INTERVIEW CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

JL: What does a dish have to be to be a Jason Neroni dish?

JN: It’s so funny that you say that. One of my cooks over there, who’s been with me for 3-4 years, when we were working on [Catch & Release], said, “Chef, I need to talk to you.” He’s like, “I love you. I’ve worked with you all this time. You’re missing some of your Jason Neroni here.” My wife said the same thing. So I kind of had to take a step back. And I’ve always had this philosophy about food in general. Some people equate it to music. You think of notes, highs, lows. Same thing with food.

One of the biggest influences in my life is Floyd Cardoz, from Tabla. His food was so complex, spices like tamarind and pickles and vinegars and sugars. Tonight, there’s a charred watermelon salad on the menu, which I’ve done with a complex dish at Snack Bar, and we did a grilled one at Osteria La Buca. Tonight, we’re doing that with tonnato sauce. Griddled watermelon with tonnato sauce. You have this sweet charred piece of this, with a salty, acidic, creamy mayonnaise going around it. For me, it’s all about hitting odd notes and how they push and play against each other.

I look at things that are bright, things that are crispy. It’s definitely got to have different flavors, textures and profiles. I like to turn things on their head. I look back at Snack Bar. There’s cacio e pepe, and there’s cacio e pepe with miso. Tonight, watermelon with tonnato sauce. Or smoking bucatini carbonara. I get a little playful here. Burrata with everything bagel crumble. That’s a play on a dish that I had at Russ & Daughters when I was a kid. I love Russ & Daughters. That’s my favorite place on earth. Growing up, the bialy with caviar and everything cream cheese was amazing. I kind of like going that route and looking at things that way.

JL: What’s your favorite aspect of working in restaurants?

JN: The creativity. It’s never boring. I went to the farmers market this morning, and it was just a matter of getting inspiration. When I was a kid, I used to draw a lot. I used to do a lot of graffiti art. I used to design T-shirts and I started writing for magazines. I wanted to go to art school and learn how to use that craft. When I didn’t do that and ended up cooking, I saw that as another way of expression. To this day, I’m a very creative person, and having the opportunity to create something new daily, and now having almost four restaurants to create at all times, is pretty interesting.

I also never thought I would say this, but I like looking at numbers, and I like challenging myself to hit goals. I see numbers out of whack and it drives me crazy.

JL: What would it take for you to consider Catch & Release and The Rose successes?

JN: Making money, which I expect… Like I said, we’re in the hospitality business. You know what makes me really happy? Since we’ve opened here, all of my clientele from Superba Snack Bar comes here and sees me. That’s success, that they believed in me so much that they came here to see what I do. They respected what I did and wanted to continue and follow along with what I’m doing. They come all the time, 3-4 times a week, and support. That’s success.

JL: What about with The Rose?

JN: Success for The Rose will be to honor it, as what it was, and to be entrusted in its future, and to make everybody happy, even though that’s a very difficult task. I think what we’re going to do there is going to be pretty incredible, and that we’ll be able to honor it for another 35 years, just like the first time. It’s a pretty grand undertaking, what we’re about to do there. It’s multi-faceted for different areas of revenue. Going back to what they used to do, but with a little bit more.

JL: What are the different facets of The Rose?

JN: We’ll definitely have a full-fledged daily bakery. There’s a full bar that’s already built that’s longer than this line, like a 40-foot bar. Full liquor license. Verve Coffee. A hot deli case and cold deli case. In a sense it’s like a Grand Central Market of sorts, rolled into one restaurant in Venice. There’s an outside dining area which is the old patio area, which has been completely redone. A brand-new kitchen with every kind of toy you can imagine. A lot of wood-fire, a lot of Spanish planchas, dual bay pasta cookers, amazing. People coming in and taking dinner away every day, or sitting down and getting a sandwich, or taking my tzatziki home to have on roasted lamb chops that night, to having Julian [Cox]’s cocktails. In the back area, next to the parking lot, we’re taking about doing a biergarten with kebabs and sausages and burgers that’s different than the rest of the restaurant. There’s a lot.