Bobby Flay's Bar Americain Cookbook - Bobby Flay [1]
After all the traveling and cooking and eating I’ve done across the country, the restaurant I was now inspired to open was something different. Both as a native New Yorker and as a student of the city’s restaurant business, I know every important restaurant space in town and there was always one in particular that I thought of as my dream space. In fact, my very first meeting with Jerry Kretchmer to discuss the possibility of the two of us teaming up was in that space, a restaurant once called Sam’s Cafe. After a brief run, Sam’s became JUdson Grill, which Jerry then owned.
JUdson Grill had a good run on West 52nd Street, but it eventually became apparent that something needed to change. Although it was a well-regarded restaurant around town, it was no longer reaching its potential. That’s when I called Jerry. I knew this was my chance to grab the space that I had always wanted and I knew just want I wanted to do with it. Bar Americain was born.…
The concept and point of view of Bar Americain is simple: it’s an American brasserie. As soon as you walk in, you’ll sense the echoes of a soaring European brasserie, with distressed mirrors over the Parisian zinc bar and gorgeous tiles covering the floor. With curved banquettes snaking down the middle of the dining room and a peek into the semi-open kitchen, which is surrounded by a forty-foot-long raw bar, it’s a handsome space that radiates brasserie spirit.
I like to tell people that Bar Americain looks brasserie but tastes distinctly American. That raw bar is stocked with the freshest American fish and shellfish, for example. So why the French name? Naming a restaurant can be challenging, and my partners and I had a difficult time coming up with a name that made sense for the space and our vision.
I was in New Mexico doing some chile research for Mesa Grill while the new restaurant was being built. The food media was hassling us for information about the new place, which was soon to open but as of yet nameless and therefore, in the eyes of the press, without a story or a concept. I knew exactly what we were going to serve, but we needed a name to convey that, and fast.
At the time I was reading a book about another chef, a chef who loved spending time in Paris and had one of the most important American restaurants in the country. Jeremiah Tower was at the forefront of New American cuisine when it was born in the early 1980s, when he, Wolfgang Puck, and Alice Waters were leading the way. Jeremiah’s San Francisco restaurant, Stars, was a favorite of mine because of how he combined European style with American ingredients and ideas. Yes, we all get inspired somewhere and Stars was the backbone of the inspiration for Bar Americain.
I was reading Jeremiah’s book the same day I absolutely needed to name the restaurant, and while reading, I came upon a photo that made me pause. Jeremiah was standing with friends in front of the classic Parisian brasserie La Coupole. Behind them hung the canopy with the name of the restaurant and, in smaller print, the phrase “bar Américain.” This was a signal to Americans traveling through Paris earlier in the century that the brasserie served not only wine and beer but also American-style cocktails. While looking at that photograph, it hit me over the head—that’s the name! It couldn’t be anything else! All the “Stars” aligned right then. I got my partners, Jerry Kretchmer, Laurence Kretchmer, and Jeff Bliss, on a conference call and announced my epiphany, which was at first met with silence, then a question: “Will people think we’re just a bar?” No, I was convinced that this had to be the name. Thankfully, my partners agreed.
I often tell people that when I see a map of the United States, I don’t see states, cities, and towns—I see ingredients. My eye seeks out those truly American ingredients and the regional dishes that could only be American.