"Time and Tide–it’s a seafood restaurant that takes its cues from a steakhouse. Large format cuts of fish in a way that…you’ve not seen before at an incredibly high level.” Today, Bon Appétit spends a day on the line with Chef Danny Garcia, executive chef at Time and Tide in NYC. Founded by the late Chef Jamal James Kent, Garcia and his team work daily to carry on Kent’s legacy and keep his culinary empire going.
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00:00Time and Tide, it's a seafood restaurant that takes its cues from a steakhouse.
00:04Large format cuts of fish in a way that maybe you've not seen before at an incredibly high level.
00:10Being an executive chef is definitely more than just cooking food.
00:13At the end of the day, this restaurant falls on me.
00:16Jamal James Kent, founder, he was building an empire.
00:19Crown Chi and Saga, both Michelin-starred.
00:21This was just going to be the next chapter that we were building together.
00:25Just a couple months before we were set to open the restaurant,
00:28Jamal passed away, and so now it's on us to just be the stewards of his legacy.
00:37What's happening, y'all? I'm Danny Garcia.
00:39I'm the executive chef here at Time and Tide in New York City.
00:41Let's get off the street and come check it out.
00:44We're gonna head into the kitchen, see what the sous chefs got going on.
00:46We were super fortunate with this restaurant to really restart it from the ground up.
00:50There was nothing here, so we really got to design the kitchen
00:53from the floors all the way to the ceiling.
00:55We have the hotline. All the hot food comes off of here.
00:58Most of pastry production and additional production is back here.
01:02This is pastry service station.
01:04So during dinner service, all of pastries are coming off here
01:08and they're production in the back.
01:09In the back corner here, we have kind of more robust kitchen equipment.
01:15Liquid nitrogen for ice cream.
01:17Dough sheeter.
01:18This is like our private events and production kitchen.
01:22So this little nook really does the workhorse of all of our prep
01:27and all of our mise en place.
01:28The hotline designed from the Nomad.
01:32We wanted a prep area that was kind of self-contained,
01:35also could function as an event space,
01:38but didn't really have too much interaction with the hotline
01:41during dinner service or busy nights.
01:43I think for any standard, this kitchen is massive.
01:45For New York City, this kitchen is enormous.
01:47It's usually about 15 to 17 people in the kitchen on a bustling day.
01:53We're doing 250 guests on a busy night.
01:55Dry goods, dry storage.
01:57Kind of treated like a grocery store
01:58where everything's kind of lined up and organized how we want it
02:01and where we want it.
02:02Dish station to the left.
02:04And then all of our walk-ins.
02:06So this is our cold room, our butcher room.
02:09The idea is that we fabricate all of our proteins in here.
02:11All the fish comes in.
02:12It goes directly to Ishmi and Miguel.
02:14It's usually at 50 degrees or just below 50 degrees,
02:17but it's always cold all the time.
02:19It is 10 o'clock.
02:20I've got a meeting that I need to get into for some finance.
02:23So we actually need to go and get into that right now.
02:28The restaurant is only three and a half weeks.
02:31So Cal and I, Cal, the GM of Time and Tide,
02:34we're jumping on a call with Ryan,
02:36who does the analytics for Ken Hospitality.
02:39Basically, we have a meeting every Tuesday morning.
02:41We run through the previous week's revenue, sales,
02:45drivers on the menu, what's selling, what's not selling.
02:48I think there's room to make price adjustments in both directions.
02:51Lots of the reviews have said, like, you know, it's very pricey.
02:54Are there placements on the menu specifically where we can move it?
02:58Maybe there's a way to reduce the price on, like,
03:01the swordfish if it's running at a 10% market, something like that.
03:04Sure.
03:04Yeah, we'll work on that.
03:06I would say 75% of my responsibilities as chef are business management.
03:13I mean, definitely super different than any other restaurant that I've ever worked in,
03:16that we have an analytics team.
03:18So it's about 10, 45.
03:20It's definitely time to change, get into the kitchen,
03:22get on a cutting board and get some stuff rolling.
03:25Do you want to grab this hog with me?
03:27Yeah.
03:28We've got swordfish.
03:30These are aged.
03:30We're going to take this one, which is from a week and a half ago.
03:34We're going to take this and break this.
03:36We'll need it for service tonight and for tomorrow.
03:39So we're just going to kind of get up on portions.
03:41This is probably a 70 pound fish.
03:44You have the top loin and the belly basically just splitting open the fish
03:49so that I can get it into smaller pieces to be able to work with it more efficiently.
03:54Justin, he's the culinary director of Kent Hospitality.
