ChikaLicious

[Fat Guy]

Chika Tillman, the pastry chef from the now-defunct Bid (and formerly of Gramercy Tavern and Seeger's) is slated to open ChikaLicious, an all-dessert restaurant, on June 15, 2003. The restaurant will have a dessert bar configured to look like a sushi bar, where Chika and pastry chef Donna Ryan will make desserts to order. They also plan to offer elaborate dessert "kaiseki" meals -- seven courses of sweets for $25. The sample menu I have here is basil sorbet with sweet basil seed and grapefruit; goat yogurt panna cotta in berry soup with lime crystal; brioche pudding with plum compote; fourme d'Ambert cheese with date puree and fennel salad; lemon-milk sorbet; warm chocolate tart with bay leaf sauce and blackberry sorbet; and a tray of petits fours containing coconut marshmallow, orange clove truffle, and hot white chocolate profiterole.

ChikaLicious will be at 203 East 10th Street (between First and Second Avenues), New York, NY 10003, 212.995.9511. A Web site www.chikalicious.com is under construction.

[jeunefilleparis]

oh my god, after all these years, my dream will soon be reality, who wants to go and try everything?>> i m game

[Fat Guy]

I just talked to Chika on the phone and got some additional basic info: She's from Japan, she went to the French Culinary institute, she has worked at Gramercy Tavern, the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, Seeger's, and Bid, she owns the place with her husband Don Tillman and they have another chef working with them, Donna Ryan, who also worked at Bid as well as Nicole's, Artisanal, Tabla, and Russian Tea Room. 20 seats. They plan to rely heavily on Greenmarket produce in season. They're putting together a list of dessert wines, ports, champagnes, hard cider, and organic coffees and teas. The big tasting is $25, the three-course (amuse, main dessert, petits fours) is $12, and they'll customize tastings to meet any budget or preference -- omakase, as it were. She sounded very excited.

[Dave the Cook]

She sounded very excited.

Yeah, a lot of sugar will do that to you.

[Pan]

[Suzanne F]

Oh boy! Even though I'm not much for desserts, Chika's are terrific! And she is a doll, too, really nice.

[Holly Moore]

From a Philadelphian who isn't totally up on all the Big Apple food personalities, I expected this thread to be about a new chicken place opening up. The name might similarly be confusing to a few million less culinarily aware Big Applites.

Probably too late to change the name though.

[Pan]

Holly, you never use "chick" to mean "woman"?

[Holly Moore]

Holly, you never use "chick" to mean "woman"? 

I thought Rudy outlawed that sort of retail establishment.

[vengroff]

That settles it. Next time I'm in NYC I'm starting at Payard, then heading downtown to ChikaLicious for the main meal, followed by a nightcap at Rice To Riches. Or maybe the reverse order. Payard is probably the best spot for the finale.

[Stone]

Sorry, I thought this was about something else.

[mjc]

That settles it.  Next time I'm in NYC I'm starting at Payard, then heading downtown to ChikaLicious for the main meal, followed by a nightcap at Rice To Riches.  Or maybe the reverse order.  Payard is probably the best spot for the finale.

Make sure you stop at Mondrian (Michael Willaume's new place), on the way down from Payard. It is my new favorite patisserie.

Edited April 30, 2003 by mjc (log)

[Felonius]

Steven, your topic for this post had my blood pressure rising for a moment. I thought someone was finally opening a Chik-Fil-A in Manhattan (not exactly a gourmet destination, but old Southern habits die hard...)

Will have to try this new dessert place. It's probably safer for my arteries than a Chik-Fil-A in close striking distance anyway.

[Fat Guy]

By the way I just checked the Web site www.chikalicious.com and it now contains a sample menu and other basic information that was lacking before.

[nightscotsman]

Good looking menu, but damn if that's not one of the ugliest web sites I've ever seen! Please tell me that's not really the restaurant's logo.

[Dave the Cook]

Please tell me that's not really the restaurant's logo.

eeeww.

[Fat Guy]

Yeah, it's an ugly site, but she's a pastry chef not a Web designer!

[Fresser]

Holly, you never use "chick" to mean "woman"? 

Here in Chicawgo, we call 'em "broads."

[herbacidal]

Yeah, it's an ugly site, but she's a pastry chef not a Web designer!

yea, even so, she should have the basic eye for what looks nice.

regardless of whether she designed it or had somebody design it,

she should have had final approval.

[Fat Guy]

Yeah, it's an ugly site, but she's a pastry chef not a Web designer!

yea, even so, she should have the basic eye for what looks nice.

regardless of whether she designed it or had somebody design it,

she should have had final approval.

Well, I can tell you from working on eGullet, where we depend on a lot of volunteer work (which is I assume the same boat Chika is in, as a first-time small-scale restaurateur), that sometimes you get great results and sometimes you don't -- but any sense of control or approval is somewhat illusory. You take what you can get.

[Holly Moore]

I'm willing to bet she did it herself, or a friend did it for her, probably using Microsoft Word.

[Fat Guy]

Word.

[jeunefilleparis]

hi everyone

its lauren, long time no write! I m actually living in the moutains this summer, as camp counselor, its very strange to be out of the city. camp food is , lets say, less than stellar.

in any case, i m back in the city on my day off, and i was curious if that dessert only place had opened yet? does anyone remember the name of it? if so please let me know, thanks

lauren

[kurl]

It's called Chikalicious, IIRC. And I don't *think* it's open yet.

[Varmint]

OK, I think Mrs. Varmint might like this option for lunch when we visit in the fall.