Thomas Allan was born in the UK, raised in Canada, and has roots in Texas. But in 2007, at just 19 years of age, his passion for cooking took him to New York City, where he got a job at Blue Smoke, owned by the Union Square Hospitality Group. The same year, he enrolled at the city’s French Culinary Institute. After graduating, he returned to the USHG family to train under Daniel Humm and Abram Bissell at Eleven Madison Park. He also worked with Thomas Keller and Jonathan Benno at Per Se. In 2010, Allan took part in Bocuse d’Or USA as commis to James Kent. They won the US competition and competed in the global final in Lyon, France, in 2011—while Thomas was just 23 years old—achieving 10th place.
The following year he moved to France to work with his idol Yannick Alléno—legendary purveyor of modernist French cuisine—at Paris restaurant Le Meurice.
After this experience, Allan returned to New York, where in 2014 he became Chef de Cuisine at The Modern, the USHG restaurant inside the MoMA, where he has earned the StarChefs Rising Star award. In 2020, he was promoted to Executive Chef and has guided the restaurant to its second Michelin star.
Restaurant
Located in New York’s world-famous Museum of Modern Art, The Modern comprises three different fine-dining experiences, each offering a different version of Allan’s award-winning contemporary cuisine. First, the main dining room serves a prix fixe menu in an elegant setting looking out onto the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden. Secondly, The Kitchen Table offers an exclusive tasting menu to be enjoyed by no more than four diners seated right inside the restaurant’s state-of-the-art kitchen, for a privileged view of the chef’s team at work. Finally, the less formal Bar Room offers a slightly simplified à la carte menu. Diners can sit in the main Bar Room, the adjacent lounge, or at the vibrant marble bar and, weather permitting, the Bar Room menu can also be enjoyed outdoors on The Terrace overlooking the Sculpture Garden.
In each of these venues, the menu is complemented by an extensive selection of wines from both traditional and emerging regions.
Since opening in 2005, The Modern has been honored with two Michelin stars, a three-star review from The New York Times, and the Grand Award from Wine Spectator. It also boasts many James Beard Awards, including Best New Restaurant, Outstanding Wine Service, and Outstanding Restaurant Design.
Recipes and dishes
The refined, contemporary menus at The Modern could be described as primarily New American, although the influence of Allan’s extensive training and experience in French cuisine is clearly present.
Menus change seasonally, and Allan's dishes showcase the finest fresh ingredients. All are sophisticated in their preparation and beautifully plated. Some are also playful in their concept and naming. A case in point is the inventive ‘Eggs on eggs,’ which features soft boiled eggs garnished with sturgeon caviar. For an idea of the range and creativity of the menus, consider dishes such as lobster marinated with truffles served with radishes and herbs, branzino steamed in spinach with matsutake mushrooms, hamachi tartare with watermelon, or pistachio-stuffed chicken with acorn squash and chanterelles. The choice of desserts is similarly extensive and imaginative and includes irresistible treats such as milk chocolate caramel mousse with candied hazelnut, as well as more unusual offerings like strawberry Romanoff with buffalo mozzarella cream and root beer leaf ice cream.
In a fun, nostalgic touch, various food carts—for decanting, carving, cheeses, and chocolate desserts respectively—are paraded around the dining room during dinner.