Michael Cirino got in touch to say that he’s no longer with chocolate and rum company Cacao Prieto, and that it’s a “bit of a contentious situation.” He told Grub Street, “I’m excited for the chocolate they’re going to make. It just wasn’t working out.” Naturally, the a razor, a shiny knife impresario has other schemes up his sleeve, the latest being a kind of “food incubator” he hopes to create in either downtown Manhattan or somewhere in Brooklyn.
Cirino envisions a “commercial kitchen that can function as an incubator” for restaurateurs looking to serve a trial dinner to investors, chefs looking to test new menus, or even small companies in need of a certified production space. And he imagines the venue as somewhere for trying out “more of the crazier stuff in my own head,” including certain liqueurs and spirits already in the works from his rum-factory days. Except for the booze part, that sounds kind of like the Brooklyn Incubator, which the borough recently pledged $1 million to. Maybe Cirino should be talking to Marty Markowitz!
