Paul Liebrandt

[AlexForbes]

I attended a press conference at NY's French Culinary Institute this week for the event Spain's 10, and, behind a row of seated chefs, which included Ferran, Arzak and Joan Roca, I spotted, through a glass wall, Paul "spherifying" something in the kitchen. I went to talk to him and he said he was helping the Spanish guys with prep (they were feeding some American journalists and VIPs the next day, at the school).

He's going to Montreal this winter to participate in the city's Highlights festival, which means cooking for one night at a restaurant as guest chef, and he's looking into opening his own restaurant in New York.

http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/11610432...750_1135887.jpg

Edited October 17, 2006 by AlexForbes (log)

[tan319]

'Aw-ight'!!!

Thanks for the pic & info!

[jkahn]

Speaking of the ICC Liebrandt demo, does anyone know where Jordan Kahn is pastry chef?

Thanks in advance!

ICC thread on eG

←

i realize that this is a thread about paul, so i'll be brief. i'm jordan, and i'm the pastry chef at a new restaurant opening in late november called varietal. i'm formerly of alinea, per se, and the french laundry. paul and i are good friends, and he asked me to do the demo and the dinner at butter with him. if anyone wants to discuss this further, i suggest we start a new thread.

thanks,

jordan.

[docsconz]

Speaking of the ICC Liebrandt demo, does anyone know where Jordan Kahn is pastry chef?

Thanks in advance!

ICC thread on eG

←

i realize that this is a thread about paul, so i'll be brief. i'm jordan, and i'm the pastry chef at a new restaurant opening in late november called varietal. i'm formerly of alinea, per se, and the french laundry. paul and i are good friends, and he asked me to do the demo and the dinner at butter with him. if anyone wants to discuss this further, i suggest we start a new thread.

thanks,

jordan.

←

Thanks Jordan for the explanation and welcome to eGullet! Best of luck in your new endeavor!

[jkahn]

Speaking of the ICC Liebrandt demo, does anyone know where Jordan Kahn is pastry chef?

Thanks in advance!

ICC thread on eG

←

i realize that this is a thread about paul, so i'll be brief. i'm jordan, and i'm the pastry chef at a new restaurant opening in late november called varietal. i'm formerly of alinea, per se, and the french laundry. paul and i are good friends, and he asked me to do the demo and the dinner at butter with him. if anyone wants to discuss this further, i suggest we start a new thread.

thanks,

jordan.

←

Thanks Jordan for the explanation and welcome to eGullet! Best of luck in your new endeavor!

←

thanks doc, we've met before at alinea, but i'm sure you were too "food drunk" to remember. great pics by the way, as always. hope you'll come to the new place and check it out when it opens, i'd be honored to have you.

[docsconz]

Speaking of the ICC Liebrandt demo, does anyone know where Jordan Kahn is pastry chef?

Thanks in advance!

ICC thread on eG

←

i realize that this is a thread about paul, so i'll be brief. i'm jordan, and i'm the pastry chef at a new restaurant opening in late november called varietal. i'm formerly of alinea, per se, and the french laundry. paul and i are good friends, and he asked me to do the demo and the dinner at butter with him. if anyone wants to discuss this further, i suggest we start a new thread.

thanks,

jordan.

←

Thanks Jordan for the explanation and welcome to eGullet! Best of luck in your new endeavor!

←

thanks doc, we've met before at alinea, but i'm sure you were too "food drunk" to remember. great pics by the way, as always. hope you'll come to the new place and check it out when it opens, i'd be honored to have you.

←

I am looking forward to it!

[tan319]

Speaking of the ICC Liebrandt demo, does anyone know where Jordan Kahn is pastry chef?

Thanks in advance!

ICC thread on eG

←

i realize that this is a thread about paul, so i'll be brief. i'm jordan, and i'm the pastry chef at a new restaurant opening in late november called varietal. i'm formerly of alinea, per se, and the french laundry. paul and i are good friends, and he asked me to do the demo and the dinner at butter with him. if anyone wants to discuss this further, i suggest we start a new thread.

thanks,

jordan.

←

Your thread, sir...Pastry Chef Jordan Kahn

Lokking forward to hereing from you!

Welcome!!!

[docsconz]

Please see here for the interview I did with Paul as well as follow-up discussion.

In addition to that interview, our own Bond Girl, Ya-Roo Yang did a nice one on Chow.com that fills in a few more elements. Photos there are by eGullet member Harlan Turk.

[tan319]

Here's one that got by me.

Art Culinaire issue # 81 has it's cover graced by Liebrandt's Stilton & Arugala Financiers with Apple & Raisin Chutney.

