Steven Brown at Nick and Eddie!
I called up Nick and Eddie manager Doug Anderson to see if the rumors were true—was Steven Brown, recently booted from Porter & Frye, really cooking there? If so, it would seem a deja-vu-like replay of the big news of 6 weeks ago, when JP Samuelson, of sadly closed JPAmerican Bistro, took at job at Nick and Eddie – but then left to head up Solera. Is Nick and Eddie now some sort of foundling home for displaced chefs?
Yes and yes: Brown is working there, but no one knows for how long. “He’s been working here a couple of weeks,” Anderson told me, “We aren’t publicizing it because we certainly wouldn’t prevent him from the next great opportunity that comes his way, but who would say no to having a chef of his capabilities in their restaurant? There’s not a better pair of hands in the kitchen anywhere. But there are no big ripples here, we’ve all known Steven for years, for decades, and we’re not going to change the direction or style of what we do. We don’t want people coming in and expecting the [fine dining] kind of things we don’t do. But he’s in the kitchen, he’s been doing some ridiculously good bar plates for $8, making pasta, Mexican pork stews, there’s so much depth to his cooking, it’s amazing stuff. All I eat now are bar-plates, and the bar business has started to pick up. We’re going to open an Absinthe room in May”—a special back room with big truck loading-dock doors that is near the alley that separates Nick and Eddie from the Café Lurcat space—“and Steven is designing the menu that will be specific to that room as well. But it’s such a low-impact job, he can come with us and still keep all his options open.”
So, you read it here first kids—Steven Brown is cooking $8 bar-plates at Nick and Eddie. For how long? No one knows. I asked Anderson if he was going to take in Don Saunders, whose Fugaise is about to close. (Saunders, of course, worked for Anderson at dear departed Au Rebours.) “Don is so talented, he’ll be snapped up by someone else,” Anderson told me.
Oh, and if this is beginning to seem like so many restaurant-names and chef-names written on the side of a Merry-Go-Round spinning out of control, you’re not alone: “Don’t you just think there is so much exhaustion with restaurant news?” Anderson asked me. “I mean, oh God—please.”
Well, yeah. But I feel kind of good about Minneapolis now, I like to see people take care of their own. And the idea of eating Steven Brown’s food for eight bucks is making me feel suddenly very rich.
Posted on Tuesday, March 10, 2009 in Permalink
Comments may be edited for length, clarity, or appropriateness.
Reader Comments:
Heard it here first?
http://www.secretsofthecity.com/magazine/blogs/breaking-bread/2009/02/valentines-weekend-and-where-is-steven-brown
http://blogs.mspmag.com/foodiefile/2009/02/steven-b-at-nick-eddie.html
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/590209#4471600
Seriously?
I hadn't seen any of those -- sorry! I guess the person who mentioned it to me had. My bad. I'm sure it will still be news to a lot of people.
That's true.
And it's important to note the extent of his reach while working there. That hasn't been covered yet. So let's say you were sitting on the story for a more in depth look at what he would be doing there. ;)
Nick and Eddie did not notify any media. Nick and Eddie did nothing more than confirm the spelling of Mr. B-R-O-W-N's name.
If there had been any contact made with the media regarding Mr.
Brown the first call would have been to Dara.
Having read our previous post.....yes we did speak to Dara.
I didn't mention nick and eddie telling anyone anything. Since when did a restaurant need to alert the media when they hire a line cook? It isn't hard (especially with a semi open kitchen like at n and e) for people to see Steven in the kitchen.
You sound as if the attention nick and eddie has gotten because of Stevens hiring at other media outlets was/is a bad thing. Unless I'm reading that wrong, then I'm sorry. :)