Australian chef Christopher Rendell, formerly of Double Crown, now helms the kitchens at Mary Queen of Scots on the Lower East Side as well as Highlands in the West Village. Next Monday, as part of New York Fashion Week, he'll be cooking at Elettra Wiedemann's pop-up restaurant Goodness, where he'll be previewing dishes for Whitehall, a bar-kitchen scheduled to open in mid-October.
Julie Besonen: How did you get involved with Goodness?
Christopher Rendell: Elettra's a regular at Highlands and her fiancé, James Marshall, is an acquaintance of [co-owner] Donal Brophy. We're doing fresh, fast, healthy cuisine -- baked oysters with Worcestershire sauce and smoked bacon, pan roasted sea bream with mashed potatoes, shaved asparagus with truffle vinaigrette. Ryan [Butler, executive pastry chef] is making dark chocolate pot de crème with maple whisky.
JB: Are you featuring anything else special for Fashion Week?
CR: We've got a McQueen cocktail at Mary Queen of Scots, in tribute to Alexander McQueen. It's made with Glenrothes Select Reserve whisky, mezcal, orange bitters, chocolate bitters, agave syrup and a splash of grapefruit.
JB: What have you changed at Mary Queen of Scots since you became the executive chef?
CR: It's still a British Isles menu but I've lightened it up. I make scallops with black pudding, but it's approachable if people are afraid. It's not a huge amount, just enough to get a taste of it. And obviously we've got fish and chips.
JB: When I went last year it seemed like more of a bar scene than a restaurant.
CR: It's definitely a more food-focused crowd now.
JB: I've read that Agyness Deyn is a regular. And Adele has been in?
CR: Yeah. We had an after-party for Adele after her concert here. She's an acquaintance of Brian McGrory, one of the owners.
JB: Did she break out into song?
CR: No, unfortunately.
JB: Can you talk a little about what we should expect at your new restaurant, Whitehall?
CR: It's going into the old Sweetiepie space at 19 Greenwich and is named for an area of London. There's a lot of white tile and it's built around a bar-kitchen, with a dining room in the back. It'll be open all day, breakfast, lunch and dinner, a place where you can grab a quick snack at the bar and have fish and chips or homemade steak and ale pie -- or have a three-course meal.
JB: You've cooked in London, too -- at The Sugar Club and Mews of Mayfair. What's the difference between the restaurant scene there and the restaurant scene in New York?
CR: It's more community-driven in New York, to be honest. Restaurants here tend to be more helpful. Here, if new places open near your restaurant it's a great thing and can help make it a more amazing area to go but in London it's seen as competition. It's true in general of New York; if someone's on the street holding a map people will come up and ask if they need help. I don't see that happening so much in London.
JB: Anything else planned?
CR: I'm making pork schnitzel sandwiches for 1,000 people tomorrow at Pig Island on Governors Island. But it's definitely not part of Fashion Week.
PAPERMAG's Complete Spring 2012 Fashion Coverage
