David Tanis.
Photo: Melissa Hom
This came out of left field. New York food writer David Tanis’s next turn is as the chef at the Monkey Bar, former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter’s midtown restaurant. Of course, before becoming a writer and a New York Times columnist, Tanis was the head chef at Chez Panisse, so his professional credentials aren’t in question. But Monkey Bar is about as far from that iconic California restaurant as it gets: less bohemian farm-to-table and more money-to-steak, a gilded power restaurant where the menu emphasizes clubby dishes like wedge salad, rack of lamb, and strip steak. According to Tanis’s friends at the Times, he’ll spruce up the menu with more salads and sustainable ingredients, but stay true to Chez Panisse’s school of simplicity.
