Wednesday, January 16, 7:00 P.M.
Members $95, guests $120

Neighborhoods pop up faster in New York than they do anywhere, and neighborhood restaurants aren’t far behind. (In fact, sometimes they get there first.) But when your neighborhood is more or less Ground Zero in Manhattan, and construction is just about finished on a restaurant at a time when people are still uneasy about eating out, let alone eating "down there," what is a chef and restaurateur to do? Open, said The Red Cat chef/co-owner Jimmy Bradley and his partner, Danny Abrams, and open they did. The Harrison was born, and with it perhaps the rejuvenation of a neighborhood.

"[Mr. Bradley] has an easy, natural style that makes his ideas seem almost inevitable," wrote William Grimes of The Harrison in a hot-off-the-presses, two-star New York Times review that praised Bradley’s simple ideas, clean execution, and an approach that "never seems to force the issue with his food."

Bradley and Abrams’s track record is golden. Their Red Cat, in the western reaches of Chelsea, is the sort of neighborhood restaurant that draws people from all over Manhattan, and attention from all over the country. Grimes called it "warm, welcoming, and accessible" in his Times review of Red Cat, and Gotham called The Red Cat "one cool kitty."

A native of Rhode Island, Bradley worked as chef of Savoir Faire on Martha’s Vineyard before coming to New York and consulting on a number of restaurant openings. A foray with Food & Wine took him away from the stoves for a moment, but a person who is passionate about cooking can’t stay away for long. And in 1999 Bradley was back in the kitchen at his hot new restaurant, The Red Cat.

As executive chef of both restaurants, Bradley required some helping hands. Enter Bill McDaniel, the talented chef de cuisine of Red Cat, and Joey Campanaro, who fills the same bill at The Harrison. Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite of New York said it best: "If ricotta cavatelli with braised veal cheeks, quail, cassoulet, and homemade bresaola with taleggio fettunta and fig syrup aren’t enough to lure diners back downtown, nothing is." Come meet them halfway at the Beard House.