[upbeat music]<\/p>\n
Ying Tao is the only Michelin-starred<\/p>\n
Chinese restaurant in New York City.<\/p>\n
A lot of Americans assume Chinese food is takeout food.<\/p>\n
For us, we wanna change people’s minds and elevate it.<\/p>\n
[upbeat music]<\/p>\n
I love the guest reactions to our food.<\/p>\n
I love when they ask me, like, What is a goji berry?<\/p>\n
What is a cordyceps mushroom?<\/p>\n
As a first-generation Chinese American,<\/p>\n
I wanna make food that speaks to who I am,<\/p>\n
still with Chinese flavors, but also done in a modern way.<\/p>\n
Hi, I’m Emily Yuen.<\/p>\n
I’m the executive chef of Ying Tao Restaurant.<\/p>\n
It is 8:45, and we’re here at Po Wing,<\/p>\n
and we’re picking up dried goods for the restaurant.<\/p>\n
[bright music]<\/p>\n
Hi! Hey, how’s it going?<\/p>\n
Good, how’s it going? Nice to see you.<\/p>\n
This is Sophia.<\/p>\n
She is the owner of Po Wing.<\/p>\n
Well, second-gen.<\/p>\n
That’s my mom, actually.<\/p>\n
Hey, mom, say hi.<\/p>\n
[light music]<\/p>\n
These dried scallops are the ones<\/p>\n
that I usually get for the restaurant.<\/p>\n
Dried scallops are really important to Chinese food<\/p>\n
because not only does it concentrate the flavor,<\/p>\n
I think in French food, you think fresh is best,<\/p>\n
but actually, dried scallops are like a huge part<\/p>\n
of Chinese preservation and history.<\/p>\n
In the past, there’s no refrigeration,<\/p>\n
but it concentrates the flavor.<\/p>\n
The methods they use, actually,<\/p>\n
it is prized more than a fresh scallop.<\/p>\n
Well, I’m using these for my XO sauce.<\/p>\n
I would say it’s an essential Chinese condiment.<\/p>\n
It still has a lot of umami,<\/p>\n
using a lot of dried shrimp and dried scallops.<\/p>\n
You can put it on anything.<\/p>\n
We use it at the restaurant<\/p>\n
to make it into a French-ish sauce.<\/p>\n
So I’m gonna go get some fish maw as well.<\/p>\n
Okay, sure. Around the corner?<\/p>\n
It is dried.<\/p>\n
It is the bladder.<\/p>\n
It has so much flavor.<\/p>\n
We use it for, like, our superior stock.<\/p>\n
The one I was previously using,<\/p>\n
people were like, It’s a little bit strong.<\/p>\n
Oh, okay. So I think this one<\/p>\n
was like a great like<\/p>\n
gateway fish maw. Yeah, yeah.<\/p>\n
I think my goal is to, like, make people<\/p>\n
who are not Chinese eat more of the delicacies<\/p>\n
that we’re used to eating growing up.<\/p>\n
[Sophia] Okay, so I think you wanna<\/p>\n
get the goji berries as well.<\/p>\n
Right? Oh, yes.<\/p>\n
It’s just like garnish, but also on top of our wonton soup.<\/p>\n
Perfect. I love people’s reaction<\/p>\n
to it because they’re like,<\/p>\n
usually, they use it in like a smoothie.<\/p>\n
[Sophia] Yeah, yeah.<\/p>\n
I think I need to get my cordyceps mushrooms, flowers.<\/p>\n
When people eat it, they’re like, What is this?<\/p>\n
I really love that.<\/p>\n
That opens up a conversation<\/p>\n
about all Chinese ingredients as well.<\/p>\n
It has natural umami in,<\/p>\n
so we just rehydrate it and put it in our wonton soup.<\/p>\n
It’s really important to come here<\/p>\n
to talk to Sophia and her family.<\/p>\n
I can’t really find these anywhere else.<\/p>\n
I can’t just order online for these ingredients.<\/p>\n
I’m gonna bring all these things back<\/p>\n
to Ying Tao so we can start our day.<\/p>\n
[upbeat music]<\/p>\n
All right, welcome to Ying Tao.<\/p>\n
We are a Chinese contemporary restaurant.<\/p>\n
We have about 38 seats and nine at the bar.<\/p>\n
Today, we have Restaurant Week and also our regular menu,<\/p>\n
so it is pretty hectic.<\/p>\n
Restaurant Week is a way for New York restaurants to do,<\/p>\n
I would say, like a cheaper menu, shortened menu,<\/p>\n
three courses for $60 as opposed<\/p>\n
