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Chef Dani Garcia opens two new restaurants in New York City

Chef Dani Garcia opens two new restaurants in New York City

Following chef Dani Garcia gained his 3rd Michelin star for the Dani Garcia Group in December of 2018, he felt adrift, unsure what to do following. He experienced reached the pinnacle of his vocation at just 44 yrs outdated – 3 is the utmost variety of Michelin stars a team can obtain ­– and was considered a person of the very best good eating chefs in the planet. But the Spanish chef experienced much more programs.

The chef and operator of Dani Garcia Team ­– dad or mum to Bibo, Dani Garcia Cafe, Lobito De Mar, Leña, Smoked Home and Dani Brasserie – decided to flip every little thing his workforce had been performing on its head.

“There are only 120 individuals in the world [with three Michelin stars], we have to truly feel good, but we are going to improve our mentality. We are listed here at the top of the pyramid of gastronomy and now we are going to invert it and go down,” Garcia explained to Restaurant Hospitality just before Xmas. “We want to be closer to people.”

In December 2021, Garcia created his grand debut in New York Metropolis with the opening of elevated dining cafe Casa Dani, in partnership with Sam Nazarian and Disruptive Restaurant Group, the restaurant arm of Nazarian’s SBE hospitality firm.

Re-getting into New York for the 1st time in decades, Garcia resolved to generate his most own restaurant nonetheless – Casa Dani basically interprets to “Dani’s house.”

Located in the new Citizens foodstuff current market in Manhattan, Casa Dani focuses on food items Garcia ate growing up these types of as croquettes, paella, tortillas and rice. He also serves Southern Spanish foodstuff like fresh new seafood and tuna, with an whole area on the menu devoted to the fish.

“It’s my most personal cafe, for certain,” he claimed.

The traditional Spanish food stuff is intended to carry Garcia and New Yorkers again to Spain.

“I believe that is incredibly important that our to start with operate in New York is incredibly individual and 100% Spanish. Due to the fact you are a Spanish chef, probably New Yorkers want Spanish food items from a Spanish chef,” he stated.

“As our identify implies, Casa Dani is an invitation to my culinary home and with inspirations from my youth, Garcia explained in a launch at the time of the opening final month. “We’ve put in the earlier 12 months perfecting our new menu, which options the greatest of Spanish custom and something for every person! Menu items range from our famed tapas, to a entire segment devoted specially to tuna and for superior explanation, we have imported some of the best Tuna in the earth from Spain. Added things spotlight Spanish favorites together with croquetas de jamon and branzino baked in black salt. At Casa Dani we are doing the job to carry as much as we can from Span and from my dwelling to yours.”

Chef Garcia spoke with Restaurant Hospitality right right before Xmas, describing his beloved Xmas tradition in Spain: taking in child eels on the holiday.

It’s that custom that served as just one of the inspirations for the menu at Casa Dani, where the seafood is sourced specifically from Spain.

Even though much of the fish comes from across the ocean, quite a few other components are domestically sourced from New York Town relying on what’s in period.

“I am thrilled to operate along with revolutionary chef Dani Garcia, just one of the world’s major cooks to build an working experience like no other at Casa Dani,” Nazarian stated in a launch. “With Disruptive Cafe Team, we’ve prided ourselves with getting on the cutting edge of culinary delicacies and approach. We’re psyched to take this thought one particular stage more and by highlighting the world encounter created by Chef Dani Garcia and his staff.”

This upscale dining restaurant is not all Garcia has opened in Citizens. He’s also opened his 1st fast-company locale in the historical past of the Dani Garcia Group: El Pollo Verde.

But that is not his to start with foray into QSR. Garcia has been performing with McDonald’s in Spain for the past 7 years, building new menu additions for the Spanish version of the manufacturer.

“For me the most significant is the balance about excellent and price tag,” he mentioned.