Chef Hasung Lee Opens Oyatte, a Farm-fed Tasting Restaurant
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. 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 backFollow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.
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