to our regular seven courses for $150.<\/p>\n
This is, we call our Grandma Ying Tao.<\/p>\n
She overlooks us, but this is our owner, Bolun’s grandma.<\/p>\n
The restaurant’s named after her.<\/p>\n
We kind of like randomly pray to her,<\/p>\n
ask for good service, less dietary restrictions.<\/p>\n
[light music]<\/p>\n
Okay, so I’m gonna change to my chef white.<\/p>\n
We just got in our A5 Miyazaki Wagyu flowing from Japan.<\/p>\n
It’s on our supplements, so it’s an add-on<\/p>\n
from our regular tasting menu.<\/p>\n
Maybe the side is better, actually.<\/p>\n
Oh my God, this is like $800, you know?<\/p>\n
It’s crazy.<\/p>\n
So I’m gonna take this to our dry ager.<\/p>\n
So we have a dry ager because my dream<\/p>\n
is to start a Chinese charcuterie program.<\/p>\n
Kind of put it in.<\/p>\n
Here, I got some things started already.<\/p>\n
Our housemade lap cheong sausage,<\/p>\n
which you typically never see, you always buy.<\/p>\n
Right here, we have some cured pork lap yuk.<\/p>\n
So it’s like cured pork belly with a lot of spices,<\/p>\n
soy sauce, so it’s been curing.<\/p>\n
It’s almost ready.<\/p>\n
You’ll see in here, this is our black cod that we dry age.<\/p>\n
Preserving and dry aging is like a part,<\/p>\n
integral part of Chinese food and Chinese cuisine.<\/p>\n
Not only does it just preserve the food,<\/p>\n
but it concentrates the flavors.<\/p>\n
And for Chinese food, it’s all about like layers of flavors.<\/p>\n
There’s a lot of depth to it as well.<\/p>\n
[light music]<\/p>\n
So this is a black cod.<\/p>\n
We cut it up, dry aged it for a little bit.<\/p>\n
We’re gonna marinate it.<\/p>\n
This is a ginger scallion marinade,<\/p>\n
blended-up ginger and scallion<\/p>\n
that we a little bit saucing wine.<\/p>\n
So we wanna marinate the fish for about 30 minutes.<\/p>\n
When I transitioned it into fine dining,<\/p>\n
I realized that each dish might seem simple,<\/p>\n
but you need like 20 different layers<\/p>\n
of what makes a perfect dish.<\/p>\n
When I took the job here, it already had one Michelin star,<\/p>\n
so it was a huge transition for me<\/p>\n
because I worked in fine dining before,<\/p>\n
but just as a line cook.<\/p>\n
This is the first time I’m running<\/p>\n
a Michelin-star restaurant.<\/p>\n
So for me, it was like a huge learning curve.<\/p>\n
We wanna put the black cod just on the bed.<\/p>\n
We don’t wanna marinate the top<\/p>\n
’cause I wanna keep it crispy,<\/p>\n
’cause if we add extra moisture to the top,<\/p>\n
it’s gonna not be as crispy when we sear it.<\/p>\n
So we’re gonna leave this for about 30 minutes in the fridge<\/p>\n
and then we’ll come back to it in a little bit.<\/p>\n
[light music]<\/p>\n
Thanks, Chef.<\/p>\n
Well, now the fish is done.<\/p>\n
I’m gonna move on to some tomatoes for our scallop dish.<\/p>\n
[light music]<\/p>\n
We start the first course with these refreshing scallops<\/p>\n
with these tomatoes because I want people to open<\/p>\n
their palate with a spicy cake<\/p>\n
and also want them to realize what’s coming.<\/p>\n
So they’re either ready for the ride or they’re not.<\/p>\n
So this is huamei.<\/p>\n
This is preserved plums.<\/p>\n
It’s really good, I always eat one while we are cooking.<\/p>\n
It’s kind of like a, it’s like a salty,<\/p>\n
look at drinking snack.<\/p>\n
I would say that even though I don’t drink.<\/p>\n
We’re putting some raw sugar in,<\/p>\n
some lemon peels, water.<\/p>\n
So I’m gonna grab all that.<\/p>\n
[light music]<\/p>\n
Shit, do we have any more lemons?<\/p>\n
Lemons. Maybe no, right?<\/p>\n
Okay.<\/p>\n
Let me make sure we put it on the order list.<\/p>\n
This is our board for the day<\/p>\n
where everyone puts down their orders, but obviously,<\/p>\n
whoever took the last lemon forgot.<\/p>\n
