The In-box

Take Your Teenager to the Chef’s Counter, Not the Chef’s Table

The soundproof panopticon that is Park Avenue Summer's chef table
The soundproof panopticon that is Park Avenue Summer’s chef tablehaha Photo: Melissa Hom


Grub Street,

I am attempting to find establishments that have a table in their kitchens. I have a teenager who is interested in the industry and I thought this would be fun to do together!

Yours,

An Encouraging Mother

Dear Encouraging Mother,

The “Chef’s Table,” as it’s called in the trade, is a luxury item of surpassing expense, and probably not what you have in mind. Not that they’re not awesome: The “skybox” at Daniel oversees the definitive traditional French kitchen in the city, and the even more exciting chef’s room at Park Avenue Summer, though its view isn’t as electrifying, is a soundproof bubble in the middle of the action where you can plug in your own iPod. But for learning how a kitchen works, we’d send you down to Hearth on an off hour. The chef’s counter looks over an exemplary kitchen, executing on a high level, and you don’t have to pay a cent extra. And if your teenager really wants to start cooking, Marco Canora may hire him on the spot. So there’s that too.

Laboriously yours,
Grub Street

Take Your Teenager to the Chef’s Counter, Not the Chef’s Table