Justin Warner ‘Food Network Star’ Mixes High and Low Culture at Brooklyn Concept by Andy Battaglia

under the toque Justin Warner ‘Food Network Star’ mixes high and low culture at Brooklyn concept by andy battaglia ustin Warner is an idiosyncrat- generations of different kinds of less this is some weird statistical ic character whose creativity food enthusiasm. As a kid I went anomaly, there has to be some sort with food is rivaled only by his through phases, and my parents of desire for a ... food-enthusiast Jdevotion to basic service fun- enabled them. One month I ate restaurant and place to drink that’s damentals learned over years of all smoothies. For a while I made not in Midtown Manhattan. So we working in notable front-of-house cheese sandwiches all the time. took a gamble. We came up with a roles. He’s best known now as this Lebanon smoked bologna was an- concept called “fine diving,” with year’s winner of “Food Network other phase; it’s Amish. caviar nachos and foie gras dough- Star,” a reality TV show on which he nuts, stuff like that — a mix of competed to earn hosting duties for What was your first brush with fine highbrow and lowbrow. a show of his own. The new series dining? will premiere on the Food Network In the eighth grade I went to How do you and your partner divvy at an as-yet-unannounced date. the National Spelling Bee [near up duties in the kitchen? Before that he worked as a Washington, D.C.], all expenses I think George is a better cook, captain at The Modern, a revered paid. So I made my dad bring me and I’m a little bit better at con- New York restaurant run by Dan- to Michel Richard’s Citronelle. I ceptualizing stuff. Where our ny Meyer’s Union Square Hospi- had read about it in the Washing- Venn diagram overlaps is we’re tality Group and situated in the ton Post. I was intrigued because both huge fans of food puns. We city’s storied Museum of Modern it had a “mood wall” that changed want to do something with Rocky Art. After that he went into busi- color depending on the vibe of Mountain oysters, which was his ness for himself with Do or Dine, the place. I had squab there for idea. I’d make wasabi marshmal- a playful and eccentric restaurant the first time. From there I started low gratinées — kind of like a in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neigh- bussing tables and never stopped s’more — around a Rocky Moun- borhood of Brooklyn, where he working in restaurants since. tain oyster. We would call it Fluff- stares down notions of high and ernutter. That’s how it works here. low culture. What word knocked you out of the It’s kind of like Zen — chaotic, Off-kilter entrées include such spelling bee? drunk Zen. specialties as frog legs with Dr Pep- Tarpaulin. I put an “e” at the per glaze, and puns predominate. end, like trampoline. I’m still bit- What did you learn from your time With his partners — chief among ter about it. [Laughs.] on “Food Network Star”? them former Modern co-worker You’re wearing a microphone George McNeese, with whom he How have your front-of-the-house the entire time, so there’s always creates the menu and shares kitchen jobs affected how you look at food? At Do or Dine, Justin Warner plays with culinary categories, blending the someone somewhere listening to duties — Warner has created a sin- You have a different perspective. upscale and ordinary in “fine diving” items like caviar nachos. what you say. One day I said, un- gular vision for food that is as wild I’m really big on how you actually der my breath, “Oh my God, I’m as it is refined. get food to your mouth. There are people who are working the line a lot about hospitality there. ... At not going to make it,” and I saw all a lot of dishes that [are] just not in the kitchen, their goal is just to the same time, the audience and the cameras turn around to look at What was your upbringing like, friendly to eat — not because there clear — it’s like Tetris to them. But customer base there is a little fan- me and see my panic. I realized you food-wise? are bones or something, but just be- for me it’s ultimately about guest cier and more persnickety than we have to live life like you’re wearing a My dad was born in 1927, my cause they’re not really thought out. satisfaction. I always say, “Chefs get here in Bed-Stuy. So I learned a wire because the second you sweat mom was born in 1951, and I was should be grandmas,” which I stole lot about humility and how to make or show you’re not sure of yourself, born in 1984, so we had three Like what? from Roy Choi in [Los Angeles]. even the people who to be unhappy people are going to look and want Nachos. Everybody eats them, Grandma cooks while everybody makes them happy, happy. When it to watch the suffering. ... There’s a and then the final chips are dry; else eats. You ask her to sit down, makes people happy to be unhappy, certain matter of illusion where you there’s no topping on them. ... The and she says no; she’s busy pour- you have to rob them of their un- have to pretend everything is easy. If justin warner last chips are garbage. So my partner ing wine and cooking more and happiness. You have to bludgeon you don’t act like your shoes are too TITLE: pabulum director George [McNeese] and I invented being the host. You don’t tell your them [and] steal their purse of un- big, then nobody will know your HOMETOWN: Nippon Nachos. We use dumplings grandma you’re on a diet; you just happiness. If that means that no shoes are too big. Hagerstown, Md. that have a filling, so even if there’s eat the damn mashed potatoes. If check is presented or extra stuff is RESIDENCE: Brooklyn, N.Y. no nacho-y stuff on top, there’s your grandma knows you’re a veg- delivered, it’s like Malcolm X: “By As you gear up for your own TV BIRTH DATE: Feb. 11, 1984 some inside. Paying attention to etarian, she accommodates — she any means necessary.” You just have series, are you concerned it might EDUCATION: high school those kinds of inconveniences is a doesn’t say, “Sorry, no substitutions to get in their brains for a night. take away from the restaurant? PERSONAL: “I have a sweet real front-of-house thing. or exceptions.” When you take the There’s a tiny glimmer or speck girlfriend and an exception- grandma approach and people feel What was the seed of your idea to of worry, but not too much. This ally cute puppy, two af- What appeals to you most about it, they feel a little bit better. open Do or Dine? is a restaurant that is not so much fectionate cats and a turtle working in the front of the house? All of us [worked in Midtown defined by food as it is by spirit. named Soupy.” The best thing about having What did you learn at The Modern Manhattan and] lived on the same It’s all part of evolution. If I have CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: open- a front-of-house background that has stayed with you most? block — with the exception of one a career in TV and am not here as ing Do or Dine with his best is that my main goal is to make Danny Meyer has a phenom- partner. And there were three more often as I should be, we’ll be held friends, winning season eight sure that guests are happy, not to enal record for service and also just people in the area who all worked accountable by more people, actu- of “Food Network Star” make tickets disappear. A lot of making people feel good. I learned in Midtown. So we thought, un- ally. And that’s a good thing. n 58 • december 17, 2012 WWW.NRN.COM NATION’S reSTAUrANT NeWS.

Load more