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| Restaurants |
Gastronomic Proportions
Stewart Kampel
07/01/2004
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The list of must-haves for the aspiring
restaurateur starts with the chef, preferably a well-known kitchen magician who
is on the cutting edge of gourmet innovation. If a potential investor wants to
become involved in a celebrity-driven venture, notes Kenneth A. Himmel,
president and CEO of Related Urban Development, he should contact the chef
directly, assemble a concept and then attempt to package it.
 | | THE BILTMORE Room ranks among the most successful investments |
Similarly, it
is also crucial to have backers with a reputation for quality. Will Montero, a
Boston-based real estate and construction entrepreneur, avers that this was his
most important criterion. “It was definitely Jeffrey and his crew,” he says,
referring to Jeffrey Mills, who launched the wildly successful Biltmore Room in
New York last year. “I saw the space, I knew about the chef and, more than
anything, it was the people around Jeffrey.”
Himmel began his quest to create
the hottest restaurant venue in New York at the new Time Warner Center three
years ago by inducing world-class figures such as Thomas Keller, the renowned
chef of the French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., to anchor the center with
Per Se, a $12-million shrine to the culinary arts. Joining the panoply is
Jean-Georges Vongerichten, with his V Steak House, an expansion of an empire
that includes restaurants such as JoJo, Vong, Jean Georges, 66 and Spice
Market.
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