03:59His grandfather owns a fishing company out of Long Island.
04:02Since we don't have a band saw here,
04:04instead of a saw, he came back with a straight machete.
04:08And he was like, well, this is how my grandfather used to break down fish.
04:10But this knife works really nicely
04:12because the bones on the swordfish are pretty easy to get through.
04:15So I'm scraping the bones, just any extra meat that was left on it.
04:19I want to take it off.
04:20But really just because we're serving it on the bone,
04:22I want this to be clean.
04:24So when it does get roasted,
04:25it just catches a nice color and roasts really nicely.
04:27Just got to call cow real fast.
04:30Yeah, you got a second to come up for one more menu update.
04:33We did not get very good sardines in today.
04:37So we're going to scratch it.
04:38So we're going to scratch it,
04:39but we're going to play the game of doing monk liver mousse for the first time.
04:43No way.
04:44Yeah.
04:44Candy, pistachio, concord, jelly, celery.
04:47So the overall thought of the restaurant,
04:49like what does a seafood restaurant look like
04:51if it took its cues from a steakhouse, right?
04:53What's our answer to a ribeye?
04:55Hey, let's just do dry-aged swordfish
04:58and cut it in this like chop almost.
05:00That is really our ribeye.
05:02So now we're cutting out the steaks.
05:04And then again, because we don't have a bandsaw,
05:09we do the old fashioned way.
05:11That's about 12 to 13 ounces.
05:13So the bone is running along the entire spine.
05:16So as you serve it, we'll cut it straight down here.
05:18You'll get the bone in,
05:19you'll get all of this beautiful cartilage
05:21and you get the top loin
05:22and then you get a piece of the belly as well.
05:25This is basically the bone marrow of the swordfish.
05:27So it's essentially jelly.
05:28Like you can pop it out.
05:30Super tasty, gelatinous.
05:31It sears off really nicely.
05:33One side usually gets me about 36 portions.
05:36So whole fish, maybe I'll be in the ballpark of 70 plus
05:40if we do it right.
05:41So it's about 12.30 and we got to go.
05:43So day's getting by pretty quickly here.
05:48Cool, so we're back at it.
05:50We are working on petivier.
05:52Halibut petivier starts with the halibut.
05:55So we take a fish mousse from the halibut trim that we get,
05:58a duxelle of mushroom and spinach.
06:00Those all get folded into each other
06:02and then you get these little bricks
06:04that we wrap with spinach crepe.
06:06And then essentially the final part
06:08is what we're doing now,
06:08which is wrapping the bricks is what we call it.
06:10It's definitely taking inspiration from a Wellington
06:15or a, you know, petivier is just the French version.
06:18Obviously at a seafood restaurant,
06:20we want to use seafood.
06:21So it's really about stretching the dough,
06:23pressing it so that it's really molded
06:25around the entire brick.
06:27Making sure that there's no air pockets is kind of key.
06:30So there's raw fish in the center
06:31and then there's raw mousse around that.
06:33The moisture in the mousse and from the crepe
06:35will steam the entire inside of the petivier
06:41while the outside is roasting.
06:42So the fork, just like an empanada
06:45or a beef patty, if you will,
06:48we're just closing and crimping down the edges.
06:50The puff pastry obviously puffs
06:53and expands and so if it's not crimped,
06:55the two will separate, then it just doesn't work.
06:58So this is really like just an aesthetic.
07:01By no means does it make it taste better,
07:02but it definitely gives it a cute little visual.
07:05These edges all get crispy and crunchy
07:07and it helps make it super flaky.
07:09And then this is just a little cross hatch over top,
07:11not cutting through the dough, but just cutting into it.
07:13So if you cut into it, it won't cook properly.
07:16Either the fish won't cook right
07:18or the insides will kind of like ooze out.
07:21We just made, this will be 90 for this set.
07:23This is definitely one of our highest selling items.
07:25When you slice these, you're able to see the inlay.
07:27So we know that the inlay on these
07:28is absolutely gorgeous and perfect.
07:31There's no imperfections.
07:32Same with the wrap.
07:33They look really good and sharp.
07:34So it's about almost 130.
07:36I'm gonna get these packed up
07:37and then we are going to get into the next project.
07:45Calvin Wong, where are we at with crab?
07:47You ready to go?
07:48This is all five?
07:50Okay, great.
07:51Let's see how much we get,
07:52but we might end up doing more, but fly.
07:55I think we start with three minutes and then we go.
07:58This is a Norwegian king crab
08:00for our crab tagliatelle
08:02that we're putting on the menu tonight.
