Celebrity chef food is coming to a new fast-casual — excuse me, “fine-fast” — setting in SoHo. Los Angeles breakfast sensation Eggslut and New York’s own Jean-George Vongerichten make up the spectrum of popular to venerable chefs whose dishes will be served at Chefs Club Counter, opening March 31.
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Designed to look like a callback to the classic New York lunch counter, Chefs Club Counter is the casual spinoff of Chefs Club, the restaurant whose curated menu features dishes by some of the world’s best chefs.
“Chefs Club Counter is a place for the talented chefs on our roster to offer their signature dishes to the New York audience without the hassle of owning and managing their own restaurant,” said Stephane De Baets, the Belgian entrepreneur who founded Chefs Club.
Alas, just getting in line now won’t get you that perfect poached egg sandwich. Chefs Club Counter will serve a limited menu of less than 10 dishes, with a limited number available each day. At least it’ll be open “early to late” seven days a week, and plans are already in the works to expand in the next few years.
Chefs Club culinary director Didier Elena is also overseeing the menu at Counter. Seasonal dishes will come and go, and the core menu may also change in a few months, according to a restaurant rep.
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For breakfast, Viennoise pastries from Maison Kayser will accompany the three sandwiches by Eggslut: the namesake Slut (coddled egg with potato puree), the Fairfax (a scramble with cheddar, caramelized onions and sriracha mayo), and exclusive to Counter, the SoHo Salmon (pastrami-smoked salmon, sunny side-up egg, fromage blanc, pickled red onion, Havarti cheese, chives, pickled mustard seeds, brioche bun).
For lunch and dinner, there’s the Vongerichten burger (grass-fed beef, pepper jack cheese, avocado, crisp red onions, Russian dressing), George Mendes’ duck rice from Aldea, grain bowls by Atlanta chef Linton Hopkins, a Kayser ham-and-cheese baguette, and two pizzas (wild mushroom and chicory, and tomato and stracchiatella) by Michelin-starred vegan chef Magnus Hansson.
The bar serves coffee, wine and beer.
