SCHENECTADY \u2014 Ember & Cork, an ambitious restaurant with wood-fired cooking as the heart of its menu, is closing Saturday 15 months after opening. The business has been sold, according to co-owner Andy\u00a0Zheng, and will become a new concept in a few months after renovation.<\/p>\n
Zheng and business partner David Ortiz opened Ember & Cork at the end of October 2024 as a successor to their Zen Asian Fusion Lounge after 11 years. He said the new owner has multiple restaurants locally but does not wish to be identified yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ember & Cork was developed for the partners by the chef Marc Alvarez. The Bronx native moved to Niskayuna in 2023 after being chef-owner of Ember restaurant on Anguilla in the British West Indies, where he lived for 13 years in two stints starting in 1996. Alvarez, who was Ember & Cork\u2019s executive chef and operations director, resigned in mid-December<\/a> for reasons he declined to make public. Before the restaurant opened, he told the Times Union he planned to maintain his independent restaurant consulting business.<\/p>\n Central to the cooking <\/a>at Ember & Cork are a wood-fired oven and wood-burning grill used to char or fire-kiss dishes from beets to octopus, strip steaks and lamb T-bones. The wine list<\/a> includes more than 140 labels, and the bar features creative cocktails<\/a>.<\/p>\n