Bryan Zupon (bryanz) & Z Kitchen in the NY Times

[Chris Amirault]

Society members have probably come to know the talents and enthusiasm of our own Bryan Zupon (bryanz), an active member in many topics and a past eG Foodblog blogger. (Click here for his "Alchemy" opus.)

Well, the NY Times Magazine caught wind of Bryan's endeavors in his Z Kitchen, and this Sunday the world will learn more about his amazing work:

While his classmates followed A.C.C. basketball, Zupon followed the nation’s chefs: he switched to the molecular-gastronomy team after a revelatory meal at WD-50 in New York in 2004. His heroes include “Wylie, Grant” — Wylie Dufresne and Grant Achatz, the chefs of WD-50 and Alinea, respectively. “And chef Paul Liebrandt — I really, really, really, really miss Gilt. It was a spectacular meal,” he says of the dinner he had at the restaurant before Liebrandt left last year.

The summer before his junior year, Zupon decided to bring a taste of the cutting edge to North Carolina with Z Kitchen. Thanks to a bigger campus apartment and a “permanent loan” from his parents to buy a vacuum sealer and two refurbished laboratory water baths for sous-vide cooking, an induction burner and other gee-whiz toys and ingredients, he opened his own underground restaurant and joined the ranks of those offering word-of-mouth dinners in their homes.

He was host to his first table of guests that September, and given his presence on Internet chat boards (he had already guest-blogged on egullet.com) and the Raleigh-Durham food scene, he was booked almost every week for the following two semesters — midterms and finals periods excepted.

You can read the full story here -- and watch Bryan in action!

If you'd like, you can send Bryan a PM with your own reaction. But speaking for all of us, congratulations, Bryan!