“It takes people months, sometimes up to a year to secure their reservation here at Tatiana.” Today Bon Appétit spends a day on the line with chef Kamat Newman, Chef de Cuisine at Tatiana in New York City's Lincoln Center. Founded by chef Kwame Onwuachi, Tatiana combines Afro-Caribbean influence and popular New York dishes and is fast becoming one of the city’s toughest reservations to get.
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00:00The food here in Tatiana is a combination of Afro-Caribbean influence as well as food that you'll find throughout New York City.
00:08It takes people months, sometimes up to a year, to secure their reservation here at Tatiana.
00:15Lots of publications have named us number one in the city as well as the country, which puts a lot of pressure on myself as well as the team.
00:23My goal as a chef de cuisine is to uphold the quality, the consistency, and the morale for the team.
00:29It has been such a roller coaster from day one, the accolades, the notoriety, the visibility, and I can't wait to see where else we go.
00:42Hi, I'm Kamat Newman, the chef de cuisine here at Tatiana. We've got quite a bit of work to do, so let's go on in.
00:50As you can see, we're at the heart of Lincoln Center. We've got the Met Opera as well as the
00:54Ballet. We have guests that come in at five o'clock on the dot, so all the more critical for
00:59us to be on time and punctual with our production in the morning. It is 10 a.m. I've got a couple
01:05stocks that need to be tended to. We're heading down to the production kitchen
01:10where all of the heavy prep happens in the morning.
01:14We are going to check on our stocks this morning. They've been going for about 15 hours or so.
01:23We've got our oxtail stock as well as our two chicken stocks. We do let them go overnight.
01:28It just works better for efficiency of the kitchen. And to ensure that these machines do not get turned
01:34off, because this has happened in the past, we have to put little notes like this is the oxtail
01:39So right now for the oxtail stock, I have to pull the meat out of it. We let it go at a bit of a
01:45lower temperature so that the meat doesn't completely fall off of the bones. We use it
01:50for our oxtail rangoon dish on the menu. This oxtail was marinated with our jerk paste and we
01:56gave it a hard sear in the oven. The stock itself, we use it to braise our oxtail.
02:01We're going to put it in the oven. We're going to put it in the oven. We're going to put it in the
02:06The stock itself, we use it to braise our oxtail with. We combine it with our chicken stock to make
02:12a really flavorful, really deeply colored oxtail braise. So this is our 30-gallon tilt skillet.
02:20Because of the restaurant's, I guess you could say, levels of business, we make everything in
02:26large batches here. When I'm ready to strain this out, I can just tilt it down and easy and efficient.
02:34Chicken stock, we have a couple of our team members right now cutting the vegetables,
02:38getting the aromatics prepared to throw in there. Then it's going to go for another two or three
02:42hours. So these, I'm going to take them to the blast chiller to cool them down.
02:47We have to put the oxtail in the blast chiller so that it cools down in an appropriate amount
02:52of time to the proper temperature. We don't want anything to go bad. All right, now that's done.
02:57Now it's time for me to check in with my team to check on the trajectory of the day and see
03:02what else needs to be handled.
03:17So far, we're looking at about 142 covers for this evening and the books are closed.
03:34That means that anything extra will be walk-ins for the restaurant.
03:37We typically do between 230 up to 280 covers a night, all contingent upon the weather outside.
03:45But once we hit that cap for reservations, we know that it's game time. And now that I have
03:50this number and I know that the books are closed, I'm going to communicate that to the
03:53rest of my chef team so that they know what the night ahead looks like.
03:59This is Pablo, our junior sous chef. At this time, we're going to be checking our prep list.
04:04We do a new prep list every single day. This prep list was written by Chef Sam,
04:09one of our sous chefs after service. So she filled out our daily inventory
04:13and created this prep list based off of our needs for today.
04:16So Pablo, his responsibilities entail opening the kitchen along with our sous.
04:21The sous chefs and junior sous typically do a lot of the more labor-intensive work
04:26when it comes to breaking down proteins and seafood.
04:30In terms of my role, it's really important that I check in with the team.
04:34Being that Chef Tuame does a lot of traveling, opening up other restaurants,
04:38many other projects happening. I am responsible for ensuring that his vision,
04:43his creativity and his level of quality is always met.
04:47And then we take a look at the staffing list, which is also printed on our prep list
04:51in terms of who's going to be here, who we know has the skill to do what,
04:55who we want to give a new opportunity for training and development purposes.
04:59I just want to make sure we're not overproducing.
05:01We're not running the lamb of the special today. We'll focus on that for tomorrow.
05:05For sure.
05:05All right.
05:06At this time, I'm also going to be checking everything in the walk-in.
05:10I'm checking that nothing is out of place. I'm seeing like we have a
05:13batch of eskimo that we made that needs to be courted.
05:16Our bread needs to start for the day as well.
05:18I'm ensuring that things are labeled properly with the dates,
05:22making sure there's no condensation inside of any of our containers,
05:25which means that something wasn't cooled down properly.
05:28So if I'm coming in here with that critical eye, we're more likely to have a wonderful inspection.
05:33People are always amazed by how big this walk-in is.
