Top Rising / Most Creative Chefs in NYC

[projectbennett]

Hello,

I am curious what everyone thinks about who are the top rising most creative chefs in New York City (any borough). For the sake of this thread, this automatically disqualifies people who already have Michelin stars as a head chef, but not necessarily a James Beard award or nomination. This also hopefully means the restaurant is somewhat affordable, as they are not completely in the limelight yet. I'm talking about chefs who are young but could be the next Daniel Humm or Matthew Lightner, Eric Ripert, Ferran Adria, etc... but younger and on the rise.

To start the list, from experience I would suggest Angelo Romano (formerly of Masten Lake in Brooklyn). He is one of the most creative and inventive young chefs I have seen. His food was remarkable, extremely surprising, and the platings were like Jackson Pollock paintings.

I have also heard great things about Frej, the Scandinavian inspired pop-up restaurant. I'm going to try it in a couple weeks. Or perhaps, Ignacio Mattos at Isa in Brooklyn?

Would love to hear your suggestions and your Top 3! This could be a great resource.

-PB

[wreckers00]

I agree the guys at Frej and Ignacio at Isa would both be up there. (I don't know much about Angelo).

Some others I'd add (I lean a bit Nordic):

Matt Lightner, Atera (too famous?)
Mads Redsfund, Acme
Jernmark, Aquavit

I also think, despite 2 Michelin stars, Masato Nishihara is vastly underrated.

[projectbennett]

Good call on Matt Lightner, both him and Mads Redsfund are getting a ton of press.

Went to Isa last week and LOVED it. Super creative and risky and delicious.

What about the chef at Momo Sushi in East Williamsburg/Bushwick?

Anyone else?

[BrettLove]

I'll just 2nd your "valuable resource" thought (and hope some of my favorite Manhattan CH posters take the time to weigh in). Alas, as a visitor from New England who's only recently started to return to Manhattan on a regular basis (ca. 6x/yr, at my current rate), I haven't compiled enough "research" in the past 8 months to really weigh in beyond that. Ok, does the chef at Jung Sik qualify? After my (Dec. 11') dinner there, dude is a superstar in my book! (And looks like he's MAYBE all of 27 years old - I have no idea!)