NEW YORK Solo restaurant said Friday it has named former Top Chef contestant Eli Kirshtein as its guest executive chef.
The upscale restaurant in New York City, which describes its fare as New American kosher, is located in the atrium of the Sony Building in midtown Manhattan, and is owned by the Prime Grill Group.
Kirshtein, who hails from Atlanta and last year finished in fifth place during the sixth season of Bravo TV’s Top Chef reality cooking show, will “offer an eclectic mix of prix-fixe lunch and dinner menus featuring new additions daily,” officials for Solo said.
Kirshtein, who is not a kosher-trained chef, said he is excited to assume his new responsibilities at Solo.
“I am thrilled that a restaurant with such a unique combination of New American kosher fare … has approached me to complement an already exciting menu,” he said. “While I am not a kosher chef by training, with my team at Solo, I plan to create excellent dishes in a new and exciting genre that just happens to be prepared with specific ingredients in mind. Almost like a Top Chef challenge, [this] is a project I look forward to conquering.”
Kirshtein is the second Top Chef contestant to named executive chef at Solo. Hung Huynh, the winner of season three, held the post in 2008.
Contact Elissa Elan at [email protected].