08:04Super classic.
08:05Butter beurre monte, if you will.
08:06A little bit of lemon juice.
08:08Crab that's cooked just lightly.
08:10A little bit of chives.
08:11One of Jamal's favorite dishes actually.
08:14So we're just checking the crab.
08:14We're just making sure it's cooked properly.
08:16I mean, a little bit of shredded is okay.
08:18Like I want it like larger pieces.
08:20Take that and break that like that.
08:22Don't shred this down to nothing.
08:23When they toss it with the pasta, it's gonna break down.
08:26Okay, so we're gonna break down
08:27gyeranmasa real quick.
08:29I'm gonna go to the dry ager and grab fish
08:32so we can break that down.
08:33We age these for nine days.
08:35I have one ready, which is great.
08:41Jordan, you have no oyster pan roast.
08:43Do not do any oyster pan roast mise en place.
08:46AM's portioning crab tag.
08:48They're going to cook and portion crab for you.
08:5330, you wanna do 36?
08:55Oui, chef.
08:55I mean, this is crunch time.
08:57It's, yeah, it's 140.
09:00We're in the shits.
09:02My head is never just focused on one task.
09:04There's always a thousand questions to be asked.
09:06So gyeranmasa, she's dried.
09:08I mean, you can tell it dried
09:10and it's like this thing is stiff as a board.
09:13But this is great.
09:13This is nine days.
09:14This is exactly what we're looking for.
09:15So I'm going to take off the collars.
09:18We use the collars.
09:19We SFN those, something for nothing,
09:21to some guests that come in that we're excited about.
09:24And we have a couple of those guests coming in tonight.
09:26Gyeranmasa is a type of yellowfin tuna.
09:29This one specifically from Hawaii.
09:32You see a lot of hamachi.
09:34I think hamachi's fine,
09:36but it's just this really like mass farm fish.
09:40They're all waterlogged.
09:41I'm not really a fan of them.
09:42This gyeranmasa is part of our grand plateau.
09:45Five bites.
09:46It's probably the most composed food on the menu
09:49in terms of like the most intricate, I would say.
09:53Just presenting fish in a way
09:54that maybe hasn't been seen before,
09:56hasn't been eaten in that way before.
09:59This is really just like showcasing
10:01just the simplicity of like food for me.
10:03You don't need 15 garnishes.
10:05You don't need a hundred things
10:07to like make something this beautiful taste delicious.
10:10It really on its own is really, really, really, really good.
10:13We're buzzing right now.
10:14The kitchen, it definitely seems common here,
10:16but like people are moving.
10:17People know that there's a lot of to get done.
10:19So we try to do a meeting with the team
10:20between 2 and 2.15 every single day.
10:25What's happening, y'all?
10:25What's happening, chef?
10:27Um, busy night.
10:29Tuna collar goes on the menu tonight.
10:31We have tagliatelle replaces oyster pan roast tonight.
10:35Monk liver mousse is going to replace
10:37the sardine toast for the evening.
10:40Yo, last night, incredible job.
10:42We had walk in the door, like unannounced.
10:45We did a really, really great job of making it happen.
10:49So like food looked great.
10:51Put eyes on the prep list if you haven't.
10:54If we don't have anything else, let's have a good service.
10:57It's about 2.30.
10:58Doors open at 5.30 for guests.
11:00So from here on out, it's really like balls to the walls,
11:03making sure we're set up and ready to go for tonight.
11:07It's almost 3.30.
11:09We've got till 3.55, guys.
11:11So let's just touch base on all of our mise en place
11:14and where we're at.
11:14Organizing prep at Time and Tide
11:16basically consists of using the app called Opsy.
11:19It's basically this intuitive system that connects
11:22what we are actually working on through a live document
11:26where our cooks are able to say what they're working on,
11:29how many of each item they might have.
11:32So each station has their own particular prep list
11:35with their items and needs for that station.
11:38Okay, so let's look at fluke
11:39and let's see how many portions you have.
11:42So you have 24 breaded.
11:43You have 20 salads.
11:45This isn't counting anything that you just did.
11:47I'm sore fish.
11:48Did you put it in yet?
11:49Last night, we finished with 22.
11:51And then this morning, you portioned out 90
11:53for today and tomorrow.
11:54Okay, cool.
11:55For me, this gives these guys the opportunity
11:58to really just be able to say like,
12:00okay, it's my Monday.
12:01I'm coming in.
12:02I know what I'm looking at.
12:03I know what I'm doing.
12:05I know what they're doing.
12:06Again, it's kind of in that ballpark of,
12:09woo!