05:36It's a flex for me. I'm like, yeah, it is.
05:38And we are set to move on.
05:47Right here, I have the pastrami or the short rib that will be our pastrami.
05:53We got to get this broken down for brining.
05:55This is going to brine for about five days and then it'll be ready.
05:59I use a 10-inch chef's knife, freshly sharpened,
06:03to make sure the project doesn't take a long time. The sharper the knife, the better.
06:08In a professional kitchen, you want to make sure
06:10you use the proper color coding for your cutting board.
06:14Red cutting boards are for proteins. That's just so cross-contamination doesn't happen.
06:19So the pastrami suya is essentially a riff on a traditional New York pastrami.
06:25Obviously, we take it and we turn it into something that is purely Tatiana
06:29in that we apply a suya and pastrami spice blend
06:33that Chef Kwame has made especially for this recipe.
06:37Suya spice is a West African spice blend.
06:41Suya traditionally means barbecue.
06:44So this piece that I've just weighed out is about 45.15 ounces.
06:48I know I'll be able to get at least two portions plus a bit of scrap.
06:52I think we love the scrap the most in the kitchen
06:54because it then goes into family meal.
06:56I'm just removing the excess fat. Not too much of it
07:00because that fat is what's going to give us that nice,
07:02tender texture that we're looking for after the braising process.
07:06That Wagyu short rib is definitely highlighting the texture of the meat as well as the flavor.
07:11We want to see just like nice marbling.
07:14It adds a bit of unctuousness to the bite of meat instead of just being super lean,
07:20which is typically what we see when we go after traditional pastrami sandwiches.
07:25That is huge. Jesus Christ.
07:28We got the New York Post to write us up just stating
07:31that it was the best pastrami in New York City.
07:34It is definitely the highlight of our menu
07:37in that the most pastramis I've ever sold in a night is about 70 orders.
07:41With all those accolades, it makes not only the reservations
07:44the most sought out in the city, but also this particular dish.
07:47The brine imparts a lot of flavor.
07:50We tested three days. We've tested seven days.
07:52Five days is our sweet spot for this particular brining process.
07:55I've got another 50 pounds in the walk-in that needs to be broken down as well.
07:59Because it's a five-day brining process, if we miss a count for a day,
08:05that means the dish doesn't make it to the menu this weekend.
08:07So we always want to make sure we have eyes on how many we're gonna sell,
08:11how many we've sold the previous days.
08:13So as a CDC, the more you go up in the industry,
08:17the less you do actual knife work and cooking.
08:21For me, it's really important that I keep my hands in the cooking process,
08:26as well as the butchering process for all products,
08:28just to make sure the quality is still being met to Chef Kwame's standards.
08:33And also just to remind myself on a daily basis what my passion is.
08:37So this is our last short rib.
08:39I'm then gonna pass this over to our junior sous chef
08:42to get it on brine and get the ball rolling.
08:45So I need to move on to the agusi stew.
08:53Agusi stew is a traditional West African stew
08:56that typically is comprised of red palm oil,
09:00crayfish powder, and ground melon seeds.
09:04It's much easier to mix things with a paddle
09:07as opposed to trying to get a small spoon in there.
09:10The red palm oil gives us a really deep, earthy flavor.
09:14It also imparts a really beautiful golden color into the stew as well.
09:20When Chef Kwame made it for me the first time, I fell in love with it.
09:23It's actually my favorite menu item on our small shares portion.
09:27I think it's pretty cool that Chef Kwame came up with the idea
09:30of making such a traditional West African dish
09:34into something as familiar as a soup dumpling.
09:37So luckily for me, I have experience working in large batch cooking.
09:43Scaling recipes up isn't as black and white as just increasing the numbers.
09:48Some things have to be altered as they scale up
09:51as the flavors and levels do change.
09:53Let's say this recipe required a certain amount of peppers
09:57and I know that those peppers are particularly spicy.
10:01I may want to scale those down
10:03so that it is not overwhelming at such a large batch level.
10:08Being that this tilt skillet is so large,
10:11the heat elements are in different spots.
10:13So mixing it around constantly will just ensure
10:16that all of the onions will be cooked evenly.
10:19Once it stops burning your eyes, you know you're ready.
10:21I'm going to go ahead and add in our agusi seeds.
10:24And these are just ground melon seeds that we're adding right now.
10:28We want to make sure these are toasted up
10:30so that that raw melon seed flavor doesn't come through
10:35and get that deep flavor that we're looking for.
10:38On a busy night, we sell up to 180 individual dumplings.
10:42So I am now going to add the iru or fermented locust beans.
10:49Can you smell that?
10:50So typically we like to hand projects off to other cooks
10:54from a management perspective
10:56to ensure that everyone is trained on everything.
10:59People take vacation, have family emergencies,
11:02and they sometimes want to learn new things.
11:05So it's about 1.30 right now.
11:06I need to pivot.
11:07So this project is going to be handed over to my junior sous chef.
11:11So now I'm going to check in with the rest of the team,
11:13make sure everybody's on track for the day,
11:15and then we can start setting up the service kitchen upstairs.
