In 2002, a little East Village restaurant named Patio Dining made a splash with its daily market menu. I was lucky to be part of that magical time. Chef Sarah Jenkins was working at Il Buco on Bond Street. She was my favorite chef. My wife and I had our first date there and many dates after that. We even had our rehearsal dinner there. One afternoon, she (Sarah) came to see me, "I quit Il Buco, I want to work with you.". I said, "Take a few weeks off, go back to Italy, then we'll talk". When she returned, we agreed to offer a daily market menu.
Sarah would go the market every day and buy what she needed for the menu that night. Every night there was one dish that was the best thing I had ever tasted in my life. One night it was the soup, the next it was the pasta and so on.
Rob and Robin at New York Magazine wrote a feature article titled Green Market Goddess- click here to read from the New York Magazine Archives.