The chef, who’s worked at French Laundry and Atomix, has opened his own fine-dining restaurant in New York’s Murray Hill.The chef, who’s worked at French Laundry and Atomix, has opened his own fine-dining restaurant in New York’s Murray Hill.
In New York‘s dining landscape, opening a restaurant can take time. Often, much more time than initially anticipated.
Opening Oyatte, chef Hasung Lee’s first restaurant, was five years and five city locations in the making. The fine-dining concept landed on 39th Street after numerous locations fell through, taking over a space that was previously home to a Michelin-star restaurant.
Lee opened the eatery in partnership with Hand Hospitality, which has backed popular chef-led restaurants including Jua, Atoboy and Lysée. Lee connected with founder Kihyun Lee while working as chef de cuisine at Atomix, which led to a conversation about opening a restaurant of his own.
“ I didn’t feel I was ready, and I told him, ‘I’m gonna go to French Laundry’ — so if he can wait for me another two to three years, then let’s talk about it later,” says Lee.
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The chef, originally from Korea, has worked across top restaurants in the U.S. and Europe, honing his cooking in American, Korean, French and Nordic cuisines. Lee decamped from Atomix in New York for Thomas Keller’s famous West Coast fine-dining farm-to-table restaurant, where he worked in the kitchen as a sous chef. There, he befriended head farmer Brett Ellis, who later moved back to the East Coast with his family. Now Ellis owns Crown Daisy Farm located two hours from the city, which grows vegetables exclusively for chefs and is Oyatte’s single farm purveyor.
“I needed exclusive vegetables, so that I can control the size, the taste, the flavor, seasonality, everything,” says Lee of the collaboration. “ Early this year — January, February — we made an annual plan of what we’re going to grow for the entire year, and then when I expect to get it,” he adds. “ I also asked him if he can specifically grow this [vegetable]; he tells me that maybe the climate and the ground are good for this [other vegetable] — so it’s a lot of communication.”
Courtesy of Madilyn Bedsole
For the opening of Oyatte in early May, Lee was expecting his eight-course tasting menu to feature seasonal produce like turnips, radishes and pea tendrils, featured in a radish salad with rhubarb and poached green radishes.
“We are doing a dessert course with the fava shoots,” says Lee, describing the Mugwort Ice Cream with kiwi jerky, which follows the preserved cara cara orange with vanilla and star anise and black ginger chantilly cream. “I’ll change the menu frequently. It depends on the availability from the farm.”
Late spring protein courses include poached halibut with mussels and smoked Yukon potato, a scallop marinated in sweet mirin and wrapped in savoy cabbage, smoked quail, and roasted lamb saddle and tenderloin with lamb bacon.
The menu is served in two parts, with guests beginning their experience in the downstairs lounge for the vegetable-focused dishes, before moving to the airy upstairs dining room for the protein and dessert courses. The entire dining experience spans two-and-a-half to three hours.
Courtesy of Madilyn Bedsole
The downstairs lounge features reclaimed wood from an old barn at Crown Daisy, a tactile connection between the restaurant and the food being served. “When they walk in this restaurant, I want my guests to feel like it’s a getaway from the city,” says Lee, likening the downstairs space to a cozy upstate cabin. Upstairs, the dining room design is more minimal, with herringbone floor and midcentury furniture. Connecting the two dining spaces is a 13-foot quartz installation by artist Bahk Seon Ghi, visible from both levels.
Oyatte is named for the plum blossom, connected to Korean history, and also reflects the Chinese character in Lee’s surname. It’s also a metaphor for resilience, longevity and perseverance.
“ Chef Keller, my mentor, said there is no such thing as perfection. There’s only striving toward it,” says Lee, adding that while reaching that goal remains elusive, the focus is much more tangible as he welcomes guests each night at Oyatte. “The food is all about making people happy.”
