Cuisine

Jean-Georges Vongerichten, one of the few big-name New York chefs who has not gone full speed ahead into locally-sourced, organic cuisine, finally throws his hat into the ring with ABC Kitchen. The result could be called Fusion Cuisine 2.0: Send a talented French chef trained in Asia to the Union Square Greenmarket, where American sugar snap peas, Latin peppers and artisanal meat all vie for your attention, and you never know what new creation will land on the table.

Behind the minimalist exterior, the restaurant space itself, on the south side of the giant ABC Home store in the Flatiron district, is wonderfully inviting, slightly formal in an aristocratic country-home sort of way, but not at all stuffy. Mismatched china, antique silverware grace the simple white lacquered tables under the old exposed beams overhead. The buzzy but low-key atmosphere was just sceney enough to be interesting but not distracting. (more…)