Andrew Carmellini has been cooking in New York since the late ‘90s, becoming one of the city’s name brands in restaurants in the process. The Ohio-born chef trained at Lespinasse and Café Boulud, then went on a hot streak, opening downtown hits like Locanda Verde, The Dutch, and Lafayette, before opening Café Carmellini, the first restaurant to carry his own name, in 2023. His latest is more of a throwback. Upstairs at The Public Theater, The Astor draws inspiration from the city’s old supper clubs, with steak Diane, clams casino, and a frosty martini list for theatergoers and anyone else on the hunt for a New York night out. To mark its opening, Carmellini answered some of our foodiest questions and revealed what he eats straight from the fridge, wht drinks too much of, and the most underrated food city in the world.
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What’s the last thing you ate?
Family meal at Cafe Carmellini. Chef Kyle made rice with broiled mackerel, sweet potato, and yuzu pickles.
What do you love to eat alone?
A piña colada ice from Ralph’s, eaten while walking down Ninth Avenue and hoping no one sees me.
What dish do you wish you’d invented?
Molten chocolate cake, but sadly, Michel Bras got there first, in 1981.
What do you think when someone sends back a dish?
It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it is usually an incomplete understanding of the meat temperature that the customer originally requested.
What’s the one food trend you’re relieved is finally over?
Honestly? The worst trends I’ve seen in my lifetime are the ones currently happening.
What’s the one food trend you’re embarrassed to admit you love?
For pizza lovers like me, the over-fetishization of pizza has been glorious – I’m not complaining. That said, mediocre pizza is still pretty good.
What’s a food hill you’ll die on?
Ingredients matter more to me than the photo.
What won’t you eat?
I’ll eat anything that’s good. But I’ve never woken up craving Shirako.
What do you drink too much of?
Aperitivos: vermouth, amaro, soda, and a slice of orange. If I could start every evening that way, I would.
What do you eat straight from the fridge?
Berries. I’ve been known to stand in front of the open fridge eating them by the handful.
What’s the first thing you notice about a restaurant when you walk in?
The smell. It’s the first thing that pulls me in.
What’s the most underrated city to eat in?
Everyone looks for the obscure new thing but I can tell you France still delivers. On Lac d’Annecy, there is La Table de Yoanne Conte and Le 1903 from Jean Sulpice that are both spectacular.
Where do you eat on your night off?
My wife Gwen and I frequently enjoy Txikito in Chelsea.
What did nobody tell you about owning a restaurant?
That there will be towering highs and soul-crushing lows, sometimes within the same hour. You learn to ride both.
What’s a dish that defines you as a chef?
Hopefully, the next one I serve.
What do you do in the hour before you open?
I try to eat. Key word being “try.”
What is the ingredient you could not live without?
Olive oil. Hands down.
What do you eat when you’re sad?
Gelato with a splash of booze on top. Don’t sleep on that combination.
What’s the restaurant everyone should go to before they die?
Etxebarri. Unfortunately, Instagram discovered it too, but go anyway.
What’s the cookbook everyone should own?
Le Grand Livre de cuisine d’Alain Ducasse. It’s the reference I keep coming back to.
What’s the dish everyone should learn to make?
Eggs. Correctly. It’s the simplest thing to cook and the easiest to get wrong.
What’s the one condiment that changes everything?
El Yucateco hot sauce!
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