Ridgewood resident and international restaurateur Drew Nieporent returns to his roots
JUNE 15, 2014 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2014, 10:21 AM
BY ELISA UNG
A new sign just went up in the window of 239 W. Broadway in Tribeca: Bâtard. The dining news website Eater.com quickly placed Bâtard at the top of its list of the hottest Manhattan establishments of the moment – declaring: “This is the restaurant that all the critics and fine dining lovers will be checking out this summer.”
But there are still other reasons why we all might care about this particular address and this new restaurant: The man behind it is not only a longtime Ridgewood resident, he also helped shape the American dining scene.
It was 1985 when restaurateur Drew Nieporent, then 29, opened his first restaurant, Montrachet, in a converted woodworking shop at that Broadway address. It was a highly pioneering move – most obviously in the neighborhood he chose, referred to in one review as an “alien ZIP code.”
The vision was also novel: a restaurant known not for its silver domes on plates and formal service but for a comfortable, genial atmosphere, even though this was no casual bistro. It had a $16 prix-fixe menu and no dress code (Nieporent was fond of asking guests to simply cover their feet and genitals).
Its executive chef was a then-unknown named David Bouley; the restaurant was quickly awarded a rare three stars from The New York Times.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/food-and-dining-news/dining-news/the-man-who-changed-fine-dining-1.1035518#sthash.s40kQ7QI.dpuf