Friday, October 18, 12:00 noon
Members $55, guests $65

In his "Diner's Journal" column, New York Times critic William Grimes quipped that Moda "is called Moda for no reason in particular, other than that the word means 'fashion' in Italian, and fashion is always in fashion." But oh, Mr. Grimes, you must know better. We New Yorkers may fall for every fabulous new David Rockwell restaurant interior, but fashion alone doesn't do it for us. In the realm of things culinary, at least, we New Yorkers demand substance. If the food's not great, we'll seat our fashionably attired selves elsewhere. You see, we appreciate the importance of taste. Of course, so does Moda executive chef Bill Seleno, who has an eye for freshening always fashionable Italian classics with unexpected, intelligent twists—think Moscato grapes with the carpaccio, or salmon cured in limoncello.

Seleno studied architecture, which may explain his knack for creating beautiful, well-structured dishes. His passion for cooking actually developed while he was working restaurant jobs to pay his way through school; he saw a similar underlying aesthetic in the kitchen. Less than a year after he started as a dishwasher, he was running the line—and running back and forth to his two other cooking jobs. By 1993, he'd abandoned architecture and joined the opening staff at Kitchen Sink, a Rye, New York, New American that went on to earn an excellent review from The New York Times. Seleno later served as sous-chef at Café Mirage and Le Provençal in Westchester, where he honed his classical French technique. His focus shifted somewhat when he was executive chef at Heritage Hills Country Club. There, he oversaw the main dining room and the club's banquet halls, and developed a wine-dinner program.

But Seleno missed the challenges of the restaurant kitchen, so in 1998 he moved to Manhattan, where there are challenging kitchens aplenty. After stints at Wilkinson's Seafood and Moomba, Seleno signed on as executive sous-chef at Guastavino's. Before he was recruited to open Moda, he was part of the team that helped the Terrance Conran spot earn America's Best New Restaurant recognition from Esquire in 2000. Okay, okay, so a little recognition from the fashion set can open some wonderful doors.