When will you start at Lever House?
On June 2. I'll be there for a week and then go to Aspen for the Food & Wine Festival there. Then I'll be back for good.

Will your menu be in place then?
The full menu won't be in place till early August, probably, but we want to get some of the new things on the menu right away, probably in a tasting menu. There's a sweet-pea agnolotti I want to do while peas are still in season and also a striped bass with potatoes, chorizo, and clam chowder.

So what will the food be like?
It will be modern-American cuisine, and obviously much more seasonal that I did in Arizona, where pretty much everything comes in via FedEx. I think Gramercy Tavern is a good analogy, but Gramercy is very much Greenmarket-driven, whereas I have more of an influence from my training, which is mostly French.

What was the process like for getting the job?
I made a full menu to show to the owners, and they liked it a lot. Then I did a tasting with six of the dishes from the menu. It's one thing to make up a nice-sounding menu; it's another to cook them and have them come out right. Those guys liked the ideas I had for Lever House, and I'm going to put them into action over the next couple of months.

Are you still going to do your legendary gourmet tailgates at Giants games?
Always!