But its also a quixotic quest, attempting to install a food-centric restaurant in a venue where food was always beside the point. Carbone called that a stretch. Look, heres a Twombly, he said. The property features a guesthouse, 100 feet of deep water frontage with a dock and boat lift, a pool and wet bar. After college I thought it was what I wanted to do, but I discovered very quickly after I started there that my true passion was for food and for restaurants and for hospitality. Velvety jewel-tone nooks define the bar area upon entry before youre led into the main dining room, fashioned in a palette of terracotta and emerald green with damask-upholstered walls and leather banquettes. The biggest renovations were to turn what used to be a private dining area for the Pool Room into a lounge and bar, and to install a giant vertical garden by the artist Paula Hayes along the wall that divides the two restaurants. More at IMDbPro Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro. And, in the words of Drew Nieporent, the co-founder of Nobu and a friend of the trio, its a huge burden. The Four Seasons, after all, birthed the power lunch (the term was coined by Esquire in 1979, in a story that detailed the Grill Rooms seating chart), which now, Nieporent notes, doesnt really exist. We teach a style of service thats a lot more personal and a lot more relaxed, while still upholding all the principles of fine dining. Those are the people with taste and money, the 30-to-35-year-olds., Rosen, a 56-year-old German migr with a mane of flowing white hair, feuded with the operators for years about the new energy I needed, and they were not up to it, he says. It was a beef tenderloin with truffle sauce, basically, Torrisi said. We used to call it a 400-square-foot rocket ship, Carbone said. The move can be a signature dish, the things people identify our restaurants with. People care about food. Those men the chefs Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi and their business partner, Jeff Zalaznick, all in their 30s say they have signed a contract with Aby J. Rosen, who owns the Seagram Building, where the Four Seasons has been a fixture since 1959. Major Food Group | LinkedIn Later, Carbone mentioned he was planning to offer only five salads, and the group considered them all in relationship to one another. In Boston, Major Food Group worked with the developers of the Newbury Boston hotel, located in a historic downtown building on Newbury Street, to curate the food, beverage and other lifestyle elements of the hotel, including a rooftop bar called Contessa that opened last July. I also built a private booking engine. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: As part of your account, youll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime. In looking for a replacement, Rosen needed someone who respected the space architecturally, and could take it in an exciting direction that wasnt too dramatic in its changes, retaining its classic elegance. Jeff has built 11 restaurants from scratch. We do everything as it pertains to wine at the highest level. The future of the Four Seasons, and its current quarters in a sleek landmark of modernist architecture, has been a source of debate and concern around New York for months, after Mr. Rosen made it clear that he wanted the current owners, Julian Niccolini and Alex von Bidder, to move out when their lease expires at the end of July 2016. They care about the environment. This is the beginning of what Im calling a midtown dining renaissance. Morris two sons, Paul and Seymour, expanded the family business into real estate in the 1950s, and quickly grew their wealth and influence. Jeff Zalaznick, 32 Managing partner, Major Food Group Tweet More Jeff Zalaznick may appear to be the business brains of Major Food Grouppartners Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone are chefsbut. There are huge stakes, Zalaznick said, sitting down with Carbone and Torrisi at a steel-legged table. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. All Rights Reserved. The Major Food Group team scored prime real estate in the exclusive South of Fifth neighborhood on 49 Collins Avenue a stones throw away from Miami mainstays, Joes Stone Crab and Prime 112, which Zalaznick professes was an absolute dream. jeff zalaznick parents (Carbone, who noted that he weighs 75 pounds less than he did when he was younger, and Torrisi are in shape enough that both have run the New York City Marathon.). They never left. Everybody says I look skinny. Carbone asked if hed done the interview from a phone booth. The sense of space, of privacy, of theater, of luxury and elegance, and also how beautiful it is. How does German Doner Kebab measure up against the citys best? I said, Not only is this gonna be Carbone, I know how were gonna get this open in the fastest time anyones ever opened a restaurant.. Are the majority of your restaurants in downtown New York? It is simply impossible to get in unless you know who to ask, so much so that the Infatuation has penned a roundup of where to eat when the Carbone matre d expectedly turns you down. They thought they just needed to refresh it a little bit. In the spring of 2015, Rosen announced that he was not renewing their lease. I still dont really