.

Awesome!

Inside is an interview with Paul done sometime, maybe mid era GILT, semi feisty but good humoured, very cool.

Also, recipes for the aforementioned Financier as well as...

Dover Sole "Sous Vide" with Mastic Crumble

Royale of Hare using transglutaminase (activa)

Quail in Fata("paper")

outstanding!

The people at AC were really helpful not to mention quick!!!

Also acquired in the same vain was issue # 82 with a double bonus of '5 days in Barcelona' ( everyone you can think of, including Jordi Butron of Espai Sucre) plus an essay of "Colour" in desserts by Will Goldfarb.

Excellent!

Edited January 31, 2007 by tan319 (log)

[tan319]

The Paul Liebrandt/ Jeffery Steingarten article in March Vogue was very VERY enjoyable!

I hope this can work out for them if it's true and gets to happen.

[docsconz]

The Paul Liebrandt/ Jeffery Steingarten article in March Vogue was very VERY enjoyable!

I hope this can work out for them if it's true and gets to happen.

←

Ted, how about some more details and a link if it is online? Please!

[johnder]

There is blurb about Paul over at Grub Street here.

Can Paul Liebrandt Make New York Safe for Molecular Gastronomy?

Confidence has never been his problem.

The details aren’t yet clear, but it seems that one way or another, Paul Liebrandt will soon be leading a restaurant in New York. (Snack asserts that it will be Montrachet, but Vogue’s Jeffrey Steingarten tells us that it will be a new venture with Drew Nieporent; the two are searching for a space.)

....

There is another paragraph or two over at Grub Street at the link above.

[oakapple]

The Grub Street post goes on to make a very telling point. To date, Wylie Dufresne is the only non-pastry chef who's been successful here with anything resembling Molecular Gastronomy. Will Goldfarb, Sam Mason, and Jordan Kahn are all pastry chefs.

If the trend is going to be more than just a one-off in New York, then someone other than Wylie needs to be successful. If Liebrandt fails again, it doesn't bode well for anyone else giving it a try, unless they find a very low-rent district in which to do it (as Wylie did).

[Sneakeater]

Telling point, indeed.

[tan319]

The Paul Liebrandt/ Jeffery Steingarten article in March Vogue was very VERY enjoyable!

I hope this can work out for them if it's true and gets to happen.

←

Ted, how about some more details and a link if it is online? Please!

←

'doc...

No linkage that has the interview.

I think Vogue, since it is so heavy on designer/Fashion adverts, keeps a kind of low flying online vibe.

Jennifer Hudson is on the cover, March Sping fashion issue 4 .95 I think, worth picking up.

Details....

Steingarten tells the tale of having always wanting to have a private chef, doing a story about them ( I think) around two years ago.

It had come up again and a friend of his suggested Paul for the gig.

As everyone who follows Liebrandts travels knows, between Papillon and Gilt Liebrandt had some heavy gigs cooking for various people like Rothchilds and royalties so he had the background.

Steingarten is also a fan and ate at nearly every place Paul has cheffed and was a big fan of his cooking, although it appears they had never met previously.

I don't want to say too much more, pick Vogue up, March issue and enjoy the read, you won't be sorry.

You really get a sense of how much Liebrandt loves to cook, period, as well as,

to me at least, his sense of humility and eagerness and confidence to please his clients and food fans.

Also, two more things or so.

Paul's plates look really good and something I had just gotten hip to, The Ducasse Spoon book (ltd version) either really influenced him ( look at his website film of prep and service at GILT, baby spinach leaves on a solelike fish?) or Gagnaire really influenced Ducasse ( more likely perhaps, no diss intended, during this peroid) and Gagnaires colors and starkness are reflected in many of Leibrandts plates, IMO.

I also think that hanging "Molecular Gastronomies" success in NYC on Pl's shoulders is kind of unnecessary, as unnecessary as saying he's ever had a failure.

Most restaurants in NYC and other cities, mine included, were victims of the economic blowback of 9/11.

Opening a restaurant is harder then that, especially over the first year, if there is ANY kind of blip at all and often if there is, it's a case of financial over projections and expectations of the owners which is rarely any fun.

The bean counters blow in and all of a sudden what you had considered as "getting f#$%*ed with" becomes childs play compared to this next level.

I'm going thru that now, and not even as an executive chef and it's still very painful.

