Beef

Nieporent Tells Michael White to Watch His Back

Oh, snap! Drew Nieporent, who netted two stars for Corton yesterday, has stepped forward and stemmed the flow of goodwill heading toward Michael White, who earned a star for Convivio, and two each for Alto and Marea. He tells Ozersky.tv that he has a brilliant new pastry chef from the shuttered Veritas, “since Michael White stripped half of New York of its chefs.” He goes on from there.

I love Michael White but at the end of the day, Michael, be careful because I’m going to be outside your kitchen door handing out cards to your staff asking, ‘Now, who would like to be making a little bit more money than they are now.’ He seems to have cherrypicked… You know, I’ve opened 35 restaurants in 25 years and I did it from within. I think when you extrapolate and when you open new restaurants your job is to reward the people who work for you not to reward the people you don’t know or that you’ve heard about that you can steal from another restaurant.

Nieporent says he’d never do Boulud or Vongerichten like that: “I would forfeit a third star in the Michelin guide if it meant I would fracture a friendship or relationship with one of these guys.”

Drew Nieporent at the Michelin Announcements [Ozersky.tv]

Nieporent Tells Michael White to Watch His Back