understand., The budget for putting the new restaurants in the Seagram Building is $30 million. In very rapid succession came Carbone, ZZs Clam Bar, Dirty French, Santina, and Sadelles all of them downtown, and all more expensive and spectacle-oriented than the original place. Of course, nothing can outrival the famed spicy rigatoni and veal parmesan, but the Major Food Group gents will encourage you to try their favorites. Dishes that you would have found in New York in the 1950s at American restaurants: fillet steaks, different steaks, chops and birds; squabs, ducks, pheasant. I even got in a walk on the way here exercise, he told his partners. I worked at J. P. Morgan for two years, and learned a lot about finance and numbers that still helps me today, but I realized I had to pursue my passion if I was going to be excellent at something. We have 14 including the two new ones that are just opening, The Grill and The Pool, a steakhouse and a seafood restaurant. By the time I was 14, Id made a firm decision that my life would be in the kitchen, Torrisi says. Jill Hertzberg of Coldwell Bankers The Jills Zeder Group represented the Piazzas, and Danny Hertzberg of the same team brought the buyer, according to Realtor.com. Its only for this opportunity that we come to midtown because its such a special opportunity. Rich Torrisi, Mario Carbone and Jeff Zalaznick will open a restaurant in the Puck Building loosely based on Torrisi Italian Specialties. It was absolutely, immediately embraced, said John Ellis, a Miami retail broker at Newmark. Meat is definitely the specialty at The Grill, but done very elegant, very refined. Rare stroganoff. Theres still plenty more where that came from, though, on the Grills menu: filet mignon la mode, Amish ham steak pineapple chow chow, Dover sole prepared Neptunes Roast style, larded squab.. While the Major Food trio examined a steak knife (Hawaiian acacia-wood handle, Japanese steel blade, $253 a pop), Rosen walked impatiently to the balcony level to check out two private dining rooms, windowless chambers with hundreds of tiny lights embedded in the ceiling and burnished walnut paneling. These ashkenazic Jews migrated from small towns or shtetels of Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Germany, Romania or Ukraine, leaving behind most of their Jewish relatives. So its like $300,000 per person, which is easy.. Each Major Residence is designed to enable the seamless conversions into Major rooms and suites for guests. Then in Seattle. Designed by Snarkitecture, the statement store occupies three stories in the historic Pershing Hall as well as its courtyard. He has formative memories of being blown away by the seafood sausage at Chanterelle and saying, What is this? he says. Then, in 2000, Aby Rosen, an art collector and property tycoon, purchased a majority stake in the Seagram Building. This was about 33% of all the recorded Zalaznick's in USA. He met Carbone at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. The managing partner of restaurant group Major Food Group . So, what exactly is the winning formula that has allowed Carbone to transcend the last decade in multi-city iterations, all the while remaining one of the most coveted dining destinations? But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. The role that space plays for Major Food Group properties goes back to the beginning, to the tiny storefront where Torrisi and Carbone joined forces to open an Italian eatery that quickly became the talk of the town. But in 2001, they overlapped while working at Caf Boulud and became friends. Mr. Zalaznick joined them later. In The Grill about 100, in The Pool about 100. This is the most famous restaurant space in America. The Times raved about the aggressively technical cooking, with dishes like sweetbreads Milanese and tilefish with blue crab and fried artichokes, and took affectionate note of its paper napkins. They will screw it up, he says. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". He knew the food, and he loved the food, but he was there to make money.. Major Food Group Opens Carbone Miami With Overwhelming - Forbes Rosen, whod arrived in a black Borsalino hat, a silk scarf, and a zippered, fine-gauge cardigan, paused in front of a wheeled trolley that Zalaznick was lovingly separating from its plastic wrap, a gleaming marvel of cherrywood and heavy brass fittings, with a domed sterling-silver lid. I was always saying, Lets make that G on the Grill silver a little smaller. But theres a certain pride to how customized everything theyre doing is., The Major Food brethren might even classify these touches as moves. It makes a kind of sense that they would assume the mantle of a project as grand as this. At the age of 27, he had cycled through an entry-level stint at JPMorgan and was working as a greeter at the Mandarin Oriental hotel while putting out his own restaurant blog, Always Hungry (a sample of his oeuvre: Beyond the Parks: Best Dining in Orlando). I think midtown is coming back because new young exciting people like us are coming to midtown. Zeleznik History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms - HouseOfNames Neither of the chefs hails from a fancy background. From left, Mario Carbone, Jeff Zalaznick, Rich Torrisi and Aby J. Rosen in front of an Andy Warhol painting at the RFR Holding offices. This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. Since its opening, Sadelle's has become a New York brunch institution, serving more than 700 guests per day every weekend. For Rich, its the lobster ravioli and octopus, for Mario its the Veal Milanese (which is not on the menu, but theyll make it for anyone who asks), and for Jeff, its the beef carpaccio and Lobster Fra Diavolo. