Matsugen Restaurant NYC
This gorgeous Japanese restaurant celebrates the art of sophistication in its cuisine and interior design. Located in the heart of Tribeca , the interior is uber chic with high ceilings, fine lines and intimate mood lighting. The main focal point of the restaurant is magnificent wooden dining table that sits in the center of the room. Patrons feast on signature handmade soba noodles, wagyu beef shabu shabu/sukiyaki and of course the freshest cuts of sushi and sashimi. Matsugen fuses the best of renown Chef Jean George and the Matsushita family. The best seat in the house is in front of the stunning aquarium that is surrounded by frosted glass.
241 Church Street (between Leonard & Worth), New York, NY 10013
PHONE: Reservations: (212) 925-0202
OPENING DATE: June 12, 2008
CUISINE: Japanese
WEBSITE: www.jean-georges.com | www.culinaryconcepts.com
WHO: Chef|Proprietor: Jean-Georges Vongerichten
Partners: Matsushita Brothers & Phil Suarez
General Manager|Partner: Taka Matsushita
Chef de Cuisine|Partner: Yoshi Matsushita
DESIGN: Thomas Juul-Hansen
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photography by David Christopher Lee
THE MATSUSHITA BROTHERS HISTORY
As the sons of a restaurateur, Yoshiharu, Masashi, and Takayuki experienced hospitality at a young age. Their father opened their first family restaurant, Matsue, in Tokyo, Japan, nearly 45 years ago. Specializing in sushi¸ this restaurant bred The Matsushita Brothers into the business of hospitality, where they discovered their passion to connect to people through food. The success of Matsue created a name for the family, and a platform to explore the restaurant business.
In 1980, Yoshi, Masa and Taka went into business with their father and opened multiple restaurants, with the same concept of a simple cuisine that emphasized on the palette. In 1990, they adopted the business as their father retired, giving them the opportunity in being more hands on.
Their first Soba restaurant was introduced in 1998. Soba was primarily served casually, in fast-serviced train stations in Japan. Being that soba was the favored noodle choice for Tokyoites, The Matsushita Brothers wanted to transcend this traditional dish into a more intimate and upscale atmosphere to cater to the rising restaurant trends of Tokyo. They took their soba family recipe and opened Matsugen.
In 2000, Jean-Georges met with The Matsushita Brothers in Tokyo after dining at Matsugen. This sparked an opportunity to open in New York, where there was a lack of soba-inspired restaurants. Now, 8 years later, this dream is becoming reality with a new concept to Matsugen, bringing their father’s experience in sushi to their own experience in soba. Having opened Matsugen in Hawaii last year, this Matsugen will not only feature soba noodles, but also sushi and hot items. Yoshi, director of operations, Masa, sushi chef, and Taka, general manager, along with 5 chefs from Tokyo, have opened Matsugen with Jean-Georges Management in June of 2008.
JGV HISTORY/PHILOSOPHY/VISION
JEAN-GEORGES VONGERICHTEN
Internationally reputed for his innovative, ground-breaking cuisine, Jean-Georges Vongerichten has emerged as one of the country’s leading chefs. Acclaimed by critics as ‘formidably gifted,’ a ‘residential genius’ and the ‘enfant terrible of modern French cooking,’ his culinary vision has consistently set new standards and helped define today’s generation of cooking.
In 1986, Jean-Georges Vongerichten burst onto the New York dining scene at the Lafayette in the Drake Swissôtel, dazzling diners with his innovative interpretation of classic French cuisine and earning four stars from The New York Times at the age of 29. In the first of many bold moves that has established him as a culinary trend setter, Jean-Georges traded in this formal 4-star dining room for paper-clothed tables and opened his charming bistro Jo Jo in 1991.
At Jo Jo, he introduced us to his ‘vibrant and spare cuisine’ whose intense flavors and satisfying textures he created by eschewing traditional meat stocks for vegetables juices and fruit essences, light broths and herbal vinaigrettes. Jo Jo was named Best New Restaurant of the Year by John Mariani in Esquire and earned three-stars from The New York Times.
Jean-Georges’ next venture, Vong, paid homage to the spices and flavors of the East, a passion he developed during the he lived and worked in the Orient. Using over 150 different herbs and spices to create his unique take on Thai-inspired French cuisine. Vong received a three-star review from The New York Times for his “explosively flavorful food.” In an adjacent space to Vong, Vongerichten also opened The Lipstick Café catering to the midtown business crowd and serves breakfast and lunch in a casual, upscale setting.
In November of 1995, Vongerichten opened a second Vong in the Knightsbridge area of London, earning a three star review and the 1996 vote for the London Evening Standard’s Newcomer of the Year. In September 1997, he opened Vong in The Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong. In 1999, Vong Chicago opened and since September 2001 it has been redesigned and renamed Vong’s Thai Kitchen.
March of 1997 saw Jean-Georges opened his namesake restaurant Jean Georges in the Trump International Hotel and Tower, earning a 4-star review from The New York Times less than three months after opening, and the coveted Chef of the Year award from John Mariani at Esquire magazine. Jean-Georges received the unprecedented “Best New Restaurant” and “Outstanding Chef” awards from the James Beard Foundation in 1998 for Jean Georges. In her 4-star review, Ruth Reichl summed up his contemporary French cuisine in the sentence “His food took my breath away.”
In September 1998, Mercer Kitchen opened. In October of 1998 Jean Georges opened Prime Steakhouse in the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. Jean-Georges opened Dune at the
Ocean Club in the Bahamas in October 2000 with a décor by Christian Liaigre. In September 2001, JoJo reopened with a facelift bringing back the luxury and warmth of a turn of the last century décor rich in velvet and silk. InOctober 2001, Jean-Georges returned to his sources with the opening of Market in Paris. February 2003 saw the opening of 66, an upscale Chinese restaurant, located in Tribeca on Church Street. His latest ventures are the opening of Spice Market in Manhattan’s meat packing district which earned a 3 star rating from The New York Times as well as Bank, a steakhouse located in the Icon Hotel in Houston. Spring 2004 has seen the opening of V Steakhouse, a steakhouse in the Time Warner Building in Manhattan and the much anticipated Jean Georges in Shanghai, his first restaurant in Mainland China.
Alsatian Roots and Traditional Training
Born and raised on the outskirts of Strasbourg in Alsace, Jean-Georges’ earliest family memories are about food. The Vongerichten home centered around the kitchen where each day his mother and grandmother would prepare lunch for the almost 50 employees in their family-owned business. “I would wake every morning to the most wonderful smells,” reminisces Jean-Georges “and I quickly became known as ‘the palate’ to my family, tasting each sauce and dish, recommending salt or some more herbs.” His love for food cemented into his choice for a career at the age of 16, when his parents brought him to the 3-star Michelin-rated Auberge de l’Ill for a birthday dinner.
Jean-Georges began his training soon after in a work-study program at the Auberge de l’Ill as an apprentice to chef Paul Haeberlin. He went on to work with the top chefs in France, including Paul Bocuse and master-chef Louis Outhier at L’Oasis in the south of France. With this impressive three-star Michelin training, Vongerichten won a position at the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok. From 1980 to 1985, he opened an impressive 10 restaurants around the world, including the Meridien Hotel in Singapore and the Mandarin Hotel in Hong Kong; it was during this time spent in Asia that Jean-Georges developed his love for the exotic and aromatic flavors of the East that would later translate into his own interpretation on his menu at Vong. Jean-Georges arrived in the United States in 1985, opening the Lafayette restaurant in Boston. A year later he arrived in New York to take over the executive chef position at Lafayette there.
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