12:12Chef.
12:13This is our time and tide matchbook.
12:16And then the 10% of green.
12:19Yo, these are tough.
12:20Who designed these?
12:21Give that guy a raise.
12:23We're going to finish walking through,
12:25making sure everyone's got what they need
12:27and get ready for service.
12:31So it's almost four o'clock, 3.55.
12:34We call five minutes.
12:35We put all of our mise en place away.
12:37We scrub down the entire kitchen
12:39and basically get ready for service.
12:40Five minutes.
12:41Wait!
12:42The five minutes originated at 11 Madison Park.
12:45This idea of just having like a reset moment
12:47in the kitchen.
12:48You're working, you're bustling, things get crazy.
12:51So having this moment to really scrub
12:52and reset the kitchen before service.
12:54We did it at the Nomad.
12:56We do it at Crown Shy.
12:58So everything gets polished and broken down.
13:00I have a reservation meeting
13:01with our dining room management
13:03and our hosts and Matron D.
13:05So we're going to change.
13:06We're going to get out there for that.
13:09Hi, everybody.
13:10Hi.
13:11We are sitting right around 150 cars.
13:14But 6 p.m.s do have to turn for that 8.15 push
13:17at the end of the night.
13:17We have six birthdays coming in tonight
13:19and then fives and sixes scattered throughout.
13:21Typically when there's like something
13:23or a big celebration or whatever,
13:24we want to make sure that we're acknowledging
13:26it at least three times over the course of the evening.
13:28So as soon as they walk in the door,
13:30when the server greets them
13:32and then at the end of the evening
13:34with a celebration like treat or moment.
13:36We take it to the next level
13:38of making sure that we take notes on all of our guests.
13:41If you are left-handed,
13:43if you like sparkling water,
13:44the little things and the small details
13:46we like to focus on.
13:47So we have 30 minutes until lineup.
13:49So everyone's going to grab a bite,
13:51take a few minutes,
13:52and then we'll get set up
13:53and really dive into tasting.
13:59It is five o'clock on the dot.
14:00I'm going to drop these off with the dining room,
14:02chat with them,
14:03and then I'm going to start tasting at the raw bar.
14:06What's happening, y'all?
14:06What's up?
14:07We've got another really amazing dish
14:09that I'm excited about
14:10that I think is super delicious and fun.
14:12Crab tagliatelle.
14:14So Norwegian king crab.
14:16Sell caviar here, 1000%.
14:17If you want a vessel for caviar,
14:19that's your vessel.
14:20And I'll give you even talking points,
14:21like the hot pasta with the salinity
14:24of like just a cold caviar.
14:26Like I actually want to take one and go eat one
14:28because it's going to be,
14:29it's, I can think about it
14:30and taste it all at the same time.
14:32That would be really delicious.
14:33This dish you should know is like one of Jamal's,
14:35one of the first dishes that he ever put
14:37on the menu at The Nomad.
14:39So this is not my dish.
14:40This is 1000% his,
14:42but this is just like a little nod to him.
14:43Thanks guys.
14:45So we just finished line up with the dining room.
14:47We're going to dive into tasting now.
14:50Guys, can we not pack down the tuna?
14:52This one looks great where it's like kind of organic
14:54and it's just in there.
14:55It doesn't need to be this like smash down moment.
14:58Yeah.
14:58Make sure that like the oyster is the right side up
15:01and make sure that the tail of the oyster
15:02or the skirt of the oyster is like
15:04either tucked in or like perfect.
15:05Yeah.
15:06We're going to head back to the kitchen.
15:08We're going to go see Garmegé
15:09and we'll finish the taste through there.
15:12Garmegé, we're ready to rumble.
15:13We taste everything for the sheer reason of consistency.
15:16Someone might make something today.
15:18Someone else might make it the next day
15:19and make it completely different.
15:20I get into everything,
15:21open every container,
15:22touch everything,
15:23look at everything
15:24to make sure that like
15:25if all 10 components are good,
15:27then I know that the final product
15:28is going to be exactly what I want.
15:30Trash this.
15:31This is, this isn't,
15:32this isn't good.
15:32All your edges that are brown,
15:34they need to get trimmed.
15:36This is what I'm talking about.
15:37It's like you start touching things a thousand times
15:40and then you're like,
15:40yo, there's something wrong.
15:42You got to fix it.
15:43It's like call the maintenance man.
15:44The maintenance man is here.
15:46Literally, it's 5.30.
15:47The restaurant's open and I'm fixing screws
15:49that aren't tight.
15:50But that's, that's what we got to do.
