Welcome to In the Weeds, a new publication covering the business of independent restaurants.
This week I’m sharing a story from restaurant power couple Ed Tinoco and Alexis Belton Tinoco, the executive chef and general manager and bar director, respectively, at Danny’s NYC. Ed and Alexis met while working at Perilla, the now-closed restaurant in Manhattan, and later worked for the Alinea Group in Chicago and with Marcus Samuelsson on the opening of Metropolis in New York.
Also in this edition: A surprising immigration reform push coming from Texas, what’s the deal with “Michel Recommended,” and the power of restaurants to preserve a neighborhood.
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Ed and Alexis
Danny’s NYC burst onto the restaurant media scene when it opened in October. The owner, Dan Abrams, knows media. He is the chief legal analyst for ABC News and the owner of his own media company. While the restaurant got its fair share of social media attention, it was always intended to host regulars, Executive Chef Ed Tinoco and General Manager and Bar Director Alexis Belton Tinoco told me.
While they aren’t shunning the social media buzz (there’s even a section on the website touting praise from top influencers), Ed and Alexis are well aware of its shortcomings. “Going viral is not very consistent,” Ed said when we met up in New York in April.
“So even after we had all this media and all these Instagram videos coming out, the vision was still very clear from the beginning, and it was to create regulars,” Ed said in a follow-up phone call a few weeks ago.
Danny’s was inspired by restaurants where Dan is a regular. “He has standing reservations at Polo Bar and Hillstone,” he said. “We really focus not on Dan being the boss, but Dan is the client that we want to have in the space.”