The Plaza is back

[Fat Guy]

Willis Loughhead, who for years I've been calling the best chef you've never heard of, has materialized again. He has just started as executive chef at the Plaza hotel. That means he's responsible for the food at the Palm Court, as well as the rest of the hotel's food-service operations (not the Oak Room, which is operated by a vendor).

Willis had us in as his guests for afternoon tea yesterday. He had given me the choice of lunch or tea, and I chose tea so we could bring our son, but I instantly regretted my decision because tea is mostly a pastry-chef thing (not that there's anything wrong with pastry chefs) and I wanted to see what Willis was doing with the actual restaurant menu. I shouldn't have worried, though. Willis sent us a selection of items from the regular menu as pre-tea courses. He sent out so much food that towards the end I detected that our server was afraid for our safety.

I confess, when Willis told me he took the job at the Plaza I wasn't optimistic. I've been following Willis for years now, through a succession of unfortunate exits from what seemed like promising restaurant jobs. He opened the Bar Room at the Modern and left just a few days before it received a three-star review in the New York Times that, while never mentioning Willis, argued that the food in the Bar Room was better than the food in the Modern's fine-dining restaurant area. He next turned up at Country, which imploded soon after I had some very tasty food there. After that, he was at the ill-fated Table 8 at the Cooper Square Hotel which, while poorly reviewed, was quite good. So I figured, with the Plaza, okay, Willis took a hotel job because he wants to take it easy. More power to him.

Not so. The Plaza turns out to be a serious operation, and Willis is doing some delicious food at the Palm Court. He also seems to be working 'round the clock to make the Plaza into the special destination that New York City deserves. And as a special bonus he has fought to keep the prices reasonable.

We started out with a smoked sturgeon salad on a corn cake topped with American caviar. This first taste convinced me that it was okay to remain a Willis Loughhead fan: it has the look and feel of a classic, old-school, grand-hotel/luxury-liner dish but it has been reimagined by a chef with a modern sensibility.

Also on the table, Willis's interpretation of oysters Rockefeller with Satur Farms spinach, artichoke puree, and Pernod.

I'm not one for knuckling under to the nostalgia of old hotels, but even for me it was hard to shake the feeling that eating oysters Rockefeller -- especially such tasty ones -- in the Palm Court represented the pinnacle of my recent existence. The setting is definitive: there are the other nice hotels in New York City, and then there's the Plaza. The Palm Court has been restored to what must be better than it ever was: the lighting, glass-dome ceiling, furniture...all absolutely exquisite. And while I've heard that the Plaza hotel has a union waitstaff, with all the troubles that brings, our experience with the servers was that they were friendly, eager and helpful. The $18 price tag on the sturgeon salad is very user-friendly, as is $15 for the oysters Rockefeller.

Next up, the mother of all seafood salads.

This amazing creation contained Maine lobster, Laughing Bird shrimp, Berkshire bacon, avocado and blue cheese. It was as good as it looks, and huge. At $27 it's one of the most expensive menu items but that's hardly an unreasonable price for this item.

Also on the table with it, first-rate burrata (cream-based mozzarella-like cheese) with roasted tomatoes and Marcona almonds.

Willis is using, as he has in past positions, Fleisher's organic beef from upstate. For our last sampling from the lunch menu he sent out a roast-beef sandwich (with pickled vegetables, watercress and horseradish cream) and a chili burger (topped with short-rib chili and goat cheddar). Eating a chili burger in those surroundings is a little incongruous, but this was a chili burger worthy of the Palm Court.

We were feeling alarmingly full at this point, but the avalanche of afternoon-tea trays was still to arrive.

Our son simply couldn't believe what he was seeing.

There are four tea assortments available. One of them, the chocolate tea, we didn't try (Willis showed mercy, otherwise I'd be posting this from the hospital). The three you see pictured here are the New Yorker (that's the one with the black-and-white cookie on the top tier), the Eloise, and the Classic. I won't go into every detail of every item. Suffice it to say the tea assortments are collections of wonderful little items, the best I think being the truffled quail-egg salad. Or maybe the scones with clotted cream, lemon curd and berry jam. Or maybe...

I'm no architectural photographer but I did try to take a photo of the restored ceiling. This should at least give an idea of things.

I had some follow-up email correspondence with Willis last night and he came across as incredibly enthusiastic about his new position. I don't pretend to know what will happen with the Plaza as a business proposition, but Willis is certainly doing his part to restore the place to its former glory and even surpass it.

I only have two negative observations:

First, the distance one needs to travel from the Palm Court to the restrooms is insane. You can't believe how far it is. No matter how much I prepare you for the journey, you're going to come back here and post "I can't believe how far it is to those bathrooms." I think they're on about Seventh Avenue.

Second, if Willis pulls this off, I won't be able to keep calling him the best chef you've never heard of. This is a high-profile position and if it works out he'll be a celebrity chef in no time and will stop returning my calls.

I believe the official Palm Court opening is this weekend. I won't give the address of the Plaza because if you have to ask...