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. So many things. jeff zalaznick parents. This is it, Mr. Carbone said. She was doing a photo shoot and I just fell in love with her instantly, he said. Enter your email to subscribe to Alain Elkann Interviews and receive links to new interviews. There is a spinoff of Carbone in Hong Kong, and another on the way in Las Vegas. The 1 million-square-foot project will mark the first time Major Food Group expands into residential real estate. When I met with Jeff, I asked him only a couple of questions: What does the architecture mean to you, and where is this place going? When Rosen asked Zalaznick to name his ten favorite restaurants in the world, he was delighted that nine of them were also on his list, including LAmi Louis and Le Duc in Paris. And all three brought total dedication to the craft. He approached me and said, Have you ever thought about doing a building? Zalaznick said. He began affixing them to the walls. It was also credited by The New York Times for ushering in a new age of raw eating in New York City and serves as the hub of cocktail creativity for the group. Jeff Zalaznick Founder & Managing Partner at Major Food Group Family Members Parent David W. Zalaznick Co-Founder at (The) Jordan Company The Jordan Co. LP focuses on private equity investments in established, well-managed, consistently profitable companies with enterprise values from $100 million to over $2 billion. By the time COVID-19 broke out in 2020, the restaurant group had already expanded its book of businesses, adding a range of playful, glamorous and extravagant eateries, including seafood bar ZZs, brunch spot Sadelles, and steakhouse Dirty French. (Its also a great moneymaker because the costs are low; the trio brag that the spicy rigatoni vodka at Carbone, at $27 a serving, will put all their children through college.) By 2015, there were several branded outposts in Las Vegas and Hong Kong, and a Parm counter at Yankee Stadium. Once he and Mr. von Bidder have moved out next summer, the new team says it will sweep into the space with hopes of sprucing it up and reopening it in a matter of months. MAJOR will feature 259 custom residences conceived as fully hybrid layouts. The establishment opened its doors in March 2013 to much acclaim per The New Yorker, an impossible reservation almost instantly cementing the reputations of the already lauded restaurateurs. The group paused between courses to watch a video, on Zalaznicks phone, of the retired NFL wide receiver Randy Moss kicking a field goal wearing a tailored suit. Rosens son Charlie, whod arrived straight from his last final exam at Bard (Picasso in the 20th Century Crushed it), asked what the ceiling height was in the private rooms. Major Food Group is a New York-based restaurant group founded by Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi, and Jeff Zalaznick. The first thing we had to figure out when we signed the lease was, Whats the story we want to tell? Zalaznick said one day. 275 Mulberry Street (Jersey Street), majorfood.com. What makes the space so special for restaurants? You blanch coin-size Idahos in salty water, stack them in a mold with butchers string, pour raging-hot duck fat on them, and fry them in the oven, he says, waxing rhapsodic. Major Food Group, Michael Stern Plan Miami Condo Tower - The Real Deal Major Food Group is changing the Miami restaurant game and fast. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. jeff zalaznick parents INTRO OFFER!!! The trio set about transforming the space into Carbone, an upscale red-sauce joint that paid homage to Carbones Italian American roots. Developers have rushed to launch new projects in recent months. They also tested the Mimi Salad, something Sheraton had created for the original Four Seasons with seafood, cold dressing, and shallots. Since then, they have opened outposts of Carbone in Hong Kong and in Las Vegas. Mehdi Bolour faces 25 criminal charges over illegally rented Hollywood building, Hall of Famer Mike Piazza lists Miami Beach estate for $18.5M, Major Food Group expands to South Florida, New York restaurateurs decamp to South Florida, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle asked to leave U.K. home, Real estate investor pleads guilty to stealing $3M, Massive unbuilt Arizona estate asks record $75M, Amazon hits brakes on construction of second headquarters. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. Its decisive moves like the swift Carbone opening that have made Major Food Group one of the most recognizable restaurant groups in the world. And he was going to preempt it. He grew up in a sophisticated environment where he could dabble, and go to places that he loved, said real estate mogul Aby Rosen, owner of RFR Realty, who would later partner with Zalaznick at the Seagram Building.