago by substituting heavy butter and cream with lighter vegetable reductions. He also avoids using meat-based stocks in his signature cuisine in favour of fruit essences, vegetable juices and herbs.
Over at ABCV, his menu takes on a South Asian slant. Details have yet to be firmed up but Vongerichten has spoken of dosas and kitchari – a dish made of rice and pulses cooked with spices and ghee.
It’s a clever track to take, as vegetarianism has a long history with South Asian cuisine, not to mention its potential to attract two very lucrative sets of diners: hordes of tourists from the subcontinent and New York City’s clean-eating, yoga-practising hippie set.
Further reading: Beyond the Table: Bjorn Low of Edible Garden City
