Spice Market

Spice Market
403 W. 13th St.
New York City
212-675-2322.



If you've ever tried to get a Saturday night reservation at Spice Market in Manhattan, you know how maddeningly popular this ode to Southeast Asian street food is. The restaurant certainly looks stunning: Jacques Garcia designed the soaring, Buddhist temple–inspired space, and Alpana Bawa created the backless outfits the servers wear. Add to that Jean-Georges Vongerichten's delicious twists on everything from fish cakes to samosas, and it's no wonder Spice Market is still packed more than two years after opening—attracting up to 1,200 people a night.

Spice Market's fun, sexy, irreverent approach fits perfectly in New York City's hip Meatpacking District. But how might Vongerichten's reimagined Southeast Asian food play in Asia? Very well, Vongerichten hopes. He's planning to take Spice Market worldwide later this year or early next, eventually opening in Asian cities like Bangkok and Tokyo, as well as in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Vongerichten has been amazed to find how much Asians visiting New York City like Spice Market. He believes it will be just as enthralling in Singapore as it is in Manhattan.

In order to go global, Vongerichten has been codifying the Spice Market recipes, down to the gram. "Consistency is the most important thing," he says. Gregory Brainin, Vongerichten's research and development chef, spent two months fine-tuning 45 recipes. "If you're prepping 80 spring rolls a night, having a recipe that calls for one chile and two cloves of garlic is not exact enough," Vongerichten explains, describing one of his best dishes—spring rolls stuffed with lemongrass-spiked duxelles (a buttery French blend of mushrooms and shallots). Seasoning is just as important. Vongerichten's cooks are used to working with salt. "But nam pla to taste?" he asks. "How much is that?"

Which dishes is Vongerichten likely to take around the world with him? In addition to the mushroom spring rolls, he'll definitely offer his crunchy fried shrimp cakes, studded with green beans, as well as crab balls, rolled in crisp panko crumbs and sesame seeds and served with a refreshing ginger-scented grapefruit salad.

Vongerichten is astonishingly confident about spinning off Spice Market, even though the contract for his empire hasn't been signed yet. "Anytime we put a recipe from Spice Market on the menu at one of my other restaurants, anywhere in the world," he says, "that's the dish people always want to order."

Jean-Georges Vongerichten : Sauteed Chicken with Green Olives and Cilantro

In March of 1997 Jean-Georges opened 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; he was also awarded the coveted Chef of the Year award from John Mariani at Esquire magazine and the Best New Restaurant award by the James Beard Foundation.

The Mercer Kitchen at the stylish Mercer Hotel in SoHo, features an American-Provencal menu and Ecommunal style tables in the open kitchen area where hotel guests and diners may choose to eat, converse and watch the kitchen's activities. In October of 1998 Jean Georges opened Prime, a steakhouse located in Steve Wynn's much-anticipated Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.

Jean-Georges Vongerichten currently holds an unprecedented total of twelve stars from The New York Times for his four New York City restaurants, JoJo, Vong, Jean Georges and The Mercer Kitchen. In 1998 Jean-Georges was awarded three medals at the James Beard Restaurant Awards ­ Best New Restaurant, Outstanding Chef, and Who's Who of Food & Beverage; it is the first time that a chef was awarded best new restaurant and outstanding chef in the same year.
In September of 1998 Broadway Books published Jean-Georges' second cookbook, Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef, which adapts recipes from all of his restaurants for the home cook. His first book, Simple Cuisine features recipes that include his vegetable broths and vinaigrettes and the clean flavors he favors at Jo Jo. Jean-Georges has appeared as a guest on the Martha Stewart Show, Live! with Regis & Kathie Lee, the Today Show and Good Morning America as well as doing several guest spots on the TV Food Network. He is featured in the PBS series, In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs with Julia Child, broadcast in 1995.

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Jean-Georges developed this dish after a vacation in Morocco, and its flavor is certainly evocative of North Africa. This sauce can be used with sautéed boneless, skinless chicken breasts. But try it this way if you can, the sauce combines beautifully with the crisp skin of the chicken.




Sauteed Chicken with Green Olives and Cilantro

One 3- to 4-pound chicken, cut up for sautéing
2 Tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup onions, minced
2 teaspoons ginger, minced
2-inch piece cinnamon
A few strands of saffron or 1/2 teaspoon dried turmeric
2 cups chicken stock or other stock
2 Tablespoons peanut or neutral-flavored oil, such as canola
2 Tablespoons green olives, minced
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 Tablespoon cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 500°F. Place 2 tablespoons olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, ginger, cinnamon, saffron or turmeric and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add the stock and increase the heat to high; cook, stirring occasionally, while you prepare the chicken. When the liquid has reduced by about three-quarters and becomes syrupy, turn off the heat.

Heat the peanut or other oil in a large, preferably nonstick, ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat for a minute or two. Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Place the chicken in the skillet, skin side down, and cook undisturbed until lightly browned, 5 to 8 minutes. Turn over and cook on the other side for about 2 minutes. Turn the chicken skin side down again, and place the skillet in the oven. Check it after 15 minutes, and remove the pieces as they are cooked through (the breasts will be cooked before the legs; keep them warm).

When the chicken is just about done, finish the sauce. Stir in the remaining 1 teaspoon of olive oil, the olives and some salt (not too much as the olives are salty) and pepper. Cook for about 2 minutes over medium-high heat stirring once or twice. Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice and cilantro. Remove the cinnamon stick.

To serve, arrange the chicken on 4 plates. Spoon the sauce around it, not over it, so the chicken stays crunchy.

Yield 4 servings