15:53That's, that's the job.
15:54Let's talk numbers.
15:55What do we got?
15:55I have 31.
15:57Including those?
15:59Okay, should be fine.
16:01Collars?
16:02Collars, I have two and more on the back.
16:04Let's make sure we're marinating it like more.
16:07You know what I'm saying?
16:07Like get the skin side,
16:08like let's rub these down a little bit more.
16:10So I'm going to finish tasting,
16:12get through the last two stations here
16:14and then we're going to get set up
16:15and ready to go for service.
16:19So it is 5.42.
16:21We are open for service.
16:22Guests are in the dining room.
16:23There's five tables that are seated.
16:26Any guest that sits,
16:27I'm able to click the table,
16:28look at their notes,
16:30see anything.
16:30It also tells me where they're at in their meal.
16:32Any VIP notes that I need to know
16:34or any guest notes that I should know.
16:36Essentially with service,
16:38I will expedite.
16:39I'll help the hotline finish
16:40and I'll help Grandma Jay finish food.
16:42The conductor of an orchestra,
16:43you know, like it's like telling these guys
16:45and giving them their cues
16:46and their talking points
16:47and their cooking points
16:48for what they need to be doing next.
16:49Order at two top.
16:51Let's have a good service.
16:52Grandma Jay, that's one goldfish.
16:54We call out our tickets in a very loud tone.
16:57Kind of really just gets like the energy
16:59in the kitchen up.
17:00Make sure everyone's on the same page.
17:02Make sure that we're all working in sync
17:04and in harmony.
17:05The goldfish.
17:06We didn't want to do bread and butter.
17:07So it's just kind of this fun, playful way
17:09to start guests off with that cracker
17:10or that bread, if you will.
17:12So we decided to go with the goldfish.
17:14Think of like the cheddar biscuits at Red Lobster's
17:16kind of where like the idea came from
17:18and stemmed into this goldfish.
17:19So we're rocking and rolling.
17:21We have five tables ordered.
17:23We use KDS,
17:24which is a kitchen display screen.
17:26Basically the same exact thing
17:27is like what McDonald's uses.
17:29But essentially all of our tickets
17:30come up on the screen.
17:31I read them.
17:31I expedite them.
17:32And these guys have a mirror image
17:34of like their counts
17:35and how many of each thing
17:36that they're cooking at any given time.
17:37So they know their board.
17:38Traditionally, most restaurants
17:40have ticket systems
17:41where the printer will print a receipt
17:44that has all of the items for that table on it.
17:47Should being in the next generation
17:48and ahead of the curve
17:49is where we want to be with this restaurant.
17:51Is this correct on 32?
17:52It's correct.
17:52It's a group with six young people.
17:55All of them, they came here
17:57just for the experience.
17:58They're not hungry.
17:59So they order a few things,
18:01the plateau mostly.
18:02One of them, he's not having seafood
18:04and he ordered the steak.
18:05We're going two french fries, 32.
18:07Francis, seven, six.
18:09Drop on top, crab tag, Nutelli.
18:10Drop on top means that they have
18:13another snack or another bit in front of them.
18:15Typically we will wait to clear
18:17before we drop something else.
18:18In this case, it's just more snacks.
18:21Maybe the guest has an out time
18:22or they kind of want everything at once.
18:24So you'll drop everything at once.
18:25In this case, they know there's food on the table.
18:28I can still drop it.
18:28Carmichael, you're fired on a monk mousse solo.
18:31Any time?
18:33Yes, chef.
18:34Yo, let's go on a tagliatelle order fire
18:37and a cacio e pepe order fire.
18:39Let's go seven, one with a monk liver mousse.
18:43You know the spiel?
18:45Talk to me, tell me.
18:50You win.
18:50See you later.
18:5171.
18:52It is 6.15.
18:53We are getting busy.
18:55Things are rocking and rolling.
18:56I appreciate you guys coming by and hanging out,
18:57but it's time for you to go.
19:00I'm just going to ask you a couple of questions
19:02about your job here, if that's cool.
19:05I'm like the ghost here.
19:06I don't know if you want to ask me questions.
19:08What do you mean you're the ghost here?
19:09I don't really work at Crown Chi.
19:11I'm Danny Garcia.
19:12I am the chef of Saga Hospitality's newest restaurant
19:17that currently doesn't have a name yet.
19:19Do you have a lot of small scale working on right now?
19:22Actually, I can't.
19:24Genuinely.
19:25Cool.
19:26Thanks, guys.
19:27Sorry, I couldn't be here.
19:28We might see you at the next place.