Super annoying.<\/p>\n
So I’m gonna put it in now<\/p>\n
so we can make it for tomorrow.<\/p>\n
When life gives you no lemons, you use orange peel.<\/p>\n
Substitutions are like a normal part of every chef’s day.<\/p>\n
Being able to think on your feet<\/p>\n
and adjust is like super important.<\/p>\n
I mean, I always say my job is problem-solving.<\/p>\n
And babysitting.<\/p>\n
So I’m gonna put some water in it<\/p>\n
and melt down the rock sugar.<\/p>\n
Using rock sugar because it creates<\/p>\n
a little bit more of a shine.<\/p>\n
It’s a little bit milder.<\/p>\n
It’s easier to control.<\/p>\n
I don’t want it to be too sweet.<\/p>\n
So I’m gonna peel all these tomatoes<\/p>\n
’cause we don’t have a prep cook today.<\/p>\n
So people think it’s a pain in the ass,<\/p>\n
but I actually really love it.<\/p>\n
It’s like therapeutic.<\/p>\n
I don’t have to think about anything.<\/p>\n
I’m doing the same thing.<\/p>\n
And then it only takes about like five minutes<\/p>\n
before someone yells my name and asks me for something.<\/p>\n
So these tomatoes have been pre-scored and then blanched.<\/p>\n
I tell them to do a little bigger cut<\/p>\n
because marinade also enters the inside as well.<\/p>\n
I wish there was a shortcut to this, but there isn’t.<\/p>\n
I think that’s also what makes Michelin-star food.<\/p>\n
You can’t really do shortcuts.<\/p>\n
Whenever the cooks and I have a free second,<\/p>\n
we’re peeling tomatoes.<\/p>\n
Right now, it’s on the Restaurant Week menu,<\/p>\n
so there’s no free seconds.<\/p>\n
So I’m trying to help them out today by peeling tomatoes,<\/p>\n
get them started for the day,<\/p>\n
’cause I think we are at,<\/p>\n
I’m gonna cry, 74 covers.<\/p>\n
When it’s not Restaurant Week,<\/p>\n
it’s probably about like 40 to 50 covers,<\/p>\n
but it just depends of what kind of season we’re in.<\/p>\n
So I’m gonna be doing this for the next<\/p>\n
like half an hour to 40 minutes.<\/p>\n
And then I’m gonna check in on the wontons.<\/p>\n
[light music]<\/p>\n
Okay, so I’m gonna help Linette.<\/p>\n
So Linette’s our owner.<\/p>\n
We’re a little bit shorthanded,<\/p>\n
so she’s helping us today fold wontons.<\/p>\n
She’s folding it into a form of a golden nugget.<\/p>\n
It represents prosperity, wealth, so hopefully,<\/p>\n
you’ll eat our wontons and you’ll be young and rich.<\/p>\n
Yeah, there are a lot of different wonton folds,<\/p>\n
and this is not the most efficient way.<\/p>\n
[both laughing]<\/p>\n
But we’re folding it, like chef said,<\/p>\n
into a golden nugget or golden ingot<\/p>\n
because we want to have a prosperous year.<\/p>\n
For Chinese food, it’s not just about how good it tastes,<\/p>\n
but it’s about what it represents.<\/p>\n
So the filling is pork, shrimp, and then abalone sauce,<\/p>\n
13 spices, garlic chives, white pepper, salt,<\/p>\n
and then also egg whites.<\/p>\n
So we whip it up so it’s nice and bouncy.<\/p>\n
So the whole thing is capped off<\/p>\n
with a tablespoon-size pour of our superior stock.<\/p>\n
This is where I would say<\/p>\n
our superior stock gets highlighted the most.<\/p>\n
You can really like taste it,<\/p>\n
and a good tip for when you know<\/p>\n
you have a good Chinese stock<\/p>\n
is like you put your lips together<\/p>\n
and you have that like collagen.<\/p>\n
And if your lips are like sticky and go like, [smacks lips]<\/p>\n
then like you know that the chef made a really good stock.<\/p>\n
So you’re saying you made a really good stock?<\/p>\n
I made a really good stock.<\/p>\n
Of course I made a good stock.<\/p>\n
Okay, thank you so much, Linette.<\/p>\n
Only 10 more dozen to go.<\/p>\n
I’m moving on.<\/p>\n
[light music]<\/p>\n
So we have chicken feet, yellow chicken,<\/p>\n
corn-fed with head and feet on for the extra collagen.<\/p>\n
