It is with regret that one of our Fray family will be moving on this week – a rather large part of that family, at that.
Head chef Antonio Martin, who was brought in to help us establish a new kind of eatery on a stretch of street few visit, at a time of year most people are staying inside and wrapping themselves in Snuggies, has duly delivered what he hoped he could manage in six months – in just half that time.
Fray is surging – the menu is established and evolving, the staff are trained and delivering, the local population is visiting in growing numbers, and spring is just around the corner. With that in mind, and with a hankering to travel back to Asia and work with some big name chefs in emerging areas of cuisine, Antonio has elevated sous chef Benny Cheng to run the kitchen and leaves us in a position we could not have possibly reasonably hoped for when we took over that crumbling, deep purple, wreck of a kitchen we walked into back in August.
Antonio wanted Benny to have the slow months of January and February to find his feet moving into the spring, so he’s cut his stay short and prepared Benny to take the reins.
It’s a sad thing that we lose Antonio, but he was always here with a view to establishing the business and moving on to his next adventure when the job was done, and if there’s one thing we’ve learned about Benny in the time he’s been with us, it’s that he’s far too talented to stay a sous, and has far too much creative energy to be locked to the line. He’s promising a focus on new salads and desserts in the short term, and some tweaks to the rest of the menu to build upon what Antonio has established to date.
If you’ve eaten at Fray over the last few months and loved what you had, chances were you were eating what Benny had cooked, so don’t expect any drop-off in taste, quality and service in the months ahead. If anything, it’ll be an exciting time as we get to see the man Antonio selected as the best talent out there can do with a greater role.
At the same time, we’ve also moved one of our servers into a front-of-house management role: Jaime Kawamoto steps up to a position that will give her the ability to make improvements to the already stellar standard of service that we’ve become known for, and bring about consistency to every aspect of the Fray experience.
We love the people we have working for us and can’t wait to see what will come from giving them a bigger stage to show what they can do. Please feel free to drop in, say hi, and tell them what a great job they’re doing.
NOTE: For the coming month or so, Fray will be closed on Mondays to allow chef Benny a chance to try new things and build up to our spring menu launch. We’ll be taking those days as a chance to make some improvements to the restaurant, with heating in the bathrooms coming in the next few days, wheelchair access on the way, and a summer patio planned.
Thanks for choosing us as a place to nosh, quaff and play, and if there’s anything you’d like to see from us, let us know by emailing chris@fray.me.