California native Govind Armstrong converts.  Now he’s a New Yorker.

 

        All it took was two months in Manhattan to convince Los Angeles-born Govind Armstrong he was meant to be a New Yorker. Not that Armstrong was a cliché Californiac growing up.  Instead of surfing, he was hanging out at Spago where he began working at 13.

        “I never spent much time here before,” the chef behind Cooper Square Hotel’s new Table 8 confides. “I just fell in love with the city. I love New York. I love that I don’t have to drive a car anywhere.  The culture is so different.  Everyone is out on the street.  I can walk to the Farmer’s Market.  I’m living in the hotel right now but I’ll probably look for a place in the East Village so I can walk to work.  I’ll have to start getting out the word.” At the moment Armstrong is focused on perfecting lunch.  It starts officially Monday.

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