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Now Open is a yearlong sequence celebrating a few of 2026’s most fun new eating places. All year long, we’ll test in with groups in Chicago, New York Metropolis, and Washington, D.C. to listen to what it’s actually like behind the scenes of a buzzy opening. Then, we’ll host unique meals at these eating places as a part of Dinner Get together, offered by Capital One. Learn alongside for challenges, candid reflections, and recommendation from the proprietors behind a few of the nation’s hottest new openings.
Earlier this 12 months, chef Hasung Lee acquired the highlight on Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars, however Oyatte, his latest, buzziest, impossible-est-to-get-into restaurant has been within the making since 2020. He knew from the beginning that the menu would construct off of a basis of the freshest greens. And with the fitting timing, he linked up with Brett Ellis, good friend and proprietor of Crown Daisy Farm in Staatsburg, New York. At Oyatte, produce unfurls into an creative eight-course tasting menu that displays Lee’s tenures at Gramercy Tavern, Atomix, The French Laundry, and Geranium.
To make use of the total potential of the produce, Lee has a very lengthy spreadsheet of fruits, greens, nuts, and even tree bark fermenting at any second. However as André 3000 crooned in “Ms. Jackson,” “You may plan a fairly picnic, however you possibly can’t predict the climate.”
I chatted with Lee about New York’s micro-seasons, the Netflix impact, and the challenges of opening day.
Caroline Shin: Have been you already planning to open your personal restaurant if you went on Netflix?
Hasung Lee: Method earlier than, sure. Round 2020. I at all times had a dream of opening a restaurant, and by that point, I used to be gathering all of the references and details about opening eating places.
Are you able to discuss in regards to the impression that Netflix has had on you and on Oyatte? Do you get acknowledged?
I imply, nobody is aware of me. I simply come into work, then house, work then house. On the subway generally [I get recognized], however not fairly often. [People] come to me and ask for the photograph, after which inform me that they loved watching the present.
I participated within the present as a result of I wished to have extra traders, however I truly discovered them even earlier than the present was launched to the general public. We’re very fortunate to have company who watched the present, and wish to go to the restaurant. We’re absolutely booked day by day.
You have been portrayed on Netflix to be calm and assured even throughout excessive stress conditions. Was that an correct portrayal of you?
Whereas I used to be filming the present, I didn’t actually get nervous in any respect. I just about loved each second as a result of I used to be in a position to focus one hundred pc on cooking reasonably than operations or enterprise or one thing like that. In some moments, I acquired actually delicate. Once we did Black Spoons versus White Spoons [an episode where seasoned chefs teamed up against the younger cohort], we’d by no means labored as a staff earlier than. The best way I used to be skilled and the way in which the [rest of my team members] labored was very totally different. I’ve solely labored in effective eating kitchens, so each step must be on level. So I believe that that was the second I acquired actually annoyed probably the most.
What was opening day like?
Busy, demanding, thrilling. I believe the whole lot didn’t go properly with my plan, to be sincere. We had a problem with getting our permits. Furnishings deliveries acquired delayed. Development acquired delayed. We needed to postpone our opening 4 instances. All the things was a problem.
On the very starting, I didn’t wish to have greater than 30 covers a day. However the platform we’re utilizing — Seven Rooms — had a problem, so we needed to begin at 55 [covers over three turns]. Nearly double the variety of the duvet rely day by day. After which I used to be so nervous as a result of throughout the smooth opening, we solely had 20 covers a day, and 55 is 2.5 instances greater than that. So it was very demanding.
Within the brief time that you’ve been open, are there some issues that you just’ve discovered, challenges you’ve discovered?
I’m nonetheless studying day by day, however what I notice is that no matter occurs, if I don’t quit, I’ll get the answer, whether or not it’s [related to] meals or service or guest-facing hospitality or building. For instance, final evening there was heavy rain, and the basement leaked. Every time it rains, it leaks. So I informed the owner a number of instances to repair that drawback. He’s attempting, but it surely’s nonetheless leaking. What can I do? The buildings are getting older and older.
What have you ever been studying, when it comes to the meals?
I’m having enjoyable usually because we’re getting the greens largely from Crown Daisy Farm. Brett Ellis, the proprietor and my good friend, doesn’t use a greenhouse. All the things he grows is on the bottom within the soil, so it takes longer to develop, and there’s extra depth within the taste of the greens. However the farm just isn’t too massive. We’ve got a really restricted amount of greens, and the season adjustments so shortly. We will solely have menus for [a short time]. On common, we modify at the least one to 2 dishes each week to mirror what’s contemporary and obtainable. Since we opened two and a half months in the past, I don’t know what number of menu gadgets we’ve already modified. Quite a bit. In order that’s enjoyable, however on the identical time, it’s demanding.
Through the pandemic, if you have been first excited about opening your personal restaurant, do you know you wished to companion with a farm?
I at all times wished to do a partnership or have my very own farm for my restaurant. With out Brett, I most likely would have opened a restaurant with out the farm partnership at first. Nevertheless it was nice timing for him and me. He had a child, and he moved again to the East Coast once more. I moved to the East Coast from Napa as properly. He was attempting to do his personal farm on the time. I used to be attempting to open my restaurant, so I requested him, “What if we do the partnership collectively?”
How do you and Brett work collectively?
Within the winter time earlier this 12 months, we talked in regards to the planting schedule and what varieties of types of greens we would like, after which he retains me up to date. We discuss on a regular basis, nearly day by day. He sends me footage of the greens, and he specifies the dimensions and amount he has on the farm. We order, and we get greens from him twice per week. Additionally, it’s his first absolutely operational farming 12 months. He’s testing a whole lot of issues, and we don’t wish to waste any of his produce. So I’ll simply take as a lot as I can, after which attempt to make the most of that. I might say 80 p.c [of our produce comes] from Crown Daisy Farm, after which 20 p.c from Union Sq. Market.
You’re doing attention-grabbing, unusual issues to substances. On the subject of black truffles, which are sometimes served uncooked and sliced on the desk, you prime your dishes with black truffles which have been macerating in soy sauce for just a few days. How did you give you that concept?
[I always imagine black truffle] with earthy, umami-forward substances, and I wished to make use of black truffle when it’s not in-season, so I used to be pondering, How can I protect black truffle? We do a whole lot of pickles and ferments, in order that when [certain produce is] not in-season, we are able to use it later. To me, black truffle was the identical.
What else do you could have fermenting now in your pantry?
Let me open the spreadsheet. I can simply learn it for you. I’ve fermented mussel, moo (radish), jalapeño, lovage, crimson onion, carrots, shrimp, sourdough doenjang, celery, pickled magnolia, salted Meyer lemon, mushroom radicchio marmalade, burnt lemon puree, poached rhubarb, curry cucumber relish, preserved cara cara orange, black garlic, cherry bark oil, pine department oil…
What number of extra do you could have?
That’s all fermenting within the restaurant?
Sure. We even have pineapple with vinegar, lilac vinegar, garlic mustard vinegar, wisteria brown vinegar, garlic vinegar, apple vinegar, pickled rams, chamomile syrup, salted citrus syrup. Yeah, there’s extra. Much more.
