Brian Young
Executive Chef

NEW TOP TOQUE FOR TAVERN ON THE GREEN
Brian Young to Take on Executive Chef Role at Nation’s Top Grossing Restaurant

Young embarked on his career path at only 16 when he left his native Vancouver, Canada to enroll in Paris’s Le Cordon Bleu. After working at the two-star Michelin Le Laurent , he set his sights on New York City as the epicenter of the North American restaurant landscape in general and on its four-star restaurants as his future training ground. Young did early career stints at the seminal Quilted Giraffe and Le Bernardin, where he worked his way up from line cook to chef de cuisine under Gilbert Le Coze, the then owner and Executive Chef Eric Ripert. He subsequently opened POP and Citerella as executive chef, before taking that role at Harvest on Hudson in Hastings, NY. Most recently, he was top toque at the highly regarded Mainland, a swank modern Chinese establishment. Each restaurant presented its own set of challenges, but Young is keenly aware that Tavern on the Green, with its long, colorful history and status as the nation’s highest grossing restaurant with revenues in excess of $38 million, is in a very different league.

“Tavern is such a globally recognized icon. There’s no other place like it and the sheer volume involved, between the a la carte and banquet operations, is unprecedented. That’s what I find so exciting about joining the Tavern team, the prospect of melding exceptional quality to exceptional volume. That’s my goal,” asserts Young.

Because of the volume, nearly 700,000 meals annually, the executive chef position at Tavern on the Green is considered as one of the most challenging in the industry.

“To succeed at Tavern, it takes a complex equation of talent, experience, management adroitness and people skills, combined with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. In Brian, we found all those qualities and are confident he will infuse the food with a new level of style and sophistication,” enthuses Jennifer LeRoy, the CEO of Tavern on the Green who is very familiar with the inner workings of its 13,000 square foot kitchen with its more than 65 culinarians; she began her restaurateuring career as an expediter there, the second most difficult position at Tavern.

Now an American citizen, Young grew up in a Chinese household where food was the focus of family gatherings. He relishes the fact that his personal history - Canadian birth, Chinese extraction, Italian / Irish wife - as well as his professional experience reflects the American melting pot paradigm that he will apply to the food at Tavern on the Green.

“Jennifer LeRoy, told me her father* always talked about Tavern being ‘America’s restaurant,’” says Young. “That struck a chord with me, personally and professionally. Thinking of Tavern in that way will be my guideline as I develop a new culinary character for it.”

Young will replace John Milito, who has held the executive chef position at Tavern on the Green for the last four years.

Tavern on the Green is located on Central park West at 67th Street. For more information, visit www.tavernonthegreen.com or call (212) 873-3200.

* Warner LeRoy, the legendary restaurant impresario, who took over the lease for Tavern on the Green in 1974 and reopened it after a two-year $10 million renovation.