“4 must-try dishes at revamped NYC icon Gotham Restaurant”
Ameena Walker profiles Chef Ron Paprocki’s New Gotham Cuisine
Executive Chef Ron Paprocki photographed by Noah Fecks @noahfecksisawesome
By Ameena Walker | Article originally published by OpenTable on February 17, 2023
The legendary Gotham Bar and Grill was set to close for good at the height of the pandemic in March 2020. Famed chef Alfred Portale, one of the pioneers of the New American food movement, established Gotham as one of the best restaurants in the world. He won three James Beard Awards, helped the restaurant maintain a MICHELIN star, and earned Gotham five three-star New York Time reviews. Gotham’s burger and tuna tartare became New York City icons.
It was the end of an era. But much to the delight of New Yorkers, Gotham welcomed in a whole new era just 18 months later. The restaurant was back with a shorter name, revamped interiors by original architect James Biber, and former pastry chef Ron Paprocki at the helm.
Paprocki set out to craft a menu that aligned with the restaurant’s history but let him put a spin on things.
“I wanted to be mindful and certainly not alienate any of the guests of the former Gotham while focusing on offering familiar food with a twist that makes you want to come back over and over again,” he says.
The result is a menu that remixes Gotham classics, sometimes incorporating influences from the kitchen staff’s cultural backgrounds. The menu is also more inclusive of dietary restrictions. Read on for four must-try dishes at Gotham.
ITALIAN RADICCHIO
This radicchio dish was inspired by one of Paprocki’s favorite pandemic foods. Photo credit: Gotham Restaurant
This vibrant dish hasn’t been around long, but it’s already a hit. Paprocki was inspired by one of his pandemic takeout favorites: Alex Stupak’s smoked cashew salsa with chipotle peppers at Empellón.
Paprocki collaborated with his sous chefs, Allen Yonghoon Kim and T.J. Murray, to create a smoked cashew purée that serves as a base for the radicchio. He livens it up with a vinaigrette made with foie gras fat and some citrus (recently Page mandarins), for a rich, sweet-tart sauce.
“The Italian radicchio is something that I’ve been wanting to do for a while because it has a lot of warming elements and different textures that are really interesting,” Paprocki says. “We wanted to kind of push this to create something really neat and not just another boring salad.”
CELERIAC
The crispy celery root is a highlight at the new Gotham. Photo credit: Noah Fecks @noahfecksisawesome.
Paprocki created this dish to meet the needs of vegans and vegetarians. A softball-sized celery root is wrapped in aluminum foil and cooked in the oven for hours until soft. It is sliced into thick discs, pan-seared, and served on a bed of shaved Brussels sprouts and confit Portobello mushrooms. Paprocki drizzles a vegan bordelaise made with cocoa butter on top, along with a few shavings of black truffle.
“It started off as vegetarian and we went one step further to be like, ‘how can we make it vegan?’” Paprocki says. “So we really set out to make a whole dish that’s very hearty, and that we don’t have to glorify or promote as being vegan.”
ARCTIC CHAR
The arctic char is an original Gotham dish that’s been remixed. Photo credit: Matt Taylor-Gross @matt_tg
Paprocki believes his Arctic char has the most unique combination of ingredients on the menu. Chef de Cuisine Sebastián Cacho’s Mexican heritage informed the preparation at Gotham.
The fish is first pan-fried in olive oil, skin-side down, with a simple salt and pepper seasoning. It is then placed on piquillo nage, a sauce made with piquillo peppers that bring a subtle heat to the dish. The fried fish is served alongside seared cactus pads, maitake mushrooms, and trout roe.
“[This dish is] a venture away from the Arctic char we originally offered that was certainly more mainstream and came with a much more expected set,” Paprocki says.
TRUFFLE SOPRESSINI
You won’t find this dish on the menu, but it’s worth asking about. Photo credit: Jason Greenspan @fooderator
This dish isn’t officially on the menu, but it’s worth asking about. The handkerchief-like pasta shape is labor-intensive, so the kitchen prepares it in limited quantities only when there are enough hands on deck.
The pasta is cooked al dente and added to a sauce of chicken stock, butter, and tartufata, an Italian black olive and mushroom sauce. It’s topped with parmesan cheese, shaved black truffle, and a drizzle of brown butter—an umami bomb in a bite.
“The simplicity of this dish is crazy but there’s so many ways to get it wrong and only one way to get it right,” Paprocki says. “[The] flavor really shines and we’ve gotten a lot of compliments on this dish.”
Ameena Walker is an NYC writer and editor covering architecture, food, design, real estate, and culture.
