{"id":191371,"date":"2026-04-09T21:20:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T21:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191371\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T21:20:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T21:20:13","slug":"the-top-chef-winner-who-wants-to-open-a-latin-halal-bodega","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191371\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u2018Top Chef\u2019 Winner Who Wants to Open a Latin Halal Bodega"},"content":{"rendered":"

Danny Garcia, the winner of Top Chef in season 21<\/a>, came off that win on a high in 2024, ahead of opening a new restaurant<\/a> under restaurateur James Kent\u2019s group, in the Flatiron, Time and Tide<\/a>. But coinciding with his win, Kent died suddenly<\/a>, and everything changed. Just a year later, with shakeups and rebranding of the company, and a concept that didn\u2019t quite land<\/a>, Garcia\u2019s restaurant closed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Originally, the idea was that Garcia and Kent Hospitality Group would revamp the Time and Tide space into something new while it was being used as a temporary pop-up for Italian restaurant Massara. But since then, Garcia has regrouped, stepping away from the company and starting anew with his own line of products \u2014 jarred salsa macha and T-shirts \u2014 along with plans to open his own restaurant, under the name Only Goods<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly Goods was born of this idea of putting a spotlight on Latin American culture, but also a nod to younger Danny Garcia and the dream I had to open a restaurant,\u201d he tells me.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Danny Garcia wearing Only Goods apparel. Sebastian Mejias<\/p>\n

Garcia wants Only Goods to work somewhere between the ubiquitous Puerto Rican bodegas in NYC, \u201csmall spaces with dusty cans of beans and there\u2019s one of everything across the wooden shelf,\u201d he says, and the overabundance within Cracker Barrels.<\/p>\n

For the eventual daytime restaurant, he wants it to work as what he describes as a luncheonette and a bodega counter up front, and also a casual and cozy restaurant in the back. \u201cCommunity-first\u201d is a value Garcia mentions often. \u201cWe are going to be a restaurant that embodies the neighborhood and what the people need it to be, like a bodega.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTime and Tide closing was hard,\u201d Garcia says. \u201cI put everything into that restaurant, so taking that to the chin. It\u2019s not a failure; it was an accomplishment. Did it not last as long as I would have wanted? Sure, but there are learned lessons, and now I get to take those lessons and do the next best thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time, Garcia, who has a Puerto Rican and Dominican background, had to figure out what he\u2019d do next, often talking it out with his wife, pastry chef Sumaiya Bangee. \u201cI need to do something that is just wholeheartedly Danny Garcia,\u201d he recounts thinking. And he remembered his wish as a kid coming up in restaurant kitchens of running a sandwich shop, leading to his Only Goods plans.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

The salsa macha from Only Goods. Sebastian Mejias<\/p>\n

Garcia knows that Puerto Rican food is usually seen as more fast-casual, where \u201caunties and tit\u00eds and abuelas cook from steam tables, or you\u2019re getting food on paper plates,\u201d he says. \u201cLet\u2019s shine the light on that, take up our own space, and let\u2019s be the catalyst to open this cuisine a little more and say, \u2018Yeah, we can do more than rice and beans and pernil.\u2019\u201d He wants to do for Puerto Rican and Latin American cuisines what chefs are doing for Indian and Afro-Caribbean cuisines in New York now.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a notable restriction for Only Goods: Garcia is Muslim, so he won\u2019t serve pork, which might be unexpected for a Puerto Rican restaurant. He knows there will be questions about where lechon and pernil are. \u201cPork\u2019s off the table,\u201d he says, \u201cso what other delicious succulent things can we do?\u201d<\/p>\n

Garcia sees the restaurant being halal as another extension of himself and being for his community. \u201cI want Muslims to be able to roll through and be like, \u2018I can eat everything on the menu.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Garcia opens the restaurant \u2014 there is no lease or address yet, he\u2019s been searching \u2014 he\u2019s launching Only Goods as a brand with streetwear and merchandising. (More and more, food brands are getting into clothing and wearable goods, like Barney Greengrass<\/a> and Cup Noodles.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Danny Garcia adding salsa macha to a dish during an Eid dinner. Sebastian Mejias<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very fun, laidback, not stuffy,\u201d Garcia says. He tagged Brooklyn-based Nash Studios<\/a>, led by Alexander King, whom he met through Upper West Side Chino Latino restaurant La Dinastia, and they just vibed. It\u2019s apt that Only Goods abbreviates to OG \u2014 \u201cit\u2019s the original, it\u2019s the highest level,\u201d Garcia says. Expect hats, shirts, sweatshirts, tote bags, matchbooks, ashtrays, long candles, and more.<\/p>\n

And the brand goes hand in hand with Garcia\u2019s food and cooking. Only Goods launched with the salsa macha<\/a>, which\u2019ll eventually be followed with a guava-tamarind barbecue glaze that he describes as \u201ctangy and spicy.\u201d He\u2019s made a barbecue lamb rib using it.<\/p>\n

In fact, he\u2019s cooked those lamb ribs at pop-ups like Theodora<\/a> last December and plans to do so for the upcoming Pebble Beach Food & Wine<\/a> this week. For Eid, he debuted Only Goods at his co-hosted dinner<\/a> at Platform by JBF with chef and cookbook author Ifrah F. Ahmed, where they cooked a Somali-Latin dinner. Next up, he\u2019s got a collaboration<\/a> at Nashville restaurant Rolf & Daughters<\/a> on Sunday, April 19.<\/p>\n

However the restaurant shakes out, Garcia wants to make sure it\u2019s fun and reflective of who he is. He doesn\u2019t want to cook and feels like he needs to create Spanish food with French techniques, he says. \u201cIt\u2019s boring, we\u2019ve done it, we\u2019ve all tasted it, we\u2019ve all seen it. Let\u2019s be a little original and not be afraid to just be different and just be us unapologetically.\u201d<\/p>\n