Renowned chef and proud Hamptonite Bobby Flay celebrated his latest Hamptons Magazine cover last week with an intimate preview of MPD, the latest and most buzzworthy of the "lifestyle restaurants" to hit the Meatpacking District. With the restaurant not opening until September, owner Michael Wainstein (Day and Night) remained fairly tight lipped about the menu, albeit he did concede that it would likely lean toward French-American.
While the Hamptons Magazine tag-team-trio of Jason Binn, Samantha Yanks, and Debra Halpert warmly welcomed their nearest and dearest into the cozy VIP back lounge, I had the chance to chat with the king of grilling himself, which, as a Food Network and Iron Chef America junkie... well, just pinch me.
So what did I learn? Flay will be spending the better part of the summer in the Hamptons, specifically Amagansett, where he and his wife, actress Stephanie March, just built a home that should be move-in ready imminently. We joked of how the Hamptons hype has ironically skipped from East Hampton straight to Montauk, leaving Amagansett relatively untouched. "We kind of lucked out that way," he laughed.
His favorite summer grill go-to is grilled fish tacos, but I couldn't end our conversation without asking him my long-burning question: is it possible to make a turkey burger without it having the consistency of a spare tire? "Of course it is," Flay enthused. First and foremost, you need a mix of white and dark meat, for both the taste and the moisture content. Then - and this part admittedly sounds easier said then done for a novice like me - "you need to cook the turkey burger slowly so that the turkey fat will melt slowly," and, presumably, distribute itself evenly throughout the patty. Armed with that sage advice, I will give this turkey burger endeavor one more shot, and if I still don't master it, I suppose I will have to find someone with superior culinary skills to carry out these instructions for me. Like my 8-year-old niece.
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