11:17It's 1 p.m. right now.
11:19We're building the cart to take equipment upstairs
11:23to the service kitchen from down here in the production kitchen.
11:26At this time, we're four hours out from service.
11:30So typically I'll pick up and get the equipment up to the kitchen
11:33to free up the sous chefs and the junior sous
11:36so that they can stay focused on the production.
11:38So I'm going to start with the dumplings.
11:40So I'm going to start with the dumplings.
11:41So I'm going to start with the dumplings.
11:42So I'm going to start with the dumplings.
11:44So I'm going to start with the dumplings.
11:45so that they can stay focused on the production day.
11:48Corner, right behind you.
11:50Coming out.
11:51Now we're heading to the elevator to take us up to the restaurant.
11:55This elevator belongs to Lincoln Center,
11:57but they're kind enough to let us use it for our daily setup.
12:01Quite a bit of heavy lifting when it comes to like the equipment
12:05and the proteins and things like that.
12:07So I'd say I'm getting a really good workout in on a daily basis.
12:10Mainly due to spacing.
12:12When Chef Kwame was looking for a space,
12:15he knew that the production for the menu
12:18would have to be done in large format.
12:21So the space intentionally has a production kitchen
12:25to take care of all the heavy lifting that we saw for service.
12:29This kitchen comes into play starting at 3.30
12:32when the line cooks arrive
12:34and we are done with service at about 11 p.m. at night.
12:38We have it down to the exact number.
12:40There is a checklist that we use to build this cart.
12:44I think most of us know it by heart by now.
12:47I love integrating myself into the setup for service
12:50and it just makes me feel like I'm more in tune with the cooks.
12:53Right here I am setting up garmanger slash dessert station.
12:59I have to break down some ice that's in here
13:01that built up over the weekend.
13:03So right now I'm just putting everything in place for the hotline.
13:07Just making sure that pots are where they need to be.
13:09Then I'll start compartmentalizing and setting them up one by one.
13:13Starting with roast and working my way down to entremet
13:16and then hot app over here.
13:18So our kitchen is closed between Saturday night and Tuesday evening.
13:23So when these are left in the well, they freeze in.
13:26As we keep these fridges running so that we don't have to re-temp them.
13:30Chef Kwame has set the kitchen up to be a traditional brigade system
13:35with the stations that we have with as many bodies as we have.
13:37We have our roast station, garmanger.
13:41We have entremet, which is our saute station and hot app.
13:45All of our desserts come off of the garmanger station as well.
13:49So we'll see like a lot of the sweet treats coming up on our very last cart.
13:55In a night it has to be upward of about 300 or more plates altogether
13:59coming out of this kitchen.
14:00Starting at about 4 p.m. we start to see a line develop outside the door
14:04and that is comprised of people that have been waiting
14:07upwards of a year to eat with us here at Tatiana.
14:11And that makes it all the more critical for us to be ready at 5 on the dot.
14:16That pressure is on as soon as the doors open.
14:18It's about 3.30 right now.
14:20Line cooks are going to start filing in.
14:21So I'm going to go and catch them at the time clock
14:24to ensure that they know what the day is about to look like.
14:31The cooks after they clock in are going to be handed their checklist
14:34for the station that they've been assigned to today.
14:37Being that we cross-train all of the cooks for pretty much every station here in the kitchen.
14:42So they'll be able to kind of gauge what their needs are
14:45based on the list that we hand them.
14:46Tastings usually happen on the line at about 4.45.
14:50The team will set up with all of their sauces heated,
14:53all of their proteins par-cooked,
14:55and then we start to taste the components to ensure that they are top-tier quality.
15:00Can you bring it over here please?
15:02I just want to give our ground lamb for service a bit of a taste.
15:08I would say that this was really well seasoned
15:11and it's definitely got a bit of a kick to it that I'm feeling now.
15:14If anything on the line is wrong or I see that it's not up to par with our standards,
15:18I will notify the sous-chef so that they can come up
15:21and take a look at what product needs to be fixed
15:25and they will fix it down in the production kitchen.
15:27This is the last push and then we're gearing ourselves for pre-shifting service.
15:31We're going to discuss VIPs, party sizes, as well as the lineup for this evening.
15:37We will not be running the chicken tonight.
15:39I'm hoping that means we see pastrami numbers go up.
15:43There's also an 86 on bodega special just to start.
15:46We will un-86 it as soon as the donuts make it to the line.
15:53All right, it's almost five.
15:55We just got done with our pre-shifting.
15:56We're going to go ahead and get the chicken ready.
15:58All right, it's almost five.
16:00We just got done with our pre-shift meeting.
16:02The line's building outside.
16:04We're about to go into service.
16:05During the first seating in the dining room,
16:08I'll be here at the pass expediting for the kitchen up until about eight o'clock tonight.
16:13Thank you guys so much for following me around.
16:15Hopefully I gave you a little bit of a glimpse of what it's like
16:17to be the chef de cuisine here at Tatiana.
16:20And if you're lucky enough, you can pin down a reservation and come join us.
16:23Hyping myself up internally right now.
16:25It's me and then the team and then we're good to go.