So maybe it's not a great idea to call anything a failure or to make anyone have to be "the savior" of any cuisine, except maybe dessert cuisine

Lastly, since Vogue is a fashion mag, Chef Liebrandt is pictured in an awesome Paul Smith suit, (I used to walk by the Paul Smith store on 5th, close to Mesa Grill & drool all of the time when I lived in NYC.) as well as his whites as usual.

[oakapple]

I also think that hanging "Molecular Gastronomies" success in NYC on Pl's shoulders is kind of unnecessary, as unnecessary as saying he's ever had a failure.

←

Of course it's not "hanging" on his shoulders. But should he open that type of restaurant here, naturally all eyes will be on him, since not many have tried it.

I think it's undeniable that PL at Gilt was a failure, to say nothing of what happened at his previous places. Whether the failure at Gilt was his fault is a whole other question. Perhaps it was not. But the fact is that the reviews weren't rapturous, and business wasn't booming. Right or wrong, the guy running the place was held accountable.

[docsconz]

The Paul Liebrandt/ Jeffery Steingarten article in March Vogue was very VERY enjoyable!

I hope this can work out for them if it's true and gets to happen.

←

Ted, how about some more details and a link if it is online? Please!

←

'doc...

No linkage that has the interview.

I think Vogue, since it is so heavy on designer/Fashion adverts, keeps a kind of low flying online vibe.

Jennifer Hudson is on the cover, March Sping fashion issue 4 .95 I think, worth picking up.

Details....

Steingarten tells the tale of having always wanting to have a private chef, doing a story about them ( I think) around two years ago.

It had come up again and a friend of his suggested Paul for the gig.

As everyone who follows Liebrandts travels knows, between Papillon and Gilt Liebrandt had some heavy gigs cooking for various people like Rothchilds and royalties so he had the background.

Steingarten is also a fan and ate at nearly every place Paul has cheffed and was a big fan of his cooking, although it appears they had never met previously.

I don't want to say too much more, pick Vogue up, March issue and enjoy the read, you won't be sorry.

You really get a sense of how much Liebrandt loves to cook, period, as well as,

to me at least, his sense of humility and eagerness and confidence to please his clients and food fans.

Also, two more things or so.

Paul's plates look really good and something I had just gotten hip to, The Ducasse Spoon book (ltd version) either really influenced him ( look at his website film of prep and service at GILT, baby spinach leaves on a solelike fish?) or Gagnaire really influenced Ducasse ( more likely perhaps, no diss intended, during this peroid) and Gagnaires colors and starkness are reflected in many of Leibrandts plates, IMO.

I also think that hanging "Molecular Gastronomies" success in NYC on Pl's shoulders is kind of unnecessary, as unnecessary as saying he's ever had a failure.

Most restaurants in NYC and other cities, mine included, were victims of the economic blowback of 9/11.

Opening a restaurant is harder then that, especially over the first year, if there is ANY kind of blip at all and often if there is, it's a case of financial over projections and expectations of the owners which is rarely any fun.

The bean counters blow in and all of a sudden what you had considered as "getting f#$%*ed with" becomes childs play compared to this next level.

I'm going thru that now, and not even as an executive chef and it's still very painful.

So maybe it's not a great idea to call anything a failure or to make anyone have to be "the savior" of any cuisine, except maybe dessert cuisine

Lastly, since Vogue is a fashion mag, Chef Liebrandt is pictured in an awesome Paul Smith suit, (I used to walk by the Paul Smith store on 5th, close to Mesa Grill & drool all of the time when I lived in NYC.) as well as his whites as usual.

←

Thanks, Ted. I did manage to come across the article thanks to some friends from here. I agree that the article is a good one. I also think that your point about 9/11 having an effect on the NYC food world especially creative cooking is a good one. The NYC culinary scene is much more conservative than it was pre-911. I think that this is due to many factors. People after a trauma such as that tend to prefer "safe" things and food is no exception. They want comfort. Creativity , especially in an area like cuisine tends to flourish in times of exuberance. That is one reason why it has flourished in Spain, as the country has rediscovered its myriad array of cultures after the demise of the homogenized Franco era. The same was true for 1990's NYC, basking in the boom of Wall Street. It was than that restaurants like Papillon, Bouley and Union pacific were at their prime and chefs like Dufresne, Mason and Liebrandt cut their chops.

[tan319]

Thanks, 'doc.

When I came back to NY after 9/11 to do a couple of lps ( 11/01/ thru 2/02 & 9/02 thru 11/02) I was so busy I only went to Veritas but, FWIW, I've always thought the "comfort food" thing, and at the time we were certainly getting the same rap here in the SW, was a self fulfilling prophecy after awhile, a year or so maybe here.