So we’re gonna start washing all these upstairs<\/p>\n
so we can get ready for our superior stock.<\/p>\n
Our superior stock is probably<\/p>\n
about five of the dishes we use,<\/p>\n
from our egg custard to our sauces for fish.<\/p>\n
For the beef, we also use it as well<\/p>\n
to mix it in with our veal jus.<\/p>\n
These chickens are really special.<\/p>\n
They’re heavily corn-fed.<\/p>\n
It’s really hard to find.<\/p>\n
So these are really essential to why<\/p>\n
our superior stock tastes so good.<\/p>\n
It’s a lot more fat in it.<\/p>\n
It flavors this stock and makes the stock<\/p>\n
taste so much better and rich.<\/p>\n
This is kinda like a French chicken stock or veal stock.<\/p>\n
We feature it in a lot of different ways.<\/p>\n
If, like, that’s why it’s really important<\/p>\n
that Chef Enrique or I make it.<\/p>\n
We don’t let anyone else touch it<\/p>\n
because if someone gets it wrong or something like that,<\/p>\n
I know it’s a very simple thing,<\/p>\n
but it’s also simple to mess up.<\/p>\n
[water pouring]<\/p>\n
We get chicken feet as well<\/p>\n
because it’s all about that collagen.<\/p>\n
I want all that gelatinous body into this stock.<\/p>\n
So now we’re gonna do a first blanch of that.<\/p>\n
So we wanna bring it up to a boil really quickly.<\/p>\n
You see this superior stock, he started last night.<\/p>\n
This one is almost ready to go.<\/p>\n
You see that yellow fat on top?<\/p>\n
That’s because of the corn-fed chickens.<\/p>\n
We end up using that to flavor rice.<\/p>\n
So that’s like something that you should never throw away.<\/p>\n
This is going, we’re gonna leave it<\/p>\n
until I bring it to a boil.<\/p>\n
For my R&D project right now,<\/p>\n
I don’t really have that much time or patience,<\/p>\n
but I’m gonna challenge myself and make my own century eggs.<\/p>\n
Let’s go check on them in the wine fridge right now.<\/p>\n
[upbeat music]<\/p>\n
My GM is not too happy that I put it in her wine fridge,<\/p>\n
but we’re just gonna not tell her that.<\/p>\n
We’re using the wine fridge because actually,<\/p>\n
it’s perfect temperature.<\/p>\n
I can’t put it in the fridge ’cause it won’t ferment,<\/p>\n
and then I can’t put it in my dry ager<\/p>\n
’cause it’s a little bit too cold.<\/p>\n
Century egg is a fermented egg,<\/p>\n
so it’s usually buried in clay and ash,<\/p>\n
and there’s, like, it’s just a natural fermentation process.<\/p>\n
My R&D project right now<\/p>\n
is just making it a little bit crystal, so it’s clear.<\/p>\n
I don’t want it to be, like, black.<\/p>\n
So I figured out that if I’m able to ferment it<\/p>\n
a little bit less, it won’t turn black on the outside<\/p>\n
and a little bit more palatable and visually appealing.<\/p>\n
I’m just washing one off to check it.<\/p>\n
I just wanna see what it looks like on inside,<\/p>\n
how many more days, when it’s time for a chicken anyway.<\/p>\n
Oh, okay.<\/p>\n
So I mean, really cool, but it’s like starting<\/p>\n
to jelly around the outside.<\/p>\n
We’re in the right direction,<\/p>\n
so I’m gonna peel the whole thing anyway and see.<\/p>\n
This is like actually way cooler<\/p>\n
than I thought it was gonna be.<\/p>\n
I mean, this was what I always think about in my head.<\/p>\n
I can tell it’s like not totally ready.<\/p>\n
Inside, it’s like a little bit liquid.<\/p>\n
That is so cool.<\/p>\n
I really want that fierce century egg.<\/p>\n
And so I think it needs a couple more weeks at least.<\/p>\n
So I’m just gonna bury it in the corner here<\/p>\n
and like, you know, just pray that my GM<\/p>\n
doesn’t yell at me today.<\/p>\n
We’re hurdling for service.<\/p>\n
So Nayeli has made a new dessert,<\/p>\n
so we’re gonna try that out and see how that goes.<\/p>\n
[light music]<\/p>\n
