10 SECRET WEAPONS BEHIND NYC’S TOP RESTAURANTS
by Kelly Dobkin
In the NYC restaurant world, when an eatery gets a good review or a high rating, it’s typically the executive chefs, owners and managers that get all the glory. But the real backbone of every restaurant is never any of these boldfaced names; it’s the quiet, skillful, passionate folks who toil behind the scenes without high title or recognition, making sure that all the key elements of the restaurant are in place each night. Today, 10 of these unsung heroes will finally get their due. We scoured NYC’s kitchens looking for them — everyone from a dedicated Mile End dishwasher to Michael White’s low-key pasta master. Read on to hear their untold stories and learn their secrets to success.
Name: Elsa Martinez
Title: Garde manger, Union Square Cafe
Stats: Elsa Martinez, known in the kitchen affectionately as “mama,” has worked at NYC icon Union Square Cafe since 1987, first on pastries and pasta and then moving up to command the garde manger station (where salads and cold dishes are prepared). Martinez is the guardian of the kitchen here: all the top chefs that rose through the ranks here had to go through Elsa’s station first, everyone from Dan Kluger (ABC Kitchen) to Ben Pollinger (Oceana). “Many of the chefs come from culinary school, but most of them don’t know how to hold a knife,” she tells us. USC does around 300 covers a day and Martinez is there six days a week.
Secrets to success: “Keep your head down and work, and pay attention,” says Martinez, who learned how to cook from her mother in the Dominican Republic some 40+ years ago. Martinez often gives the nod to the executive chef as to whether a new recruit should move up the ranks or not.
Future plans: Martinez hopes to retire in three years. But she admits, she will probably still come into the restaurant even after retiring. “Everyone loves her here,” says current executive chef Carmen Quagliata. “People come back here to visit and they all want to see Elsa.”
Name: Jenny Jones
Title: Purchasing manager, Gramercy Tavern and the soon-to-open Untitled
Stats: Jenny is in charge of purchasing all of the gorgeous produce you’ve been eating at Danny Meyer’s farm-to-table NYC restaurant as well as the pickling program and educating all staff on the products they’re serving each day. She purchases from well over 40 different farms, as the restaurant goes through over 1,000 lbs of produce a week during most of the year, and that number grows dramatically during the summer. For most of the year GT sources about 95% of its food locally, but in the winter has to source a little bit farther out. Jenny’s career first began in the Peace Corps in Swaziland after graduating from University of North Carolina. After returning, she went to culinary school in New England and then moved to NYC to pursue a career in the kitchen, working for two years at Del Posto. But after injuring both her feet, working on the line all day was less realistic, but Jones deems it a natural progression anyway. “Produce and working with the farmers was the reason for getting into the field for the first place,” she admits.
Secrets to success: “Being extremely flexible,” Jones tells us. “Because something always gets derailed. Prior cooking experience is huge; it’s hard to know what’s really good if you don’t have a developed palate. Also if you’re not willing to go to the market and taste, there’s no point.”
Future plans: Jenny will take over purchasing for the upcoming Danny Meyer restaurant, Untitled, on the High Line, slated to open in May. “We don’t have access to the space yet, but right now I’m doing double duty starting to set up some of the processes there.” In terms of life goals, Jones is very happy where she is but hopes to one day move to the country.
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UNSUNG HEROES
