Thursday, May 20, 7:00 pm
Members $90, guests $115

“Salty air, swooping seagulls, and the sound of the surf are the only things missing from the pure coastal experience of biting into Nova Scotia lobster, Ipswich clams, or Rhode Island dayboat flounder at Fresh,” Bonnie Davidson wrote for In New York.

Who could manage to conjure that scene in the middle of TriBeCa? Fresh owner Eric Tevrow and owner/chef Daniel Angerer, that’s who. Tevrow’s other business is Early Morning Seafood, a wholesale purveyor to the likes of Alain Ducasse, Tom Colicchio, and David Bouley. Every morning the company delivers fish straight from more than 40 boats along the Northeast Corridor to its high-end clients. Now Tevrow has thrown his toque into the restaurant ring, establishing his own eatery with Angerer and offering, as Davidson wrote, “the sweetest, most flavorful fish and shellfish.”

While it’s true that you can’t have good food without good ingredients, a good chef, of course, is key, too. At Fresh, the open kitchen territory belongs to Angerer, a native of Austria who, according to New York’s Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite, “makes the most of getting first dibs on the day’s catch.” Angerer grew up in the Alps, and after earning a bachelor’s degree in hotel and restaurant business in his homeland, he went on to work for some of the most acclaimed chefs in the world. He counts Joël Robuchon, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and David Bouley among his teachers, but it was three-Michelin-star chef Heinz Winkler whom he considers his biggest influence. Winkler encouraged Angerer to experiment with cuisine vitale, a cooking style involving as little heat as possible, and in which extremely fresh ingredients are subtly flavored with purées and herbal essences.

Each morning, after reviewing the day’s catch as well as the produce at the Union Square farmers market, Angerer writes the menu with his chef de cuisine. Then, the kitchen crew gets down to business. By being “of the moment, happening and very good,” Fresh “is a winner,” pronounced the critics at Forbes. Adam Platt included it in his New York magazine Hot List. Not a fan of seafood? Just go watch the chef; Angerer won Time Out New York’s “best excuse for an open kitchen” award for his good looks—and his flashy jackets!