CUT New York, Chef Wolfgang Puck’s first Manhattan restaurant, fired up the outdoor grill again this year for the Taste of Tribeca, lower Manhattan’s food festival that supports arts and enrichment programs at public schools. CUT’s menu highlights various cuts of the finest beef from regions across the globe, as well as local seafood and an extensive international wine list with over 800 wines.
Please credit: Shintaro Ueyama / Taste of Tribeca
This year, the team from CUT–Raymond Weber and Zairah Molina, a husband and wife duo who are executive chef and pastry chef, respectively– served grilled bone-in sirloin with Argentinian chimichurri. I sat down with the team to get their take on the event, their culinary dreams, and why they love food so much.
Girls on Food: Why did you decide to participate in this event?
Raymond: We at CUT really love being part of the downtown neighborhood–there is such a sense of community and we want to do our part to support it. We love the neighborhood’s history, and how quickly it is becoming both a residential and an emerging culinary destination.
Zairah: Taste of TriBeCa is such a fun event, and supports a great cause! We’re excited to come back for our second year.
GOF: What is your favorite thing to eat that isn’t yours?
Zairah: Fried Chicken from Momofuku Ko
GOF: If you could go anywhere in the world for a culinary experience, where would you go and why?
Raymond: Peru. The food scene is vibrant and energized, the produce is amazingly fresh and great to create with.
Please credit: Shintaro Ueyama / Taste of Tribeca
GOF: Where do you get your menu inspiration?
Zairah: At CUT NY, the menu is an adaptation of Wolfgang Puck classics combined with East Coast produce, seafood and meats.
GOF: Why do you love being a chef in NYC?
Raymond: NYC is full of all levels of restaurants from casual dining to omakase to long-standing institutions of fine dining–it has an energy to it unlike any other city. The constant change and competition of the culinary scene, combined with the challenge to be relevant, is what I love most about being a chef here.
Be sure to follow Taste of Tribeca’s social media pages and keep up with them for next year!
