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N.Y. CHEF HEADING FOR CHARLOTTE
CULINARY MASTER IS PARTNER IN NEW PROJECT NEXT TO NOFO ON LIZ

the Charlotte Observer

If you can't make it to New York, a little piece of the New York restaurant scene may be coming to you.

Actually, it's kind of a big part: In the food world, David Pasternack has all the credentials. Winner of the 2004 James Beard Award for best chef in New York, he's a partner with Mario Batali in the Italian seafood restaurant Esca on West 43rd Street.

Now Pasternack is partnering with Charlotte-based restaurant consultant John Sergi, chef Trey Thomas and former wine distributor J.J. Levine in a new project at Elizabeth and Travis avenues, next door to NOFO on Liz, a restaurant and shop.

Customshop will be a 70-seat restaurant with an American theme, focused on seasonal and locally produced food. The restaurant is expected to open by Feb. 1.

Although Pasternack is well-known in New York - he showed Martha Stewart how to make tomato sauce on her Christmas show, and he took the cast fishing on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" - this is his first venture outside New York.

Sergi, Thomas and Levine had the idea for a Charlotte restaurant and invited Pasternack, an old friend of Sergi's.

"I said, `I really think Charlotte is ready for someone of stature to come to town and put their stamp and influence on the place,' " said Sergi, who is best known in town for his work with food service for the Bobcats and the Wachovia Championship. "And I think Dave is the person to do it."

Pasternack came to Charlotte a couple of months ago to look around. He visited several restaurants, although the only one he recalls is the Penguin (fried pickles, of course).

"It looks like it could be a really fun town," he says. "It's obviously very different from where I live. But from a business standpoint, I think the city is ready."

The style of the restaurant will be casual, with most entrees below $20 and wines below $40.

While Thomas will be the chef, Pasternack will be consulting chef and partner, with a focus on menu development, and he'll visit regularly as the menu changes with the seasons.

Even though Pasternack is best known for Italian, Sergi says Customshop will be American.

"The last place Charlotte needs right now is another Italian restaurant. But the beauty of Italian cuisine is you take what the earth and sea give you and you go from there. What we're about is taking what Charlotte can give us."

So Sergi hopes the menu will feature local ingredients from farms such as Grateful Growers in Denver, N.C., along with products from elsewhere. For instance, they may use cured meats made by Mario Batali's father in Seattle.

Which raises another question: Batali and Pasternack are partners, Batali has visited Charlotte as the official chef of NASCAR. Is the chef in the orange clogs involved here?

No, Pasternack said. But he may stop by.

"I'm sure when he comes to town, he's going to eat there."