Dec. 15–We knew that Richard Melman, founder and chairman of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, would turn L2O, his two-Michelin-star restaurant closing at the end of the year, into a new concept.
But it’s safe to say nobody anticipated this.
Intro, a culinary “school for entrepreneurs,” as Melman puts it, will debut in the L2O space (2300 N. Lincoln Park West) in February. The restaurant, which will sell tickets for its dinners via Nick Kokonas’ Tock system, will feature a new chef every two to three months; Melman has been recruiting young chefs from coast to coast for the project, but hasn’t ruled out local chefs.
The goal, Melman says, is to find talented chefs who are about to strike out on their own and give them the chance to work with a dream team of restaurant mentors. The chefs provide the talent and creative vision (“I’m going to give them a lot of leeway on that,” he says); Melman and other Lettuce partners will be the combination teachers, sponsors, partners and go-betweens.
In addition to being full financial partners in their brief Intro forays, chefs will receive free consulting from Lettuce senior partners going forward. “That’s invaluable,” Melman says. “They’ll always be able to call when crises occur.”
Melman picked the name Intro because, he says, the project is all about introductions.
“We’re introducing Chicago to new talent they haven’t seen,” Melman says. “Introducing the chefs to restaurateuring through my eyes. Introducing the staff to people they might want to work with. And I’m always meeting people who want to invest; this may be where chefs and investors meet. And I bet, in the first year, there will be one chef that we’ll want to partner with.”
Rich Melman, restaurant wingman?
The first Intro chef will be Chris “C.J.” Jacobson, currently chef at Girasol in Studio City, Calif.; Jacobson’s culinary credentials include an internship at Noma, the highly acclaimed restaurant in Denmark, and his recent victory in this season’s “Top Chef Duels,” in which he outlasted 17 chef competitors, among them David Burke, Stephanie Izard, Art Smith and Takashi Yagihashi.
“C.J. cooked for me one night, and it was terrific,” Melman says. “I asked him to cook a second night, and he knocked me out. I told him, ‘If you want, you’re the first guy.'”
Before Jacobson arrives, L2O will be remodeled, adding windows and two front lounges. “I’m not going too crazy, it’s a nice restaurant,” Melman says. “But we’re going to make it more youthful. I think it’ll be nice.”
Melman also is putting together Intro’s staff, consisting of professionals who agree to stay with Intro for at least one year.
Intro will debut in February; tickets, estimated to range from $65 to $90 (beverages additional), will go on sale later this month at tickets.introchicago.com.
“I think everybody wins; I do,” Melman says. “If Intro doesn’t make money, but works aesthetically and the kids get something out of it, I’ll be very pleased. And if we make it work and they can make a profit, then it really becomes a lot of fun.”
Twitter @PhilVettel
