Beef

E.U. Owner Still Raging at Former Chef

E.U. owner Jason Hennings was pretty hot when we spoke to him last week about fired chef Justin Smillie. We thought when we saw an e-mail from him that he perhaps regretted coming down too hard on this chef, whom he accused of managing 45 percent food costs owing to his commitment to the Greenmarket. But no! Hennings was just getting started.

Greenmarkets aren’t in question here!

A chef’s ability to use it or his staff correctly is…

We never said we had an issue with the market only the chef who would buy chanterelles, morels, bee pollen, wild chamomile and wild lavender whole organic pigs and Lamb (exhausting huh!!)with no bi -product or any discernible difference to our menu and complete neglect of the kitchen business!! The E.U. never wanted to be compared to Blue Hill, Gramercy Tavern. Using the greenmarket and using fresh ingredients is a CHEF’S DUTY, not AN EXCUSE for ridiculous food costs and labor costs; i.e. a twelve dollar an hour cook taking a twenty dollar cab for ten dollars worth of artichokes twice a week. That is a perfect example of a non-sustainable eco nightmare – it’s ludicrous, shortsighted and couldn’t break even much less make a profit. Not firing Justin immediately and giving him 6 months was simply the time to adjust and to no avail; not spin. I love and honor the likes of Blue Hill and the like, but when you’re spending someone else’s money to create your own name, not a sustainable restaurant, you’re failing yourself and the industry. WE are a downtown neighborhood restaurant that honors traditional European FOODS. End of story.
E.U. Owner Still Raging at Former Chef