Photo: Courtesy of Charles
Self-taught chef Jason Zukas, behind the line at Charles since October, has been named permanent executive chef there, the restaurant announced today. The Queens native cooked previously at André Balazs’s Sunset Beach on Shelter Island and was also the second-season premiere winner of Food Network’s competition show Chopped; at Charles, Zukas was substitute cheffing for Kristine Mana-ay, who left the restaurant in October for maternity leave. Mana-ay has since rejoined the kitchen as Zukas’s sous-chef.
