June 1, 2010 |
Short Order
Ed Brown launches Chef’s Tuesday dinner at Ed’s Chowder House to say “I’m still here”
Photo: Stephen Richter
“I’m still here,” says Ed Brown in announcing his new Tuesday tasting at Ed’s Chowder House.
Chef’s Tuesday dinner. Sound familiar? Chef Ed Brown, bruised from the loss of his ambitious restaurant Eighty One takes a page from Tom Colicchio’s book: Tuesday dinner. Chef’s Night In. Five courses for $55, wine pairings optional at $45. He’ll be cooking himself for a maximum of 25 people in the back room at Ed’s Chowder House, his partnership with Jeffrey Chodorow in the Empire Hotel across from Lincoln Center.
“It’s my way of saying, ‘I’m still here’,” he says. Starts Tuesday June 8.
Meanwhile he’s trying to sell the lease of Eighty One. It’s painful, he says, when he leads suitors for the 6000 sq.ft. space around the first restaurant all his own that failed. The longtime chef of Sea Grill’s timing was off. He launched his upscale dream shop in the heart of the city’s financial free fall. He tried $42 prix fixe, early bird specials, but not even a coterie of fans or a $9 burger could save the place.
The chef says he already has offers for the lease at 45 West 81st Street, a luxurious space with a wine wall, handsome bar lounge and separate party room that cost his investors $3.25 million. “I can’t wait till I don’t have to go there anymore,” he says.
Brown has sent a posse of Eighty One chefs and dining room veterans to join the staff at the 63rd Street seafood “shack.”
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