Her jewelry designs are unmistakably elegant, but chefs in the city know Ellen Hunter for a different reason. She has once again completed her culinary quest to dine at every MICHELIN-Starred restaurant in New York.
For the past fifteen years, Ellen Hunter has designed her own line of hair accessories, worn by queens (Her Majesty Queen Mary of Denmark and “Queen Bey” Beyoncé) and NYC style icons (Miss Americana Taylor Swift and socialite Olivia Palermo) alike.
“Fashion is art that you wear, and food is art on the plate,” she says with a cheerful grin.
Hunter has always enjoyed dining out, but it wasn’t until she ate a delicious Black Label burger at Minetta Tavern in 2017 that she stumbled upon MICHELIN-Starred restaurants. Captivated, she boldly declared to her friends, “I'm going to visit all of them.” The Star Crawl was born.
Fast forward seven years and over one hundred MICHELIN-Starred restaurants later. “I have my classics that I'm always going to love and revisit over and over again,” says Hunter. “I love Le Bernardin so much. Daniel is absolutely fabulous. Sushi Noz is the best sushi in New York City. Number one, without a doubt, is Jean-Georges. He's such a true trailblazer.”
For other occasions, Hunter also has her picks. “I love my staples at Casa Mono, like the fideos and clams, or the pork sobrasada dish. I dream about it. At Torrisi, I sit at the bar and have a few a la carte pastas. The best-priced tasting menus would be Red Paper Clip and Jua. At lunchtime, Aquavit.”
Frevo and bōm are Hunter’s secret hideaways. She explains, “Frevo is like an art gallery/ speakeasy restaurant. You think it's a tiny art gallery in the Village, but then somebody opens up this painting into this Narnia-like passageway. The food on the plate is some of the most artistic that I've seen.”
Hunter has also expanded her flavor palate, learning to love uni (sea urchin) at Jungsik, wasabi at Yoshino, and sweetbreads (thymus or pancreas) at Shmoné, all ingredients she previously avoided. She explains, “I trust chefs and put the experience in their hands.”
Semma has introduced her to new dimensions of Indian cuisine. “The gunpowder dosa looks like a slab of wood, and you have no idea the intense flavor that you're going to experience with that dish. The most unique flavors have been at Semma.” Hunter smiles, “[Chef Vijay Kumar] is such a positive human being.” Chef Kumar shares a similar sentiment, saying, “Ellen is such a lovely person with vibrant energy. She is genuinely one of the sweetest.”
The chefs’ personalities contribute to her unforgettable dining experiences. She explains, “Sushi Ichimura, that man is such a legend. It's like watching live theater to see him create and present his omakase. Clover Hill, Charlie Mitchell. He's this quiet force in the kitchen, to see his creations come to life on the plate. Nadav Greenberg at Shmoné, he's so focused, but you can feel his [fun] energy throughout the restaurant.”
A few months ago, a chance encounter became Hunter’s most treasured MICHELIN memory. “I was eating at Ma•dé, Cedric Vongerichten’s restaurant, with my parents who were visiting from Tennessee. There's a man sitting next to me on a date with his wife. It's James Kent.”
“He spoke so highly of everybody in the industry,” she says of the late chef. “He had trained with Jean Georges, Daniel Boulud, and he was talking about how they taught him so much about leadership and cooking. It's something I'll never forget. It made my parents’ visit so special here.”
Just as she curated her parents’ first-ever MICHELIN-Starred experiences, Hunter now extends that hospitality to others. As a newly minted real estate agent, she includes her passion for restaurants when recommending properties. “I get out my MICHELIN app, and I’ll say, ‘Here are the nearby MICHELIN Stars.’”
Each year, more New York City restaurants are awarded MICHELIN Stars. Hunter smiles, “What's great about the MICHELIN Guide is that my star crawl journey never really ends.”
Hero image: Images of Ellen Hunter, Shmoné, and Semma are all courtesy of David Belusic.
