Revel in New York
A look at the city through its people
Johnny Iuzzini
Pastry Chef, Jean Georges
Johnny Iuzzini is arguably one of the best pastry chefs in America. As head pastry chef for the celebrated Jean Georges restaurant, he's required to turn out some of the world's most sought after sweets on a daily basis.
Iuzzini's career has taken him inside some of the best kitchens in world from the Laduree in Paris to the River Cafe in Brooklyn. Somewhere in between, he became the right hand man to Francois Payard at the famed Daniel.
A former club kid, who often worked the door at the Palladium, Johnny is a self-proclaimed tattoo and motorcycle enthusiast, who's occasionally been spotted moonlighting behind the bar at a few of the city's underground watering holes.
Johnny's cookbook, Dessert FourPlay, is now available through Clarkson Potter.
Inspiration & Technique
PLACES
Union Square Farmer's Market - "Every Wednesday and Saturday I like going and eating berries and talking to farmers and seeing what's coming into season."
SOURCE
Koreatown & Chinatown - "Koreatown and Chinatown are still great places to go for spice houses, ingredients, and good food. There are still restaurants you can find that hardly anyone knows about. Places that haven't been on any food blogs yet and that don't have a line."
The Lower East Side - "The Lower East Side is the neighborhood I live in and there's still a bunch of restaurants where the owner / chef is still running the place and you know he's going to be sweating it out in the kitchen every night turning out great meals."
photo by moriza
"A kitchen is a very high stress environment so things can get a little bit out of control. At one place I worked we had a mini fight club going on in the basement. Things got a little out of hand but it was all in good fun."
COOKBOOKS
Joy of Cooking - "The Joy of Cooking is one of those classic cookbooks that has everything in it and you know the recipes are going to work every time."
Pie and Pastry Bible - "The Pie and Pastry Bible is one of those classic dessert books."
On Food and Cooking - "Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking is still a classic and a scientific approach to one of the best cookbooks ever written."
Any book by Pierre Herme, Dorie Greenspan, Frederic Bau, and Oriol Balaguer
"My biggest goal each day is to turn out the best possible product so that our customers feel that they couldn't have gotten it anywhere else. I want them to return to Jean Georges just for that again and again."
TATTOOS
Chris O'Donnell - "For my tattoos I go to Chris O'Donnell, who I think is one of the best tattoo artists in the world. He's just an amazing guy and you go to him with whatever you're feeling and you just trust him. You can go with an idea but not a picture. It has to be his art and the way he interprets your vision. I really looking forward to working with him again."
MOTORCYCLES
JOHNNY'S RESTAURANT PICKS
Peasant - “Frankie DeCarlo cooks real rustic Italian. He loves to cook and his passion comes through in every single bite you eat. He made his own brick oven and he and his wife are there every single day cooking. Every time I eat his food, I question if I should even be cooking. This will be one of the best Italian meals of your life.”
Momofuku - “David Chang cooks delicious and simple Nuevo Asian type things.“
Johnny with Momofuku chef David Chang
"I work so many hours that I really don't have time to cook at home. With what little time I do have, I like to go out to dinner and see what all the other chefs are up to. It would be a real shame, especially in this town, if I were to limit myself to my own creations."
wd-50 - "If you’re looking for something that you won’t find anywhere else I would definitely head to wd-50. Wally Dufresne cooks hyper-American food that’s very intellectual and modern.”
Lupa - “Really delicious, rustic, and hardy Italian food. They’re not pretentious at all.”
Blue Ribbon - “A lot of chefs still go there. It is absolutely delicious at three o’clock in the morning.”
Bon Chon Chicken - “Awesome crispy chicken late at night.”
Pho 32 - “24 hour pho and shabu shabu. So tasty.”
Paladar - “Super fresh Mexican in the Lower East Side.”
Tailor - “Sam Mason uses very modern techniques.”
Boqueria - “Excellent Spanish style tapas.”
"I don't really have a speciality. I'm good at melting flavors and layering flavors so I'm much better at plated desserts rather than just croissant or just breads. I'm good with chocolate and I'm good at focusing on flavor and delivering things that pop."
Lever House - “Off the hook pork dishes.”
Sushi Seki - “Very fresh and innovative sushi.”
Pegu and PDT - “Spot-on outstanding cocktails and out of the ordinary bar snacks.”
Joe’s Shanghai and Noodletown - "Joe's Shanghai and Noodletown are always good, inexpensive standbys."
