Scott Anderson, executive chef and co-owner of Elements, has been named a semifinalist for a 2015 James Beard Award.
Whither the re-opening of Elements? “Late, late May” is the new target date for the debut of the relocated Elements, says Scott Anderson, executive chef and co-owner, whose Princeton restaurant has been among the highest rated in the state since it opened in 2008. In the interim, Anderson has been named a semifinalist for a 2015 James Beard Award in the category of Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic. Finalists will be announced on March 24, and the winner on May 4.
Last June, when Anderson vacated the space on Bayard Lane/Route 206 that had housed his flagship property, he projected a January opening. Meanwhile, a brand new space is under construction on the second floor of the building at the corner of Hulfish and Witherspoon Street that houses Anderson’s second restaurant, Mistral. (The scaffolding is hard to miss.) He and partner Steve Distler own the entire two-story building. Anderson says typical construction and engineering issues have delayed progress, and is hoping that winter’s frigid temperatures won’t extend into early spring. “Once it’s warm enough to lay concrete, we could be open within five or six weeks,” he projects.
In the first months of Elements’ hiatus, Anderson traveled around the country doing guest-chef appearances at friends’ high-profile restaurants. These days, he and Mike Ryan, his chef and right-hand-man at Elements, are developing dishes for the opening menu. “Other than that,” Anderson admits, “we are bored out of our minds.” When asked if he is tempted to relieve the boredom by stepping into the kitchen at Mistral, which is run by chef Ben Nerenhausen, Anderson says he chooses not to interfere with a good thing.
Several months ago Elements’ liquor license was transferred to Mistral, which had been BYOB, but which established a no-corkage-fee policy to accommodate patrons who still want to bring their own beer and wine. The same license will serve not only Mistral and Elements, but also an artisanal bar coming into the first level, which will be under the direction of Elements’ popular bar manager, Jamie Dodge. “It will be an extension of Mistral,” Anderson says. “People can enjoy a drink downstairs before heading up to Elements, or come straight up to the restaurant. Elements will have a full fine-wine list, our own signature cocktails, and premium liquors.” A key feature of the building’s design is an exterior elevator that will carry guests up to the new space. The dining room will sport a view of the open kitchen and only 30 seats, down from the original restaurant’s 80. Plans call for a private dining room as well.
Agricola cookbook to debut this Spring
It seems fitting that a Jersey-born chef who put in serious time on the Northern California restaurant scene — including at the French Laundry — then came back home to head up a farm-to-table restaurant in Princeton would produce a cookbook with stylish, hyper-seasonal recipes. The Agricola Cookbook, written by that Witherspoon Street restaurant’s executive chef Josh Thomsen, is due out in late May. It promises 100 recipes inspired by produce from the restaurant’s own Great Road Farm in Skillman, as well as by the Garden State foragers, specialty growers, and other farms that supply the restaurant.
Thomsen promises recipes that are “accessible and totally appealing.” Examples, which will ring a bell with Agricola regulars, include Flatiron Steak with Green Garlic Gremolata, Spicy Mushroom Flatbread with Fried Egg, and Warm Granny Smith Apple Bread Pudding. The book can be preordered on Amazon, but for those who like to support local booksellers, farms, and at least one restaurant, or who might want to snag an autograph, events featuring Thomsen and Great Road Farm farmer Steve Tomlinson may be on the horizon.
Gennaro’s Market celebrates grand opening
Over the last decade, Gennaro Costabile has quietly built a large and loyal following for his eponymous Italian restaurant on Route 206, including for private parties and off-premise catering. It was the success and growth of the catering operation, he says, that motivated him to open Gennaro’s Italian Market & Catering on Main Street in Kingston. I caught up with Costabile at the grand opening on Feb. 8, where he welcomed everyone to what he terms his “little neighborhood market.”
Pride of place in the 2,000-square-foot space goes to two large cases that showcase a rotating selection of gourmet sandwiches and grab-n-go prepared foods, including Gennaro’s signature eggplant rolatini and fresh mozzarella. Elsewhere are breads (some made in-house, as is the mozz); cheeses; salumi; frozen store-made pasta and ravioli; refrigerated Gennaro sauces, soups, and desserts; and shelves laden with premium Italian olive oils, dried pastas, and other pantry items.
The market is situated in a space that has seen a parade of gift shops come and go over the years. Costabile says that one day almost two years ago he drove by and saw a “For Sale” sign out front. “I had a vision,” he says, “I needed a bigger kitchen and I live only two blocks away!”
Fast forward 18 months, and the space he now owns has not only seen a complete renovation, but has a 900-foot expansion on the back that houses a gleaming new commercial kitchen. The kitchen will also serve as the site for Costabile’s community service project, Caring Cooks Academy, which combines corporate team-building with good works. Teams of volunteer co-workers participate in a hands-on cooking lesson that ends with the delivery of complete, catered meals to the charity of their choice. “Last year we donated 1,200 meals,” Costabile says with pride.
Costabile, 54, tapped Kendall Park-based architect Jeffrey Kusmick for the market’s design. “We liked the historical feel of the place,” Kusmick told me during the open house, “but wanted to refresh and open it up.” He did that with a soaring cathedral, plenty of pot lights, and a color scheme of terra cotta and cream.
Gennaro’s Italian Market & Catering, 4587 Route 27, Kingston. (609) 683-1212, gennarositalianmarket.com
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