Those who dream of rubbing shoulders with the founders of the most impenetrable eateries in America couldn’t do much better than crashing ZZ’s in Hudson Yards this past Monday and turning to the left or right. There in the gorgeous new members-only club, the icons of modern hospitality convened under one roof to be honored by Observer for their outsized contributions to the industry at the annual Nightlife + Dining Power List celebration—a bacchanal that brought together a melange of the most important gastronomical gatekeepers, restaurateur renegades and celebrity chefs of the modern era.
“I want to thank everybody who’s ever worked for me or works for me now for what they’ve done for my career and all of my restaurants and customers and staff,” said chef Daniel Boulud, standing in front of a roaring fire, as assembled guests sipped champagne, wine and Negronis. The kitchen legend was the recipient of the Legacy of Impact Award, which celebrates an honoree with decades of success who continues to energize the hospitality industry and tirelessly expand their impact.
“Daniel is thirty-one,” said Boulud of his landmark namesake restaurant that celebrated its three-decade anniversary last year. “But it’s getting younger every day.”
Boulud’s recognition was a full-circle moment for Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone. The pair, along with Jeff Zalaznick, took home the award for The Most-Watched Leaders in Dining and served to a degree as the focus of the party, considering the venue—the zs in ZZ’s come from Zalaznick.
“I was talking to Mario about how we worked in Boulud’s kitchen back in 2002,” Torrisi told Observer of a time when the two young chefs had a hunger for success and dreams of culinary triumph. On Monday, they hosted their former boss while getting honored alongside him, with the crowd munching food from Mario’s eponymous Carbone (including the signature Spicy Rigatoni). “From that moment working for Daniel to us standing here at our own restaurant getting this award alongside him… like, what a crazy bookend,” marveled Torrisi. “What a crazy ride.”
Through all the success, including the recent opening of his own blockbuster namesake restaurant, Torrisi held on to the raison d’etre he picked up during those fledgling days with Boulud: “We don’t let anything get in the way of our old-school work ethic,” he explained. “No matter what’s happening or what people are talking about, we stick to our work ethic. That’s the huge, very untold story of why we’re able to do what we do, and that’s what we learned from Daniel.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Tao Group’s Noah Tepperberg, winner of the night’s Scene Maker Award. “We’re all probably the hardest working people in the business,” Tepperberg told Observer, later laughing that he’d never won an award before. “It’s always nice to be recognized.”
Despite hectic schedules, several honorees flew in from out of town to attend the festivities, many just for the day. That included honoree and Sin City impresario Ronn Nicolli, CMO of Resorts World Las Vegas, who left the Sundance Film Festival to attend. “Truthfully, it was an honor to be mentioned with the people here tonight, so it felt important to be here and be present alongside them,” he told Observer. “We’re happy to be included, so it meant a lot to us. We fly back to Vegas tomorrow.”
Also making the trek from out west was honoree Liwei Liao, the “Dry-Aged Fish King of Los Angeles” behind the city’s viral seafood market, The Joint. “This is kind of like the first award I’m ever getting by just selling fish,” Liao, a native of Bayside, Queens, told Observer, tongue firmly in cheek, explaining why it was important to be feted in person. “It’s an honor to be in the room with all of these giants and bosses; it’s a milestone.”
Another milestone occurred when Observer writer and Industry Only founder Andy Wang presented Unapologetic Foods duo Chintan Pandya and Roni Mazumdar with the Most Dynamic in Dining Award, honored for the pair’s range of popular Indian eateries, including Dhamaka (its flagship), Masalawala & Sons and Semma. “Rather than avoiding change,” Wang said, “the winner of this award embraces it, continuously working to lead new trends and envision what comes next.”
“Rarely do you get to live your life doing what you just genuinely want to do and be recognized for it,” said Mazumdar in his acceptance speech. “For far too long in the industry that we’re in, it’s been quite Euro-centric, and success in food has always come when you’d take a direction that many other people are following. For whatever reason, we just wanted to do what we did.”
EB Kelly, the Senior Managing Director of Tishman Speyer who spearheaded the culinary rebirth of Rockefeller Center, shared those sentiments. “We feel like it’s our responsibility to be part of this flourishing renaissance in Midtown, so being on a list of people transforming hospitality is quite special to us.”
Naturally, New York slices were also represented, specifically by honoree Scarr Pimentel of his namesake ‘za shop, Scarr’s. The pizza legend brought his head pizza maker, Christiano Wennmann, along for the event. “I was getting a drink and talking to some guy at the bar, and it ended up being Daniel Boulud,” Wennmann told Observer with a laugh. The pizzaiol0, who grew up in Queensbridge, took a curious path to his current perch, from college drop-out to dishwasher to Scarr’s. But along the way, he had always known Boulud was a beloved figure.
“My mom worked as a pastry chef at his restaurant and would always tell me how much respect she had for him,” Wennmann recalled, then added, “It was a full-circle moment, for sure.”
Rob LeDonne
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