Nayeli has made the dessert because we wanted<\/p>\n
a new dessert seasonally.<\/p>\n
We wanted to change and do something different.<\/p>\n
So we have three, our GM, Linette, our owner,<\/p>\n
and our pastry, Nayeli.<\/p>\n
So Chef Nayeli, can you explain what you made for us today?<\/p>\n
So it’s a sesame oil cake, sesame Chantilly<\/p>\n
with the soy sauce caramel, red bean paste,<\/p>\n
and red bean ice cream with black sesame tuile.<\/p>\n
[Emily] Visually already, I think this is like<\/p>\n
so much better than the first one.<\/p>\n
I’m super excited to try it.<\/p>\n
The taste was already almost there.<\/p>\n
[Linette] So should we try?<\/p>\n
[Emily] I think this is like the first dessert<\/p>\n
I’ve ever had with sesame oil in it.<\/p>\n
Yeah, me too. Right?<\/p>\n
What do you think, Linette?<\/p>\n
No, I really like the nuttiness of sesame.<\/p>\n
I like the thickness of it this time,<\/p>\n
but I would like a little bit more red bean<\/p>\n
in the ice cream.<\/p>\n
How is it during service?<\/p>\n
Piping is already set beforehand.<\/p>\n
So as soon as the table’s fired,<\/p>\n
all I do is the brush of the caramel<\/p>\n
and place the cake and then just the red bean paste<\/p>\n
and then quenelle the ice cream.<\/p>\n
[Linette] And then what about the prep side of things?<\/p>\n
Prep side, it’s a bit heavy.<\/p>\n
First, I have to bake the cake and then make the cream.<\/p>\n
Then I can build and it has to be frozen enough<\/p>\n
for me to be able to get the clean cuts of the cake.<\/p>\n
As far as service goes, like once I’m able to get that<\/p>\n
out of the way, it’s pretty fast.<\/p>\n
Let’s put it on the menu.<\/p>\n
Yeah, I think we’re ready to go<\/p>\n
if you can start prepping it<\/p>\n
and have it on the menu for this weekend.<\/p>\n
Let’s go. So did a good job.<\/p>\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n
It’s about 4:15 now, so we’re gonna have<\/p>\n
our pre-shift with our front-of-house staff and brief them.<\/p>\n
[upbeat music]<\/p>\n
Good afternoon.<\/p>\n
Good afternoon, chef. Good afternoon, chef.<\/p>\n
Okay, so how many do we have in the books for tonight?<\/p>\n
[Tteur] We have about 74 tonight.<\/p>\n
We have six tasting menu and-<\/p>\n
No more urchin we can add on as a supplement.<\/p>\n
So only saving up for-<\/p>\n
For tasting menu. Yeah, tasting menu only.<\/p>\n
We did do a tasting with Nayeli today<\/p>\n
at the sesame oil cake.<\/p>\n
We will be rolling that out for this weekend,<\/p>\n
and you guys will have a taste of that, so.<\/p>\n
Okay, let’s survive.<\/p>\n
Day three, Restaurant Week.<\/p>\n
Sounds good.<\/p>\n
All right. Okay.<\/p>\n
Happy Thursday. Happy Thursday.<\/p>\n
[light music]<\/p>\n
Dear grandma, please have a good service<\/p>\n
for Restaurant Week.<\/p>\n
Please, please.<\/p>\n
So we have about 15 minutes before service.<\/p>\n
I’m gonna be doing last-minute sauce checks,<\/p>\n
and then during service, I’ll be at the pass here<\/p>\n
and then checking all the dishes and making sure<\/p>\n
everything goes out on time and pushing the cooks.<\/p>\n
And one of the last things I like to do<\/p>\n
is FaceTime with my daughter.<\/p>\n
Hey, mama. [indistinct]<\/p>\n
Have a good service.<\/p>\n
I love you Tteur and mom.<\/p>\n
Love you too.<\/p>\n
Bye, see you later.<\/p>\n
[light music]<\/p>\n
Really close to five.<\/p>\n
We’re heading to a really busy service,<\/p>\n
so please get the [bleep] out.<\/p>\n
[light music]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[upbeat music] Ying Tao is the only Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant in New York City. A lot of Americans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":["post-329371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}