On the plate, Garwood’s multiple Korean influences can be seen in dishes like a savory course that mimics the shaved ice dessert bingsu, but uses tuna, smoked trout roe, cabbage, and anise hyssop granita, or a carrot dish that is a “love letter to Americans’ fondness for hot sauce” with a fermented carrot and kimchi hot sauce, XO, and monkfish liver custard.
On a human level, the Parks are there to provide the kind of advice any budding first-time restaurateur looking to hit the ground running in New York needs.
“I’m very fortunate to have them as the mentors on hand, pretty much guiding me. They're not there for every decision that I make, but [more] when it comes to the important ones. If you look at most of the design of the space, it's definitely mostly Elia and JP. But as far as the food, they've just been, like, ‘Create whatever you want to tell the story.’ I've done a couple of tastings with them. They've been in New York for about 10 years now, so a bit of the New York palette… they're probably a bit more adjusted to it than I am.”
I ask to know more about the look and feel of the restaurant.
“It’s gonna [have] more or less a kind of almost Parisian feel to it. You walk in, there's a lot of dark American walnut wood. You look at all the marble tops, beautiful white marble that we got from over in Brooklyn, the big, beautiful banquette, big, nice green feel to it. I would hate to give too much reference to it, but something like, you know, Clamato, Septime, where it's just a bit old, like nice vintage tables, just a bit more of an older and more warm feel to it.”