Oak, the point I'm making, even though you said "right or wrong..." is that of course they're going to let the chef go, even though Liebrandt himself has said many decisions were made w/o his approval,publicity wise, etc.

PL himself in the end walked the plank like a commander and was very nice about the whole thing but if you haven't already checked it out, get that ArtsCulinaire # 81 with recipes and a rather kind of frustrated with the press ( he's probably rather frustrated with all of this as well) interview where he waxed maybe even more then he did in W about some things that were done whether he liked it or not.

Bruni blew GILT up right in the beginning with the bullshit wine article and then with the review.

Prediction...

The 'new " GILT ends up shuttering it's doors before the year anniversary of "the new era" comes up.

Ex Striped Bass chef rightly or wrongly I'm not sure is making any big diff.

When the "nut" is not made no matter who is the chef is, Gilt will roll it up.

Question...

Do you really think that Liebrandt is THAT molecular???

If you look at the recipes, I think it's a lot more influenced by Gagnaire and his other mentors with some nods to the Spanish movement, chemistry wise, and I've always felt that way, even when I've seen the Atlas recipes and press.

Like I said, hanging the future and success of "MG" around Liebrandts neck is sort of misinformed to me.

Maybe hoping he finds the right partner/s and situation is more positive.

Edited March 6, 2007 by tan319 (log)

[icecreamparty]

interestingly

i dont know if the word "molecular" can apply to a style of food

rather than an understanding,

but noting the inspiration from gagnaire evident in paul's food

it is important to note that gagnaire is one of the few chefs to actually work directly with herve this

who was responsible for the term

[weinoo]

That's why I posted this about molecular gastronomy!

Molecular

[tan319]

Yes, I go to the Gagnaire website frequently and know theres quite a bit about This and Gagnaire What I'm talking about is the food , the way the food appears to be cooked

It's not really manipulated. as much, chemically, as say, Wylie Defresne does, not that there is anything wrong with that.

[icecreamparty]

Yes, I go to the Gagnaire website frequently and know theres quite a bit about This and Gagnaire What I'm talking about is the food , the way the food appears to be cooked

It's not really manipulated. as much, chemically, as say, Wylie Defresne does, not that there is anything wrong with that.

←

i think it just depends on your definition of "molecular" being pretty narrow

wylie is certainly more focused on the specific nature of various hydrocolloids than gagnaire, i really dont think that is a significantly more "molecular" nature

it just appears that way to the end user, and more importantly, the media-

the understanding of complex disperse systems (which is what hydrocolloids are currently referred to)

seems to derive from herve this discourses, and gagnaire is the chef to work most closely on these themes in the most detail

[tan319]

Did any of you guys see this yet???

Vids of Liebrandt cooking for Jeffrey Steingarten from his stint as personal chef for him(See March issue of Vogue magazine)

Seriously cool as hell!!! Liebrandt/Stiengarten videos

Edited March 16, 2007 by tan319 (log)

[NYCCHEF]

Did any of you guys see this yet???

Vids of Liebrandt cooking for Jeffrey Steingarten from his stint as personal chef for him(See March  issue of Vogue magazine)

Seriously cool as hell!!!  Liebrandt/Stiengarten videos

←

Oh my God....That has to be one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life. I almost shit myself watching those videos. The uncomfortable feeling was palpable......sounded like Paul hated it......gotta pay those bills though, dont you......And did he say that he was going to serve them pasta that had rat shit in it? HAHAHA!!!! I will NEVER forget this one..

[Vadouvan]

Oh my God....That has to be one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life. I almost shit myself watching those videos. The uncomfortable feeling was palpable......sounded like Paul hated it......gotta pay those bills though, dont you......And did he say that he was going to serve them pasta that had rat shit in it? HAHAHA!!!! I will NEVER forget this one..

You know I was just thinking about that, I dont know I would say he hated it, I have met Paul a few times and he seems a rather restrained individual, some people are Mary poppins, he's not.

I think the Mouse poop tangent was done for humor, I seriously doubt that a respected food writer and critic in cunjunction with a widely acclaimed talented chef would get on the internet and say that they had a pasta made with flour from which they sieved out mouse Poo at the same time when rodent consciousness is on the front burner in NYC restaurants and NY diners.

I simply have to believe that these caliber of people are much more sophisticated than that....

I think it's Paul's british humor.

Interestingly though, I loved the Idea that the said pasta had corn and some type of cured meat.

Chef's always harp about how you should never cook corn in the winter but I have always thought it was perfectly OK to use corn from Florida in March.

Just my two cents.