"the plaza food hall" news and stories

Back in May, we reported the opening of The Plaza Food Hall by Todd English in NYC, and recently Allen Salkin had the opportunity to tour the Hall with English himself. Get an up-close-and-personal look at the Hall's many stations, including a cheese section, The Ocean Grill fish grill, and a dumpling bar at which English's chefs will be experimenting with a variety of Asian cuisines.

Related: Todd English on Life After Fiancee Erica Wang (EXCLUSIVE)

"Behind The Apron," is a video series featuring news-breaking conversations between the journalist Allen Salkin and the biggest names in the culinary world. The series goes beyond the plate and into the lives of those in the food world who have become mainstream cultural icons. In a turnaround from his TV role as head judge on Top Chef, Tom Colicchio talks about his struggle to rise to the expectations of judges at the James Beard Foundation; Jose Andres gets political; and Jacques Pepin laughs about the social ascendance of chefs over the past two decades from blue collar workers into "geniuses." Much more is to come in this groundbreaking series.

To the owners of the Plaza hotel, Todd English is worth more than a washing machine.

Miki Naftali, the chief executive of the Elad Group (the owners of the Plaza Hotel on the corner of 5th Avenue and 59th Street in Manhattan), admitted as much during a preview opening of English's new Food Hall in an underground space at the hotel.
As guests tucked into prime-rib sliders, cumin-seared prawns and English's haute version of the Ring Ding in the warmly-lit and high-ceilinged space, Naftali said that when his group took over the hotel in 2004, the space was a dank and decrepit laundry room.

Now, about $4 million later and with the help of architectural designer Jeffrey Beers, it boasts stations doling out dumplings, oysters, sushi, salads, steaks and desserts. The former laundry room now dubbed "The Plaza Food Hall by Todd English" has 80 seats total, but no tables, just bar seats where diners can interact with cooks.

And the hotel has outsourced almost all of its dirty laundry. "There is no reason to do laundry in one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in New York," Naftali said.